5 ms·

> The "A" and the "K" are fascinating. Almost imperceptibly bent...The "B" also has a belly. What's interesting to me is why anyone would bother with tweaks li

> The "A" and the "K" are fascinating. Almost imperceptibly bent...The "B" also has a belly. What's interesting to me is why anyone would bother with tweaks like that. The logo looks like a generic san-serif block letter logo, and I only noticed those details after they were explicitly pointed out. Even after looking at it several times, the bent lines register as defects to me rather than as an aesthetic design choice. Could there be some legal basis to those tweaks, like to make the logo trademarkable?

lm28469 7y ago
> What's interesting to me is why anyone would bother with tweaks like that. They probably spend millions in design per year and have to keep their designers team working. At that scale nothing is left to chance, they A/B tested their logos for months &. If it makes them looks .1% better and improve signups by the same amount they're golden. > I only noticed those details when they were explicitly pointed out. And that's exactly how it should be, good design is imperceptible, bad design sticks out like a sore thumb.
- saagarjha 7y ago
  FWIW I noticed the bend immediately as something being slightly “off” about the lettering.
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
- saghm 7y ago
  > If it makes them looks .1% better and improve signups by the same amount they're golden I have trouble imagining that any sort of measurement tying signups to the logo would have a margin of error smaller than that. I assume this is just a made-up number to signify how much they care about slight changes, but I think the general point that they realistically would have trouble getting any amount of useful signal from slight tweaks like that still stands.
  - lm28469 7y ago
    > I assume this is just a made-up number to signify how much they care about slight changes Yes it is, I have no idea what they monitored but I'm sure they didn't chose randomly.
- bitL 7y ago
  > they A/B tested their logos for months I doubt it; I could instantly spot jagged edges of their design, it looks more like a rush job.
  - lm28469 7y ago
    A/B tests imply that people have different opinions.
notatoad 7y ago
Just because you don't think to yourself "oh, the A is bent and the B has a belly" doesn't mean you don't percieve it. The goal isn't to make you appreciate the typography, it's to make you think about the company in a certain way. I didn't notice the A being bent outward until it was pointed out either, but i did notice a sense of informality and friendliness in the mark, and that comes from details like the A being bent.
- CharlesColeman 7y ago
  > I didn't notice the A being bent outward until it was pointed out either, but i did notice a sense of informality and friendliness in the mark, and that comes from details like the A being bent. I don't doubt that a typeface as a whole can convey an emotion (through pre-existing associations with the font), but I'm highly skeptical that the tiny tweaks in a novel context on display here can actually do that. For the record, I didn't pick up on any feelings of "informality or friendliness" when I saw their new logo, and I still don't. But maybe this stuff is a private design language the graphic designers and typography fans share between themselves (e.g. bent lines == friendly), which they've convinced themselves is generally understood when it's not.
  - 1123581321 7y ago
    It’s a nudge that people will react differently to. Someone who is close to making a decision about a company may because of slight changes in the communication they’ve received. Design elements are part of that communication.
krsdcbl 7y ago
And yet, it doesn't. Try setting the word in plain Helvetica - it will have a much different look & expression

lm28469 7y ago

> What's interesting to me is why anyone would bother with tweaks like that. They probably spend millions in design per year and have to keep their designers team working. At that scale nothing is left to chance, they A/B tested their logos for months &. If it makes them looks .1% better and improve signups by the same amount they're golden. > I only noticed those details when they were explicitly pointed out. And that's exactly how it should be, good design is imperceptible, bad design sticks out like a sore thumb.

saagarjha 7y ago
FWIW I noticed the bend immediately as something being slightly “off” about the lettering.
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
saghm 7y ago
> If it makes them looks .1% better and improve signups by the same amount they're golden I have trouble imagining that any sort of measurement tying signups to the logo would have a margin of error smaller than that. I assume this is just a made-up number to signify how much they care about slight changes, but I think the general point that they realistically would have trouble getting any amount of useful signal from slight tweaks like that still stands.
- lm28469 7y ago
  > I assume this is just a made-up number to signify how much they care about slight changes Yes it is, I have no idea what they monitored but I'm sure they didn't chose randomly.
bitL 7y ago
> they A/B tested their logos for months I doubt it; I could instantly spot jagged edges of their design, it looks more like a rush job.
- lm28469 7y ago
  A/B tests imply that people have different opinions.

notatoad 7y ago

Just because you don't think to yourself "oh, the A is bent and the B has a belly" doesn't mean you don't percieve it. The goal isn't to make you appreciate the typography, it's to make you think about the company in a certain way. I didn't notice the A being bent outward until it was pointed out either, but i did notice a sense of informality and friendliness in the mark, and that comes from details like the A being bent.

CharlesColeman 7y ago
> I didn't notice the A being bent outward until it was pointed out either, but i did notice a sense of informality and friendliness in the mark, and that comes from details like the A being bent. I don't doubt that a typeface as a whole can convey an emotion (through pre-existing associations with the font), but I'm highly skeptical that the tiny tweaks in a novel context on display here can actually do that. For the record, I didn't pick up on any feelings of "informality or friendliness" when I saw their new logo, and I still don't. But maybe this stuff is a private design language the graphic designers and typography fans share between themselves (e.g. bent lines == friendly), which they've convinced themselves is generally understood when it's not.
- 1123581321 7y ago
  It’s a nudge that people will react differently to. Someone who is close to making a decision about a company may because of slight changes in the communication they’ve received. Design elements are part of that communication.

krsdcbl 7y ago

And yet, it doesn't. Try setting the word in plain Helvetica - it will have a much different look & expression