5 ms·

Uggh. I dislike the new Burberry logo. All these brands seemed to be moving to Gotham, Futura, or Proxima Nova. My guess is that is because the typeface has

by pkaler 8y ago

Uggh. I dislike the new Burberry logo. All these brands seemed to be moving to Gotham, Futura, or Proxima Nova. My guess is that is because the typeface has to look good in print, signage, large screens, small screens, stitched into cloth, and stamped into buttons. Has anyone worked in textiles and know the tradeoffs of different typefaces?

hi5eyes 8y ago
hands down the worst is how similar tommy hilfiger is to stussy
hn_throwaway_99 8y ago
Agreed. The new Burberry logo is pretty awful in my opinion. I get how the cursive "London, England" script could come across as too pretentious (and these days, younger folks may not be able to read it), but the original Burberry text was pretty timeless and classic. Now it looks completely bland.
- labster 8y ago
  > younger folks may not be able to read it You're joking, right? Those letter forms aren't really all that cursive. If kids can pick up that a tall loop is a lowercase L, then they can read that. It's probably only a problem with readers for whom Roman is not their native character set -- reading handwritten Japanese is probably an order of magnitude harder for me than printed text. That said, does Coca-Cola's swirl come off as pretentious? I think there's a lot to be said for continuity in branding, and Coca-Cola is certainly a master of branding and marketing.
  - chrononaut 8y ago
    I don't think GP is joking in that context. They're probably not implying that all younger people are not going to be able to read it, but it's certainly going be a non-zero amount. The introduction of computing systems has done incredible things with normalizing representations of the written language. Most text read by all people today are confined down to a small number of typefaces. There is far less exposure to the diverse variety of even the non-cursive written word that is unique to each individual. If we have a population that not only no longer learns how to write in cursive, combined with the fact that they hand-write disproportionately lower than their previous generations, I think we're going to be surprised by its side-effects.
    - ahoka 8y ago
      I had a childhood friend who couldn't read an analog clock, and that was in the late 90s.
dpau 8y ago
I understand the utility but am completely mystified by these redesigns. The results look like those generic, standardized tobacco packaging labels or even Squarespace website titles. In each case- Burberry, Rimowa, YSL & DVF- I really love the original logos. They seem to capture so much about the brand and reflect high-end quality. I can't imagine why these companies would want to homogenize their branding in this way? The article doesn't really explain it well..
- stephen_g 8y ago
  Yes, the article doesn’t seem to explain it at all. I think it’s just chasing what’s fashionable right now - we saw this with the glossy 3D fad a decade ago, and now rebrands that happened back then now look hopelessly dated (like Xerox for example). Hopefully brands like these will go back to something more like their original logos when everybody gets bored with the current (boring) sans-serif logotype trend. It does make me wonder whether there has been any shift in the management of these companies, where they are no longer run by people with any commitment to any sort of brand or design integrity? Or did that happen long ago and the logos were just holdovers from a different time? Maybe I’m just caught up in false, romantic notions and these companies have always just been mass-producing corporate entities desperately trying to do whatever is trendy to appeal to the widest audience, whilst creating an illusion of exclusivity to justify massive profit margins?
  - PavlovsCat 8y ago
    > no longer run by people with any commitment to any sort of brand or design integrity Or they mean really well, and tried their very best, and this is what they came up with. Or too many people had a say in it, and it averaged out at bland. The thing that I found worse than the boring fonts is the change from "London, England", to "London England". I would "respect" "London, England" written in Comic Sans more than "London England" in any font. It just gives off this "the lights are on, but nobody's home" vibe to me.
Jhsto 8y ago
I do not think putting the brand on a textile has much relevance. I own designer pieces and they have little visible branding. Sure, engraving sans serif on a button is easier than serif, but if you have watched documentaries like Helvetica, the real reason is likely legibility.
- kirykl 8y ago
  Branding textiles either visibly on the outside or on small tags inside is where most of all high fashion textiles derive value. How is that not relevant? In fact when sold to “last season” liquidators many high fashion labels are cut or removed to indicate loss of value
  - Jhsto 8y ago
    At least to me, the value proposition is different. I do not buy much avant-garde, so most of my pieces look quite ordinary. The difference to say, H&M jacket, is the durability and materials. I do not think these are exclusive to just designer brands, so basically, designer clothing buys me quality assurance. In my perspective, I could spend the time to find brands which consistently produce good garments, or go to second-hand stores to look for bargains, but that takes too much time. That is, I'd buy a garment from Kering subsidiaries just because Farfetch says it's authentic. But, for me at least, I would be okay for all branding to be stripped away before the garment ships. This is pretty much for safety reasons while I am wearing the cloth.
- LoSboccacc 8y ago
  I believe everything has to do with the fashion overreaction to mobile. I work in the sector, kinda, and everyone is worried about the gen z coming of age and into expendable income territory, since they're not just digital native but also (almost) mobile centric. They all moving with breakneck speed to make sure all their branding and sales channel fit with the mobile trend, and logo have some unique issues (like not being responsive) that hamper legibility and would make them feel out of place in a responsive-style website Open for example rimowa site now on mobile and you'll see the logo fit perfectly with the home other components. The limiting factor as you say is legibility, but not the logo itself, it's the mobile experience that doesn't allow large style permutation on the design language. The logo here becomes slave of that.

by pkaler 8y ago

hi5eyes 8y ago

hands down the worst is how similar tommy hilfiger is to stussy

hn_throwaway_99 8y ago

Agreed. The new Burberry logo is pretty awful in my opinion. I get how the cursive "London, England" script could come across as too pretentious (and these days, younger folks may not be able to read it), but the original Burberry text was pretty timeless and classic. Now it looks completely bland.

labster 8y ago
> younger folks may not be able to read it You're joking, right? Those letter forms aren't really all that cursive. If kids can pick up that a tall loop is a lowercase L, then they can read that. It's probably only a problem with readers for whom Roman is not their native character set -- reading handwritten Japanese is probably an order of magnitude harder for me than printed text. That said, does Coca-Cola's swirl come off as pretentious? I think there's a lot to be said for continuity in branding, and Coca-Cola is certainly a master of branding and marketing.
- chrononaut 8y ago
  I don't think GP is joking in that context. They're probably not implying that all younger people are not going to be able to read it, but it's certainly going be a non-zero amount. The introduction of computing systems has done incredible things with normalizing representations of the written language. Most text read by all people today are confined down to a small number of typefaces. There is far less exposure to the diverse variety of even the non-cursive written word that is unique to each individual. If we have a population that not only no longer learns how to write in cursive, combined with the fact that they hand-write disproportionately lower than their previous generations, I think we're going to be surprised by its side-effects.
  - ahoka 8y ago
    I had a childhood friend who couldn't read an analog clock, and that was in the late 90s.

dpau 8y ago

I understand the utility but am completely mystified by these redesigns. The results look like those generic, standardized tobacco packaging labels or even Squarespace website titles. In each case- Burberry, Rimowa, YSL & DVF- I really love the original logos. They seem to capture so much about the brand and reflect high-end quality. I can't imagine why these companies would want to homogenize their branding in this way? The article doesn't really explain it well..

stephen_g 8y ago
Yes, the article doesn’t seem to explain it at all. I think it’s just chasing what’s fashionable right now - we saw this with the glossy 3D fad a decade ago, and now rebrands that happened back then now look hopelessly dated (like Xerox for example). Hopefully brands like these will go back to something more like their original logos when everybody gets bored with the current (boring) sans-serif logotype trend. It does make me wonder whether there has been any shift in the management of these companies, where they are no longer run by people with any commitment to any sort of brand or design integrity? Or did that happen long ago and the logos were just holdovers from a different time? Maybe I’m just caught up in false, romantic notions and these companies have always just been mass-producing corporate entities desperately trying to do whatever is trendy to appeal to the widest audience, whilst creating an illusion of exclusivity to justify massive profit margins?
- PavlovsCat 8y ago
  > no longer run by people with any commitment to any sort of brand or design integrity Or they mean really well, and tried their very best, and this is what they came up with. Or too many people had a say in it, and it averaged out at bland. The thing that I found worse than the boring fonts is the change from "London, England", to "London England". I would "respect" "London, England" written in Comic Sans more than "London England" in any font. It just gives off this "the lights are on, but nobody's home" vibe to me.

Jhsto 8y ago

I do not think putting the brand on a textile has much relevance. I own designer pieces and they have little visible branding. Sure, engraving sans serif on a button is easier than serif, but if you have watched documentaries like Helvetica, the real reason is likely legibility.

kirykl 8y ago
Branding textiles either visibly on the outside or on small tags inside is where most of all high fashion textiles derive value. How is that not relevant? In fact when sold to “last season” liquidators many high fashion labels are cut or removed to indicate loss of value
- Jhsto 8y ago
  At least to me, the value proposition is different. I do not buy much avant-garde, so most of my pieces look quite ordinary. The difference to say, H&M jacket, is the durability and materials. I do not think these are exclusive to just designer brands, so basically, designer clothing buys me quality assurance. In my perspective, I could spend the time to find brands which consistently produce good garments, or go to second-hand stores to look for bargains, but that takes too much time. That is, I'd buy a garment from Kering subsidiaries just because Farfetch says it's authentic. But, for me at least, I would be okay for all branding to be stripped away before the garment ships. This is pretty much for safety reasons while I am wearing the cloth.
LoSboccacc 8y ago
I believe everything has to do with the fashion overreaction to mobile. I work in the sector, kinda, and everyone is worried about the gen z coming of age and into expendable income territory, since they're not just digital native but also (almost) mobile centric. They all moving with breakneck speed to make sure all their branding and sales channel fit with the mobile trend, and logo have some unique issues (like not being responsive) that hamper legibility and would make them feel out of place in a responsive-style website Open for example rimowa site now on mobile and you'll see the logo fit perfectly with the home other components. The limiting factor as you say is legibility, but not the logo itself, it's the mobile experience that doesn't allow large style permutation on the design language. The logo here becomes slave of that.