I’m sitting here at Starbucks, wondering what the heck is going on up in Seattle. I don’t like to criticize other designers’ work. Redesigning a logo for a very visible brand like Seattle’s Best Coffee just doesn’t happen. There has to be a lot of thought behind any new brand marketing program. Well, one would think. I honestly don’t understand the direction Starbucks has taken with their new Seattle’s Best logo. A logo is much more than a pretty design. A logo is a big part of a brand’s identity. This new logo is hard to figure out. I don’t understand why. It seems to have destroyed any brand equity Seattle’s Best may have enjoyed in an increasingly crowded market.

The new logo is very controversial. I’m not the only one who thinks so. Many think it looks like a logo for a blood bank. I have to agree, It does look like a drip into a pool of blood. Starbucks press release states, “The new brand direction will bring a simplified approach to the coffee category in all the ways it will touch the customer.”

The corporate release goes on further to justify the logo elements by explaining:

“The new Seattle’s Best Coffee logo maintains the brand’s historic association with its name and the color red while assembling a number of universal coffee symbols, such as a drop and a cup, in an unexpected way.”

I think they should check their universal symbols manual. Red with a drip equals blood. Black and a drip would say ink or oil. Maybe brown might have communicated coffee. I do think they were right to say they used symbolism “in an unexpected way.” Unexpected does not mean it’s good. You have a better chance of success if you go with what is appropriate. I’m having a hard time finding the logic behind anything I see here. Graphic symbols are very powerful design elements. They can and do evoke emotional response. Take a look at these examples:

Best I can tell the direction is to take Seattle’s Best Corporate. The degree to which this brand identity has been simplified may only work for a corporation like Enron. To the consumer it can feel like a generic product found at Target or Safeway. It does not say quality. It’s cold, and sanitized. What was wrong with the old logo?

The best I can tell the new intent of the direction is fueled by a corporate desire to increase franchising. So this may explain a logo that is more appealing to corporate investors than coffee lovers.

One final note, I feel that this is a push into a market segment that Dunkin’ Donuts has been able to exploit. But did this new logo have to use a similar rounded sans serif font. Seems like a lack of originality. This just doesn’t work for me; this is visibility below the noise. Not a way to rise above the competition. Although, if this was a way to get attention it has done it’s job.

Toyota has had a lot of issues recently that have been front-and-center in the news. But when I saw their “Swagger Wagon Music Video” I forgot all about their recent problems. It almost makes owning a mini van cool. We all want to believe we’re still cool, regardless of the car seats, and spilled juice boxes. I’ve been there, and there was nothing cool about owning a minivan. Regardless, Toyota pokes fun a this. Creating an attitude that says I still can have style, this is how I roll. Great Video.

Always searching the internet for something fresh and inspiring. Eyemagazine’s blog happened to catch my attention on this rainy Monday morning. In their 2009 archives I found a blog post about LP album cover art. Yes, I have come to find out that vinyle still lives. Although in somewhat obscurity. With this knowledge I realize that with every album comes a cover. I always thaught it would be cool to have an opportunity to design art for an album cover. But around the time I entered the design profession albums srunk to the CD format and cover art never seemed to have the same impact. There is something to be said about that. Today I buy music online. But I never really feel as strong of a connections as what I had in the good ol’ days. Kicking back in a Bean-bag chair, grooving to some tunes and getting lost gazing at the cover art and reading the liner notes. It goes deaper than that. From a branding standpoint we loose even more of a connection. I have a hard time visualizing what is in my MP3 collection. It’s hard to be left with a lasting impression from a thumbnail image. Back in the day you could never forget a YES album with it’s fantisy landscapes by Roger Dean artwork. Or even the lack of any art, The Beatle’s White album, was great marketing.

So if you get a chance venture over to Best Art Vinyl 2009 is an award

This is a very interesting news report from 1993.  It was Mosaic that made the world wide web accessible to the average person with a computer. In February 1993, Mosaic introduced support for sound, video clips, forms support, bookmarks, and history files, and quickly became the most popular non-commercial web browser. Where were you when you first heard about the “internet”? I honestly can’t remember. It just seems like it was here one day. This little thing called the internet. We brought it into our homes like a little lost kitten. We fell in love with it. Our new little pet soon grew… bigger than we could imagine.

In less than 10 years from the time I graduated college my profession had two major revolutions that would change the industry. First was the introduction of Desktop Publishing in 1985 and then there came the internet in 1993.