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Why do everyone's logo fonts look the same? (2020)

justcreative.com

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Re: Why do everyone's logo fonts look the same? (2020)

#21

Post by tcldr »

Q: Why do everyone’s logo fonts look the same?

A: Because they need to be legible on a mobile device.

It’s no coincidence this trend started in the 2010s with the arrival of the smartphone. Brands need a consistent look that work across mediums. With over 50% of e-commerce sales happening on mobile, and the dominance of social media in the marketing of, for example, high fashion, a brand mark must excel in these kinds of treatments. Perhaps we’ll find another design trick to facilitate legibility at smaller scales but until then, those marks that looked great in print, aren’t fit for purpose.

Re: Why do everyone's logo fonts look the same? (2020)

#23

Post by passwordoops »

dun44 wrote: post #18
passwordoops wrote: post #13

There's been much virtual ink and video play time discussing the phenomenon. Just do a search "why are designs so boring?" My personal slant pins it on the cult of minimalism. I realized we were effed when Lufthansa went with their incredibly dull and depressing livery. Most people in the planespotting world disliked it (1), while designers were falling over themselves gushing about the elegance, clarity and simplici…

Hopefully AI will make those uncreative designers redundant, freeing them to do something more aligned with their talents.

That's way too hopeful. AI is not creative, it's a tool that gives you what it calculates to be the best solution which is taken from the space of all pre-existing solutions. So if anything it will double down on the lack of creativity and keep showing whatever worked before referring us down a cycle of dull, but very machine-predictable mediocrity.

AI is not the solution for making things more creative.

Re: Why do everyone's logo fonts look the same? (2020)

#24

Post by zo1 »

bad_username wrote: post #17

Also colors and shapes seem to converge. I find it increasingly hard to find programs by icon in my taskbar, they look the same.

Icons inside programs too. Just this morning I got confused trying to un-mute myself inside Discord. Like at some point these braindead designers need to realize that an important part of "UX" is that users should easily be able to find what they're looking for and differentiate it from the next ugly white-on-grey icon that looks the same.

Re: Why do everyone's logo fonts look the same? (2020)

#25

Post by ilumanty »

tcldr wrote: post #21

Q: Why do everyone’s logo fonts look the same? A: Because they need to be legible on a mobile device. It’s no coincidence this trend started in the 2010s with the arrival of the smartphone. Brands need a consistent look that work across mediums. With over 50% of e-commerce sales happening on mobile, and the dominance of social media in the marketing of, for example, high fashion, a brand mark must excel in these kind…

Serifs improve legibility of small prints. With modern HiDPI screens, there is no reason not to use serif fonts across all media.

Re: Why do everyone's logo fonts look the same? (2020)

#27

Post by tcldr »

ilumanty wrote: post #25
tcldr wrote: post #21

Q: Why do everyone’s logo fonts look the same? A: Because they need to be legible on a mobile device. It’s no coincidence this trend started in the 2010s with the arrival of the smartphone. Brands need a consistent look that work across mediums. With over 50% of e-commerce sales happening on mobile, and the dominance of social media in the marketing of, for example, high fashion, a brand mark must excel in these kind…

Serifs improve legibility of small prints. With modern HiDPI screens, there is no reason not to use serif fonts across all media.

Sure, a restricted subset of serifs and typically when you’re reading a run of text i.e body copy. But the typical neoclassical serifs used in high fashion (think the Vogue logo) with their hairline serifs will look awful scaled to the sizes needed on mobile – regardless of screen definition.

Re: Why do everyone's logo fonts look the same? (2020)

#29

Post by NotGMan »

Might be a combination of attention span and readbility.

Many logos use cursive or letters which one must "focus" in order to read.

But if you use a "simple font" you asap read it without even knowing.

If you want to get the most out of your ads you need the people to actually register the ad message instantly.

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