Every day I encounter tons and tons of logos. It would be easy enough to vent about all the dreadful design out there. But most of the amateurish work out there is done by, well, amateurs. The real issue I have is with big, well-funded brands that should know better. I have picked out ten such logos (OK, 12) that are desperately in need of a redesign.
#10: MTV
MTV started out playing music videos…and lots of music. Now, it’s all reality shows. In fact, they recently announced that they would be adding 16 new reality shows which is a far cry from the days of yore (yes, yore) when it was music videos all the time. Sure, all those reality shows feature music, but when was the last time you saw an entire music video on the channel?
That being said, let’s get to the logo. Is this the logo of a reality channel for teens and 20 somethings? Staring at this logo for a while, it begins to feel like a comp. Even if they still played lots of music, I don’t think the logo works. It doesn’t really say music or tv…well, aside from the “music television” beneath it.
#9: Colgate
For a company that makes something that you clean your teeth with, this logo makes me want to barf. It’s boring. Someone used a bold, italic, san serif typeface and added a fake shadow to it. They couldn’t even be bothered to do anything to the registered mark. This logo has been the same for as long as I can remember. I’m sure at the time this came out, it was daring and different, but it no longer feels that way. The sad part is that I use colgate bt i always keep the side with the logo facedown…i can’t bear to look at it.
#8: Stop & Shop
The last Stop & Shop logo wasn’t all that spectacular. They just recently rebranded. I just don’t get this. It looks like fruit salad. I see no stopping and I see no shopping. It has a very young/juvenile feel to it. Maybe if the colors weren’t as bright, it might be a little more pleasing. If you stare at it long enough, it sort of looks like a baby carriage with the top being pulled down…or back…but why is there a baby carriage? Then that makes me think of babies sitting in the carriages that you put your food in and lots of germs…and that’s not a place where i want to buy my food.
#7: Kohl’s
I feel like they forgot the apostrophe until it was too late.
#6: Variety
Mostly Hollywood types read this…of course, on my Google homepage I have my alerts (I like to be in the know.) Sure, there are some quirky letters (a variety, if you will,) but it doesn’t have any entertainment feel to it. Maybe it’s just one of those logos that we’ve all grown accustomed to, so it’s almost comfortable. But, well, it’s ugly. It actually looks like the square root of ariety.
#5: Bic
Umm, no. A nerdy school boy with eyes on his knees, a giant 8 ball for a head, no neck and a pen the size of a ski hidden behind his back. And then we can’t forget (or avoid) the HUMONGOUS letters that are italic and misproportioned. I usually like retro…there’s just too much going on…and it’s not good.
#4: Sanyo + Cox Communications
These Wolverine slash letters are a bad trend. It’s distracting. and you can’t reproduce it when it’s tiny (see cell phones.)
#3 PETA & ACER
I don’t get the lighter weighted “e” in either of these. And they’re both italic. Seriously, who thought either of these were good ideas?
#2: Bed Bath & Beyond
Must. Keep. From. Gouging. Out. Eyes.
I blame “beyond.” Nobody knows how to represent that. But stretching it?
#1: Google
I might be in the minority here but this is one FUGLY logo. Dimensional letters, an ugly font a multitude of colors and a drop shadow. I know that the logo changes on special occasions, which is all very well, but I think everybody gets excited about that because the regular logo is just so ugly. It feels harsh and jagged and not the internet juggernaut that it is. Just. Plain. Wrong.
The thing that gets me about Bed Bath & Beyond is the missing comma. Bed, Bath & Beyond makes so much more sense to me.
Is that an 8 ball on the Bic man’s head? I always thought it represented an uneven dot created by a crappy ballpoint pen.
I agree with you in all cases except for MTV. You’ve picked a bad example, but it’s a great logo. Their site show it off real well, too. Just hit refresh on the homepage about 30 times.
http://www.mtv.com/
I like Wolverine… What’s the problem here?
ouch. my eyes hurt from scrolling through that.