Person or Apple?
Here is the new logo for Woolies from the good folk over at Hulsbosch and aren't they as pleased as punch to have re-branded two iconic Australian companies (Woolworths and Qantas) in the same calendar year. Nice work guys!
But lets be honest, what a sweet account to work on. You could get a two year old with crayons to do a better job than the old 1980’s Safeway hand-me-down. Sorry, I'm just green (and red) with envy.
This is what Hulsbosch had to say about the shape of the new icon:
- "W" for Woolworths
- The icon represents "people," the upper body of a person with outstretched arms – food is energy is life
- The round shapes signify friendliness, humanity, approachability and openness
This is from the Woolworths’ press release:
The new identity introduces a new icon incorporating a stylised 'W' with the addition of an abstract leaf symbol representing fresh food. It is also reminiscent of one of the most famous of all Woolworths logos used in the 1970s and it represents a person — as in "The Fresh Food People" and the Woolworths focus on its customers.
And finally, here is a little video for those who can’t be bothered reading but enjoy brightly coloured lights, on the history of the Woolworths’ brand.
So fair play to them on this clever little logo. I see an apple and if I squint I also can see a person’s arms raised in joy at being a member of ‘the fresh food people’. OK, I ad-libbed.
But as a whole I don’t know whether it works. The logo looks at odds with the brand name and tagline. It looks like they’re speaking two different design languages and were stuck together at the last minute. Also, is it me or does the ‘W’ curl (apple peel) looks weird – as if it’s drawn wrong?
Anyway, to finish off, here are some applications from Hulsbosch on how the new identity will look in real life.
Bill & Jerry's Excellent Adventure
Which brings me to their latest $300 million ad campaign staring Jerry Seinfeld and Bill Gates. I admire Bill Gates. He’s probably the only person ever to get the better of Apple’s CEO Steve Jobs by making him hand Microsoft the keys to the Mac OS code, which hey copied and... well... the rest is history. He’s a generous man too with a social conscience. But what I like most about Gates and what this campaign demonstrates is that he doesn’t take himself too seriously. Try saying that about Steve Jobs!
Just as Jobs is the face of Apple, McCann Erickson are right in using Gates as the face of Microsoft in these “mockumentary” TV spots. I’ve become strangely addicted to them. Gates can’t act but neither can Seinfeld so he’s a good ‘straight guy’ to Jerry’s nonsense. I don’t see the first two instalments selling more copies of Vista but I’m sure they’re setting us up for the hard sell down the track. See for yourself...
UPDATE: A very nervous Microsoft has fired the ad agency and pulled the pin on the Bill & Jerry Show. These two instalments now stand alone as the first half of a joke that never made it to the punch-line. I’ll miss them.
A is for Antelope
Can you tell I’ve just become a father? There’s a pattern emerging.
Roberto de Vicq de Cumptich’s Bembo’s Zoo: An Animal ABC Book, is a clever and beautiful children’s book that is illustrated using only letterforms and punctuation from the Bembo family of typefaces.
Check out the online edition here or feel free to buy it here from Amazon.
Handwritten Typographers
Cameron Adams asks:
And answers with handwriting examples from leading type designers. This post is for the hardcore lover of typography so sorry in advance...Do typographers exert some extraordinary control of the pen that laypersons don’t? Does a typographer’s handwriting influence the typefaces they produce?
Acrobat Version 9
Mark Pilgrim on the latest version of Adobe Reader.
Adobe today reminds me a bit of Apple in the mid ’90s when I bought my first Mac. Tremendous engineering and design talent, loyal customer base built over 20 years and a management that just doesn’t get it at all, and seems hell-bent on running the company into the ground.Adobe® Reader® 9 is out. It’s now almost half as fast as Foxit Reader. It lets you embed Flash in PDF and embed PDF in Flash. Adobe supports both kinds of music, country and western. They’ve also “conveniently” bundled Adobe® AIR™ for no apparent reason and added synergistic integration with their cloud, which claims it doesn’t support my browser and then requires both Javascript and Flash to sign up for an Adobe® ID, the use of which is governed by this draconian service agreement, which is a PDF. You can’t make this stuff up. And apparently it gets worse if you try to, you know, actually install it.
NEW: Less Hyphen, More Burst
Walmart (unhyphenated as a single word from now on), one of the largest retailers in the world is launching a new logo. This is what Armin Vit had to say:
They should totally go back to the one they used from 1964-1981. Dress everyone in the stores up in cowboy outfits and sheriff badges, the whole nine yards. Giddy Up!The change to title case helps humanize Walmart with a name that reads more like John, Albert, Sarah or Wilbur; it really looks very different and sets a different tone. The wordmark is nice and friendly and has enough customization to feel more proprietary than out-of-the-box. The new icon, however, is very questionable. It reflects technology start-up or telecommunications company before it does discount retailing that will make anyone live better. Sure, it might represent a flower or a sun, but the execution is too modern and cold to be seen as a natural element.
Why the logo change? Reports in the media all allude to Walmart's continued evolution and progression from its less-than-glamorous reputation and image as an invasive retailer with less-than-desirable employment and environmental practices. And the evasive press release does little to explain anything.
Me Mobile Pretty One Day
With title apologies to David Sedaris.
While iPhone owners were busy banging their overpriced first-generation handsets on their foreheads, Apple followers have been fiercely belittling the logo for the new syncing feature, MobileMe. BuzzFeed gathers the links to the best, seemingly endless cheap shots.
On first seeing Apple’s new branding for MobileMe, I was struck by how over engineered it appeared. Do they really need so many elements in the design? Other Macheads are up-in-arms at how similar it looks to the WindowME signature Micosoft rolled out some years ago. Whatever their grievances, I think it’s a bit on the nose and at odds with Apple’s simple and elegant DNA.
'abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz'
It’s a wonderfully simple piece. Watching Job draw the letterforms is mesmeric enough, but when his son (?) joins in, I found myself laughing as he tries to imitate his fathers work. This leads to some funny-looking characters (c and d are particular favourites of mine).
I’m particularly jealous of the beautiful free-hand script of Job. It really is a joy to watch.
A video by Job & Roel Wouters recorded in Amsterdam at studio Xelor early 2008
Hand 1: Gradus W. Wouters, Amsterdam, the Netherlands, 2003 Hand 2: Job Wouters, Leiden, the Netherlands, 1980 Director: Roel Wouters Director of photography: Sal Kroonenberg Music: Rik Elstgeest & Bo Koek Production asst: Ton de Munck
On a bizarre side note, I also see Mark fathered a baby girl named ‘Alys’ on the exact same day my daughter was born. What are the chances of that happening?