Tag Archives: logos

Logos to Trademarks—Masters of Their Craft

Chermayeff Geismar & Haviv Set The Bar

60 Years of Logos: Chermayeff & Geismar from Dress Code on Vimeo.

If you watch television, use the post office, have a checking account, buy gasoline, or enjoy modern art, you’ve seen their work. Driven by both research and pure instinct, the duo is responsible for a library’s worth of abstract marks and recognizable logotypes that continue to withstand the test of time.

In one short (~3′) video, design legends Ivan Chermayeff* and Tom Geismar discuss their founding, the early days, what makes a mark memorable, and how they’ve planned for their iconic firm’s future in a global environment of design on demand, ranging from crowd sourced adventure to template driven desperation to cattle call design auctions that start at the bottom and usually progress downward.

Two Legendary Designers On Memorable Careers

In this video the unassuming pair go on record about the formative years, their staying power, and what they bring to the highly competitive table of corporate communications and graphic design. Whether you’re a client or a designer, what they have to say is invaluable in charting a communications course.

Born in London in 1932, *Ivan Chermayeff died in December, 2017, at age 85.

big city creative strikes out

Last January 8, PepsiCo owned Tropicana rolled out their stunningly bland new corporate look, a makeover fashioned by Omnicom owned NYC shop Arnell, at a campaign launch cost pegged by some at no less than $35 million. A little less than two months later, PepsiCo couldn’t shovel dirt on it fast enough. The funeral was February 23.

That little detour down “Don’t Even Think About It” Lane has now, according to the April 2 issue of AdAge, reportedly cost the powerhouse beverage brand 20% in unit sales, 19% in dollars ($33 million) and unknown market share damage. Ka-pow! For those who still think packaging’s no big deal and brand management is way overrated, this Oh-Jay’s for you. Continue reading →

pepsi pops for new look

We’re on the side that says the jury’s still out on Pepsi’s latest logo revision. Gone is the 3-D look, as is the all caps logotype that’s been in use since 1962.

Pepsi’s revisited their image 11 times over their century plus history of serving a frosty alternative to That Other Cola. Cost to revamp, according to Ad Age, is $1-mil plus for the design, but implementation will likely be well in excess of two hundred million by the time all the signage and applications are accounted for and delivered.

The lesson here is that shareholders wouldn’t sit still for an instant if the revamp didn’t have a dollars and sense basis. In other words, logos aren’t carved in stone these days. It’s pixels and plastic and the right look means more cha-ching at the end of the day.