How to Ruin a Great Design Response

Devon Gerst

9/3/2016

CGR-111

Response to “How to Ruin a Great Design”

            When I was about to read this article I thought to myself, this is just going to be another bland writing for someone to rant about how most designs are too flashy and hard to understand, but after reading it, I thought it was actually well written and somewhat true. The example of UPS was excellent because most people who will read this will know about when UPS changed their logo from the “present box” to the current one we know today. I personally enjoy the “present box” logo UPS used to have, it was subliminal messaging at its finest. It was simple, had meaning, and was obvious enough to understand.

I agree with some of Alice Rawsthorn’s claims, including, that some logos are starting to lose their meaning and becoming impractical. Take the animal planet logo for example, the original logo, in my eyes, was much better than the current one. The original logo had a silhouette of an elephant holding up to what looks to be a globe, while the new one is just the channel’s name in different fonts and sizes. Sure, the new logo is fresh and cool, but there is no meaning behind it. The original logo was much better since it explained the channel’s shows within the picture. In conclusion, Alice Rawsthorn’s article was a great read, and in many ways, factual about what today’s logos and signs are becoming, less meaningful.