Re-reading my post about SDCC ’09, I couldn’t help but marvel at the Google logo celebrating the famed event. I have always had a fascination with Google specialty logos – you can’t help but admit that some of them are outright clever.

From a designer’s perspective, Dennis Hwang has to have one of the most coveted jobs in the world. With over a hundred million visitors a day, the lone image on Google.com is one of the most-viewed on the planet – what type of graphic artist wouldn’t want that kind of exposure?

(Random tangent: there is a one-third chance that I am related to Mr. Hwang, as the Korean surname Hwang, which makes up roughly 1.5% of the South Korean population, can be traced back to only 3 separate lineages. Compare that to Lee, with 241 lineages, or Kim, with a staggering 348 lineages!)

Being an obsessively annoying list-maker, I have decided to compile a list of my favorite 30 Google logos, in reverse chronological order…

1. July 23, 2009: San Diego Comic-Con ’09

 

2. April 27, 2009: Samuel F. B. Morse’s birthday

3. March 20, 2009: first day of spring (in the style of The Very Hungry Caterpillar)

 

4. March 14, 2009: Giovanni Schiaparelli’s birthday

 

5. March 2, 2009: Theodor Seuss Geisel (Dr. Seuss)’s birthday

 

6. January 28, 2009: Jackson Pollock’s birthday

 

7. January 1, 2009: New Years Day ’09

 

8. December 21, 2008: in celebration of the holidays

 

9. November 21, 2008: René Magritte’s birthday

 

10. November 4, 2008: Election Day ’08

 

11. October 31, 2008: Halloween ’08

12. September 10, 2008: CERN’s Large Hadron Collider is switched on
(also see In Case the World Comes to an End Tomorrow…)

 

13. August 8, 2008: the opening ceremonies of the 2008 Beijing Olympics
(Google created a series of logos in celebration of the 2008 Olympics. Go here to see them all.)

 

14. July 29, 2008: the 50th anniversary of NASA

 

15. July 7, 2008: Marc Chagall’s birthday

16. July 4, 2008: Independence Day ’08

 

17. June 6, 2008: Diego Velázquez’s birthday

 

18. May 22, 2008: Doodle 4 Google ’08 winner (by Grace Moon)

 

19. May 16, 2008: the first laser demonstrated 48 years ago

 

20. January 28, 2008: the 50th anniversary of LEGO

 

21. December 12, 2006: Edvard Munch’s birthday

 

22. April 20, 2006: Joan Miro’s birthday

 

23. January 27, 2006: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s birthday

 

24. January 4, 2006: Louis Braille’s birthday

 

25. April 15, 2005: Leonardo da Vinci’s birthday

 

26. March 30, 2005: Vincent van Gogh’s birthday

 

27. April 25, 2003: 50th annivesary of understanding DNA

 

28. March 14, 2003: Albert Einstein’s birthday

 

29. May 20, 2002: Dilbert Google Doodle
(Dilbert creator Scott Adams created a series of logos for this workweek. Go here for the full series.)

 

30. August 15, 2001: Korean Liberation Day ’01

 

Do you have any favorite Google logos that you think belongs on this list?

 

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ETA: Reader graphicnatured pointed me to illustrator Tyler Jordan’s masterpiece, which rose to fame on Digg and won a contest to re-design the Google logo:

Thanks for the heads-up, graphicnatured!

First, a sprained wrist (it hurt to type) and now a bad cold (I think).

I will be back when I’m feeling better.

For now, I leave you with this right-up-my-alley article from the NYTimes:

Super Bowl Logos Reflect N.F.L.’s Growth and Design Trends

Tomorrow night I will be rooting for the Cardinals. Not only because Kurt Warner is a Christian, or the fact that my husband hates the Steelers with a passion…but because it is always more fun to root for the underdogs.

Let’s go Cards!

Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign was one of the most prolific and viral in American history.

And never before had a logo been so prominently and massively been used in a presidental election.

Designed by Sender LLC in Chicago, the logo consists of an O with the center suggesting a sun rising over fields in the colors of the American flag:

Sol Sender, the creative lead in the Obama ’08 logo, was recently interviewed about the strategy and process behind the project. You can watch the videos here (and I wholly recommend watching the video for all logo/branding freaks like myself).

What I, and LogoDesignLove, found interesting are the other logos that were up for consideration. My two favorites of the bunch that did not make the final three are:

I especially like the clever use of the “Ob” shadowing “08″ on the first one!

The three finalists were:

As you can see, the original version of the final logo had a more symmetrical and less friendly feel.

I find it fascinating that the final three are so different from each other. From my experience with branding/logos, the finalists are usually similar, or at least express the same emotion. But the emotions triggered by these three are (in order): optimism, bold playfulness, and a resigned hope.

Needless to say, the final version of the third finalist conveys the one-word slogan “Change” much better than its original.

And I have to say this logo is my favorite of the bunch.

Kudos to Sender LLC and the Obama campaign!

[all images courtesy of LogoDesignLove]

Two of the most recognizable logos in N. America have announced drastic facelifts.

First up is Pepsi.

The new Pepsi logo will be skewed in order to resemble a smile:

Pepsi, Diet Pepsi, and Pepsi Max will have different variations of the smile. According to AdAge, “a ‘smile’ will characterise brand Pepsi, while a ‘grin’ is used for Diet Pepsi and a ‘laugh’ is used for Pepsi Max.”

Over the next three years, Pepsi plans on spending $1.2 billion to change everything about its brands – their looks, packaging, and merchandising.

As if that wasn’t enough, Mountain Dew will be rebranded Mtn Dew (perhaps to appeal to the younger, texting crowd?):

My thoughts on Pepsi’s rebranding: I don’t like it.

Last summer, Coca Cola underwent a redesign and came out triumphant. Taking away the superfluous swishes, swirls, and fizzes, it delivered one of the strongest testaments to its brand in the company’s history.

Perhaps Pepsi was trying to take a cue from its biggest competitor. Citing the current economic situation as the driving force behind the rebranding, Pepsi tries to mimic Coca Cola’s design success and miserably fails.

Sure, the new design is more modern, more chic, more hip. However, those words are not always the best choice of adjectives for a 100+ years old company that is synonymous with American culture.

The new bottles look more like space-age energy drinks, if you ask me.

Let’s move on to the next brand on our list: Best Buy.

From the before and after shots, it is obvious that Best Buy aimed to draw away from its outdated and garish logo.

I actually like the overall look of the new logo. It’s clean, modern, and plays homage to the old logo.

However, something nagged at me as soon as I laid my eyes on the new logo and I couldn’t figure out why.

Then, while searching for images of the new logo, it hit me.

The typeface.

I had written about the power of a typeface before.

In this case, the typeface does not work with the logo.

It is an indecisive font, neither new nor particularly striking. It is inconsistent in its ends and corners, giving the viewer an unsettled feeling.

Too bad, because the rest of the logo isn’t horrible.

What do you think of Pepsi and Best Buy’s new logos?

(via Brand Infection – Pepsi, Best Buy)

(Posting will be light this week as I’m very busy at work and I’m feeling under the weather. There’s something nasty going around…please stay safe and healthy!)

My design aesthetics change from time to time, but generally I tend to stick to functional and minimalistic designs.

It is for this reason that I do not like Design*Sponge. I feel almost sacrilege saying this, because it is one of the most popular design blogs on the web. However, their favorites and featured items/artists are usually a bit too much for me.

In my opinion, the top ten design (or design-related) blogs are, in alphabetical order:

1. Better Living Through Design
2. COLOURlovers
3. Core77
4. LifeClever
5. Lifehacker
6. Logo Design Love
7. plastolux
8. Smashing Magazine
9. The DesignAddict Blog
10. Webdistortion Blog

Do you know of any blogs that should be on this list?