This is the logo rundown, your monthly snapshot into what’s going on in the world of logos and branding.
Mozilla
You’ll notice a trend with the first three on the list today. They’re all software companies – but also, you’ll notice…well, I’ll go into that in a sec. So most of us, when we think Mozilla, we just think of Firefox…a cool logo – especially at the time when compared to the “e” for Internet Explorer, pretty much the only other relevant browser at the time. Firefox was a product Mozilla created, but the actual associated imagery was a dinosaur head – pictured to the right. They’ve now switched over to this “M” made up of independent rectangles.
Riot Games
Riot Games (League of Legends) has also determined its time to make an update to their street art type logo. They opted to keep the ‘fist’ part of the logo…kind of looks like a pentagon with some columns and maybe a little parking lot in front of it, but it’s pretty minimalist and its fine. The old “RIOT” looks dynamic and unstable…like a riot…the new one…eh, not so much. Ok, so the “R” and the “T” have little like, slashes in them or something…so jarring (sarcasm off)… but we’re getting there…
Street Fighter
Street Fighter has been around forever. The old logo – to the right – is staple arcade script. It looks like its straight outta 1990 – and that’s what people expect of Street Fighter – that feel of fighter game. It’s got that 2 tone, tilted script popular at the time used by Indiana Jones…Back to the Future…it’s a relic of the time that continues on and unlike Indiana Jones films after Last Crucade, the Street Fighter sequels hold up. But there is an expected aesthetic and this new logo misses that mark spectacularly. It looks like something that’s not only incredibly generic, but it looks like its for a minor league expansion soccer (futbol) team that desperately wants to be taken seriously.
Alright, let’s put this all together. Looking at Street Fighter, Mozilla and Riot Games there as examples…you’ll see these software entities all want to streamline. They all want to take the fun out. What’s going on here is where software, gaming used to be a fairly free, liberal field and culture, has now been totally corporatized and grown up…and they want everyone to know. This is the equivalent of when a guy starts growing up a bit and decides he’s not going to wear graphic tees and switch to collar shirts…We get it Riot Games…you’re a serious corporate entity…we understand Capcom that your Street Fighter property looks like it was designed by Hasbro and you want to feel like you’re working on serious business – but you’re game companies.
I get streamlining, don’t get me wrong, I do streamline and I find over ornamentation and decoration to be inefficient – BUT – at the same time, I think when you look back on any world culture…Scottish, Native American, Japanese, Egyptian…the more ornamentation/decoration/flair has been removed, the more nihilistic and bland the culture has become…which is why we’re so historic focused when it comes to cultures…because when its a world of shirts and pants and you remove the facepaint…the feathers…the cultural focused hairstyles…the kilts and kimonos…the world is a dry, boring place.
Australia
Lastly, Australia changed their tourist logo…hilariously in 2020 they changed it to basically a coronavirus spore…Australia…totally off the deep end…so they switched to the kangaroo…kind of a no-brainer. It’s a boomerang, very minimalist, streamlined style kangaroo. I get it, they’re probably tired of the kangaroo being THE symbol of Australia and wanted to try something new…but Aussies…the COVID 19 virus shouldn’t replace the kangaroo as the most important organism on the continent!
So that’s the breakdown – just a few things going on. I hope you enjoyed this post and have a great day.
And if you’re in the market – spring’s here, reimagining your living or office space, check out my artwork. Got a pretty good inventory, this year I’ve finished a few series, check out the link below to my etsy shop or if you’re not in the market now, hold on to my info and come back when you are. Thanks again and see yall later.
https://www.etsy.com/shop/BumpkinSkateboards?ref=seller-platform-mcnav
https://www.instagram.com/bumpkinskateart/
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