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Dear Gap, I have your new logo.
- pseudonym 16y agoThis was the first thought I had when I saw their "if you can do better" press release. Kind of depressing from such a large brand, to be honest. As if it wasn't bad enough getting this kind of "Well it's just a design, it takes like five minutes, I can sketch one up right now! So here, you can do it, but we're giving you peanuts" mentality from smaller clients.
- keltecp11 16y agoWell played. How about a sneak peak?
- someone_here 16y agoI don't think you quite understand the sarcasm in the article (or perhaps I misread it...?)
- notyourwork 16y agoI did not understand either, I feel I am missing some context to this post that the writer should have included.
- someone_here 16y agoI think he was basically saying that good design comes from hard work and a deep understanding of a large number of variables, while the Gap is just getting a million monkeys banging on typewriters and picking the best design.
- olalonde 16y agoSeems like GAP announced an unpaid logo contest.
- flatline 16y agoI think it was pretty clear that he was being sarcastic, but only up to a point. I am still left wondering if he actually has a logo to show or if he is offering his services in a professional capacity, or not.
- jacobolus 16y agoNeither. It’s just rhetorical.
- rhizome 16y agoThe context is that a $14B company is trolling for a free logo. I have to wonder if there is going to be some Chambers Brothers-esque drama regarding these initiatives in the future.
- ryanwaggoner 16y agoPosts like this seem like the designer equivalent of the music labels spending years complaining about how sharing music is wrong and trying to put the "evil" back in Pandora's box, while millions of people merrily continue to download music off bittorrent anyway. The reality of the internet is that people can easily solicit work on spec from thousands of designers, and they will get good stuff in return. Will it be great? Rarely. But it'll be good enough for most, and if it's not, they're out nothing. See 99designs.com. This seems like classic game theory. While it's in the design industry's collective best interest to never work on spec like this, it might be in an individual designer's best interest to design Gap's logo for free. And even if it's not, if most of them think it is, you've still lost. Believe me, I understand that Gap's move here is a slap in the face, but many designers out there will do it anyway, just for the chance to say they designed Gap's logo.
- jimboyoungblood 16y agoTo be fair to the music labels, they at least have copyright law on their side. This is more like how professional journalists whine about bloggers.
- ryanwaggoner 16y agoArg! Much better example.
- lwhi 16y agoI don't agree. I think it's probably more similar to a professional journalist complaining about another professional journalist. Or are you suggesting gap crowdsourced their identity requirements .. ?
- jimboyoungblood 16y agoThe original post is a rebuttal to this: http://www.idsgn.org/posts/gap-turns-to-crowdsourcing/ http://www.idsgn.org/posts/gap-turns-to-crowdsourcing/
- mikeryan 16y agoA bit of background on this. Gap just updated their logo, its getting pretty heavily slammed by the design community (I too think its god awful) More here: http://www.creativereview.co.uk/cr-blog/2010/october/new-gap-logo http://www.creativereview.co.uk/cr-blog/2010/october/new-gap... BTW the author's twitter feed, @Mike_FTW is one of the funnier feeds to follow.
- tfh 16y agoIs it just me or is the new design really looking straight from the mid 90s.
- mikeryan 16y agoyeah for me it looks like something a Hollywood prop department would come up with when tasked with creating a "Logo for Megacorp"
- Perceval 16y agoLooks more like they're trying to visually compete with American Apparel's use of Helvetica. http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/gawker/2010/10/gaplogo.jpg http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/gawker/2010/10/gaplogo... http://www.eternitemedia.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/American_Apparel-logo.jpg http://www.eternitemedia.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/01... EDIT—it looks like someone at iso50 had the same idea: http://blog.iso50.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/gapdesign2sm.jpg http://blog.iso50.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/gapdesign2s... It's a shame. Their condensed old style serif font subtly reminds me of Nirvana's condensed serif font. http://www.survivingthestores.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/gap-logo.jpg http://www.survivingthestores.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06... http://www.midnightincoventry.co.uk/site/images/stories/nirvana-a.jpg http://www.midnightincoventry.co.uk/site/images/stories/nirv...
- acangiano 16y agoWarning: @Mike_FTW uses a NSFW background.
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- ryanwaggoner 16y agoI researched your customers. Talked to a variety of them, in fact. Asked them not only about The Gap, but about their own lives. Their needs. Anxieties. Their thoughts on the future. I took all that into account. I also interviewed employees in a few of your stores. (They’re quite dedicated, you know.) I asked them how they felt about the company and about their interactions with customers. Because customer service may actually be the most important part of your brand. And the logo’s job is simply to help evoke those pleasant experiences. Does anyone else find this pretentious? I somehow doubt that most of the world's biggest brands have logos that came about through this process, or at least are measurably different than they would have been if a talented designer came up with something that felt right and looked good. http://www.murdercapers.com/corporate/companyLogos/CompanyLogosNew.jpg http://www.murdercapers.com/corporate/companyLogos/CompanyLo... I bet a lot of those are just variations on the original logo of the company when it was started. Maybe I'm completely wrong though; just seems like if you'd expect anyone to think that designing a new logo should include hundreds of hours and dozens or hundreds of customer and marketing surveys, it would be a branding firm who wants to charge you for all that. I'm not sure anyone else would be able to tell the difference between a logo that came from that process and one that came from a few hours of a great designer throwing out ideas.
- jrwoodruff 16y agoI thought this was going to be an article bashing designers, I kept waiting for the punch line. I understand what he's saying, but it comes across very pretentious. And I say that as a designer.
- ataggart 16y agoThree words: Pepsi Gravitational Field
- yankeeracer73 16y agoIn most re-branding efforts I've seen at companies of Gap's size, they absolutely do go through this process - some to discover new things, but also as risk mitigation. Right now I suspect the firm that did this new logo is on conference calls with Gap people to say wait, we did the studies and they said xyz, we know that any change to your iconic brand was going to be received negatively, etc. But more importantly, it's not just logo that changes when you re-brand, it's product labels, business cards, web sites, stationary, building signage, color palette, EVERYTHING. So actually, you could spend a few k on a new brand with a quality designer, or spec out a logo for a few hundred on crowdspring, and frankly that's all most smaller companies need, but for a larger company like Gap, a re-branding ends up being a huge investment, so the research makes them feel more comfortable in making the decisions on how to move forward.
- acangiano 16y ago99designs entries: http://99designs.com/logo-design/contests/design-better-gap-logo-community-project-54693 http://99designs.com/logo-design/contests/design-better-gap-...
- deleted 16y ago[deleted]
- alanh 16y agoPerhaps 2% of the logos there could be taken at all seriously. The one which makes the A in GAP look like a pair of jeans is at least clever. But wow is there a lot of garbage there. Thanks for sharing the link!
- jbenz 16y agoThere have been a ton of other designs submitted to ISO50. Some aren't too bad: http://blog.iso50.com/2010/10/06/gap-redesign-contest/ http://blog.iso50.com/2010/10/06/gap-redesign-contest/
- hugh3 16y agoThere are some good ones there. Personally I like number 42. It seems to me that a place called "Gap" should have a gap somewhere in its logo.
- alanh 16y agoI'd actually disagree. It's just a brand - your mind should associate the name and logo with connotations and feelings regarding their clothes and their shopping experience (and probably sex, it's a youthful clothing store). You shouldn't be thinking about what the word "gap" literally means - it's orthogonal to the meaning of the brand.
- deleted 16y ago[deleted]
- run4yourlives 16y agoSimple response: The value of a product is set by the consumer, not by the producer. (This is true for over-inflated values as well, so don't bitch.) If the value set is too low for the producer, he either has an inflated sense of worth, or isn't doing a good enough job of educating the consumer, or both.
- mfukar 16y agoAnd here I was thinking that it was both demand and supply. Damn you, Adam Smith!
- run4yourlives 16y ago250 years ago, the notion of infinite supply didn't exist. In a vast majority of cases, infinite supply is exactly the world that many producers live in these days, especially on the internet.
- edw519 16y agoBefore I realized what this post really was, I tried to peel off the post-it note with my mouse. Now that's an entry that would have gotten some attention.
- joezydeco 16y agoI thought it was the post-it note, and this was all satire. Guess I better read this again.
- hugh3 16y agoI did too. And then I got to thinking that a post-it note with "Gap" written on it might make a pretty good logo.
- c4urself 16y ago... or at least show the logo when you do display: none; the post-it ...
- harisenbon 16y agoI did that too.... Multiple times... I feel so ashamed.
- invisible 16y agoI went into firebug and was hoping that there was a background image on the container object :(.
- brc 16y agoyeah, by the tone of the post, I don't think he was going to even design a fake logo without having someone to send an invoice to.
- cgomez 16y agoI should have provided some context since this isn't exactly the usual HN subject matter. Earlier this week, Gap Clothing changed their logo from the old iconic blue box logo to the new one which is essentially another Helvetica wordmark and a box placed in the corner. Mike's post (the main link), which is employing quite a bit of insincerity, assumes you knew about this before hand. Brand New, a great brand identity blog, has more and a lively discussion about it - http://www.underconsideration.com/brandnew/archives/dont_mind_the_gap_or_the_square.php http://www.underconsideration.com/brandnew/archives/dont_min...
- deleted 16y ago[deleted]
- audionerd 16y agoMany clever alternate designs (and parodies) have been posted on the ISO150 blog: http://blog.iso50.com/2010/10/06/gap-redesign-contest/
- amackera 16y agoClickable: http://blog.iso50.com/2010/10/06/gap-redesign-contest/ http://blog.iso50.com/2010/10/06/gap-redesign-contest/
- nsfmc 16y agoSo, what i think is missing is this link that explains exactly what this dude is writing about: Thanks for everyone’s input on the new logo! We’ve had the same logo for 20+ years, and this is just one of the things we’re changing. We know this logo created a lot of buzz and we’re thrilled to see passionate debates unfolding! So much so we’re asking you to share your designs. We love our version, but we’d like to see other ideas. Stay tuned for details in the next few days on this crowd sourcing project. [1] So, in this context, i think the rant makes a bit more sense. Equally funny is iso50's description of this as "a tropicana,"[2] which is a zing i never thought i'd hear. But, i want to throw out there that this impulse to violently reject or passionately protect logos has an analog in language. "All living languages are always changing"[3] and same goes for logos and brand identities. Much like language or fashion, logos evolve and whatever. And for everyone that's all "oh that's shite, i could do better," I invite you to really try your hand at this sort of thing with actual real life constraints and (gasp!) real life clients. There's all sorts of design work you can do without a client, but it takes a special type to actually, you know, design for somebody else and more hopefully, design with someone else. [1]: http://www.facebook.com/gap/posts/159977040694165 http://www.facebook.com/gap/posts/159977040694165 [2]: http://blog.iso50.com/2010/10/06/gap-redesign-contest/ http://blog.iso50.com/2010/10/06/gap-redesign-contest/ [3]: http://www.lsadc.org/info/ling-fields-change.cfm http://www.lsadc.org/info/ling-fields-change.cfm edit formatting goofs always get me
- Mc_Big_G 16y agoI’ve redesigned your logo. It’s behind the post-it above. It’s unbelievably good. Fantastic, even. I’m convinced it’s what you need. aaaaaaand it turns out to be crap. Your policy of 3 (or whatever) "redesigns" turns out to give me 3 more crap designs and then, according to the contract, I have to pay you anyway. I spent $5,000 like that. Never again.
- mambodog 16y agoSo designers should do the initial work for free? So their customer can say "nah, I don't like any of them" and then suddenly a design looking remarkably similar appears on their website/products, courtesy of a much cheaper 'designer' working off the 'rejected' design comps?
- mfukar 16y agoNo, designers should not be expecting to form guilds or a cast and be treated like one. They're not a special kind of workers. That is, assuming they do want to be treated like workers and not as artists. You hire workers, you don't hire artists, right? It'd be pretty derogatory for the real artist..
- absconditus 16y agoThe new logo is horrendous.
- marknutter 16y agoSo let me get this straight: Gap first hires someone to design a logo, and it's universally panned by the design community. They then ask the community "if our new logo is so crappy, why not see if you can do better?" Then, the design community bitches at Gap for not hiring someone to design their logo? Does this seem a bit odd to anybody else? Also, it's hard to bitch when your whole career depends on something as subjective as logo design. Because of this subjectivity it's possible a design rookie out of high school could design something as cool or cooler than the seasoned professionals, and do it for a fraction of the price (or free). Conversely, that same subjectivity allows people to get away with charging outrageous fees for design work (i.e. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NeXT#cite_ref-rand_16-0 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NeXT#cite_ref-rand_16-0) It seems to me like Gap is damned no matter what they do.
- iamdave 16y agoI find it almost 100% more interesting that some of the people the design "community" exalts on a frequent basis, and even then some of the community itself didn't present any serious submissions when the call came. They all made fun of the idea that GAP was crowdsourcing a new logo. That's slacktivism on a level Facebook breast cancer awareness can't even touch. Participate or stfu is my opinion, but I'm no designer.
- kyoji 16y agoDid you even bother reading the article? As a designer I find most of the options presented to be humorous, or sub-standard at best. Nearly all of them miss the mark far worse than Gap's own new logo does. I wouldn't expect any serious submissions simply because why would anyone work for free for a multi-billion dollar corporation?
- limedaring 16y ago"Gap first hires someone to design a logo, and it's universally panned by the design community. They then ask the community "if our new logo is so crappy, why not see if you can do better?" Then, the design community bitches at Gap for not hiring someone to design their logo? Does this seem a bit odd to anybody else?" Designers hate change (most redesigns are going to get panned). But they hate crowdsourcing way more. They were bitching in the first instance because they wanted to keep the old logo, not that they wanted the community to redesign it. Also, logos for a brick-and-mortar store aren't like logos for a webapp (which a design rookie could do). The logo isn't just going to go on the front of the store, it's going to affect all of the materials in the store — bags/ads/signery/etc are going to be redesigned. Designing a logo as well as the entire branding scheme of the store is vastly different than sticking a cool pic next to a cool font.
- nym 16y agoI hope I'm not the only one who added style="visibility:hidden;" to the post-it-note image hoping to be pleasantly surprised.
- kmort 16y agoCall me cynical but a very similar play happened with Kraft and their launch of a new Vegemite+cheese spread. They named it "iSnack 2.0", were met with strong derision, opened up a naming contest, and finally settled with the consumer-selected "Cheesybite". This whole rigmarole earned them quite a bit of publicity. People were even buying-up the iSnack-labeled jars before the renaming thinking they'd become collector's items. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vegemite#Vegemite_Cheesybite:_new_recipe http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vegemite#Vegemite_Cheesybite:_n... "iSnack 2.0" and the new Gap logo are too terrible to happen innocently.
- TheAmazingIdiot 16y agoAnd now I have a vision of the word "Gap" with fingers pulling at the G and the p. Yes. Blame goatse on me. But once you see it, it never goes away.
- andrewljohnson 16y agoPosts like this misunderstand how decisions about corporate logos are made. You need to back-stab the ad agency and cozy up to the marketing VP to change the logo. Posting like this on the web just invites the marketing VP and the account rep to go out to dinner and laugh at your feeble attempts, over a couple of stiff drinks. It really is exactly like Mad Men.
- Lbma 16y agoBrilliant
- cookiecaper 16y agoWhole post is silly and pretentious. If the design really is so great that Gap thinks it's worth using, then legally they'll have to pay him to transfer the copyright before they can do anything with it. So cut out the stupid ego-drenched drama and just show the logo. He'll get a lot farther that way than demanding compensation up front anyway. Even if Gap rejects the logo, it will stand as a nice portfolio/concept piece if it is really good as guy claims.
- eru 16y agoHe doesn't have a logo.
- fretlessjazz 16y agoI'm not a design genius-- but when I saw Gap's new logo I think I knew what they were going for, and imho I doubt it was created haphazardly. The new logo is exemplary of the transition of "best practice" design principles from print to electronic media. They unabashedly violated two rules of logo and print media design, and it's so blatant that I can't believe it was an accident. Their logo features a gradient (print-media epic fail), and two low-contrast overlapping colors, the P and the background square (also a print-media epic fail). I hope that the executives do not knee-jerk a reaction and demand a logo redesign, but instead play out the campaign and see how it pans out. I'm not convinced it was a mistake. Perhaps the real redesign wasn't the logo, but their website and online presence?
- evancaine 16y agoA lot of the comments in this thread seem to imply that brand specialists will always deliver a quality logo. I can think of one recent example where that wasn't the case: the London 2010 Olympics logo. It cost £400,000 and was negatively received by the public and many industry professionals: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_Summer_Olympics#Logo http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_Summer_Olympics#Logo