The folks over at Hyperakt put this great video together for those who spend a lot of time around Photoshop. Imagine you could use all of those tools in your everyday life. A little burn & dodge here and there, some cloning, a little magic cut and paste. Life would be so great!
First of all, do you like the new Gap logo?
It’s certainly a peculiar time for a redesign, but perhaps with a decline in sales and market share it was time for a reboot.
On a personal level I don’t feel that every brand should take this clean and simple approach. Helvetica is one of the nicest and most effective fonts available, but to say it’s ubiquitous is an understatement. Don’t get me wrong, I love the font, and I love the clean and simple look, but I feel that the “Scandinavianizing” of graphic design may not actually be a good thing.
While it may look good in your apartment, think about how boring Ikea furniture has become. It’s not that it is bad at all, it’s just that it is everywhere. If you truly want to stand out you would need to shop elsewhere (full disclosure: I shop almost exclusively at Ikea or places that resemble Ikea).
Maybe the point is that The Gap is to clothing as Ikea is to furniture — functional, clean, fun — but painfully mainstream. I highly doubt anyone would set out to be average, but then maybe I’m wrong. I have recently converted my wardrobe to all plain black t-shirts and blue jeans to simplify my life.
Maybe the new Gap logo stands for a simplification of life. Maybe you should look at it and feel a wave of calm that is often felt when absent of clutter? I honestly don’t know.
What I do know is how I feel about the old Gap logo now that it’s gone. I kind of miss it like an old friend. It was a familiar landmark that would act as a reminder of home while travelling and it was literally everywhere. At no point did I ever feel like the Gap was intruding on my life, and I think the old logo with the navy blue square and serifed font stood for something. It was timelessly wholesome and has probably met it’s demise before its expiry date.
You could say that there is no such thing as bad press, but I don’t know that making a controversial change is the best way to make a splash. Still though, people will be talking about the new Gap logo for a while, just as I am now.
I know, I know. Helvetica…controversial? I’m not changing my choice of words. The Gap moving from it’s old logo to a stark Helvetica version is like the party in high school where all of the goody goodies showed up and took a sip of beer and thought they were rebels, but after all, this is the Gap – not Guess.
What do you think of this? Go on now…don’t be shy. I want to know. Please feel free to comment below.
The Drake Hotel Cafe was sporting this new bicycle frame lighting fixture when I was in there recently. I can’t decide whether this is the ugliest thing I’ve ever seen, or if it’s something to marvel at. What do you think?
I like finding new purposes for old things. I guess you could call that recycling, but some re-purposes can transform something from being a mundane cum useless object into a hip piece of personal gear.
I stumbled on this retro milk bottle water bottle at The Drake’s pop-up shop on Queen Street West in Toronto.
I’m all for drinking water out of glass whenever possible. It tastes better, it’s totally reusable, and totally recyclable — unlike plastic.
Take that one step further and make a simple water bottle into something cool, and you’ve caught my eye. This water bottle made me think of changing tents at the beach, picnic baskets, red and white striped bathing suits, and beehive hairdos.
The milk/water bottle is a retro cool and sustainable while fitting into The Drake Hotel’s excellent retro branding scheme. This one gets big ups from me!
Airports are full of exceptions. Go this way, but not this way. Gates 1-20 are here but 8, 10, 12 are not. I wonder if efficient space dynamics could reduce stress?
This bar of soap by June Jacobs was in my hotel room at the Delta Calgary Airport hotel. It’s a bit funny shaped for a bar of soap and reminds me a bit of a lego brick. The raised dots make gripping the bar of soap easier while wet. Form and function.