Neverminding the Gap

Gap has revealed its new logo last week with quite a bit of criticism by graphic designers and laymen alike. I’ve read a few blogs about the new logo and do not agree with some of the harsh and often quite spiteful comments about the logo, the apparel company itself, and the logo designers (I have tried to find out who created the new logo, but it seems nobody want to take credit for it.) And I really don’t think that this is a ploy by Gap itself to have designers chime in with better and free ideas for the company to use. This is one idea currently floating around the twittersphere. I have not reached that point of cynicism yet. I don’t believe any retailer would take a chance on a ploy like this working, knowing how much money it would cost to change the packaging, advertising, and signage for each store. The company currently has about 3,076 stores worldwide and a change like this has incredible consequences. I have thought about the logo for the past week and have gone back an forth with my opinion about it and asked myself some questions to help me decide. Here is the breakdown:

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IF IT WAS A NEW BRAND, WOULD THE NEW LOGO BE CONSIDERED TERRIBLE?
No. Not really. Comparing it to retailers such and American Apparel, Basic Basic, or Express you notice it is quite similar. If Gap was introduced as a new brand is would have not been noticed and this is a problem. It would have not gotten any of the harsh criticism as well, but the generic look and typeface would not have made it in the pages of Communication Arts or the latest edition of Graphis Logos. It does represent what the brand is though. The clothing of Gap has always played to the masses. There is a great deal of staples of clothing in the stores, but nothing that gives it any real personality.

IS THE OLD LOGO OUTDATED?
Somewhat. The very tall, slim, and very anemic looking typeface is a reminder of the 1980’s. It typifies and era in which there was a sense romanticism to the Deco period but pushing itself to be modern. Try to see the logo as sign above the entrance of an Art Deco hotel in Miami Vice and you get where I’m going at with this. The typeface would only be chosen in the time period it was created. If you tried to design a logo with a typeface with that much difference between the thick and thins, it would be considered too hard to read from a distance and not suitable for web purposes.

IS THE NEW LOGO A GOOD EVOLUTION OF THE BLUE BOX?
Absolutely not. The gradient has no meaning and is not even distinctive (much like the clothing.) It does not relate to the type and neither does the gradient. This could have been explore and executed much better and I don’t think that much thought was put into this aspect.

DOES THE OLD LOGO OWN THE BLUE BOX?
Absolutely. Put any three letters in a blue box no matter how big or small, it will always be compared to Gap. In fact, I have tried to this with other projects and placed type within squares of different colors and it has always been compared to the Gap logo. The old logo has been around long enough to own that space. There is one clothing company that has done it successfully enough to distinguish itself from Gap and it is Uniqlo. The red box and typeface is done well enough to separate itself from the competing retailer. When Uniqlo first came to New York, I often heard of it referred to as “the Japanese Gap”.

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“The Gap” was first launched in 1969 by Don and Doris Fisher. Somewhere along the line, much like Facebook, they lost the “the” of their name. “The Gap” referred to the generational gap of the time. It seemed appropriate that the store’s name and style should reflect their audience’s tastes and sensibilities. The chain store expanded during the recession of the early nineties mainly due to the business causal clothing policies companies were adopting and their price point were suited for the time. (In 1995 even IBM loosened the company dress code to business casual, no longer requiring employees to wear ties for men or skirts and dresses for women)

Nowadays, “the gap” reflects the narrowing gap between Old Navy and Banana Republic. When Banana Republic was acquired, they developed their own sense of business casual, it was known as “the grown-up Gap” at one point. Higher style with a higher price tag. As the business casual market grew, it took part of the Gap’s market from the top down. Prices at Banana Republic were reduced to reflect the economy. When Old Navy was introduced in 1994, It had many of the staples that Gap had – t-shirts, jeans, polos, underwear, etc. It took part of Gap’s market from the bottom up. To me, it was the beginning of the loss of Gap’s identity. Old Navy took care of the lower-end basics and Banana Republic took care of the higher-end business casual. Leaving Gap less room to create a style and identity of it’s own. I find it ironic that Gap is being squeezed out of a space that it once defined. It’s main problem is that it has only ever evolved to reflect trends and not create a voice and style of its own. While Gap’s sister retailers have developed their style and their market, Gap’s style has remained stagnant. There are more and more places to buy khakis, jeans, t-shirts and Gap no longer corners the market in this.

So, a new logo does not really make much sense since there is no change in direction of Gap’s current style. The new logo has taken much criticism for being too “generic” looking, critics have been comparing it to a software company. In that frame of mind the new logo seems appropriate. When have you shopped at Gap lately? When was last time you saw a “must have” in the Gap window? When has anyone complimented you on something you bought at Gap? This is where the new logo really fails. Not in execution, but in concept. New logos usually signify a change in direction, a new start, or a change in management. And for clothing retailers, it should mean a change in style. What’s the use of a new logo on a shopping bag when you have the same style of clothing in it?

 

In comparison with its sister brands, the new Gap logo is the more generic of the five. It has the added problem of being the neglected middle child of the bricks and mortar stores. Banana Republic being Jan and Old Navy being Cindy.

 

 

The Myth of the Agency Monolith

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As July 25th approaches, I have to remind myself where I will be. At 9:00 pm I will hopefully be in front of my television watching the first episode of the fourth season of Mad Men. At the end of last season, we saw Don Draper and some select individuals leave the confines of Sterling Cooper to start a new agency. With the sale of the agency on the horizon, Sterling, Cooper, and Draper convince Land Pryce to fire them and ask him to join them in their new venture. This will explain the subway posters for the premiere to anybody who hasn’t seen the show. For me, this is an exciting time of the show and it reminds me of the days of ThirtySomething when Michael and Elliot planned the hostile takeover of DAA from the hands of Miles Drentell. Both shows understood the massive undertaking and nerve it took to get past the “monolith” of their former companies to start one of their own.

The “monolith” is term that a friend of mine used to describe the outward appearance an agency wants to project to their current or perspective clients. Usually the owners and principals of a company would like their clients to think that there is something special in their process that makes them a unique commodity. Sometimes this is true. I have seen interesting and healthy company philosophies which nurture, mentor, and reward creative ideas. They are few and far between. Most have their own version of special sauce which they like to espouse as the correct way to solve marketing, advertising, and design objectives. It is usually described in the first two pages of the company website. There might even be a company blog in which the principal(s) of the company will edify you on their process on a weekly or even daily basis. These processes usually come with elaborate charts and graphs to explain themselves. And if you have seen or read enough of them, you will notice they are not much different from one another. The monolith serves the purpose to convince clients that there is something special about the company that gives rise to ideas and not the people who work there. And no matter how many times the staff changes, the monolith is still there to assure clients that there is no change in temperature or humidity to the projects currently being taken care of by the agency. There is supposed to be something special in the DNA of the bricks and mortar of the building which makes new ideas come to life.

It is a unique challenge to try to push past the monolith far enough to squeeze thru to carve out a monolith of your own. And I have seen it done. I salute my colleagues and former co-workers who have left the safety of a company in order to find their own creative voice. With their success, I realize that true creative vision does not need a corner office, an expense account, or even a desk. It might just take a morning cup of coffee, a kitchen table, and the lead of a pencil.

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That’s the look, that’s the look. The Look of Lux.

As I mentioned in a previous blog, I am part of a Luxury and Lifestyle Professionals group in LinkedIn. Below is a question that another member asked on the group page to start a discussion. In an effort to provide real ideas instead of just criticizing the luxury market (see Ridiculux), I responded. To which someone wrote back to me to say that my insight was brilliant. If you agree or disagree, let me know. And yes, the title of this blog is in reference to ABC’s song The Look of Love. Write back if you think that’s clever… or not clever.

Q: Can a cosmetic brand be considered luxury? If so, what do you think should be the drivers to jump from the cosmetic field to the luxury arena?

I have read all the other comments and don’t think that anyone has it completely right. I don’t believe that cosmetics by definition is a luxury. You can see very affordable and down right cheap products at Walgreens. And though I agree that premium ingredients are important, it is just the footing to making a luxury product. Superior packaging, and limited distribution might help make a brand more precious, but it is just a marketing idea. To make any product more luxurious, you have to enhance the innate experience that product or service offers. In cosmetics that goes beyond ingredients and any scientific principal a product might claim. What I think might be a trend is service and education. Educating a consumer why something works for them and servicing them to show them how. Education might include a wellness slant since much to do about healthy skin happens with diet and nutrition. Something Borba is on trend with. A luxury cosmetics company can be personal to each customer giving them tips and trends on a seasonal basis and offering services to show how. Everyone’s skin is different and it calls for individual consultation. I know some companies already offer this (Mac and Aveda for starters). But imagine if your beauty consultant was as familiar with you as your hairdresser or even your doctor.

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Naturopathica was the first company that I learned of that created serums and tonics to be added into drinks in addition to cleansers to have better looking skin. Borba, which was launched in 2004 has similar philosophies and introduced a line of waters and crystalline drink packets which claim to help clarify, firm, and replenish skin. The Aveda Institute increases the brands stature by teaching its own methods of skin care as well as generate revenue from its locations all around the world. These three brands are good examples of how a company can differentiate themselves from their competitor, increase brand stature, and sell their products at a higher price point. But like it says in the box, results may vary.

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Ridiculux

I have been fortunate enough to work on great projects in the luxury industry and belong to several groups about luxury goods and services on LinkedIn, but I have often questioned certain aspects of the industry and have always wondered what makes a particular product or service part of the “luxury” market. I was once asked on an online discussion if luxury can be eco-minded and be a bit greener. The terms luxury and environmentally minded are almost contradictory. I said sure it can, so long as it doesn’t take away any part of the experience that the product or service provides. Several people in the discussion cited spas and hotels that got their electricity from “greener” sources and thought people would pay a premium for such services. But I don’t think this brings this service to the level of luxury. For me, luxury is when something is added to a particular product or service that enhances its basic function, usually trying to eclipse all other competitors. Anything other than that, just makes the product or service more expensive. And when something is added with the sole purpose to make the product more expensive, I like to call it “ridiculux”.

One of the most conspicuous examples of ridiculux are Vertu phones. Vertu phones offer brushed stainless steel bodies, ceramic keys, “bespoke” ringtones, and even diamonds. Yes, diamonds, which are forever, on a phone, in which technology changes every year. The Vertu Ascent boasts a 5 megapixel camera for still or video images and it has “the ability to sense its movement so when you need a landscape display, a 90 degree turn enhances your viewing”. This description is from their website. I shit you not. The phone basically has the functionality of my Samsung T509 from 2005.

I have often wondered about who the audience is for this phone. I would believe it would be someone like Al Pacino’s character in Ocean’s Thirteen, Willy Bank. Basically someone who needs a phone just to accept calls. There is no real need for a calendar, calculator, or weather reports. You would have an Ellen Barkin for that. The ultimate luxury is that you don’t really need this phone for work, and you might be rich enough to have it as an overly designed accessory. I don’t think that Vertu is a luxury phone, I just think it’s an expensive one.

I think it is important to question what is luxury when working on these products. It is important to question if it is a luxury product or not. There have been many other descriptors advertisers use such as premium, deluxe, or more recently lux, and it is important to question if that descriptor lives up to that promise. Hopefully there is a better understanding of that product which leads to better ways of designing and marketing for it. Keep this analogy in mind – diamond studded toilet paper. It is more expensive, but not likely to enhance the experience.

A 4G network or snake skin and diamonds. Which would make your life more luxurious. It depends on who you ask, or whose personal assistant you ask.

The Good, the Bad, and the Unpublished

I once heard that the Tracy Morgan / Bruce Wills movie “Cop Out” was originally going to be released with the title “A Couple of Dicks”. I would have seen that movie. The title was changed since it was thought that the term “Dick” used to reference a detective was too antiquated for movie audiences to relate to. I still wonder if that movie would have done any better with that title… maybe not.

I also wonder about the countless number of projects I have done over the years and wonder if the company or product would have done as well with some of the original ideas I first presented to the client or agency I was working for. I have been fortunate enough as a logo designer to have the majority of my work published with what I had in mind, but I am well aware of how many designers out there have tried to push the creativity and imagination of their clients only to have the “lesser” design chosen.

In my portfolio, I always try to show a sampling of what the client had to choose from. It gives the viewer an idea of my thought process and also gives them some idea of what the clients taste level was like. I always cite the example of the Levitra logo in my portfolio. Levitra was the only time in my career in which I was asked to place a phallic symbol in a logo. Most of the time clients see them where they don’t exist. But it was different with Levitra. The problem was that if it looked too much like one, the logo itself made a claim, and with a claim in the pharma world this meant the logo always had to be printed with fair balance – the page or so legal copy following every drug ad in a magazine. So the trick was to make the phallus look more like a flame and less like an erection. Thus the Levitra flame was born.

Id’ like to see  some or your unpublished work. If you have a story of a unpublished project, send it my way.

Showing you a couple of dicks. The Levitra logo is a bit more perverted than you probably originally thought. It was the only project that I was asked to place a phallic symbol.

Mr. Grey announces Photovolt

Photovolt is a new monospaced typeface created by Mr. Grey. All caps, three heights, and available as a free download. Just click here. Send me examples of how you would use it. Create a 600 x 400 pixel image using the typeface and send it to mister_grey@mac.com.

If you have any opinions you would like to share. Send me an email and Mr. Grey will respond.

A Case Of Mistaken Identity

Being a logo guy, I have always been called in as a ringer when a company or agency is having trouble coming up with a logo. Funny how the term “ringer” is used to describe someone who is incredibly proficient at skill, but it is also used to describe an impostor, sometimes an impostor of the very same skill. I bring this up because when I was trudging thru facebook one day I came upon an ad that made me shudder and fear that I was becoming obsolete as a logo, identity, and branding designer. The ad was for a website called logotournament.com. It was a place where there are competitions sponsored by companies for the best logo for a company or product. The company has the resource of designers from all around the world ready to compete for prizes that range from $200 to $550. Far below what any graphic designer living in a major city or agency for that matter would charge a company for an identity program. The website has a scoreboard of how many prizes a designer has won with stats which allow for a gold, silver, and bronze places. My title as ringer was in danger of being taken away.

At first I wanted to compete. I wanted to show the world who was the best, but as I explored the site and discovered how many rounds of corrections it took for people to win, I realized that the prize would result of me making about $15 an hour. I think I saw an ad for an esthetician or dog walker for that much. I assumed that I was soon going to be deemed obsolete by the design industry. But as I explored the site even further I discovered that a great deal of these companies that are looking for a logo, would not have been if they had been established twenty years ago. Car repair shops, appraisal services, churches, yes churches, would have no need for branding themselves with a logo twenty years ago. Now I know that everything is a brand nowadays and even law offices and real estate companies need a logo to compete in their respective market places. You see a great deal of this on the website. But there are logos for people who are running for public office.

This actually shows how much graphic design services have grown over the years and it made me realize that this wasn’t money that was being taken out of the mouths of established graphic designers. It has just made a new category of design where new designers can cut their teeth. Thanks to level playing field of drafting software, all the logos on the site look professionally done and quite a bit of them are very clever. And to be fair, the companies are paying for just a logo and do not require a standards manual or even stationery. But I don’t see a great deal of originality. None of the logos really truly stand out. They serve their purpose, but if you group them according to industry, it doesn’t look like a specific company has the upper hand.

In addition, I have seen some imitations of other better known logos of established companies and this is something that is not provided to a company when awarding a logo – research. This is something that larger agencies can offer when developing a logo – to make sure it doesn’t look like anything else. Which makes me think that I will leave this website to the young and ambitious and hope that the companies that hire them do not mistake a “ringer” for a “ringer”.

NightHawk Healthcare vs. Jeep Eagle. An innocent mistake or a blatant appropriation.

Mr. Grey, Paging Mr. Grey…

This was published a while ago on my Mr. Grey’s facebook notes. I wanted to kick off the new blog with this since I still think it is still relevant despite being written in October 2009, practically decades ago in online blogging time.

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I get a kick when a new client calls me up and asks to speak with Mr. Grey. To set the record straight, I am not Mr. Grey. I work for Mr. Grey. He represents the mysterious boss nobody ever sees and is always in a meeting or out of the office. He is the Remington Steele of my business, or for the people who watched too much 3, 2, 1 Contact, the Mr. Bloodhound of the Bloodhound gang.

I had the idea of Mr. Grey years ago when I was at my friend’s studio. He has a huge picture archive of head shots. Within the file was a picture of William Golden, the designer of the CBS eye logo. A calm, cool, figure in a dark suit occasionally smoking a cigarette. I was intrigued of how a creative person looked more like a business man and less like an “artist”. He became the icon that I based my corporate identity on.

Something dawned on me and I asked myself the question: “Were designers of that time more professional, or are graphic designers taken less seriously today and are seen as just art school graduates?”

I think the answer is somewhere in between. I have seen graphic designers been part timers and have pursued other careers on the side such as DJ, fashionista, or internet celebrity. Their creative process at times does not consider other business, marketing, or financial variables. I have also seen the craigslist ads for so-called “interns” that need to have their own computer, software, and printer in order to work… for free. Apparently there are agencies out there that don’t believe they should pay for labor, let alone ideas. Something that the industry prides itself on is the creation of original thought. If agencies start to adopt the idea that ideas are free, why should their clients think they should pay for anything.

I expect graphic designers to take the craft seriously and understand they are part of a larger system that has other priorities to balance. In turn, I hope clients and agencies will value them and reward them accordingly.

I still consider CBS eye a logo in which the idea cannot be improved on. The symbol represents the medium like no other. Without sight, television is just radio.

 

Mr. Grey offers his services for branding, design, identity, and advertising. If any of these are problems, Mr. Grey has solutions.

http://www.mr-grey.com