The Null Device

There is a tradition of restaurants serving meat having happy anthropomorphic cartoons of the animals whose meat they serve as their mascots. Of these mascots, there is a subset in which the animals actually slaughter or eat their own kind, usually with great gusto. There's a set of such logos here:

(via Boing Boing) ¶ cannibalism cartoons design logos morbid wrong 1

Graphic Design USA looks at 15 recent trends in logo design; the "Millennium Orbital Crescent Swoosh" or whatever it was called (you know, the dynamic, energetic-looking swish of geometric colour seen so often in the logos of dot-coms with names ending in "nt") is out (though has spawned slinky-like meshes of curvy lines); meanwhile, pleasantly organic-looking droplets, natural spirals, typographical smiley faces and the colour green (the last particularly favoured by evil, toxic multinationals) are in. Also in are logos using translucent colours and logos based on stock photographs (as these can be easily reproduced where needed). (via bOING bOING)

¶ design graphic design logos 1

Rebranding for the New Millennium: Since X-Day, and the arrival of the Xist Pleasure Saucers, the Church of the SubGenius' profile in the fringe cult marketplace has declined somewhat. To counter this, the Church has now selected a new logo.

Personally, I love it. It's very clique-ish, as it represents a secret society (us) where only the *true* SubGenii wiill recognize the logo. The Dobbshead is everywhere, and any moron can (and does) rip it off and use it for whatever. But the "Bob" Icon represents only one thing: SLACK.

Expect to see the new SubGenius Eikon scrawled cryptically in random places, next to muted posthorns, three-fish glyphs and "THIS IS A HEAVY PRODUCT" stickers. And praise "Bob".

¶ logos subgenius symbols 0

A web page on that irritatingly ubiquitous feature of corporate logos of the past decade: the Millennum Orbital Crescent Swish. (via BoingBoing)

¶ fashion logos marketing trends 0

Interesting overview of computer-related design/interface conference: (NYTimes, requires registration)

"Logos are going to be a huge part of the global visual language," Curtis said. "In the same way that rap and hip-hop artists are sampling pieces of music and giving them new meaning, who's to say that the Nike 'swoosh' won't one day represent a word? You already see it in broadcasting, where 'give me that MTV style' has just as much meaning as 'give me a Kleenex.'"

"As utopian as this sounds," Mazza said, "I do believe that we are working toward a collective-mind type of experience, whether we realize it or not. All this technology is about connecting machines. What about connecting each to other? Transpersonal experiences? Sounds cool."

¶ branding design logos 0