Here is an article talking about logo trends in 2009 on LogoLounge.com. It's worth for designers to read it!
By Bill Garder
These are austere times, but the logos recently loaded onto LogoLounge.com – nearly 35,000 since 2008 – certainly do not reflect it. And that is how it should be continue to be. Wary homage may be paid to marketing in lean times, but not to identity design. This are two wholly different efforts with different goals. It should set a long-term course for clients, not fall into pits carved out by economic phases. The most recent uploads to the site still have a vibrancy of colour and energy that bucks what in past years might have been considered proper corporate behaviour. They set a very optimistic course.
This seventh annual trend report, as always, is as much a forecast as it is a study of the past 12 months. The past informas the future, and the recent past has such momentum that designers would be well-advised to stay this course, even when clients are only maintaining the brands they have, not creating new ones. Business may be slow, but it does not have to be dull.
In preparation for the fifth LogoLounge book, we studied and organized thousands upon thousands of new designs. As always, it's exciting to see new directions emerging. These lead to even newer meanders and connections.
One such direction is that the use of type and text is clearly more critical. Words carry a more concise message. They convey specific rather than generic information.
The increased use of text in identity design takes several forms. A designer may choose to create a wordmark, but also include the mission statement or tagline in the design. Or, he may fill a shape or symbols with more words. People are busy; money is tight. Logos must be interpreted, and interpretation takes time. Words deliver their message immediately.
Another clear direction is the increased chroma of colour. Everywhere, there is a brave use of hue, even in the most unexpected places, such as in the identities of very large and conservative clients.
There's another very small item on the horizon that may have a gigantic effect on logo design in the future. When Google introduced its new favicon at the start of 2009, it was a very visible reminder of how powerful that tiny piece of real estated really is. The favicon may turn out to be a measuring stick against which the success of any new logo design might be measured – as in, can this logo be made to fit in a 15 x 15-pixel square?
The 15 trends that follow are not instructions, rules or indeed any finite accounting of all of the logo trends currently in motion. Many trends shared in previous reports are indeed still in motion.
These trends are offered as an objective report of the newest, most relevant directions. They should serve as traction in moving you forward in identity design. Revisit the full collection of the past six years' worth of trends reports at LogoLounge.com for even more context.
PhotoFill
Photography is in no way new to visual branding, although traditionally images of this nature were iconic shots of a subject or a scene. Photo images have now partnered up and been hybridized with vector based images to create a new genre.
Technologically, this was an impractical union in years past. But the challenges of complicating an identity with a halftone image have for the most part now been put to rest.If AT&T and UPS can survive in the atmosphere of a halftone world, then why can't the rest of us breathe the same air?
Often the photo serves as a background or fill in a graphic icon, though some examples have vector elements that merge into the halftone image. Think about logos that for years have been pumped full with graphic pattern. This is just a different fuel-a photo-with a higher octane.
1) El Paso, Gleria de Comunicacion, Lazar Greenhouses. 2) TOKY Branding+Design, The Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts. 3) APSITS, DIESEL. 4) Big Communications, Joe Muggs Coffee.
Concealed
Every generation has its own find-the-hidden-image puzzle, wthether it's Highlights Magazine or "Where's Waldo?". There is a certain fascination and visceral excitement when the viewer suddenly finds an image he has been staring at for hours. Once you've found it, you can't wipe your mind clean of it. This aha! moment is what creates the sense of ownership for the anyone who discovers the hidden level of meaning in any logo.
Ronal J. Cala II has developed a reputation for crafting compelling silhouette images such as the two young girls running hand-inhand, a white dove formed by their clasped hands. Or Duffy Partners' hidden gander and bass in the Tall Tales Cafe identity for Gander Mountain. years ago, FedEx discovered that the hidden arrow in its logo caused consumers to become evangelical in pointing out the hidden imagery to others.
1) Calacampania Studios, Calagraphic Design. 2) Duffy & Partners, Gander Mountain. 3) The Bradfor Lawton Design Group, REOC. 4) Felixsockwell.com, New York Times.
VariDot
Spotting a logo composed of dots has never been an issue: There is no lack of marks that contain dots in rows or grids, or that blanket an image with a Benday halftone pattern. Finding a trend here means identifying dots with unique characteristics and understanding why they are carrying on the way they are. Last year's Colurblind trend was easy to spot, but hard to explain. It may well have served as a launching point for this year's trend.
Note that the dots in these logos rely on a high degree of randomness. They seem to revel in a lack of consistency of size or colour. As opposed to previous years where the spots marched with conformity, these logos glorify individuality. But at the same time they still rely on linkage to create shape. Let the dots be roommates, just not good friends.
1) Alin Golfitescu, www.humanware360.com. 2) Thread Design, Head Count Asia. 3) Blue Sky Design, International Filter Solutions. 4) Lippincott, Zonik.
Candy Stripe
Like a stack of candy Necco Wafers or a row of crayons pushed together in no particular order, this trend has the scent of a fond childhood memory. Something playful and not terribly serious is taking place here. Multi-coloured ribbons in broad hues are laid together to create a field that is highly vivid but which in no way approximates the orderly nature of a rainbow.
High chroma stripes serve as the backdrop, inserted in a vector-based silhouette, or they stand on their own as a cohesive group with a like mind and message. This riot of colour seems to tweak its nose at the idea of a corporate colour. Diversity reigns here. This is an all-out celebration of plurality, whether as an inspired political statement or just to promote a restaurant's highly varied menu.
1) ORFIK DESIGN, DVA SA. 2) Liquid Pixel Studio, Delectable Chocolate. 3) juancazu, camara de comercio de bogota. 4) dache, Zipliner.
Texting
Text and icon combined effectively in a lock-up are nothing new. but now there's a new breed afoot. A rash of logos have been launched with not only the name of an organization but at times, the mission statement, tag line, and even location knocked out of the background.
This simplified solution can make for an economy of space, but it can also create some challenges of scale. If the design is displayed large enough to read the type, will the icon become too horsy? If the icon is kept to appropriate scale, will the type disappear?
Copy is playing an even more important role than ever in several trends this year. There is a pleasant simplicity of message here that evokes an honest nature that borders on naive in a good way.
1) Chris Rooney illustration/Design, Heavenly Ski Resort. 2) Bryan Cooper Design, Tulsa Glassblowing Studio. 3) Sussner Design Company, saint barts. 4) GDNSS, cheapairlines.com.
Encrust
"One of something ugly is ugly. Many of something ugly is beautiful." This long-standing design adage comes to life with this trend. Sometimes you can max out embellishment to the point where the viewer is simply stupefied. These marks certainly grab the consumer's eye with purposeful and symbolic texture that helps to finish the punch line of the logo.
Scale is critical to the success of this trend. Too small and textural messages will vanish, regardless of beauty. These are not filled with a traditional pattern but are often illustrated with a unique visual message that gives context and dimension to the shape. The eye can tell there is more than one layer to these marks and that always assures the second look.
1) Mattson Creative, Career Artist Management. 2) cogu design, Yvonne Coutinho. 3) Graphics & Designing Inc., MTK. 4) Jobi, Same and Shahir Ahmed.
Monolgue
Words have new roles here, redefined as visuals that swin in neck-to-neck competition for consumers' attention. When Landor redefined the YWCA logo four years ago, mission took top billing over the organization's name and the whole affair was crafted from an inauspicious Helvetica with no adornment.
Powerful words carry great weight. When a democratic graphic vehicle can be used to allow the professionals and the layperson to create from the same system, the odds of the message effectively reaching the public are multiplied. Think of these systems as a series of parts and pieces designed to interlink in a relatively effortless manner. This unassuming solution removes the hands off nature that could thwart progress, especially in a public movement.
1) Airside, Airplot. 2) Wolff Olins, Macmillan Cancer Support. 3) Base, Greene Hill Food Co-op. 4) Base, Greene Hill Food Co-op, Lockup Variation.
Doily
Logos served up on a lace doily like delicate confections are the most recent variant on precious embellishment and floral tracery that have been sited in trends from years past. The fine fretwork serves to create a gentle cocoon around a typically hard graphic center. The core is usually a letter form or symbol, kept straightforward with an encapsulating explosion of silhouette lace.
The dichotomy of harsh and fine balance the message of a solid entity with an approachable personality. Though this is an extension of previous trends which also expressed human tenderness and fragility, the continued use of these dainty silhouette is growing thin. The difference here seems to be the marriage between geometric pattern and organic embellishment.
1) Iperdesign, Inc., splurge dessert. 2) R&R Partners, Harrah's. 3) Diagram, Eligiuz. 4) Gesture Studio, Isaias Gil.
Flip Flop
In a year with the cinematic release of Dan Brown's "Angels and Demons" expect and expanded appreciation and interest in inversion solutions. The veteran designer John Landon was contacted by the author and commissioned to create art for several words that would read the same right side up or upside down. This art was key to the storyline, and the bestseller has reintroduced this concept to the public.
There is an indefinable magic that occurs when a consumer sees art that only has to make half a rotation to apparently return to its point of origin. Some of these solutions work with a mirrored reflection, while others are only partial inversions. Whichever way they are designed, that rotating axis becomes the device that creates participation by the consumer and that builds an affinity with the brand.
1) MINE, Scheyer/SF. 2) Pearson Education Ltd, Pearson Education. 3) NOT A CANNED HAM, Graco. 4) Roy Smith Design, Shaun Saxon Photography.
Mosaic
E pluribus unum: "Out of many, one." This motto helps define these brilliant colour mosaics. They are like a roomful of diverse pixels pushed together so tightly that there is no room for a line of division. Adjacent colours simply merge together at their shared borders to fill a shape that helps define the visual message. Traditionally a problem for any logo that anticipated living in a black and white application, this challenge becomes a point of celebration.
Not so many years ago, in 2003, Altria's multi-coloured wquare grid logo broke ground for this trend. At the time, much was made of the designs inability to be cost-effectively reproduced in diverse print applications. Technology changes and the increased importance of an RGB environment for many companies has led to a reevaluation of reproduction concerns and a resurgence of this concept.
1) Team Y&R, Khalid Bin Haider Group. 2) Kommunikation & Design, Gartenwelt Manz. 3) dache, webmynd. 4) NATIONAL Public Relations, Greater Montreal.
Sequential
Economics, governments, and individuals continue to call for "greater transparency" in society. No longer a cry limited to the financial sector, industry is Bristol-scrubbing themselves and their products in preparation for full-body inspections. Though this is not a literal request for visual transparency, for several years, designers have taken liberties with the concept to deliver metaphoric solutions that consumers understand.
Depicting motion in sequential steps combined with transparency is the latest iteration to branch out from this trend family. Stop-motion pictorial steps created in clear, shifting colours help define process in a single un-animated image. The introduction of sequential colour steps help to further define the concept by demonstrating movement: time passage through seasons, temperature shifts, or just a rainbow-coloured transition that demonstrates order and harmony, not chaos.
1) Gardner Design, BiTemp. 2) RedBrand, LexPro. 3) metaforma design, RACE research for an alternative and clean energy. 4) Schwartzrock Graphic Arts, Design Center.
Recycle
Sustainability is no longer a corporate mantra to appease customers or the public. For a decade or better, companies have professed an allegiance to the cause and made every attempt to keep policy and practice as green as possible. An every greater segment of associations and industry are emerging with sustainability as the business, not just a byproduct.
The Universal Recycling Symbol, created 40 years ago for the Container Corporation of America, has graced products and corporate literature for years. Slowly these symbols have been on an upward pilgrimage from the bottom of a container to the priciest real estate on the package face.
This three arrow recycled symbol is in the public domain but now has graduated and is being redressed as the logo itself. Design varies as dramatically: The arrows might be filled with pattern relevant to the industry, or the arrows might be replaced with the environmentally conscious product. Reuse of this symbol as a logo proves the designers have truly mastered the art of recycling.
1) rylander design, Refabric, Inc. 2) Tyme Inc., Office Depot. 3) BrandBerry, non-commercial. 4) Kevin France Design, Inc., VF corp.
Dandelion
Though you may well curse and despise the dandelion, there is little denying the weed's prodigious ability to propagate. A single dandelion produces hundreds of parachute-wearing seeds just waiting for the slightest wisp of wind to launch a full-scale invasion. Despite understanding the insidious process all too well, who has never picked one of these tantalizing puffballs, blown and launch 100 more weeds.
It is our affinity with this process that makes this iconic symbol a perfect logo solution. The seed ball is visually striking and easily understood, especially with a few rogue parachutes in departure. The process is so analogous to the propagation of an idea that it can't be contained. The single drifting seed embodies the idea that every seed makes it's own unique journey and relies on the will of nature to determine where it will land and grow. Graphically, the ball is so ubiquitous that interpretation can be wide and, by no means, literal: It sells the idea of freedom.
1) Ulyanov Denis, linkeeper. 2) RedBrand, Barberschool. 3) LaMonica Design, Morningstar Communications. 4) Courtney & Company, IMC Group.
Circulate
Circles are simply the building blocks and mortar of design. Symbolically, they are the perfect multipurpose icon, representing everything from eternity, the cycle of life, the earth, centering and balance, perfection, the wheel and motion, and whatever else you may need to define. This utility player aspect also detracts from the pure circle: In attempting to mean everything to everyone, it can also mean nothing to anyone.
For these reasons, it is unusual to find the humble circle investigating new visual territory. These circles, however, are focused on the depiction of transition. Whether through the animated cycling of colour rotation, as in the Moving Brands solution for MindShare, or as in the static colour transition created fro MTK, cycles and motion and the given here. But the star of this trend is that the process of evolution does not disturb the revolution.
1) Porkka & Kuutsa Oy, Central Union of Agricultural Producers & Forest Owners. 2) FutureBrand, MasterCard Worldwide. 3) Moving Brands, Minshare. 4) Gardner Design, PBA Architects.
Gossamer
Evolution is perhaps most dramatic when two species jump the barriers and create a new line. Two previous trend categories, transparent logos and blur logos, have both been recorded and broken into subsets over the last several years as they have evolved. Here the two merge successfully to demonstrate motion or convey the blending of elements.
Transparency still delivers the dictum that a process is open to the public and nothing is obscured. It also continues to be novel enough to consumers that it plays a pretty important role as eye candy. The blur or out-of-focus edge in these marks works in a similar fashion as an optical illusion that is confrontational to the eye and has to be dealt with.
1) Michael Freimuth Creative, Tone Animation, LLC. 2) Roy Smith Design, Hooke laboratories. 3) Roman Kotikov, Soft cafe. 4) Alin Golfitescu, mobilink pakistan.
Minor Trends
Some categories emerged this year that did not qualify for their own lanes, but which are still worthy of mention.
Peepshow: Halftone imagery is increasingly being used for fill inside of vector images instead of solid colour fill. Wrijfhout, Clq.nl – City of Delft.
Psychosis: Another new sort of fill is more psychedelic-crazy lines and patterns projected onto other shapes. Valhalla | Design & Conquer, Adio Shoes.
Embroidery: There's plenty of what could be called dotted line or stitching at work. Either approach produces a sense of the hand-made. Squires and Company, Chico's.
Stained Glass: Imagine a stained glass window, but turn the lead white: That sort of mosaic of colour is taking shape. R&R Partners, Harrah's.
3D Curls: We're still seeing plenty of 3-D ribbons, although these are a departure from the "cause" ribbons that have been so prevalent of late. These ribbons take on new forms and shapes, like letters or a complete logo. Gardner Design, Surency.
Colour Ring: Think of a series of brightly coloured, transparent rings, loosely layered on each other to create porthole of many colours. Martin Jordan, Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports Brandenburg.
Celtic: Highly geometric yet handcrafted forms are appearing. Like Celtic letterforms or knots, they have nodules and serifs that are unique and have flourish, but which are also refined. These have a wonderful balance between the manufactured and the man-made. Karl Design Vienna, Burmahlife Austria.
Bill Gardner is principal of Gardner Design and creator of LogoLounge.com, a unique web site where, in real-time, members can post their logo design work; study the work of others; search the database by designer's name, client type, and other attributes; learn from articles and news written expressly for logo designers; and much more. Bill can be contacted at bill@logolounge.com. 2009 Logolounge Inc.
Luxury jewellery and leather goods brand Chrome Hearts finds itself amongst some interesting company with this upcoming collaboration with A Bathing Ape on the Japanese streetwear brand's iconic mascot, Baby Milo. The collaboration product features Chrome Hearts' signature cross in pendant form as well as seen replacing the pupils of Baby Milo. Two colours are available and will release via both Chrome Hearts (exclusive black or grey version) and the BAPE® STORE (brown or orange version) on 6th July 2009. Click here for more info.
Such a nice Sunday! But I didn't go out, just staying in front of my laptop all day. I did a Photoshop tutorial today (see the above picture). It's a simple tutorial, but with a very good effect. By learning this tutorial, you could create your own cool typography easily. Click here if you would like to learn this tutorial.
Collection of cool and creative pillows that will spice up any living room or bedroom. I would like to get them home!
Twitter Icon Pillow
Calling all twitterers! Fail Whale got you down? Don't worry, now you have this comfy cozy Twitter Pillow to squeeze till you can tweet again. Better yet, count your followers and catch a few Z's, and when you wake up, tweet and re-tweet about how this pillow totally rocks.
This is a 100% hand-crafted, 12" x12" square pillow, mad with the softest fleece and the fluffiest polyester filling, making it firm yet springy. Whether on your bed or near your computer, it is perfect for snuggling after twitterific day, or to pound your fists into at downtime. Click here for more info.
Adobe Application Icons Pillows
These hand-stitched and stuffed pillow are emblazoned with the colourful icons of Adobe software products. After an eye-searing day spent clicking and dragging, designers can rest their heads on Photoshop, Illustrator, After Effects, Flash, InDesign or Dreamweaver pillows. Click here for more info.
Mac OS X Icons Pillows
Collection of pillows inspired by Mac OS X icons from Throwboy. Click here for more info.
iSleep Laptop Pillow
Sleep comfortably on your laptop with this iSleep laptop pillow. When you close your laptop, iSleep pillow gets filled with warm air, music is being played and after 10 minutes the alarm clock rings. Click here for more info.
iPod MP3 Pillows
These MP3 player pillows are soft and durable, and can actually play music! Plug in your own portable music player into the hidden pocket and enjoy as your tunes issue forth from the internal speaker, or you can listen to the built-in FM radio. The face of the pillow isn't just for show – the buttons on the pillow are actually work! Change the volume or switch to the radio, scan stations or when it's time to lay your weary head to rest, you can press the power button to shut it down. The pillow is fuzzy on the front and shiny silver on the back. 100% space-age polyester so it resists stains. Click here for more info.
Boombox Pillow
Rock your couch! Go back in time with this uber 80's boombox pillow, 100% cotton and measures 16" x 11". Click here for more info.
Nintendo Wii Controller Pillow
Can't get enough of your Nintendo Wii? Now you can take it to bed with you, thanks to this giant plush Wii-mote pillow. Artist and Nintendo fan Palochka is making these oversize handmade pillows from polar fleece. Each pillow is embroidered with all of the "buttons" you find on the Wii controller, and there's even a "speaker" on there too. They measure 26" tall by 5.5" wide, so you won't be losing this remote under the couch cushion. Click here for more info.
Super Mario Brothers Hat Pillow
For the die-hard Super Mario Brothers fans come a great accessory that will help you even dream of the popular video game while you sleep – using the Super Mario Brothers hat pillows. The pillow comes in two different colours, representing either the Red Mario hat or his famous brother Luigi. Click here for more info.
Star Wars Pillows
These Star Wars pillows measure 13" in height and comes with the mugs of Darth Vader, a Stormtrooper or C-3PO plastered on the front. These pillows are imported from Japan. Click here for more info.
NES Controller Pillows
A geek dream come true! Stylish pillows inspired by the famous NES controller. They combine geekiness and softness. Perfect for back support on your computer chair or for a comfortable video game playing time on the couch or a geeky nap. The appliques (buttons, joypad, etc.) are hand-stitched with blizzard fleece and filled with cluster stuff to provide cushy loft. Click here for more info.
Laptop Pillow
This is the best laptop in the world (or at least the softest). Nothing can beat a laptop that lets you nap on top of it without getting keyboard marks on your face. Click here for more info.
Ctrl Alt Del Pillows
Reboot your living room with this three pillow set. Light grey pillows look as if they've jumped right off your keyboard. Made from Eco-Felt (100% recycled plastic bottles). These 12" pillows are soft yet durable. Backs have envelope enclosures so pillow inserts can be removed for easy washing.
The letters featured are completely hand cut so please allow for minor differences from the pillows pictured. But it's the magic of handmade! Click here for more info.
Remote Pocket Pillow
You'll never have to pull apart the couch cushions or search under the magazines on the coffee table ever again. With this clever and contemporary pillow that features an embroidered "label" pocket for the remote control, you'll always know where your favourite gadget is. Available in black or natural organic cotton. Click here for more info.
Fortune Cookie Pillow
Looking for a creative way to propose? Just want to tell your special one they're special? Want a super secret place to keep some super secret things? This fortune cookie pillow hides a sneaky little pocket to tuck a note to your intended. Creates a fabulous keepsake you'll cherish for years to come.
It comes with three white linen paper notes the perfect size for 3" wide by 5" deep pocket (7.5 cm x 13 cm). The fortune cookie pillow measures approx 14" wide (36 cm). Made from Eco-Felt (100% recycled plastic bottles). This pillow is soft durable. It's completely handmade so please allow for minor differences from the pillow pictured. But it's the magic of handmade! Click here for more info.
Sushi Pillows
These sushi pillows are handmade, consisting of two pillows bound by a seaweed-like fabric. Quality sewn and no glue used. Click here for more info.
Japanese Food Pillows
How nice are these lovely japanese food pillows! Look tasty! Click here for more info.
Fresh Salmon Pillow
Such a funny salmon pillow! Awesome! Click here for more info.
Fruit Pillows
Use these cute fruit pillows as your seat cushion, home decor or headrest. Click here for more info.
Scented Musical Fruit Pillows
Speakers implanted into pillows are nothing new, but fruit shaped and scented is a bit of a different twist. Let's taking a quick nap on a fruit scented pillow while listening to your tunes. Click here for more info.
Breakfast Pillows
I love breakfast foods. The complete breakfast pillow set consists of a toast, fried egg, pancake and coffee bean. Click here for more info.
M&M'S Pillows
Soft and squeezable! Cozy up to these comfy M&M'S pillows. Available in blue, green, orange, pink, red and yellow. Click here for more info.
Huggable Pillows
Huggable takes home furnishings to a new level as an innovative combination of ambient lighting and cushion. An ideal night light, conversation piece, or sunshine alternative during those dark winter months, the functional, yet contemporary Huggable defines the future of design. Click here for more info.
Blood Puddle Pillows
This pillow are inspired by those suspenseful moments when a sleeping loved one is a little too still for a little too long. Using an irreverent combination of comfort and fear the pillows parallel sleep and death. The average size is 16" x 16". The materials are silk velvet and batting. Click here for more info.
Horse Head Pillow
A funny horse head pillow! What will you do if you see it on your bed? Click here for more info.
Boyfriend Arm Pillow
Who needs a real man when you got this boyfriend arm pillow? Click here for more info.
Pop Pillows by Matt Jones
Pop Pillows by Matt Jones. Cute and fun, with pillows slips that you just let your head on the pillow, it will be a funny picture on your bed. Available in dead tired, angel and devil or noise pollution. Click here for more info.
Stash and Bape Spray Paint Can Pillows
Soft spray can pillows designed by Stash for his "Tools of the Trade" art exhibition in the Bape gallery. Click here for more info.
A Bathing Ape "Ape Face" Pillow
This nice pillow is from Bape. As the name appropriately suggests, it is a pillow made into Bape's signature logo, the ape face. It ony comes in brown and black with a large, white copyright sign. Click here for more info.
Adidas Pillow
The Shibuya branch of Japanese boutique Styles Adidas celebrated its 3rd anniversary. The Styles Adidas concept store rewarded customers who spent over 15,000 JPY (approximately $132 USD) with special limited edition cushion. Click here for more info.
Photography is in no way new to visual branding, although traditionally images of this nature were iconic shots of a subject or a scene. Photo images have now partnered up and been hybridized with vector based images to create a new genre.
Every generation has its own find-the-hidden-image puzzle, wthether it's Highlights Magazine or "Where's Waldo?". There is a certain fascination and visceral excitement when the viewer suddenly finds an image he has been staring at for hours. Once you've found it, you can't wipe your mind clean of it. This aha! moment is what creates the sense of ownership for the anyone who discovers the hidden level of meaning in any logo.
Spotting a logo composed of dots has never been an issue: There is no lack of marks that contain dots in rows or grids, or that blanket an image with a Benday halftone pattern. Finding a trend here means identifying dots with unique characteristics and understanding why they are carrying on the way they are. Last year's Colurblind trend was easy to spot, but hard to explain. It may well have served as a launching point for this year's trend.
Like a stack of candy Necco Wafers or a row of crayons pushed together in no particular order, this trend has the scent of a fond childhood memory. Something playful and not terribly serious is taking place here. Multi-coloured ribbons in broad hues are laid together to create a field that is highly vivid but which in no way approximates the orderly nature of a rainbow.
Text and icon combined effectively in a lock-up are nothing new. but now there's a new breed afoot. A rash of logos have been launched with not only the name of an organization but at times, the mission statement, tag line, and even location knocked out of the background.
"One of something ugly is ugly. Many of something ugly is beautiful." This long-standing design adage comes to life with this trend. Sometimes you can max out embellishment to the point where the viewer is simply stupefied. These marks certainly grab the consumer's eye with purposeful and symbolic texture that helps to finish the punch line of the logo.
Words have new roles here, redefined as visuals that swin in neck-to-neck competition for consumers' attention. When Landor redefined the YWCA logo four years ago, mission took top billing over the organization's name and the whole affair was crafted from an inauspicious Helvetica with no adornment.
Logos served up on a lace doily like delicate confections are the most recent variant on precious embellishment and floral tracery that have been sited in trends from years past. The fine fretwork serves to create a gentle cocoon around a typically hard graphic center. The core is usually a letter form or symbol, kept straightforward with an encapsulating explosion of silhouette lace.
In a year with the cinematic release of Dan Brown's "Angels and Demons" expect and expanded appreciation and interest in inversion solutions. The veteran designer John Landon was contacted by the author and commissioned to create art for several words that would read the same right side up or upside down. This art was key to the storyline, and the bestseller has reintroduced this concept to the public.
E pluribus unum: "Out of many, one." This motto helps define these brilliant colour mosaics. They are like a roomful of diverse pixels pushed together so tightly that there is no room for a line of division. Adjacent colours simply merge together at their shared borders to fill a shape that helps define the visual message. Traditionally a problem for any logo that anticipated living in a black and white application, this challenge becomes a point of celebration.
Economics, governments, and individuals continue to call for "greater transparency" in society. No longer a cry limited to the financial sector, industry is Bristol-scrubbing themselves and their products in preparation for full-body inspections. Though this is not a literal request for visual transparency, for several years, designers have taken liberties with the concept to deliver metaphoric solutions that consumers understand.
Sustainability is no longer a corporate mantra to appease customers or the public. For a decade or better, companies have professed an allegiance to the cause and made every attempt to keep policy and practice as green as possible. An every greater segment of associations and industry are emerging with sustainability as the business, not just a byproduct.
Though you may well curse and despise the dandelion, there is little denying the weed's prodigious ability to propagate. A single dandelion produces hundreds of parachute-wearing seeds just waiting for the slightest wisp of wind to launch a full-scale invasion. Despite understanding the insidious process all too well, who has never picked one of these tantalizing puffballs, blown and launch 100 more weeds.
Circles are simply the building blocks and mortar of design. Symbolically, they are the perfect multipurpose icon, representing everything from eternity, the cycle of life, the earth, centering and balance, perfection, the wheel and motion, and whatever else you may need to define. This utility player aspect also detracts from the pure circle: In attempting to mean everything to everyone, it can also mean nothing to anyone.
Evolution is perhaps most dramatic when two species jump the barriers and create a new line. Two previous trend categories, transparent logos and blur logos, have both been recorded and broken into subsets over the last several years as they have evolved. Here the two merge successfully to demonstrate motion or convey the blending of elements.
Peepshow: Halftone imagery is increasingly being used for fill inside of vector images instead of solid colour fill. Wrijfhout, Clq.nl – City of Delft.
Psychosis: Another new sort of fill is more psychedelic-crazy lines and patterns projected onto other shapes. Valhalla | Design & Conquer, Adio Shoes.
Embroidery: There's plenty of what could be called dotted line or stitching at work. Either approach produces a sense of the hand-made. Squires and Company, Chico's.
Stained Glass: Imagine a stained glass window, but turn the lead white: That sort of mosaic of colour is taking shape. R&R Partners, Harrah's.
3D Curls: We're still seeing plenty of 3-D ribbons, although these are a departure from the "cause" ribbons that have been so prevalent of late. These ribbons take on new forms and shapes, like letters or a complete logo. Gardner Design, Surency.
Colour Ring: Think of a series of brightly coloured, transparent rings, loosely layered on each other to create porthole of many colours. Martin Jordan, Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports Brandenburg.
Celtic: Highly geometric yet handcrafted forms are appearing. Like Celtic letterforms or knots, they have nodules and serifs that are unique and have flourish, but which are also refined. These have a wonderful balance between the manufactured and the man-made. Karl Design Vienna, Burmahlife Austria.
Luxury jewellery and leather goods brand Chrome Hearts finds itself amongst some interesting company with this upcoming collaboration with A Bathing Ape on the Japanese streetwear brand's iconic mascot, Baby Milo. The collaboration product features Chrome Hearts' signature cross in pendant form as well as seen replacing the pupils of Baby Milo. Two colours are available and will release via both Chrome Hearts (exclusive black or grey version) and the BAPE® STORE (brown or orange version) on 6th July 2009. Click here for more info.
These hand-stitched and stuffed pillow are emblazoned with the colourful icons of Adobe software products. After an eye-searing day spent clicking and dragging, designers can rest their heads on Photoshop, Illustrator, After Effects, Flash, InDesign or Dreamweaver pillows. Click here for more info.
