4 ms·

I got to spend an afternoon entertaining a logo designer a few years ago. It was really fun and educational. I had some sense of _cool_ logos, and why the FedEx

by jfoutz 3y ago

I got to spend an afternoon entertaining a logo designer a few years ago. It was really fun and educational. I had some sense of _cool_ logos, and why the FedEx logo was so neat. Learning from that guy though was really eye opening. He had a fondness for the I guess 60's ish design. How do you make something that looks good on the side of a pen, and also looks good on the side of a plane? .5 cm to 5m maybe? familiar? recognizable? This one is a cute puzzle. It doesn't do much for me, but I'd bet back in the day it was amazing to see a company as uptight and powerful as IBM doing something, I guess, whimsical. Yeah, that tape drive is full of dull grey boring tax records. But it's got a sense of humor about it. Logo's are tricky. A good design guideline book is a pretty amazing thing, and there's some of that in the do's and don'ts section. There's something comforting (to my disorganized programmer mind) about seeing the idea fully thought out, how it's supposed to be, and stuff to not do.

thrtythreeforty 3y ago
The design do's and don'ts always stress me out because once I know the rules, I can't un-see all the violations coworkers make, even if I do my best. Former coworkers will probably recall that I was quite the stickler for the particular shade of red at a previous startup. I hope I didn't get on too many people's nerves :)
- jfoutz 3y ago
  You did the right thing. Stay strong! When it's all uniform and consistent it's magic. When it's mushy and weird, it's a lot less magic.
- quickthrower2 3y ago
  Where is a good place to learn?
- pmontra 3y ago
  Some dos and don'ts change over the year. The modern fashion of colorful gradients was frowned upon in the 90s and 2000s as cheap, amateurish, gross. But time passes, memory fade, eventually to stand out you have to start with something from far enough in the past. Rules about scaling logos and making them work in monochrome and color are constant though.

by jfoutz 3y ago

thrtythreeforty 3y ago

The design do's and don'ts always stress me out because once I know the rules, I can't un-see all the violations coworkers make, even if I do my best. Former coworkers will probably recall that I was quite the stickler for the particular shade of red at a previous startup. I hope I didn't get on too many people's nerves :)

jfoutz 3y ago
You did the right thing. Stay strong! When it's all uniform and consistent it's magic. When it's mushy and weird, it's a lot less magic.
quickthrower2 3y ago
Where is a good place to learn?
pmontra 3y ago
Some dos and don'ts change over the year. The modern fashion of colorful gradients was frowned upon in the 90s and 2000s as cheap, amateurish, gross. But time passes, memory fade, eventually to stand out you have to start with something from far enough in the past. Rules about scaling logos and making them work in monochrome and color are constant though.