The logos we love...and love to hate

Last Thursday we discussed what makes a logo work. A well-designed logo can do more than provide a first impression--that image begins a relationship. The exceptional logo can forge a customer's emotional connection to a trusted restaurant, store or clothing brand.

In addition to the message the company intends to convey, the logo carries a visual reminder of the consumer's past experiences. After long hours of driving on the highway, seeing a sign for your favorite restaurant (the infamous golden arches just up the road, for example) can bring a sigh of relief and contentment. The thought of gorging on french fries satisfies you before you take the first bite or even pull up to the drive thru window.

Golden arches via University of Nevada Las Vegas Neon Museum

When a company changes a logo that generations of customers have come to rely on--an image that has become embedded in cultural memory--things can get messy. In an ill-fated effort to think outside the box last October, the Gap attempted to replace its iconic blue-box logo with an "updated" version.
                              

Left: the classic 1969 logo, as seen in every suburban mall in America. Right: the new logo, which lasted less than a week before public outcry prompted the corporation to take it down.

I'm neither a graphic design major nor an advertising student, so I'll leave it to the design critics to delve into exactly what went wrong aesthetically. Blogger Ravit Lichtenberg believes the Gap, once a mall superpower, has lost touch with its dwindling conservative fanbase, and loyal customers agreed. Bloggers worldwide lampooned the rebranding effort; there's even a site where you can create your own Helvetica-based failure.

After only a week, the Gap reversed its redesign effort in one of the most prominent rebranding gaffes in recent memory. What does the Gap incident tell us about our personal connection to our favorite clothing brands? About our often unwieldy efforts to create a modern image...and our unwillingness to let go of the old?