Why Change and How Much? On Logotype Design by Adam Rotmil

They say the devil’s in the details, and the importance

of details is rarely as obvious as it is in the world of branding.

This section sponsored by Veer

Logotypes are the central part of most visual identity systems. In designing them, a common approach is to start with a time-tested typeface and alter it to express specific brand attributes. This is a double-edged sword. One strong alteration makes a logo memorable, keeps it readable and builds equity, but it also carries a risk. For example, if it looks similar to a controversial company, it creates an unwanted illusion of association. Because a brand is the entire bundle of thoughts and feelings people have about you, it takes nerve to stick with what you’ve got in the face of adversity.

As well, people like reading what they’re used to. With excessive alterations, the result becomes too unfamiliar, and as distinct as it may be, it’s harder to read. You should narrowly define what makes your logotype unique and leave the rest alone, natural to the writing system employed. This intensifies the visual distinction, keeps the typography readable, and helps people remember your brand.

A Brand’s Aura

All brands have multinational audiences via contemporary media, wanted or not. Consider the variety of writing systems around the world: we all attempt to give meaning to what we see, and the further from the familiar a language is, the more difficult it is to relate to it. If you can’t read Thai, it might as well be cake decoration (the reverse is also true). Notably, people who can’t read Thai can recognize the Coca-Cola logo in that writing system. Why? Because it recalls familiar attributes that we’ve seen in a known language. Dell also kept the core of its visual identity intact, wisely taking the long view.

 
This is particularly important for identity revitalization, such as Apple’s glossy change when it released the iMac. Paul Rand said the IBM stripes have nothing to do with computation, per se; he simply solved the problem of placing a wide letter M next to narrower letters. But whatever the genesis, we associate sensory cues with our experiences and understanding of brands. Whether visual or otherwise, it’s crucial for brands to build cues that people can remember and stick with them, whatever cosmetic changes come and go.

Suppose you actually want ambiguity. Consider Xe Services, formerly known as Blackwater. They sought a non-evaluative rebranding, and apart from sounding Orwellian, that strategic error recalls “the artist formerly known as Prince.” It is better to make oneself well understood on one’s own terms; otherwise, what you get is whatever people decide you are. Most people don’t know Dell is the founder’s real name. To this day, The New York Times refers to Xe Services as “formerly known as Blackwater.” Common newspaper headlines have been: “The Whores of War: America’s Hired Guns” (The Sunday Herald, 27 September 2007), and “What if Our Mercenaries Turn on Us?” (The New York Times, 3 June, 2007). Verbal and moral issues aside, let’s focus on the visual balance between distinction and readability, which applies to all logotypes.

A Brand’s Details

Compare the logotypes for these two Japanese companies, Komatsu and Kubota. Both use the Latin alphabet rather than Chinese characters. Both companies deal with construction machinery, such as machinery for digging and lifting. In the case of Komatsu, the single alteration suggests lifting, which invokes purpose. The remaining letters are simplified enough so that the whole word is perceived simultaneously; it is helpful to think of the word-shape as one complex letter. In contrast, the Kubota logo looks like holes have been dug out of the words. Kubota achieves the same unification as Komatsu, but at what cost? Compared to Kubota, the Komatsu example shows that one key alteration is enough.

The challenge is compounded when a letter is replaced by a different glyph. Native speakers can bridge the gap, but for non-native speakers, I suggest limiting the technique. If the words are simple and familiar, people will understand. If they are complex or arbitrary, your audience may see a few letters, then a picture, and then more letters. You can lose cohesion. I designed this example for a partner in Tokyo, knowing most in the audience are native Japanese speakers who have a working knowledge of English.

For designers: test the proposed logotype in its expected applications, and see if it feels right. Show it to people outside your neighbourhood, even outside your country. See if people who aren’t designers point out something you’ve missed. If a pattern emerges in the feedback, it could be important. Even if your client doesn’t consider itself international, it goes a long way to say you’ve shown the design to people in 20 countries, and took global issues into account. Even if your client can’t afford a deep study, this still may help you make better choices within your studio.

A Better Choice

What is a better choice, exactly? Typeface designer Eric Gill famously asked about when an A stops being an A and becomes an H. It’s hard to say. Linguists are exploring when grains of sand become a pile; something they call semantic ambiguity. They are focused on oral, rather than textual, communication. Visual questions are left to designers and others who work with typography. And these questions are simply too complex for science to answer. Cognitive scientists are hardly able to explain why we can perceive contiguous dots as a line. With science, we don’t know what a line is; in graphic design, we do.

That’s why we should use our intuition, rather than logic. Thinking is fine, but to make better choices, we need to feel.

Adam Rotmil is principal at Adam Rotmil Partners, a brand strategy and design firm. Adam is based in Japan and partners with niche experts worldwide.

Comments

Louis Louna

October 12, 2010 01:22 PM

humbug

October 13, 2010 12:49 PM

Adam Rotmil

October 20, 2010 06:53 AM

Si

November 01, 2010 09:02 PM

Adam Rotmil

November 03, 2010 04:13 AM