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Nintendo’s iconic logo escaped an “age-up” remake
- hnarn 7y agoSeems like a strange argument, to claim that Nintendo's logotype would even be eligible for a "modernization". The vast majority of logos follow the same mold when they are modernized: they are simplified, rendered in sharp vector art, are made to look good even in monochrome, may use contemporary fonts instead that match this style, and so on. Microsoft's window is an example of this, Firefox is another. The thing about Nintendo's logo is that it already looks like that. Like the logo of IBM, it's already modern, because it's timeless.
- city41 7y agoI generally agree, but despite this companies still do it sometimes. UPS is a great example. Ditching Paul Rand's timeless logo for what they have today, a real shame.
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- spectramax 7y agoThe worst of all is American Airlines logo. The one designed by Vignelli was far superior in every aspect, yet we have the one today which looks awful: https://www.dezeen.com/2013/01/21/american-airlines-debuts-new-logo-and-livery/ https://www.dezeen.com/2013/01/21/american-airlines-debuts-n... Another example is Library of Congress logo designed by C&G, timeless until it lasted and Paula Sher(Pentagram) destroyed it. https://www.underconsideration.com/brandnew/archives/new_logo_and_identity_for_library_of_congress_by_pentagram.php https://www.underconsideration.com/brandnew/archives/new_log...
- stallmanite 7y agoThese articles are lovely. I didn’t realize until this moment how much I needed graphic design criticism in my life.
- dole 7y agoIt looks modern and timeless now in our age of Metro-style flat UIs and graphic design, but in the 90-00's, most companies went through a bevelled, shiny, chromed logo update because of (IMHO) the flashier web graphics that were more easily generated and the chintzy OS UI polishes everyone thought they enjoyed at the time. Recent articles on the history of the Volkswagen logo [1] [2] and it's retreat back to flatness are a perfect look into this phenomenon. [1] https://www.motor1.com/features/369759/vw-logo-history/4347581/ https://www.motor1.com/features/369759/vw-logo-history/43475... [2] https://medium.com/content-shailee/evolution-of-the-volkswagen-logo-25fe01229f2f https://medium.com/content-shailee/evolution-of-the-volkswag...
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- excalibur 7y agoNintendo's corporate logo has been consistent and predates the company's pivot to video games. But each console they've released has had its own logo, many of which have incorporated the word "Nintendo". So while this is accurate from a corporate standpoint, Nintendo fans have seen the company rebranded in a variety of fonts over the years. To many gamers' sensibilities, the official logo is actually retro, and reminiscent of the NES era.
- aphextim 7y agoFun Fact: The N64 Logo has exactly 64 faces and 64 vertices
- user982 7y agoNot really.
- excalibur 7y agoNot sure what you mean by "faces", but I count 24: 4 outside "N"s, 4 inside faces, 4 upper corners, 4 lower corners, 4 slant tops, 4 slant bottoms
- finger 7y agoHe’s just reciting this post [0] or any similar. See the top comment in that post for further information. 0: https://www.reddit.com/r/gaming/comments/77bodv/the_n64_logo_has_exactly_64_faces_and_64_vertices/ https://www.reddit.com/r/gaming/comments/77bodv/the_n64_logo...
- nothis 7y agoActually, their individual console logos are some of the best designed logos out there. Like absolute graphic designer porn.
- larrik 7y ago> During the recruiting process, Fils-Aimé asked to speak directly with Nintendo of Japan's Global president at the time, Satoru Iwata, before accepting any job. "It is not something they had planned to do," he told Present Value. "I learned later on, it caused quite a bit of issues within Nintendo. 'Who is this person asking to meet with our global president?'" This phone interview with Iwata-san was eventually scheduled and originally meant to last 30 minutes. It exceeded 90, Fils-Aimé said. Nintendo Japan thought it was weird that a potential President of Nintendo of America would want to speak to what sounds like would be his primary superior? Am I reading that right?
- mcaruso 7y ago"Demanding" anything from a superior is a bit of a no-no in Japan, even if it's something as simple as a phone call.
- werber 7y agoSo communication is completely top to bottom?
- proncton 7y ago>completely top to bottom effectively, yes. This was a large part of why nintendo's online strategy was so poor for such a long time. The Switch is the first of their products where they specifically asked the younger employees to lay out what it should look like.
- ta999999171 7y agoCommon in many Asian countries, and kills ability to see shit at product level - definitely.
- kick 7y agoI'll cede that some of Nintendo's online strategy failed, hard, but...outside of a few things, I don't think they did that bad? Friend codes were actually really neat; they managed to do interesting things in terms of casual online interaction (I still remember being blown away at video chatting with someone half-way across my country on DSi hardware (16MB RAM and ARM processors that weren't even capable of running Linux[1]), in a (first-ish party; Game Freak) video game where it wasn't even a sideshow it was such a small feature), they managed to do pretty painless interaction between your device and a PC in 2010, Flipnote Studio was a really innovative/impressive piece of social media in 2008 (more like Vine than Twitter, really, and first-party), etc. Like sure, most of their uses of online prior to the Wii U or so were novelty uses, but they were still really well-executed, and at least early-on had a whole lot of genuinely interesting uses of it. [1] I think there's a port of a very very old version of μClinux that kind of works on the system, so this is only partially true.
- Waterluvian 7y agoLike Sony, I find that Nintendo's logo is pretty much timeless. I think that the very nature of being employed to do a job makes it harder than not to resist doing anything. I mentioned this the other day with regards to A B testing. It feels odd to do all that work and conclude with: do nothing. I think this is exactly why you need someone like Reggie at that level of the process. As an executive he's more resilient to the sense of need to do something, anything, given how much time and money you put into the project. This is also why you need someone who lives and breathes your product. Not just generic executive cog in a suit. I had three arborists in my forest last year. They all had opinions on what to do and they were all different. Probably because I'm paying them to have an opinion and "don't do anything" feels like you're cheating someone of their cash.
- toper-centage 7y agoReminded me of the referendum to change New Zealand's flag. They picked a favourite with one referendo, and then had a second referendum that allowed you to veto the whole thing.
- danbolt 7y agoI was a bit saddened when Sony showed off the PlayStation 4 (as well as later slim versions of the PlayStation 3) and took out the little coloured logo. I loved how it also could be rotated for the upright orientation too. It helped instill a small feeling of magic with the product.
- bitwize 7y agoHey, I'm still sad about Apple nixing colors from their logo. Rainbow Apple is best Apple, the Apple of the Apple II and Woz.
- agumonkey 7y agoin this day and age of constant reinvention, I find that stability is of utmost value
- marketingfool 7y agoNintendo is known to be quite behind on innovation since the n64. I think most gamers would consider any innovation since a gimmick or a terrible executed idea. I don't think Nintendo could invent a new logo or new game. They seem like an antiquated company with a big marketing budget and high margin products.
- crooked-v 7y agoThe Switch's design is a pretty big innovation, and has been wildly successful despite all of the many, many hurdles in both the hardware and software implications of its various modes.
- johnzim 7y agoNoted terribly executed ideas such as wildly successful Dual Screen portables and the dockable/portable current best selling console in the USA.
- setr 7y ago..? They're the only ones trying anything at all in terms of hardware; Sony and MS have always just targetted being a locked-down PC. And in terms of games, it's also the same case; most first party games are evolutions or reiterations in Sony and MS universe, whereas Nintendo both does rehashes as well as dramatically different designs in each of their staple series. That they're flawed innovations (turning them into gimmicks), perhaps, but looking at the big 3, they're the only hope of change. The innovation you expect from MS and Sony boils down to media center and absurdities like disks being shipped with only the data necessary to tell your Xbox where to download the game..
- killface 7y agothey hit that sweet spot of folks who like to play games but aren't into the graphics as much as spec-heads. you can argue all you want about frame rates and resolutions and shaders, but at the end of the day, smash brothers is consistently more -fun- than any other game. that's why nintendo is basically able to keep selling us the same games over and over with each generation: they're all -fun- to play. plus, my switch can play skyrim, so...
- JohnFen 7y agoTIL I learned that the oval in the Nintendo logo was supposed to be a racetrack. I never realized that before.
- Wowfunhappy 7y agoI'm not sure that it is? The article uses the word "racetrack" but I assumed that was the author's term. Has it ever been defined as a racetrack by Nintendo?
- vitaflo 7y agoIt actually used to be an elongated hexagon[1] before the rounded rectangle design. Whether it's called a "racetrack" now, the rounded rectangle is a simple evolution of the original hexagon. [1]https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/logopedia/images/f/f5/Nintendo_1970s.svg https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/logopedia/images/f/f5/Ni...
- JohnFen 7y agoAh, so it's isn't, then. Or at least not originally...
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- jihadjihad 7y agoThis guy has an amazing last name. Fils-Aimé is French for beloved son.
- robotmachine 7y agoThe new CEO's last name is Bowser which is less amazing, but more amazingly apropos.
- bitwize 7y agoThey even play on it in Nintendo Direct, having the King of the Koopas appear in a tie to discuss strategy for the upcoming year, only to be upstaged by the real Doug Bowser.
- danbolt 7y agoA quote from Steve Jobs on the design of the NeXT logo: "Most companies have their logo as just a logotype. And every once in a while a company has a logo that's sort of a little jewel, a symbol, that can be used independently of the logotype." [1] Personally, I think Nintendo's logo is somewhat the Mickey Mouse symbol of video games. I'm glad they didn't change it, because when I see it I associate it with the quality and holistic design they're known for. [1] https://youtu.be/qw7VrZSAUEU?t=41 https://youtu.be/qw7VrZSAUEU?t=41
- bitwize 7y agoAs silly as graffiti Nintendo logos seem to us now, when the brand is nearly as stable in the West as IBM or Chevrolet, back in the 90s Sega was eating Nintendo's lunch with its focus on being edgy and extreme and lax attitudes to violent and other content. Nintendo capitulated on the content standards, and for a time it would have been canny business strategy to add edge to the brand also. The 90s were very, very weird. A timeless brand turned out perhaps to have been the wiser decision after all, as Sega left the console market and became part of a pachinko conglomerate. And they still can't get Sonic exactly right.
- rplst8 7y agoMan the writing really sucks at Ars Technica these days. Thanks for reminding me why I quit reading after Condé Nast took over.
- Grue3 7y agoJapanese logos tend to be quite "timeless", mostly because they're so minimalist (think Mitsubishi logo). Even towns and prefectures have very simple emblems instead of a complicated coat of arms. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Emblem_of_Fukushima_Prefecture.svg https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Emblem_of_Fukushima_...