Initial Thoughts on Gap’s New Logo
Designer: Gap
It seems I’m not alone when I say Gap’s new logo is ridiculous. I’m sitting here, a day after its release, still wondering whether I’m completely missing the point. So what I did was devise the logical reasoning behind why this logo came to be:
Six months ago, Gap held an essay contest for designers across the world. Submissions were to include opinionated predictions for the future of fashion and exactly how simplicity and clarity will play its role in the next 10 years of apparel design. Gap then utilized a panel of marketing experts with no knowledge in visual semiotics and/or design and had them select the ten best submissions. These ten individuals flew to San Francisco a month ago where two were actually offered intern positions at Gap. One of the individuals, John Goodesign, professed to their department that they actually had gone to school for design and was hopeful that maybe one day he could work as a designer for Gap. When the department told him that he was crazy for thinking he had a chance at making an impact on such a large brand, John became very irritated.
After several disagreements between John and the department, Gaps PR department decided to let John move into the design department in hopes that he could expand on his knowledge of design. For two weeks, John learned how to utilize the font Helvetica, as Gap only uses Helvetica in all their marketing and promotional materials. He learned that Helvetica was the most widely used font in the corporate world and fell in love with its clarity and continuous success in display solutions. John then decided to recommend that Gap change their logo to incorporate Helvetica. Caught off guard, the Senior Art Director in marketing at Gap decided that maybe this was in fact a fantastic and cohesive idea for the brand. Because John had the idea, trust was given that John could potentially redesign Gap’s logo the way he envisioned it. So John did just that.
Little did John know, the creative team knew all along that this redesign would actually end badly. But because so many people seem to be ignorant of good, unique design solutions, they let John fulfill his dream in hopes that it would backlash. And backlash it did. In fact, John made the mistake of not only using Helvetica but also attempting to incorporate a blue square in another way other than its previous use. This turned out disastrous as the old logo was already an almost timeless design that utilized three simple characters and a square.
Today everyone is pointing and laughing at John for creating such a preposterous logo, while Gap sits back and wonders why they even let John try to recreate something that was so simple, so clear and already 100% effective. Meanwhile the creative team grins and rubs their hands together as they begin to plan a rebellion against the insane constraints Gap has set for them the past 2 years. At their disposal is this new logo, a complete and utter failure but brilliant piece of evidence for them to utilize in their quest to create a brand that is more than just a font itself.
May John’s career rest in peace and may Gap retain the toughness it will need to fend off all the negative feedback it will surely receive.
