7 ms·
State of Oklahoma's New Brand Identity / Logo
- vsviridov 7y agoOk
- alpb 7y agoThis is painful to see. It looks like a shopping mall or apartment building logo, compared to other states with proper flags. And it goes without saying, on this topic, one must watch the short talk on state and country flags: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pnv5iKB2hl4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pnv5iKB2hl4
- beardicus 7y agothis has nothing to do with the state flag though, as far as i can tell. it seems like a decent branding system... not exactly titillating but better than i've seen in most other states.
- djsumdog 7y agoIt's better than their flag for sure, but it's still not all that great and they really should fix their flag. Tennessee and Texas are good examples of State Flags. When you drive through TN, the iconic three-star pattern is found on a lot of bridges and signs now (similar to the Chicago flag being seen everywhere around the city). Washington, by contrast, is a terrible terrible flag (flags shouldn't have words or state seals on them; you need to be able to identify them from a distance). This is an okay start, but it should have included a flag redesign with it that matches the new state branding.
- Aloha 7y agoRedesigning the flag is a politically fraught process.
- djsumdog 7y agoI wish NZ had switched out their flag. They shouldn't have had the current flag in the vote at all. The fern leaf would have been amazing. That being said, NZ has a recognizable flag (although it's too close to Australia's for sure) and it's not a bad one. By contrast Oklahoma's is really bad and I doubt there are many would would feel compelled to hang onto it if a new one was on the ballot in their next election.
- Aloha 7y agoI think for letterheads and buildings, its pretty good - even if I might prefer something more traditional.
- alpb 7y agoFunny enough this design isn't actually a "flag". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Oklahoma https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Oklahoma It's just a logo. So imagine you're walking by a government building –and the flag in front of it and the logo on the wall are different. For example, Chicago uses their flag as their branding so they don't need a separate logo. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Chicago https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Chicago
- jwally 7y agoWhy do you think it looks like a mall logo? /s https://www.gannett-cdn.com/presto/2019/03/19/PARN/1a0bebe2-46d2-4730-bda6-fbd44c937a69-Mall_of_Abilene_2019_DSC_5607.jpg?width=680&height=510&fit=bounds&auto=webp https://www.gannett-cdn.com/presto/2019/03/19/PARN/1a0bebe2-...
- holdenc 7y agoThe logo and typesetting is quite ok. But the "Our Photostyle" idea is just plain bad/confusing.
- tubbs 7y agoThis is what stuck out to me too. Given that there was next to no emphasis on this, I don't expect it to stick.
- crmrc114 7y agoI like it more than what we had in the past. I honestly expected a stereotype of an Indian on a horse or some crap like that. I am happy they actually picked something I can easily render in a vector format.
- thedance 7y agoIf it's so easy to render, why do these assets looks terrible? https://branding.ok.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/graphic-elem-files2.png https://branding.ok.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/graphic-e...
- crmrc114 7y agoDude its a government site hosted on a wordpress engine. What are you expecting? I am just happy its not all bitmaps asking for IE6. (My exceptions for my old home state are low)
- Moeancurly 7y agoIt's just an export mistake. Someone turned off anti-aliasing before exporting that PNG.
- protomyth 7y agoI honestly expected a stereotype of an Indian on a horse or some crap like that. Acknowledging that state's history and current legal situation isn't really crap. It would probably be nicer than this generic geometry.
- aquova 7y agoI'm of two minds of this. On the one hand, I think it's a visually appealing logo. I like the look of it and I think their designers have done well. On the other hand, it is pretty generic, and as a former Oklahoma resident, nothing about it really reminds me of the state. It's also very minimalist and modern, which is trendy now, but I wonder if it will still be appealing in the future, or just look dated. I'm also not entirely sure of what the role of a state's brand identify/logo is. Just for their tourism website? They aren't changing the seal or flag, or anything that actually looks related to the state government.
- mturmon 7y agoAs an occasional Oklahoma visitor, I always kind of liked the arrow sculpture ("Iron Feathers") outside the Will Rogers (OKC) airport: http://www.e-a-a.com/portfolios/iron-feathers-at-will-rogers-world-airport http://www.e-a-a.com/portfolios/iron-feathers-at-will-rogers... But if you look at that scuplture with a different light, it looks very lonely sitting out there in the plains: https://www.waymarking.com/gallery/image.aspx?f=1&guid=a50e1853-de64-4b12-9171-486916240db2 https://www.waymarking.com/gallery/image.aspx?f=1&guid=a50e1... About the present logo: the designers might have gone with a redder color for the dirt segment. I know what you mean about there not being enough concrete associations with the state to firmly anchor a logo.
- notatoad 7y agoMy province uses their brand in the same way any other corporate entity uses their logo - on their letterhead, signage, promotional materials, staff uniforms, and as a common element for all their various departments to share. As much as it seems like a bit of a waste of money for a government to worry about their brand, it's an efficiency over having the parks department come up with one brand and the highways department come up with another. They can both slap the same logo on the side of their trucks.
- ghaff 7y ago>It's also very minimalist and modern, which is trendy now, but I wonder if it will still be appealing in the future, or just look dated. Some of it is because of mobile. A lot of branding that looked good in print in 1970 doesn't work well when it's shrunk and displayed on a 5" screen. But the current style is towards minimalist and abstract which, as you say, can very easily come across as generic. The designers probably had various symbolism, etc. in mind but, absent context, the average viewer probably has no idea.
- Spooky23 7y agoThis field is so vague and lame now. Everyone basically copies the branding language from cable companies and telecom. Government in particular should have a aura of authority and stability. Making stuff look like a letter from Comcast is pretty meh.
- jariel 7y agoThis is a really good meta point. There's a weird kind of cultural secularity with branding these days, largely because every company wants to appeal to everyone on earth, so they take these plain, fairly benign shapes and forms. Though the logo is really quite nice, it's also fairly generic. It looks like a logo for a petrol company. I think states can safely stick to old-timey fonts and images if they want. It'd be nice to see some smart creative agencies take this issue on because I'll bet they've noticed the same.
- bjornjajajaja 7y agoYou know which state had the best designs? Nazi Germany. And their uniforms were impeccable. Sad that they destroyed the peaceful notion of the original symbolism. Then now we have Native American symbols stolen but the people murdered and forgotten. Strange world we live in.
- thedance 7y agoFascists have some great design chops. Check out the propaganda of Switzerland's SVP party. It is :100:.
- baud147258 7y agoI'd say communist propaganda posters are pretty good too.
- dreamcompiler 7y ago> It looks like a logo for a petrol company. To a very rough approximation, Oklahoma is a petrol company.
- djsumdog 7y agoTheir flag is terrible: https://duckduckgo.com/?q=oklahoma+flag&ia=images&iax=images https://duckduckgo.com/?q=oklahoma+flag&ia=images&iax=images 99% Invisible does a great episode on what makes a good flag, and why cities like Chicago, DC and Amsterdam have iconic, memorable flags: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pnv5iKB2hl4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pnv5iKB2hl4 https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/vexillonaire/ https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/vexillonaire/
- davidw 7y agoThe New Mexico flag is cited as being one of the better ones. Our flag in Oregon has two different sides, neither one of which is great.
- w-ll 7y agoI've always been a fan of South Carolina's flag. It's a moon and a palm tree.
- dx87 7y agoThat flag had always confused me because most flags with a crescent moon are from Islamic countries. Until I learned that it was the South Carolina flag, I always figured it was the flag of a country that had people frequently immigrating to the USA.
- w-ll 7y agoTo be honest, I didn't know the history of the flag until after your post. It makes more sense how the elements where from revolutionary war regiments fighting for the south. In stark contrast, for me, it's relaxing, like a memory of a warm summer night laying in a hammock. But then I guess, that might make it a bad design.
- dreamcompiler 7y agoI love the New Mexico flag. We use it everywhere here. It's beautiful and carries great symbolism, yet it's so simple every toddler can draw it from memory.
- nik736 7y agoThis looks completely terrible. Why are those "Graphic Elements" so pixelated?
- downerending 7y agoI don't dislike the concept, but I also notice the weird jaggies and bumps on the "graphic elements". Conceptually that should be six straight lines, but that's not how it's rendered.
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- Whut 7y agoI kind of looks like a logo for a hotel chain. I like minimal look, but it in no way makes me think of Oklahoma.
- thedance 7y agoWhat is a thing that instantly reminds you of Oklahoma, but isn't something negative like race riots, manmade earthquakes, teenage pregnancy, and domestic terrorism? Come to think of it the honest history of Oklahoma makes a hell of a flag.
- antidaily 7y agoLooks like a bid for the 2034 Winter Olympics.
- pacman128 7y agoSorta doubt this. OK would be one of the worst possible locations for a Winter Olympics. The Omnibus just did a podcast on the time someone tried to create a ski resort there: https://www.omnibusproject.com/231 https://www.omnibusproject.com/231 (Spoiler, it closed after 3 days.)
- Hitton 7y agoCompared to most government commissioned new brands I have seen recently it's definitely above average.
- leoh 7y agoLogo is ok. State seal is what really got me. It looks like something whipped up in illustrator in a couple hours.
- Aloha 7y agoThe state seal predates this redesign. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seal_of_Oklahoma https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seal_of_Oklahoma
- sp332 7y agoWhy did they change the shape of the star? The new logo uses a pentagram but the state seal doesn't.
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- munificent 7y agoI think all of this is a terrible visual design for a US state. But, wow, I do think the logotype is beautiful. The slightly dropped leg on the "K" to make "OK" stand out is very clever. The way the base of the "L" aligns with the "A" is nice. I like the slight informality on the leaning-in stems on the "M". Someone put a lot of love into this. It's too bad it looks like a gas station chain and not the gravitas and sense of place one wants for a US state, but it's pretty.
- dave5104 7y agoAt first I thought this was an Oklahoma tourism logo--which tend to be a little less "official" looking. But it doesn't seem like this is for the tourism board.
- Bedon292 7y agoWhile I agree someone certainly put a lot into the thought on the logotype, and it is interesting, I like none of it. It all feels inconsistent with itself and very wrong to me. Feels like three different parts, OK, LAHO, MA. The K splits the word for me. The M just feels too wide, and then the massive space between the M and the A is jarring to me. I do like the colors and options on the design though, its fun and interesting to me. Definitely doesn't feel like a state though, maybe a bank.
- munificent 7y ago> It all feels inconsistent with itself This is one of the fundamental challenges with typography and one of the things I find most fascinating about it as an art. There is an eternal tension between making the characters similar to each other so that the typeface matches as a whole, while making them distinct enough to be easily read and to give the typeface its character. People have different preferences here, but I personally like the balance they struck with this logotype.
- tallanvor 7y agoThe K dropping makes the lettering look... wobbly. Like the letters aren't aligned at all. It's not at all pleasant to look at.
- DanCarvajal 7y agoI'm from Oklahoma, and a graphic designer, I almost did a spit take laughing at how bad this is.
- snapetom 7y agoI like it. It's pretty, it's clean, and it's just the right amount of subtle recognition of its Native American history. Who cares if it's trendy? Whatever you design, thirty-forty years from now, people will be yammering about it's "dated look" anyway.
- dvtrn 7y agoReminds me of the submitted (but ultimately rejected) Chicago 2016 Olympics logo with the use of negative space surrounded by colors to reveal a shape inside. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago_bid_for_the_2016_Summer_Olympics https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago_bid_for_the_2016_Summe...
- sremani 7y agoOklahoma - The CLONE STAR STATE
- DHPersonal 7y agoI wondered if I was the only one to notice that the logo’s use of a lone star and Oklahoma’s proximity to Texas.
- notatoad 7y ago>To make sure it is visible and legible, the Oklahoma logo should never be used where the symbol is smaller than 1/4-inch tall in print materials. On digital applications, the Oklahoma logo should never be smaller than 36 px tall. ok, i wonder what alternative version they might suggest for smaller sizes. (checks the favicon) oh, i see...
- JSeymourATL 7y agoSimilar vibe to the ATL Logo > https://www.ajc.com/blog/commuting/atlanta-new-transit-logo-590-000-worth-optimism-momentum-guidance/Cd392huDbPJ0nMPdXcbjAO/ https://www.ajc.com/blog/commuting/atlanta-new-transit-logo-...
- simonsarris 7y agoOklahoma rebrands as a gas station that's going to the Olympics. If you haven't read Eli Schiff's great post on logo design, "You Could Almost Do Anything", you should: http://www.elischiff.com/blog/2016/4/12/do-almost-anything http://www.elischiff.com/blog/2016/4/12/do-almost-anything
- 80386 7y agoDo none of these designers travel? If you go to Amsterdam, you notice motifs from the flag of Amsterdam everywhere. They're everywhere because they're the sort of thing you can put everywhere. If you go to Bremen, you notice the Stadtmusikanten everywhere. The flag looks like the logo of an oil company, so nobody uses it. The Stadtmusikanten are a little complex, but they're there and they're at least not lame. You don't even have to go to Europe! What's Maryland's visual identity? The flag and a crab. You can't draw the flag from memory, but you know it when you see it, and it's not lame. It doesn't look like a gas station. You could throw a dart at a book of coats of arms and land on something better than this Oklahoma design. It may not make sense for Oklahoma, but people would read sense into it over time, like they did with the flag of Amsterdam. Or they wouldn't. The Maryland flag has a complicated history, but there's no meaning that can be read off it without knowing that history.
- vmchale 7y ago?? US government stuff at least has a sort of camp appeal, why tf does a state need a "brand identity"??
- blunte 7y agoIt's ok, but I wonder what they spent on that... and how important it was to spend tax money on it. (And I wonder if someone got a sweetheart deal to do the work...)
- awb 7y agoWhy do states need branding / logos / taglines? Why not just use the shape of the state and the name?
- walrus01 7y agoI find it impossible to look at one of these expensive, third party design firm created rebrandings and not think of the famous "Pepsi Gravitational Field" document. It shall forever remain a seminal satirical work in this genre. https://www.goldennumber.net/wp-content/uploads/pepsi-arnell-021109.pdf https://www.goldennumber.net/wp-content/uploads/pepsi-arnell...
- Gollapalli 7y agoAs an Okie, I'm not a huge fan of it. I think they ought to just use the emblem on their flag. As for the motto, it sounds like an apple knock off, or the motto for a design firm. Oklahoma isn't a design firm, it's a state.