1. Studio at Four Designers: 'The Logo is Dead'

Yes, according to London advertising and branding agency SomeOne, the logo is dead, apparently.

It was Studio's second visit to the Four Designer's conference in support of Norwich University College of the Arts and Andy Campbell's Graphic Communication course. Always worthwhile, but seriously, I can't stay in the Generator Hostel again (see last years post). Prison like accommodation aside, Patrick Baglee's event consistently offers a lively programme of speakers.

But there was the controversial, which came with the ominous warning from SomeOneinLondon that they intended to start an argument. I'm an easy going fella, but even they succeeded in ruffling my feathers. So here it is, it's all over for logo design - the public's perception of branding is wildly expensive logos like the recent Olympic 2012 identity. The Daily Mail cries how much? And the result is a mistrust of designers and the creation of brand communication.



SomeOne hates logos - they believe in Brand Worlds. Which to you and me means lavish photography, film and swirly colourful patterns and I guess somewhere, the brand's belief, attitude and aspiration - all fused into the quality of their product or service. So branding then. As anyone in the industry knows, it's not just the logo, it's the application that costs all the money. But let's not forget, the logo is a symbol - all that Brand World stuff defined by one icon. Somehow, one line of nicely set typo doesn't quite cut it (sometimes it does, but not always). I'm rubbish at asking questions after these talks, but what I wanted to ask was, "how would SomeOne re-brand Superman?"



I consider designing a logo the most difficult task - it takes research and understanding to distill a client's meaning and desire (for your belief and loyalty) into one entity. Always instantly recognisable, regardless of where you are in the world. And as Mike Dempsey stated in his lecture shortly afterwards, how else does a company differentiate from its competitor?



It's good for events like these to offer a different point of view and stimulate debate, indeed poor old SomeOne admitting to receiving 'hate tweets'. But I think such posturing can be misleading - is the logo dead? Or do you agree with Tony Wilson when he said, "You're entitled to your opinion but it's...".



Anyway, I think SomeOne like to stir things up a bit - just take a look at their home page.