A Dragon in Sheep’s Clothing

BIG ouch.

Not only is it a bad branding move, it’s a bad design. Another application of a vague symbol which seems to be the hallmark of modern branding. Is that yellow thing:

an asterisk,
a sun,
the light indicating this checkout lane is open,
a right turn signal,
a popped balloon,
the stain left when I squashed a spider on [...]

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You may have noticed that KFC has been updating stores, painting them dark red on the outside and returning the original, full “Kentucky Fried Chicken” name to the building and accessories.
Personally, I think this is a good thing. The buildings stand out in a sea of other choices, and the design has [...]

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I’ve long thought that the Gateway Bank logo was a prime example of swooshes in logos gone wrong. But in the back of my mind, I wondered if they were based in St. Louis, and so the swoosh was meant to hark back to the Arch. Alas, no. I looked them up this morning, [...]

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What great costumes!

People dressed as monsters advertising toys ride the escalator at the Toy Fair in New York, Sunday, Feb. 17, 2008. (Seth Wenig, Associated Press / February 18, 2008)

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I’ve discovered several items online today that I want to highlight instead of just including as del.icio.us links. They all deal with the state of the Internet — some in relation to user experience, some in the bigger world/cultural picture. Lots of food for thought for a designer like me.
Clive Thompson on Human Memory [...]

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