8 ms·

Who cares? It says Oxford University Press which is the important part. The little image above it is just fluff and literally doesn't matter. I certainly wouldn

Who cares? It says Oxford University Press which is the important part. The little image above it is just fluff and literally doesn't matter. I certainly wouldn't call it 'unfathomably bad' considering it's not a child's drawing or a some obscene gesture.

Apofis 4y ago
I can't open a logo generating website and not get that as a result. It's trash.
hackeraccount 4y ago
It's probably good for a few seconds of confusion on the part of people who see the logo and don't recognize it because it looks like a zillion other logos and has no continuity with the old logo. So no big deal. Although. There is Steve Jobs line. Where's he's trying to get engineers on the original Mac to eek out just a slight faster boot. We're going to sell 100 million of these things, can you make it boot 25 seconds faster? If you do that will save cumulatively 90 years worth of time. That's a human life. Can you save a human life! I mean it's dumb and maybe funny but a minor annoyance over a long enough time and enough people could be worth complaining about.
tablespoon 4y ago
> Who cares? It says Oxford University Press which is the important part. The little image above it is just fluff and literally doesn't matter. I certainly wouldn't call it 'unfathomably bad' considering it's not a child's drawing or a some obscene gesture. It's modernist, minimalist crap, indistinguishable from all the other modernist, minimalist crap. Everyone might as well rebrand as solid-color circle distinguished by a numerically unique RGB value. Their old logo was much better, since it harkens back to a literal coat of arms, which isn't something you see every day.
- pvg 4y ago
  which isn't something you see every day. Undoubtedly influenced by Oxford and Cambridge but it's a design style adopted by so many universities it's practically generic for 'some sort of university thing logo'. I don't have strong feelings about the new logo either way but the idea the old one is some distinctive masterpiece seems misplaced.
  - porknubbins 4y ago
    When you’re one of the oldest universities in the world though, I think sticking with the old logo conveys a subtle gravitas and confidence in your legacy, much more than constant rebranding that says “look at me”.
    - pvg 4y ago
      I'm not sure it's obvious it conveys anything beside 'looks like everyone else'. It's like the GP comment complaining about 'modernist, minimalist crap, indistinguishable from all the other modernist, minimalist crap' never ran across one of the most recognizable university press marks out there: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MIT_Press#/media/File:MIT_Press_logo_(black).svg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MIT_Press#/media/File:MIT_Pres...
      - porknubbins 4y ago
        Yes I don’t think there is anything obvious here, de gustibus non disputatum after all. I am a big fan of modernism even minimalism done well. MIT is an engineering school and its logo fits. I just object to lazy or default minimalism.
- louthy 4y ago
  > It's modernist, minimalist crap, indistinguishable from all the other modernist, minimalist crap Which is, like, just your opinion, man.
  - tarboreus 4y ago
    Pretty good opinion, though.
- mikkergp 4y ago
  > Their old logo was much better, since it harkens back to a literal coat of arms, which isn't something you see every day. Maybe here not there, but A quick google search suggests a university with a coat of arms logo is very common.
- tomtheelder 4y ago
  > a literal coat of arms, which isn't something you see every day Except that a coat of arms has got to be THE most common logo for anything university related. I don't like the new one at all, but if you'd showed me the old one and asked me what it was for I'd have had no idea. Not memorable or recognizable at all, even if it is their coat of arms.
  - tablespoon 4y ago
    > Except that a coat of arms has got to be THE most common logo for anything university related. And the generic geometric object with some subtle styling has got to be THE most common logo for anything period.
- neuralRiot 4y ago
  To me the old logo had some meaning, the new, is just one more tryng to fit in an app icon.
jurip 4y ago
Presumably the people at OUP do care, because they actually paid for it. That's the author's point: if you are trying to signal something with a rebrand, how about putting the money into the actual thing instead of going through a pointless rebranding exercise and losing your identity in the process?
irrational 4y ago
I care. I own a number of Oxford press books. The old logo says to me “serious, distinguished, trustworthy, academic, has been around long enough to be taken seriously, etc.” The new logo is not one I could take seriously.
- sbuk 4y ago
  If you're buying books based on the logo, you're doing it very wrong.
heurisko 4y ago
It's lost history. The Latin text on the old logo connects the present with the past. There would have been thousands of instances where people would have thought "what does that mean" and have a browse through history. Airbrushed and homogenised in favour of a tire.
- kahirsch 4y ago
  What does "DOMI NUSILLU MINA TIOMEA" mean?
  - deanmen 4y ago
    DOMINUS ILLUMINATIO MEA = The Lord is my light
- readthenotes1 4y ago
  That history represents 400 years of colonialism. Latin represents classism and racism and denies the history of billions of marginalized peoples. Thus, it must change because the purpose of a university is not to retain cultures and histories when no one else cares, it's not to improve the mental capabilities of the students. It purpose instead is to pursue equity in 2 senses: no especially talented people of the wrong* parents are allowed to gain inordinate skills and the foundation makes gobs of money. (*) Determination of wrongness changes over time, and the adage "2 wrongs don't make a right" is considered tomfoolery.
  - heurisko 4y ago
    > That history represents 400 years of colonialism. Latin represents classism and racism and denies the history of billions of marginalized peoples. Do the marginalised peoples include the native Britons who were conquered by the Romans? Or is there a cut off point in your view of history? If the now native Britons, like me, want to retain links to the past, then should that be disallowed? I like the Latin inscription, as it keeps a connection with the past. Good and bad, it is history I want to be connected to. I find the idea that it needs to be airbrushed bizarre, and the idea that Latin is solely a tool of "oppression" a complete misreading of history.
layer8 4y ago
If it doesn’t matter, why change it, or why have a logo at all?
ratg13 4y ago
It doesn't seem you fully grasp the concept of brand recognition. Spend some time researching the subject and it will make more sense.

Apofis 4y ago

I can't open a logo generating website and not get that as a result. It's trash.

hackeraccount 4y ago

It's probably good for a few seconds of confusion on the part of people who see the logo and don't recognize it because it looks like a zillion other logos and has no continuity with the old logo. So no big deal. Although. There is Steve Jobs line. Where's he's trying to get engineers on the original Mac to eek out just a slight faster boot. We're going to sell 100 million of these things, can you make it boot 25 seconds faster? If you do that will save cumulatively 90 years worth of time. That's a human life. Can you save a human life! I mean it's dumb and maybe funny but a minor annoyance over a long enough time and enough people could be worth complaining about.

tablespoon 4y ago

> Who cares? It says Oxford University Press which is the important part. The little image above it is just fluff and literally doesn't matter. I certainly wouldn't call it 'unfathomably bad' considering it's not a child's drawing or a some obscene gesture. It's modernist, minimalist crap, indistinguishable from all the other modernist, minimalist crap. Everyone might as well rebrand as solid-color circle distinguished by a numerically unique RGB value. Their old logo was much better, since it harkens back to a literal coat of arms, which isn't something you see every day.

pvg 4y ago
which isn't something you see every day. Undoubtedly influenced by Oxford and Cambridge but it's a design style adopted by so many universities it's practically generic for 'some sort of university thing logo'. I don't have strong feelings about the new logo either way but the idea the old one is some distinctive masterpiece seems misplaced.
- porknubbins 4y ago
  When you’re one of the oldest universities in the world though, I think sticking with the old logo conveys a subtle gravitas and confidence in your legacy, much more than constant rebranding that says “look at me”.
  - pvg 4y ago
    I'm not sure it's obvious it conveys anything beside 'looks like everyone else'. It's like the GP comment complaining about 'modernist, minimalist crap, indistinguishable from all the other modernist, minimalist crap' never ran across one of the most recognizable university press marks out there: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MIT_Press#/media/File:MIT_Press_logo_(black).svg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MIT_Press#/media/File:MIT_Pres...
    - porknubbins 4y ago
      Yes I don’t think there is anything obvious here, de gustibus non disputatum after all. I am a big fan of modernism even minimalism done well. MIT is an engineering school and its logo fits. I just object to lazy or default minimalism.
louthy 4y ago
> It's modernist, minimalist crap, indistinguishable from all the other modernist, minimalist crap Which is, like, just your opinion, man.
- tarboreus 4y ago
  Pretty good opinion, though.
mikkergp 4y ago
> Their old logo was much better, since it harkens back to a literal coat of arms, which isn't something you see every day. Maybe here not there, but A quick google search suggests a university with a coat of arms logo is very common.
tomtheelder 4y ago
> a literal coat of arms, which isn't something you see every day Except that a coat of arms has got to be THE most common logo for anything university related. I don't like the new one at all, but if you'd showed me the old one and asked me what it was for I'd have had no idea. Not memorable or recognizable at all, even if it is their coat of arms.
- tablespoon 4y ago
  > Except that a coat of arms has got to be THE most common logo for anything university related. And the generic geometric object with some subtle styling has got to be THE most common logo for anything period.
neuralRiot 4y ago
To me the old logo had some meaning, the new, is just one more tryng to fit in an app icon.

jurip 4y ago

Presumably the people at OUP do care, because they actually paid for it. That's the author's point: if you are trying to signal something with a rebrand, how about putting the money into the actual thing instead of going through a pointless rebranding exercise and losing your identity in the process?

irrational 4y ago

I care. I own a number of Oxford press books. The old logo says to me “serious, distinguished, trustworthy, academic, has been around long enough to be taken seriously, etc.” The new logo is not one I could take seriously.

sbuk 4y ago
If you're buying books based on the logo, you're doing it very wrong.

heurisko 4y ago

It's lost history. The Latin text on the old logo connects the present with the past. There would have been thousands of instances where people would have thought "what does that mean" and have a browse through history. Airbrushed and homogenised in favour of a tire.

kahirsch 4y ago
What does "DOMI NUSILLU MINA TIOMEA" mean?
- deanmen 4y ago
  DOMINUS ILLUMINATIO MEA = The Lord is my light
readthenotes1 4y ago
That history represents 400 years of colonialism. Latin represents classism and racism and denies the history of billions of marginalized peoples. Thus, it must change because the purpose of a university is not to retain cultures and histories when no one else cares, it's not to improve the mental capabilities of the students. It purpose instead is to pursue equity in 2 senses: no especially talented people of the wrong* parents are allowed to gain inordinate skills and the foundation makes gobs of money. (*) Determination of wrongness changes over time, and the adage "2 wrongs don't make a right" is considered tomfoolery.
- heurisko 4y ago
  > That history represents 400 years of colonialism. Latin represents classism and racism and denies the history of billions of marginalized peoples. Do the marginalised peoples include the native Britons who were conquered by the Romans? Or is there a cut off point in your view of history? If the now native Britons, like me, want to retain links to the past, then should that be disallowed? I like the Latin inscription, as it keeps a connection with the past. Good and bad, it is history I want to be connected to. I find the idea that it needs to be airbrushed bizarre, and the idea that Latin is solely a tool of "oppression" a complete misreading of history.

layer8 4y ago

If it doesn’t matter, why change it, or why have a logo at all?

ratg13 4y ago

It doesn't seem you fully grasp the concept of brand recognition. Spend some time researching the subject and it will make more sense.