Opinion, analysis and advice on life in the creative and digital industry, with a focus on insight, process and inspiration.
Pixar. New movie, different logo. Sometimes.
Pixar. New movie, different logo. Sometimes. Pixar. It just sounds like it’s meant to. Futuristic, professional, in a world of its own. And indeed, it is all of these things. After all, it released the world’s first ever computer generated (CGI) film, Toy Story. Once…
Creative Insight, Logo Design, Typography
If in doubt, give Helvetica a shout.
The person who’s really responsible for Helvetica as it is today is the late, legendary typographer, type designer, type consultant and type historian – Mike Parker.
Pan Am. An American Dream That Never Really Took Off
But its beginnings were relatively humble, as was the first-ever Pan Am logo – a circular, cluttered black and white image that was headed by the company’s full name, ‘Pan American Airways’
The Ubiquitous Batman Logo
The original Batman logo was a simple bat. And as a superhero, he and his bat were well liked. So much so that in 1940 he was given his own series, which spawned a new, slightly more detailed symbol.
Sweet dreams. Made by Eames.
So what’s so great about the Eames Lounge Chair? Why does it deserve so much praise and adoration? Why does it remain in the upper echelons of zillions of pieces of furniture out there.
One of the world’s best loved logos. It’s magical.
Disney Logo Walt Disney, the man behind the logo. Not. Less is more when it comes to memorable brandmarks. Think Nike for instance – a simple swoosh that is instantly recognisable across the globe. But of course the Nike logo never began life like that….
Creative Insight, Film, Typography
Wood Type Letterpress Is Back. No Joke.
Joker. A movie with a simply beautiful beat-up logo. Wood type letterpress is back. No joke. A book can’t be judged by its cover, just in the same way that a movie can’t be judged by its logo. Or can it? Some of the best…
The Brilliant Light of An Iconic Shell
The Sunny Rise of Light & Energy Like the climbing sun it resembles, the shell logo casts a long light down the back corridor of fossil fuel commerce during the last eleven decades. The Shell logo emerges as a primary-coloured omnipresent icon out of the…
The Meatball, The Worm & The Birth of The NASA Logo
NASA Logo One Small Step Into The Space Frontier Sometimes brands have to jump back and forth before settling on the visual aesthetic that truly reflects their identity. For the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), 1992, wasn’t too late to return to a beloved…
It All Began With Paul Rand
Master of design. Mastermind of the corporate logo. Logos come and go. If lucky, some hang around for a number of years, while others are continually updated and evolve with the times. Some are scrapped and revamped in the hope they’ll perform better next time…
Bringing AC Milan Back To Life Through A Beating Heart
A Rebrand To Reignite Brilliance Following a botched takeover bid, a huge financial loss, a team that’s playing well below what they’re capable of, and the absence of a big star, AC Milan is in a bad way. The 120 year old club that’s won…
Creative Insight, Film, Graphic Design
Life And Saul Of The Party
Ad man. Graphics guru. Iconic logo creator. Title designer. Academy Award-winning filmmaker. Saul Bass was all of these things and more. Yet, although his most memorable movie posters for Vertigo (1958) and Psycho (1960) are instantly recognisable, his name may not be.
Bialetti Logo
By 1958, the Bialettis were looking for a trademark logo that could encapsulate their brand and unite the various Bialetti product lines under one iconic insignia. But what, or who, could this image be based around?
Gold’s Gym logo. Worth Its Weight In Gold, And Then Some
The Gold’s Gym logo, which also became synonymous with Arnold Schwarzenegger in the 1975 movie Pumping Iron, is as popular today as it was back in the seventies.
Coca-Cola Logo
The Birth of the Legendary Coca-Cola Logo A True Love For The Letter C John Stith Pemberton lucked out big time by hiring Frank Mason Robinson as his bookkeeper. Not only was this employee Pemberton’s a number – minded man with deft accounting skills, he…
Remember, It’s Just Dunkin’
The Sweet Logo Transition of Dunkin’ Donuts Remember, It’s Just Dunkin’ For the uninitiated, Dunkin’ Donuts is no longer Dunkin’ Donuts, but simply: Dunkin’. If the decision strikes people as odd — why would a chain store famous for its endless donut varieties distance itself…
Mercedes, Meet Benz
Mercedes, Meet Benz: A Brief History of The Mercedes-Benz Logo The Fight For World Domination The universally recognisable Mercedes-Benz logo, with its compass-like three-pointed star and the Romanesque laurel wreath that surrounds it, grew out of a surprisingly aggressive company philosophy — one centred on…
The Creative Force Behind The Iconic BMW Logo
BMW Logo From Aircraft To Automobile The Creative Force Behind The Iconic Driving Machine Logo That Is: BMW Most people on the street could easily identify any model of coveted BMW from any lineup of cars. But could that same sample of average people actually…