Brandjack News

By Quentin Langley

Branding and logo design are among the most controversial professions. Major redesigns often attract the same round of fairly predictable complaints including “a five year-old could have designed that”.

But abstract designs pose risks all of their own. Looking at an abstract design is like looking at a cloud. Our brains are hard-wired to look for patterns. Stare long enough and you will see something familiar, and once you have seen it, you cannot unsee it. Abstract designs therefore end up going in directions that can utterly surprise the designers and their clients.

As someone once said of the London Olympics logo “what is Lisa Simpson doing to that man?”. Now try to unsee it.