Mind the Gap(’s new logo)

The picture above is not the new Gap logo. It’s a version that I created myself, in PowerPoint, in about 15 minutes. I just used the logo-design steps I outlined in one of my old, sarcastic posts titled “How to build your brand for free.” While it’s tough to objectively judge a logo, I do wonder whether the ability to quickly replicate it in a Microsoft Office program should be cause for concern.

It seems the new logo, announced earlier this week, has mostly experienced a negative reception from the general public. Time’s NewsFeed may be one exception (if they’re not kidding):

But “generic” and “looks alike” are not usually words you want to hear in reaction to a logo. And since the same words could be used to describe the vanishing uniqueness of Gap’s clothing, the brand may be squandering one of its few remaining strengths: a link to its own past. I’m not saying the logo has to stay the same, or that it should look like something from 1969, but if this dramatic change conveys “a streamlined, technologically dominant future,” can we expect a matching change in Gap’s overarching strategy (including products, of course)? If not, I have trouble seeing this as anything more than desperate attention seeking.

For contrast, check out something Levi’s has been up to lately. It’s not a logo redesign, but I love how this campaign at once romanticizes the company’s history and makes relevant connections to the present.

[Thanks to Shireen for pointing out the new Gap logo.]

Learning to trust again

About eight months ago I moved to Shanghai. It’s my first time living outside the United States as an adult, and as a consumer it sometimes feels like being reborn. Don’t get me wrong—Shanghai is a modern, diverse city, so it’s not so hard to find familiar Western brands here. But because of the ubiquity and lower cost of local brands (or at least less familiar ones), I’m constantly in the position of making decisions about brands with which I have no history—not the brands I grew up with and saw my parents using as a child—not the ones for which I remember a famous ad campaign from the 80s or can hum a jingle on cue.

(And as a side note, sometimes even the most familiar brands are somehow unfamiliar here.)

Of course it’s impossible to remove all the preconceived notions that influence a purchase decision, but in some ways I feel like a subject in an experiment: How do we form opinions and develop biases about things that are  new to us? And it’s not just that they’re unfamiliar…the written language barrier also blocks access to otherwise simply communicated messages. Since moving here I’ve twice bought yogurt thinking it was milk. (Hey, show an American a white-and-blue, one-quart cardboard carton at the supermarket, and it’s milk. Talk about a strong semiotic code. Now I do a shake-test just to be sure.) Sometimes I can’t even read the name of the salty packaged snack I’m buying, much less the ingredients list, nutritional information, or where it’s manufactured, not to mention any romance copy about how crunchy or flavorful it is.

If this was an experiment, what could we learn from it? It’s hard to say how applicable the results would be to any other situation. Most adult consumers are literate. They watch local TV and read local periodicals. The fact is, I’m not even in the target market for the majority of the products I’m buying. Regardless, I do feel I’m learning about my own consumption habits from a new perspective and therefore gaining some insights that could be generalized to other consumers. For example:

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A great Chinese brand name

The Chinese name for Tylenol is “泰诺,” pronounced “TàiNuò.” I am told by my naming colleagues that the trend in Chinese naming (for Western products and companies that already have brand names) is toward phonetic, rather than semantic, similarity. Given some of the names I’ve heard that claim to achieve phonetic resemblance, “TàiNuò” sounds remarkably similar to me—a bit like someone trying to say “Tylenol” after getting some teeth knocked out (at which point a painkiller would be welcome, I’m sure).

Of course, the holy grail of Chinese (re)naming is

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Daddy, do fake brands come from fake branding agencies?

Discovered this firm the other day and couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw their website. Landor, meet your made-in-China doppelganger.

JundoBrand homepage

Landor homepage

Is there some formal connection between these companies that justifies such blatant copycatting? Maybe, in which case this post is meaningless, and I probably owe JundoBrand an apology. But so far I haven’t found any connection (and if there is one, shouldn’t they mention it somewhere?).

I don’t think I need to explain the problem(s) I see with a branding firm simply copying a competitors’ look and feel so completely. Not to mention the support this gives to the stereotype that China is better at manufacturing copies of things than creating anything original…I mean if a branding firm can’t even try to make itself an original, we’re in pretty dire straits. I’m surprised they’re not called “Lundor,” or better yet, “Slandor.”

I’ve already contacted Landor to see if I’ve missed something here. If so, I owe you an apology, Jundo. If not, anyone know the Chinese for “cease and desist”?

Faucets need independently varying controls

Until I read Don Norman’s “The Psychology of Everyday Things,” I thought I was the only one frustrated by the everyday challenges of dealing with poorly designed objects, controls, and signage. When I read his book, which he says was inspired by “struggles with British water taps, light switches, and doors,” I started thinking maybe my frustration wasn’t a curse, but an opportunity. In the words of Rage Against the Machine’s Zack de la Rocha, maybe “anger is a gift” (and yes, I’m aware that my annoyance at a doorknob is not the same as Mr. de la Rocha’s anger).

Frustration can inspire innovation. Annoyed with the Blockbuster experience? Invent Netflix. Frustrated by the way you can never tell which switch controls which light? Invent a more intuitive light switch (like the one Don Norman introduces in the book mentioned above). Tired of having a Window pop up while you’re typing mid-sentence, so that half the sentence ends up in each Window? Develop software that recognizes when you’re mid-sentence and prevents this from happening (why hasn’t someone done that yet?).

Frustration can also help identify design flaws. For example, this is a terrible faucet:

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Walmart predicts USA’s best days are past

Apparently I’m not the first to comment on this, but on a recent trip back to the US I saw t-shirts in Walmart sporting the slogan “Faded Glory.” I’m assuming they’re part of the Walmart store brand of the same name, but to be clear, these shirts actually had “Faded Glory” written on the front along with a ‘distressed’ American flag image. There were matching flip flops.

We thought it might be funny to buy some overtly Go USA gear as gag-gifts for friends in China, but didn’t end up buying (and I can’t find a picture of the shirts online). Only later did we get to thinking about the meaning of that slogan, especially when paired with a beat-up looking US flag…did no one at Walmart realize what the shirt conveys when taken literally? Kind of a depressing message to send out to the masses.

Maybe I wouldn’t have thought as much of it if I wasn’t working outside the US, seeing the country a little more from an outsider’s perspective. My first week in Shanghai, I had a cab driver ask where I was from, and upon learning that I was American he excitedly made a hand motion that resembled something going up and up, then exploding. No idea what he meant (and couldn’t communicate well enough to understand), but I like to pretend he was talking about the Dow, or our economy in general.

Probably not, but I couldn’t help think of that cab driver when I saw the Faded Glory shirts.

[Thanks to Ash for pointing this out.]