I've been using a Wacom stylus for almost 20 years, and upgrade when necessary. That is, when the old one which was functioning perfectly well with all the functionality I needed is rendered obsolete by operating system changes; it's part of the feature bloat "conspiracy" to keep milking purchasers by turning them into perpetual clients.
When I had to get the "Intuous" version, it came with a big fat "kiddy" stylus, so I sensed that I was no longer part of the company's main market. Not really a big piss-off now, just a minor inconvenience, as I move up the demographic age categories and become less and less relevant to this kind of product developer.
So yeah, it's a pseudo-60s kitsch kiddy popcult kind of logo, so what.
The "Color Thing" looks like an ad for a brushed metal wart remover that comes in "designer" colors. How can a client go for such a thing? I've seen better looking nose hair.
Nick, I would'nt mind also if it was any of the 60s kitsch etc kind of logo you describe.
I do mind however, that like the 2012 logo, yet again, WO have fallen considerably short of basic design standards.
A well constructed 'popcult kind of logo' would have been great.
As 'brandnew' says, they might even have constructed a logo that demonstrates the unique qualities of the product itself.
But instead they design this.
Pity the poor designer who has to incorporate this logo into their next project.
is this a bit like odvertising. It got people talking, upping the company profile in no time. So maybe not such a bad logo in the mean timeI guess the product is all about fun. The designers are tripping on something. They can remove a few elements and the logo might be kind of normal. Clever or just bad design
or oddvertising, bizarre adverts in the 80's that got people talking. Do you remember and ad by outpost.com firing gerbals out of cannons. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4hny1JSsZII
I just visited Wacom.com, lets just say, the logo bouncing around really doesn't help. I also found it way more difficult, even than before, to find their product list.
As David (Nickel) says, the logo bouncing around doesn't help at all. I don't think it is a logo but more of a mascot (Wolff Olins will have given 'it' a name of some sort). It seems to appears on every page of the website but isn't anywhere near the logo.
Anyway, looks like WO have been smart enough to be able to ditch the thing when everyone is sick of it (which shouldn't be too long now).
The new brand appears to incorprate sound too. Listen to the website for a bit and the four notes/chords cast an Oriental spell that will gently send you off to sleep which is fine unless you have a deadline, in which case why are you reading this?
SPATHI ELUDER!!!!!!!!!!!!!! heheheheh I love this logo suddenly.
BTW, there is a port called Ur Quan Masters for OSX. In case you need to waste some time piloting a Mycon Podship, Thraddash Torch or Orz Nemesis. Go, go, go, intruder, bah, intruder, intruder, bah! or the mighty Pkunk Fury. Worm, idiot, loser...
One thing about graphic design, as I often encounter here at work, EVERYONE is a designer, and EVERYONE is a critic. No matter what you do, some people will love it and some will hate it, and the ones who hate it are usually intensely righteous about thier opinion.
you know, that's what i thought, too. like the episode of Star Trek when the graphic designer gets caught in a "beam up" glitch, and is separated into TWO designers: one who uses only black and white, and the other who's hooked on magenta.
Sweet mother of.... What the hell was that? I don't normally slaughter logos before I know more about the background. Here I don't need to. No matter the background. This is just bad design!
The signature is nice, appropriate and an obvious evolution from the previous wordmark. The symbol lacks most everything, but it's actually difficult to find an application (on the website and packaging at least) that actually uses the symbol locked up with the signature.
It's easy to blame Wolif Ollins, but few of us actually know what happened behind closed doors. I have been a part of bad client-driven design one too many times. It's just a fact of life.
C'mon... a firm with the prestige of W-O isn't going to be bullied into a logo like this. This was their solution to the assignment. Do you really think Wacom would call a board meeting and announce, "Okay, we found a design firm that will implement our own idea for $XX,XXX. All agreed?"
I just visited Wacom.com, lets just say, the logo bouncing around really doesn’t help.
It makes me wonder if Wolff-Olins might not be a front organisation for an epilepsy research institute. I seem to recall that the first Olympics TV spot triggered a number of epileptic siezures, and the way the Wacom logo moves in and out of focus as it bounces around the screen might be a new trigger test.
26 Sep 2007 — 6:33am
omg.
26 Sep 2007 — 7:06am
Take 2 tablets and call me in the mourning.
ChrisL
26 Sep 2007 — 7:19am
I predicted it in 1992 - Corel Draw would rule the world!
26 Sep 2007 — 7:26am
Corel-a DeVille :-)
ChrisL
26 Sep 2007 — 7:29am
there is very little about that logo that isn't ghastly, you'd have thought that a company like wacom would have more stylus
26 Sep 2007 — 7:31am
Or at least a pendant for style.
ChrisL
26 Sep 2007 — 7:49am
This was on Design Observer yesterday. I think the type is ok but that "Color Thing" is nuts. Is it a bunch of styli coming together?
26 Sep 2007 — 10:27am
I've been using a Wacom stylus for almost 20 years, and upgrade when necessary. That is, when the old one which was functioning perfectly well with all the functionality I needed is rendered obsolete by operating system changes; it's part of the feature bloat "conspiracy" to keep milking purchasers by turning them into perpetual clients.
When I had to get the "Intuous" version, it came with a big fat "kiddy" stylus, so I sensed that I was no longer part of the company's main market. Not really a big piss-off now, just a minor inconvenience, as I move up the demographic age categories and become less and less relevant to this kind of product developer.
So yeah, it's a pseudo-60s kitsch kiddy popcult kind of logo, so what.
26 Sep 2007 — 11:22am
Nah, it's just ugly?
26 Sep 2007 — 11:25am
also discussed over at brandnew:
http://www.underconsideration.com/brandnew/archives/that_wacky_wacom.php
26 Sep 2007 — 11:31am
The "Color Thing" looks like an ad for a brushed metal wart remover that comes in "designer" colors. How can a client go for such a thing? I've seen better looking nose hair.
ChrisL
PS: the type thing is fine though
26 Sep 2007 — 12:23pm
Nick, I would'nt mind also if it was any of the 60s kitsch etc kind of logo you describe.
I do mind however, that like the 2012 logo, yet again, WO have fallen considerably short of basic design standards.
A well constructed 'popcult kind of logo' would have been great.
As 'brandnew' says, they might even have constructed a logo that demonstrates the unique qualities of the product itself.
But instead they design this.
Pity the poor designer who has to incorporate this logo into their next project.
26 Sep 2007 — 2:16pm
is this a bit like odvertising. It got people talking, upping the company profile in no time. So maybe not such a bad logo in the mean timeI guess the product is all about fun. The designers are tripping on something. They can remove a few elements and the logo might be kind of normal. Clever or just bad design
26 Sep 2007 — 2:23pm
odvertising
Is this a new meme?
26 Sep 2007 — 2:49pm
Oddvertising.
27 Sep 2007 — 3:10am
You had me for a minute there, chiefdzp.
Maybe I had missed it, it is a great post-2012, double bluff.
Bad logo = free publicity etc etc etc...
...but no they seem serious. see for yourself at www.wacom.com
but wait, maybe this awful logo gets 'repaired and retouched' by the wonderful product that is a Wacom tablet, over the coming weeks.
Someone let me know I was to bored to get to end to end web animation find out.
26 Sep 2007 — 3:11pm
or oddvertising, bizarre adverts in the 80's that got people talking. Do you remember and ad by outpost.com firing gerbals out of cannons.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4hny1JSsZII
more ones in advertising
http://www.ciadvertising.org/student_account/fall_00/adv382j/christiana/...
26 Sep 2007 — 6:17pm
... Corel Draw would rule the world!
and what does Corel have to do with it? CorelDraw doesn't kill good taste - People do.
:-)
26 Sep 2007 — 6:45pm
Glad you took a shot at that one, Russ. :-)
ChrisL
26 Sep 2007 — 8:15pm
hee hee
if one of my students had turned that logo in, they'd... never mind. one of my students would never have turned in a logo like that!
27 Sep 2007 — 12:07am
It's...a Spathi Eluder.
27 Sep 2007 — 12:25am
Wolff Olins, please take me in. I can design 50 logos per day.
27 Sep 2007 — 2:35am
I just visited Wacom.com, lets just say, the logo bouncing around really doesn't help. I also found it way more difficult, even than before, to find their product list.
27 Sep 2007 — 3:26am
think vector purple people eater... yukie
27 Sep 2007 — 5:42am
As David (Nickel) says, the logo bouncing around doesn't help at all. I don't think it is a logo but more of a mascot (Wolff Olins will have given 'it' a name of some sort). It seems to appears on every page of the website but isn't anywhere near the logo.
Anyway, looks like WO have been smart enough to be able to ditch the thing when everyone is sick of it (which shouldn't be too long now).
The new brand appears to incorprate sound too. Listen to the website for a bit and the four notes/chords cast an Oriental spell that will gently send you off to sleep which is fine unless you have a deadline, in which case why are you reading this?
27 Sep 2007 — 6:31am
so, anyways...anyone have one of the new Bamboo tablets? They appear to be selling for $80. Sounds like a great price.
27 Sep 2007 — 7:20am
Another Wacom, sockum logo, it just doesn't git eeny bitter thin that!
ChrisL
27 Sep 2007 — 7:31am
Let's stop talking about it.
27 Sep 2007 — 8:11am
It reminds me of that muppet with the honking nose...
27 Sep 2007 — 8:15am
or a 3-headed zit
ChrisL
27 Sep 2007 — 8:28am
Air raid sirens.
Example 1
Example 2
Example 3
Example 4
27 Sep 2007 — 9:10am
Perfect, Gus!
ChrisL
27 Sep 2007 — 9:36am
Yeah, but don't we all really wish that we got sent the check?
27 Sep 2007 — 10:26am
SPATHI ELUDER!!!!!!!!!!!!!! heheheheh I love this logo suddenly.
BTW, there is a port called Ur Quan Masters for OSX. In case you need to waste some time piloting a Mycon Podship, Thraddash Torch or Orz Nemesis. Go, go, go, intruder, bah, intruder, intruder, bah! or the mighty Pkunk Fury. Worm, idiot, loser...
I digress
27 Sep 2007 — 10:52am
Oh, that's a sin-tique!
27 Sep 2007 — 2:54pm
I've seen so much worse.
One thing about graphic design, as I often encounter here at work, EVERYONE is a designer, and EVERYONE is a critic. No matter what you do, some people will love it and some will hate it, and the ones who hate it are usually intensely righteous about thier opinion.
27 Sep 2007 — 3:13pm
Probably another case of money talking the truth… WO must be doing something ok, reaping it in with s**t like this.
Or maybe we are all out of the loop and this is the way things are going to be from now on…
___
Bert Vanderveen BNO
27 Sep 2007 — 3:42pm
Oh, please let me stay out of THAT loop forever.
ChrisL
27 Sep 2007 — 3:54pm
Or this could be a completely different company run by Bud Wolff and Billy Olins that just sounds a lot like the famous one.
27 Sep 2007 — 3:57pm
you mean, from an evil, parallel universe?
27 Sep 2007 — 4:12pm
Yes, from... The Twilight Zone.
27 Sep 2007 — 4:53pm
you know, that's what i thought, too. like the episode of Star Trek when the graphic designer gets caught in a "beam up" glitch, and is separated into TWO designers: one who uses only black and white, and the other who's hooked on magenta.
27 Sep 2007 — 5:12pm
We had a conversation about this one in class the other day. Even design students think that it’s a disaster.
27 Sep 2007 — 6:17pm
Sweet mother of.... What the hell was that? I don't normally slaughter logos before I know more about the background. Here I don't need to. No matter the background. This is just bad design!
27 Sep 2007 — 8:59pm
The signature is nice, appropriate and an obvious evolution from the previous wordmark. The symbol lacks most everything, but it's actually difficult to find an application (on the website and packaging at least) that actually uses the symbol locked up with the signature.
It's easy to blame Wolif Ollins, but few of us actually know what happened behind closed doors. I have been a part of bad client-driven design one too many times. It's just a fact of life.
Everyone is so quick to through stones.
27 Sep 2007 — 9:07pm
>Everyone is so quick to through stones.
>I just visited Wacom.com, lets just say, the logo bouncing around really doesn’t help.
A moving target is harder to hit. ;-)
27 Sep 2007 — 10:00pm
C'mon... a firm with the prestige of W-O isn't going to be bullied into a logo like this. This was their solution to the assignment. Do you really think Wacom would call a board meeting and announce, "Okay, we found a design firm that will implement our own idea for $XX,XXX. All agreed?"
27 Sep 2007 — 10:26pm
I just visited Wacom.com, lets just say, the logo bouncing around really doesn’t help.
It makes me wonder if Wolff-Olins might not be a front organisation for an epilepsy research institute. I seem to recall that the first Olympics TV spot triggered a number of epileptic siezures, and the way the Wacom logo moves in and out of focus as it bounces around the screen might be a new trigger test.
27 Sep 2007 — 11:04pm
28 Sep 2007 — 5:21am
*lol*