A few weeks ago I finally found the time to watch the movie Logorama, an entertaining 16-minute animated film, that is entirely made up of 2,500 different brand logos, icons and mascots. This came out last year and garnered an award at the Cannes Film Festival and later won the Academy Award this year for Best Animated Short Film.
What I thought was fascinating about this film was that it felt like a visual trivia game, where the viewer is watching and simultaneously guessing what all of the companies’ brands are. A brief synopsis: Police (Michelin men) chase an armed criminal (Ronald McDonald) in the cityscape of Los Angeles. During the chase, mascots from dozens of other companies (ie. Pringles, Pillsbury, Mr. Clean) make up the conversational characters as dozens of logos and brand icons literally fly by. There is a lot of subtle humor in it and it moves fast. So fast in fact, you want to watch it again.
After watching the movie, I felt conflicted. I loved it because it was well done and unexpected. I found the landscape of logos overwhelming, which I would guess is the point. As a designer, I loved seeing all the logos and can appreciate the talent and energy that went into creating them, but at the same time, at what point do we reach a brand saturation point? Is the world that designers are helping to create, becoming unnecessarily obtrusive to our everyday life? Let me know what you think, I would like to hear your thoughts.
Every four years, a city is chosen to host the Olympic games. Among the many responsibilities for hosting is the challenge to create a unique brand that captures the spirit and culture of a country, for one of the oldest and most celebrated sports traditions. The great city of Vancouver, Canada rose to the challenge of creating this brand and achieved it with great success. Overall I think they did an impressive job with the entire look and feel and thought that it was fresh, exciting and fun.
What I think I like the most of this brand is the color palette. The choice of the acidic green and cerulean blue were brilliant, the colors really stand out on the wintery white slopes of Vancouver. The color blue represents water in its many forms (ocean, lakes, ice, snow), while the green represents the growth of vegetation and natural resources of the area. These colors bring to life the dynamic illustrations, which are representative of each sport. They are sleek and have a modern superhero feel to them. With each one of them, you can feel the action of the event and can see the power and spirit of the athlete in beautiful detail. The background of each of these is surrounded by swirling waves that include detailed aspect of both the environment and canadian culture.