The column is back – for good – just not exactly the same. You can rest assured that various music packaging will still get it’s due here but the review portion will be left to separate articles and Lost Records. This column is now all design all the time! There became too much to talk about on the subject and rather than be paralyzed by the avalanche of visual discourse, we here at BYT have embraced it and changed like the saucy little minx we strive to be. So welcome back my little Judgers. Lets get to poking and prodding:
Being a graphic designer often means that people outside the industry (and some within) often have no idea what so ever it is that you actually do. Clients have been bludgeoned with the “importance” of design in recent years - which is something that I whole-heartedly endorse. However, designers have adapted in unfortunate ways to finding themselves presenting to the corporate brain trust in the boardroom. Far too often do I see flimsy concepts propped up by unnecessary marketing crap that is little more than a glorified PowerPoint. (Reams of babble that no one will read sandwiched by intern-collaged stock photo “mood boards" et al.) In coming in as experts, the designers come unglued and instead try to speak the language of the middle management flunky. Just because there are 50 pages of copy behind it doesn’t mean it isn’t still a horrific idea.
Smart corporations see through the crap and want to bring in experts to help them learn and progress – not regurgitate their own nonsense. Unfortunately, we are seeing that there aren’t a ton of smart corporations and people want to see value for the money they have spent and the return of a single little graphic after tens of thousands invested can shake even the most steady of VP’s. Hence the comfort of placing said graphic with a big thick binder of BS on their boss’s desk. One hopes that they never open the damn thing and 99% of the time that holds true.
Luckily for us, someone finally read that slathering load for one of the worst design atrocities of modern advertising – the new Pepsi logo. More on that in a second…
Arnell has seemed on a mission to single-handedly set back the design profession 50 years. The made a lot of noise by destroying the smart work put together by Sterling for Tropicana (full disclosure – featured in my book “For Sale”) with bland, poorly executed typography and little else. With the aggressive makeover most in-store generic brands have undergone, they were left with something that didn’t even look good enough to qualify as “generic.” I shed a little design tear as soon as I first saw it. No lie.
But in a surprising turn of events – I wasn’t the only one. And others were so outraged that they took to the e-streets and wouldn’t let it stand. So this week, the brand is returning to its old look thanks to the outrage of loyal customers. The New York Times covered it nicely.
One has to wonder what is the future then for an even bigger gaffe by parent company PepsiCo in retaining the same butchers at Arnell to tackle their own branding.
It doesn’t take a designer’s eye to see that this is the shits. Not only is it stripped of whatever personality was in the logo to begin with (not that I think that requires gradients and the overblown look they have favored lately but…) the main concern is that it isn’t even executed well. HOW HARD IS IT TO FIND SOMEONE TO DRAW A DECENT CURVE IN A LOGO????? Uh… seriously.
So you have this terrible hacked together little mark now what’s an agency to do? Go back to the drawing board and get it right or prop it up with the most insane pile of bullshit ever spewed? The second option likely takes more time but unsurprisingly that’s the way they went. Now you might think I am being a little too harsh but having read the presentation trust me when I provide a few highlights (a major joy in reading this thing is in the abundance of misspellings and poor grammar.)
They actually had the nerve to compare their thinking and the construction of the logo to the Mona Lisa, The Parthenon and nature’s very own Nautilus shell while making a timeline comparing it’s debut to that of the Pythagoras creating spatial hierarchies from musical scales – you know – geometry! If this presentation walked up to any of you in a bar you would have maced it and run away a long time ago.
Now this puffing of the finest order but the offense only grows when the brandspeak merges with general nonsense in building to establishing a connection between the logo and the gravitational pull of the sun. Choice cuts and visuals:
"The Pepsi DNA finds its origin in the dynamic of perimeter oscillations."
"Emotive forces shape the gestalt of the brand identity."
"A sphere is defined as the surface formed by rotating a circle around any diameter."
"Establishment of a gravitational pull to shift from a 'transactional' experience to an 'invitational' expression."
After that I barely know what to say. I do however know that I would have kicked that design team square in their center of gravity on the way out the door!
Come back next week for more fun with design (and history!)
John Foster is the Principal and Superintendant and assorted other big words at his very own design firm: www.badpeoplegoodthings.com
God loves a cheerful giver.
Oh, my god. Are you sure this isn't a parody? I mean, granted, the Onion doesn't normally go to these sort of lengths, but Wieden-Kennedy does...
I only wish. Unfortunately this is far from the worst I have seen over the years. It circulated in design conversations for a few weeks and then received mass exposure recently via Fast Company and many others. I had it a little over a month ago for a chuckle but once I saw that it was officially fair game how could I keep it from you?
I am hard-pressed to think of two back to back visual gaffes of this order by any other huge corporation in history though.
Hmmm... did my byt bubble go away?
Michael will be thrilled...
How could have a company as large as pepsi miss the mark so badly? Logo and new typefaces suck.
Worse than a shitty logo is their latest campaign to launch their shitty new identity / aesthetic. Never in my life -- even as a designer -- have I been so offended by a product campaign. Using buzz words from and trying to ride the wave of the successful Obama presidential campaign is despicable and out of touch.
i'm CONSTANTLY assaulted by the new pepsi ads in the nyc subway. assaulted. i hate hate hate them. although, i dont hate the OJ design that badly... although i understand the complaints. one thing i like is that the orange lid is shaped like an orange. cute.
Pepsi is communist swill and tastes like sugary flat coke. Everyone knows that. If not for the commie ruskies and chinese they'd be out of business.
Oh, and Yankess, which are just as bad as the other two groups. No one south of Mason Dixon drinks that filth.
I was honest to god just in a meeting and kept getting distracted by that pepsi logo on a can right next to me. I had never really looked at it before. It's pretty atrocious. Then I came back to my desk and saw this. Awesome.
I do on the other hand like the actual word pepsi with the subtle logo built into the e. The lowercase typeface is nice.
The pepsi logo has more of its origins or at least power in pawning off the Obama logo and keeping its messaging eerily similar (hope, change, blahs like that)...just a thought...
You wrote a loosely story based on an idea that you stole from our discussion on Distrcitsoul.com
http://www.districtsoul.com/bbs/viewtopic.php?t=16702&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight=designers&start=0
Ha Ha Awesome!
good one by the way.
Hey Obama Disciples. The Obama Campaign was accused of stealing their design from Pepsi first.
http://www.slate.com/id/2198198/
http://adage.com/video/article?article_id=134176
the icon is ok - but the choice of typeface is fucking horrible - i'm stickin to my guns - i don't care what argument is made to explain it!
and marc - just so you know - this topic has been discussed on a shitload of other messageboards as well as districtsoul... i don't think dude "stole" it from us - hehehe
marcalamari,
A cursory search reveals that other, more widely read blogs (with better layouts) discussed the Pepsi logo days before your thread appeared.
http://gawker.com/5150582/breathtaking-document-reveals-pepsis-logo-is-pinnacle-of-entire-universe
Nice job accusing John of stealing from you. Never mind that his post discusses the phenomenon in an amusing way. Clearly every post on the internet must be absolutely original, and you're the victim of a most heinous crime.
um, it most certainly is a parody, only they're getting away with it. come on people, in this day and age, where you can't do anything without being totally ironic, it's a bit of brilliance. the logo is shit (only thing worse is xerox's new logo) but the supplementary material is hilarious. as a designer, you should know how vital standards guides are. if there's no equity or consistency in your look, little does it matter how good your mark is if nobody sees it as you intended. anyway, zzzzzzzz.
Alan,
You're right. Nothing was stolen. just poking fun.
just always find it funny that ideas and stories get ripped from that message board and end up ion BYT. We're flattered.
Oh Graham,
You like it the logo now? My powers are awesome.
Think of all the stories that will get ripped off when the BYT SHITSHOW ARRIVES
For the record - I have had/seen the original presentation for well over a month and certainly many others have discussed this at length. One difference being that I actually have done this sort of thing for well over a decade and it most certainly is not a parody. Standards guides are indeed important but only if they are written with the proper perspective. This isn't that sort of document though - it is a supplemental sell of the mark so that if it doesn't engage you by simply viewing it (requirement #1) than perhaps we can convince you via this thick stack of papers (27 pages in this case but I am sure the final grew even further.)
I believe in strategy but it should be evident in the mark itself by this point. This is everything I despise in the industry and the agency responsible has been a chronic offender.
Anyhew - I thought I would reboot the column with a little complaining. I will be on to boring praise of wonderful solutions by next week - no worries.
SIMPSONS DID IT!
Cale, you're on a roll with the South Park references this week.
being in the business does not necessarily qualify you to assert that this is not satire. we've all got different, valid opinions, but to many, many people out there it is meant to be humorous — including a host of well-respected, prominent designers' blogs. just saying.
Totally agree on the qualifications as far as satire is concerned. It does afford me the opportunity to have viewed it before the blow up though and via good sources I haven't heard or seen anything to lead me to believe it is such. Not that I can't be fooled mind you or wouldn't have enjoyed it from that perspective. As I said - I've seen confidential presentations that are in this vein and far worse.
No matter what comes of it - Arnell did a horrific job on the branding for both Pepsi and Tropicana. That judgement seems to be arriving quickly from all corners.
Welcome to why I hate doing this for a living these days.
I can't imagine that the person who rendered this as a final thought this was a 'good idea.'
Mob rule?