BandAid Solution

I am a bit late to this party. That is, the party that was the ill-conceived, redesign of DC Comics' identity done in 2012.

Well, at least they got the "unveil" part right. Literally. But the promise that this new identity would, "…create(s) a visual connection among the company, its three brands DC Comics, Vertigo, and MAD…" never came to pass. Both MAD and Vertigo brands remain the same, 3 years later.

 

DC Comics humble beginnings, as a brand (from 1940-1974), remained "mild-mannered" to say the least, but for a pictorial iteration in 1970 featuring Superman.

Then in 1976, Jenette Kahn, newly appointed publisher at DC, hired Milton Glaser to do a redesign. (seen here)

Later referred to as the “DC Bullet,” it ended up being nothing more than a subtle “refresh.” It utilized the same circle and the same font (ITC Machine) and some minor embellishments. It gained no dynamics from the CCW rotation either. Bolder certainly, but the logo was veering off into a territory it should have decidedly avoided, and it was gonna get worse.

Next, in 2005, Josh Beatman created a legitimate redesign, known as "DC Spin." I really liked this one. It has some solid dynamics and a solid, still caps, DC symmetry. BUT, any comics geek will tell you, at this point an invisible line was crossed, as the brand now was dancing dangerously close– with it's suggestion of a convex (angled) surface, and now singular star– to Captain America's shield! 

Oh oh! Captain America is a Marvel character!

So maybe, behind the scenes, this issue was discovered and I am not the first "forensics" designer to notice it. 

But this BandAid Solution was built on shaky ground. To rationalize the sell, the design was claimed to be referencing "the D peeling back to unveil the hidden C - symbolizing the duality of the iconic characters that are present within the DC portfolio." I daresay that not every character in the DC catalog has dual identities. And most certainly this is untrue for the broader catalog that includes Vertigo. So I am not buying that weak rationale. And who the hell is going to "intuit" this notion from the logo anyway?

And the idea that this “peel-back” design offered transitional and reveal devices across all media, is a classic “tail wagging the dog” scenario. I mean, look, if you wanted to utilize that device you could, but that does not mean it makes it a viable identity. This reminds me of a time in the mid-nineties where every graphic designer out of college was having a love affair with PhotoShop, as a result, the market was flooded with “effects” like a stain on the brand landscape. There was no underlying structure or forward thinking production consideration. It just looked “cool.” Then two months later the designer might be asked for a one-color iteration of the design, and the whole thing had to be reverse engineered, usually to it’s demise.

Here is what this logo might look like as one color:

If creatives believed that this was a “unique” transitional device, perhaps they needed to jump in the time machine and go back to a late 1980s video suite, that utilized this page curl effect via Quantel Paintbox, which is where it first appeared in the production arena. Ergo, it was a dated device.

Time to pull this bandaid off, and build something from the ground up that is relevant and referential.

Brand Envy Run Amok

Just Undo It!

Nike's humble beginnings began in Oregon as Blue Ribbon Sports, basically operating as a distributor for a Japanese shoemaker. In 1971 it was preparing for it's own line to be launched, these would be the shoes that would bear the swoosh for the first time. The logo/trademark was later registered with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in January 1974.

In 1978, the company officially became Nike, Inc.

It was not until 1988 that their agency Wieden+Kennedy launched the slogan "Just Do It."  Oddly, Dan Wieden says his inspiration for the slogan came from Gary Gilmore, who reportedly said this as his last words before his execution by firing squad in 1977. Clearly Dan Wieden was cognizant of one fact: you can’t get sued by a dead man.

By 1980, Nike was dominant, with 50% of the athletic shoe market. Their growth in the 80s was meteoric, as they expanded into all sports and also began acquiring other apparel and footwear interests including, Cole Haan, Bauer Hockey, Hurley and Converse. Its brand and its swoosh became synonymous with cool success; synonymous with Tiger, with Jordan, with all athletic excellence, and more importantly, synonymous with global brand success and financial success.

Nike was the company with the golden touch. And everyone wanted in on the action. Everyone wanted the success that they had. Everyone wanted that cool factor.

So, what was the easiest way to associate one’s company with the new, the hip, the cool? Imitation being the sincerest form of flattery, almost every company, large and small began using a swoosh variation in their brand, or simply adding it to an already existing identity.

Some of the adopters were already successful companies…

...some were regional small fry, with nothing to lose.

 

 

 

In the end, these other, often half-assed iterations of the swoosh polluted the branding world like a virus. And the ubiquitous presence of this second-hand crap was not pretty. I even had clients of my own pushing me to incorporate likenesses of it into branding components I was working on. Everyone wanted it.

The inevitable cruel irony: 

In 1971 a graphic design student at Portland State University named Carolyn Davidson, was asked to do some work for the original Blue Ribbon Sports. She designed the swoosh. Phil Knight, one of the founding partners, didn’t even really like it. He was forced to make a choice to meet a production deadline, reportedly stating: “I don’t love it, but it will grow on me.” If only he realized how prophetic that statement was.

Carolyn Davidson was paid $35.

In 1983, following their IPO, Knight made good, giving Davidson a diamond ring engraved with the swoosh and an envelope containing an undisclosed amount of Nike shares.

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This shape, this concept, lived long before 1971. Most publicly, in the brand world, as an icon for Newport cigarettes starting in 1957.