Skip to content
Design Watch
  • Categories
    • Applied Design
    • Type Design
    • Fundamental Design
    • TV Commercials
    • Interior Design
    • Cinematography
    • Fashion Design
    • Automotive Design
    • Illustration
    • Package Design
    • Technology
    • Design Perception
    • Photography
    • Terms of Use

iron cross

Some Things Don’t Need a Logo

January 18, 2019January 13, 2019 by Dan Blanchette

Logos are fine if they’re done well, but most importantly the application of a logo is best when on a letterhead or envelope or business card, or maybe a website. I came across a TV show this past week, Garage Rehab with host Richard Rawlings, a well-known TV personality in the automotive world.

Rawlings visits auto repair shops around the country in need of a revamp (usually from top to bottom). He invests a lot of money buy offering the owner of any shop he wants to rehab by telling him he’ll invest on the condition the shop is his until the owner pays him back—a kind of mortgage. And that’s all fine and good, because Rawlings does a remarkable job of revamping the garages, cleaning them up and installing new equipment inside the shop as well as redoing the outside of the establishment to make it more visible to potentially new customers.

But what got me about this particular episode was that Rawlings subcontracted the design of the garage’s signage in the form of a logo. And he said the word “logo”. As soon as I heard him say that, I became leery of the application of that design.

This particular auto repair shop, which also does motorcycle repair, is in the middle of Sturgis, South Dakota—a well-known mecca for bikers. Sturgis’ population is only around seven thousand residents, but during the summer’s motorcycle event, the place burgeons to over a million. I trust the revamp of the garage will increase at least the visibility of it, because during the show one of the residents was heard saying he’d driven past the place many times and wasn’t even aware of it.

So the logo, which Rawlings commissioned, looks like a mashup of an iron cross, a crescent wrench, and spiky gothic lettering. And that’s OK on the basic thought of it—after all, in the bikers’ world that iron cross and gothic type fit the motorcycle genre that includes studded black leather and tattoos. I get that. But in practice, the way the “logo” was designed, it looks like it was put together with construction paper and Elmer’s Glue. In application, that design falls way short because its shape hinders it from being well-read from the street (top right). The name of the place, Jacobs Auto Repair, reads way better in the old original version (top left).

Like I stated in this article’s title, a logo is not always appropriate. In this case, signage is, and it needs to be large enough in the space allotted to be read easily. That new logo on the gable of the shop does not work well with all the type crammed into that modified iron cross. A good designer would not hamper his/her own effort by drawing the shape first, leaving him/her handcuffed by having to fit the type into the shape.

I redesigned the logo (only as a design exercise) as signage to include imagery of a wrench and a gear, but kept the Jacobs name large, all the while knowing just where this sign would reside, hence the more horizontal shape.

 

 

Please follow and like us:
Categories SignageTags became leery of the application, Elmer’s Glue, Garage Rehab, good designer would not hamper his/her own effort, gothic lettering, in the space allotted, iron cross, Jacobs Auto Repair, logo, logo is not always appropriate, mashup, motorcycle, population is only around seven thousand residents, Richard Rawlings, signage, South Dakota, studded black leather and tattoos, SturgisLeave a comment

Recent Posts

  • The Scene is the Same, But Not the Message
  • I Hate Advertising
  • Design & Readability
  • Design & Readability
  • Quirky Type Design on Labels

Recent Comments

  • Dan Badgley on Betta Forgetta Jetta
  • Dan Blanchette on Betta Forgetta Jetta
  • Dan Badgley on Betta Forgetta Jetta
  • Dan Blanchette on How to Screw Up a Car’s Design
  • Kurt Landefeld on How to Screw Up a Car’s Design

Tags

advertising advertising jingles appetite appeal baby boomers brand branding cacophony Campbell’s cohesion color consumer Dancing with the Stars design design awareness designer desktop publishing experience face of a company fashion frame of reference Geico Gotham font idea impact iPhone letterforms letterspacing Lexus logos mascots in advertising organization packaging painter perception placement plagiarism plain and simple proximity shapes technology Toyota TV commercials type type design typography

Categories

About

Dan Blanchette has been a designer, illustrator and photographer for more than 40 years. His work has taken him all over the United States, doing work for advertising agencies, studios and corporations, encompassing many areas of the marketplace. His portfolio can be found at danblanchette.com.

A graduate of the Columbus College of Art & Design, he weighs in on contemporary design in all areas and welcomes readers to respond.

Archives

Get new posts by email
Copyright © 2019 · GeneratePress · WordPress