More Logo

Further to the last post, the Guardian reports that the poor logo, when animated has triggered a seizure in a young man suffering from epilepsy. It all sounds, at best, unfortunate; at worst, strangely occult.

Logo Area

I could write something about the jailing of Scooter Libby, the potential stand-off between Russia and the US over missile shields, but why not have a look at the newly-unveiled logo for the London 2012 Olympics? It has provoked a mostly negative reaction, some people comparing it to a fragmented swastika, while others have pointed out the similarity of the logo for Chris Tarrant's old TV show 'Tiswas' (which, bizarrely makes an anagram of 'swastika' if one adds an 'a' and a 'k'). While many of the objections to it are predictably middlebrow and unimaginative (check out the 'alternatives' proffered by the BBC's web article for examples of truly awful logos) it's hard not to see the logo as both sloppily conceived and tacky. The font used for the word 'London' is weak and the word itself badly positioned and is dayglo pink an advisable colour to use to publicise an event that is still five years away?

Helvetica-ca-ca-ca

The International Herald Tribune is the most ubiquitous English-language newspaper around this city, not surprisingly as it is published here. It is a thin, lightweight affair with a faux-earnest authorial style familiar from American papers, given occasional ballast by syndicated articles and columns from the Boston Globe and the New York Times. But the Trib does have its better qualities too, most notably a good design section - a rarity in English-language newspapers - and, from yesterday's paper is a nice piece on the Helvetica typeface, which is the subject of an exhibition at the New York Museum of Modern Art and which celebrates its fiftieth birthday shortly. Helvetica is most familiar from the logos of companies such as Lufthansa, American Airlines, American Apparel and from the signage for the New York Subway, and I myself own a favourite tee-shirt, designed by Angry of Dublin, which is emblazoned with it, to good effect. Those that know me will also know the tee-shirt. Long live Helvetica. The best thing to come out of Switzerland since the cuckoo clock (well, maybe since Le Corbusier).