TV Show Logos

So, upon watching what could be an epic episode of The Walking Dead last night, I started to think about TV show logos. The Walking Dead's logo is fit for the show in my opinion. The typeface is a bold all-caps sans-serif. The kerning/tracking is tight and the counters are encroached on, which leads to that feeling of entrapment by walkers (zombies). They often grunge it up with a texture treatment to make it look even more scary, dirty, rough. The "THE" barely rests on the "A" of walking, so it makes you feel as though one little knock and it could fall off, which pretty much describes the shows plot line. I love it.

In doing some reading about TV show logos, I came across a couple articles. In this Creative Bloq article, 12 Great Uses of Typography in TV Logos, many popular TV shows throughout the last two and half decades are referenced, including Breaking Bad, Mad Men, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Game of Thrones... I think many of them have been successful, especially The X Files. I feel like I would recognize that anywhere. Pimp My Ride, not so much. I think it's just my personal opinion of the bubble typeface that screams 70s that I don't like. I think That 70s Show did a great job of not using a stereotypical typeface. I don't think its necessary for Pimp My Ride.

This next article from The Creative Market, Typography of Popular TV Shows, dives in a little further to additional shows but also references some matching typefaces for purchase if you're looking to design something with a similar feel.

What TV show logos stand out to you and why (whether in these articles or just as you watch your favorite shows)? Are there some you find more successful then others? Why?

Additional Social Media Templates

Hey All!

I just found these very extensive .psd files for various social media and other digital platform templates (iOS 9, Twitter, YouTube, Facebook).

Again they are very extensive but pretty good.

http://www.everyinteraction.com/resources/

Re: Politics for designers

Comments on the logos:

This logo, although horrendous, is a much better fit for Trump.

The eagle in Rick's logo reminds me of The Stephan Colbert eagle.

Jeb! looks like an icon for a mobile app.

Rubio's logo looks like it has a fish hovering over the "i".

The O'M' looks a commercial with soccer moms speaking in text slang.

Hilary's logo is terrible.

The Carson logo is the only one I can stand, considering it looks like its medical related.

Here is a initial survey on the public's reaction to some of the logos.

I kind of agree with the people, the bank of america symbol aka Ted Cruz'
s logo isn't that bad

Statements from designers about Hilary's logo: 

When you look at successful logos — Nike, McDonald's, Coca-Cola — you notice they tend to be pretty curvy. Most political campaigns' logos do the same: think of the Obama design, for example, from 2008.

Then there was the Clinton campaign's decision to go with basic, primary colors. Red on blue is typically a faux pas in design, Weinschenk says, because it can hurt viewers' eyes ...

When you put basic geometry with primary colors it starts to feel kiddish 

Don't Blame Me, I voted for Ghostface.

I am so not looped into the field of candidates. Here's what I can surmise so far, strictly based on media and snap judgment. Let me start with a disclaimer that I'm not a political person, and will probably start daydreaming when you begin enumerating the qualifications of this guy and discrediting this guy because of blah blah blah and, ooh bagels! I want a bagel. 

Donald Trump: Used Car Salesman

Ben Carson: refers to black people as “they” and not “we,” and lots of black people are upset about it.

Hillary: It’d be cool to get a woman in there, I’m all for progress and breaking down barriers, but it feels a little oligarchical. Her husband used to be in there, then you’ve got Jeb, whose brother and father were both presidents. This doesn’t sit well with me. Let’s get some new thinkers in there.

Ted Cruz: clown/Bridgegate/spent $300,000 of taxpayers’ money on food last year right?

I honestly don’t know much about any of the other candidates. I know hardly anything about the ones I just mentioned, so that shows you how politically involved I am. I did go to Obama’s inauguration back in ’09, and that was a hell of a party. I’ll probably go again in 2017. Yolo.

But back to Design. Let’s focus on the taglines. Trump’s logo is simple and optimistic, but I don’t love his tagline. I don’t see this guy “MAKING AMERICA GREAT AGAIN.” The slogan feels cheap, but I think a lot of fickle and flighty people will buy it. Miley Cyrus announced at the VMAs that Trump had her vote until Kanye announced his candidacy in 2020. The worst part is that people would vote for Kanye if he does end up running, and they'll vote for Trump just because Miley Cyrus mentioned his name. 

Huckabee definitely looks like Bank of America. Why didn’t he just go with “I heart Huckabee” or “America hearts Huckabee.” Surely I’m not the only one thinking that. “”From Hope to Higher Ground” sounds like a made for tv movie on lifetime or something. That’s not incendiary or comforting. I’m trying to picture the room full of people who narrowed down the pool of slogans to that one.

Marco Rubio is only 16 years late to the "new American Century." But who’s counting? The silhouette of the United States is nearly imperceptible.

Ted Cruz: Clown

Jeb: The clowns called, they want their typeface back, they also want you to kern 2016 a little bit.

Rand: This looks like an ad for motor oil. What’s the viscosity on this guy? Is that synthetic?

O’M: OMG I don’t like it. Why is the box open on the bottom-left?

Rick Santorum: He went with the eagle. Because that hasn’t been done. Nice job Rick.

Hillary: You gotta give it to her, hers is the most thought provoking. I don’t hate it. I kinda like it. Will it make me vote for her? I honestly don’t think I would base my decision off of any of these logos. 

Carly: Who is Carly? "For President?" Is that what these people are running for? Thanks Carly, it’s a good thing you clarified that.

Bernie: this is uninspiring. It reminds me of an old Bush/Quayle ’92 bumper sticker.

Carson. I don’t hate this one either. I would move the fancy A into Carson and cut America out of the logo. It’s also difficult to see exactly what’s going on with that A at this size. Is that a leaf sticking out of it? An arrow feather? Did he get shot up by some Native Americans? There’s an idea, let’s get a Native American in there. Or you could all vote for Ghostface with me next year...

Re: Killing It and Political Logos

Hi all!

Sorry, I'm a little late on responses for the last two blogs.

In response to a mentor, I don't officially have one mentor, or anyone who is necessarily a mentor to me. I do however, have people who have helped to mold me into who I am today, and who I aspire to be. When I was in my undergrad design program at Stevenson, I had so many influential teachers. Lori Rubeling really helped to push me out of this corporate design box I was stuck in. Sarah Verville taught me in the most thorough and efficient way most of my web skills. Maureen Weiss helped me to see letters not just as symbols of language but as shapes in my various typography courses with her. The teacher though who sticks out to me most though is Amanda Hostalka, now Dean of the School of Design. While I only had her for one class, which was my portfolio class, this class helped set the standards really for the start of my design career. And while the class was essential, it's Amanda's career-driven attitude that I admire and strive towards. She started out as a professor at Villa Julie, became Chair of the design department, and is now Dean. She balances a very busy work schedule while maintaining a family life, something that may become part of my life in the future. Before I left Stevenson, she said that she saw herself in me because I am that go-getter, overachiever. Well, I was. I've slowed down a bit, but am still on my path. So I guess Amanda is sort of my mentor, because I'd love to be able to be where she is at as early and as quick as she achieved it.

In response to the political logos, I couldn't tell you who's running for what and why, but I will say that I don't think logos are necessary for individuals in general. An individual person doesn't need to necessarily brand themselves with a logo. I sort of feel like if every person and every company had a logo, there wouldn't be any separation from corporations versus individuality. That said, I really only feel like three (maybe four) of these logos are comparable to the Obama logo since the majority of them are just names with a treatment. Hilary's is very masculine. And while it does have an arrow as the bar of the "H", I don't think it directly relates to FedEx which was much more successful, with a less obvious, negative space created arrow that most people don't know exists unless its pointed out to them (the Aha! moment). Carson's re-design of the "A" in America could stand by itself. Again, whether successfully, is debatable. It's very playful. O'M.....why does it look like a speech bubble? Ted Cruz's fire flag I feel could have religious connotations. I feel like I've seen that smooth fire shape used in several church logos before.

Re: Politics for Designers

My initial reaction was that I feel like so many of these logos are way too goofy looking for a presidential candidate. I get that they are all trying to be approachable, but so many of them lack a"strong" feeling to their type or image.  Bernie Sanders looks like I should hire him for a child's birthday party. Carly definitely looks like she is hosting some sort of Memorial Day one-day sale ala Macy's, Jeb? Sigh, who was in charge of the typography there? I remember being in Words and Images and talking about Hilary's logo and the class was discussing whether or not the design was intentionally bad to poke fun or gain media attention? It definitely seems like an odd choice, but her application in her campaign seems to work at least. The arrow in the H (even if is red and point to the right) has some vision that sets her apart and illustrates her campaign in various fashions appropriately. I can get behind that from a design perspective- it actually communicates. However, I definitely don't think any of these come close to Obama's campaign.

Speaking of, I came across this article that discussed all the design options for Obama's logo and then the finalists, where the designer notes, “The strongest logos tell simple stories."

It was said that usually the team only develops two to four, maybe five. in the end they came up with around 16 options, and ultimately focused on three.  (Check out the article to see a bunch of the options).

It's interesting that Hillary and O'Malley seemed to have borrowed from this list...take a look at the finalists from the link above:

Politics and Designers make Strange Bedfellows -

As the old proverb goes, People who would normally not have much affiliation with design will hire designers to build their brand if they think it is politically useful to do so.


As I look at the Hilary logo I think of Fed-Ex. I don't know why. No, I do, but that is besides the point.

Her logo is probably the most interesting of the group, from a design standpoint, but when I see the some of the other pieces of her campaign (in this case her website) I think there was more focus placed on getting her politics and point of view across to potential supporters and not so much on design. But I looked at a few others main candidates and I am getting the same feeling. Maybe that is the aesthetics behind the design. Some look like they are WordPress built templates.

And not to pick on Hilary, but I am talking about Trump, Bernie Sanders and even Ben Carson focussed more on the politics and not wowing the audience with design. That might be the best way to approach this type of campaign (no pun intended).

But back to the logos -

What Barack Obama was able to do with his campaign and the Gotham font, was take them both to the promise land. And his logo is now iconic because he and his camp knew that their was something to be said for good design in the business place. The logo re-emphasized his then promises of change and hope with a bold display of colors and imagery, that the political world just hadn't been seen previously.

Although, when I see what all the potential candidates have done with their logos it is inspiring but now it all seems like white noise to me. To me they felt they had have a logo prepared for their campaign based on what president Obama did and now it is just a standard practice.
When that happens then you lose the iconic feel that was once found in the Obama campaign.
So what is my solution? If the presidential hopeful what to spend millions and millions to get themselves into office, then build a full-fledge brand campaign around your politics that defines who you are and furthermore is aseptically appealing to a mass audience.
You may not get every vote but at least you will look good trying to.