I'd like to start a weekly blog where I examine and explore some elements, styles and trends i design today. It's never easy to effectively critique work without all the project limitations, but at best one can evaluate the basic principles employed (or ignored).

I recently stumbled across (thank you Pop URLs) a site that is said to offer "58 Creative Logos". Aside from the loosely used term "creative" to describe these logos, I looked through the list with astonishment. This is what is consider inspiring and creative? Let's make this clear, style does not equal creativity. Let me repeat. Style does not equal creativity. Gradients, bevels and rounded corners with blue are all stylistic implementations that are apart of the designers toolbox, but they should never trump a solid concept -- and without a fully developed and multi-faceted concept, a logo will be nothing more than a stylized icon with text.

"The logo must be concise and simple, a compelling symbol of the theme or object; its form must be easy to understand and imprint itself on the mind. It must be unique and have no resemblance to to any existing logo."
-- J. Müller-Brockmann, "The Graphic Artist and his Design Problems", p61 (Verlag Niggli AG, 1961)

Designers have lost the basic premise and purpose of a logo, which Brockmann so eloquently states. Where is the uniqueness? Are they concise, simple, compelling? Do they reinforce the theme of what the logo represents? We seem to have lost the notion of what creativity is -- which as I stated in a previous blog -- is merely finding unique solutions to a given problem. Next time you have to develop a brand identity, think to yourself "am I designing a brand or stylizing an icon?"