This is Michael Bierut.
这是迈克•布鲁特
“I’m Michael Beirut. I’m a graphic designer”
我是迈克•布鲁特 一个平面设计师
You might be familiar with his work ,
你可能熟悉他的作品
but interestingly
但有趣的是
he thinks that logos are just kind of overrated.
他认为商标的重要性有点被高估了
“I’m actually often very ambivalent about them.”
其实我对它们的感情很复杂
Let’s back out a second. What is a logo?
让我们往回倒一下 什么是商标？
Basically a face of a company.
从根本上讲 它是一个公司的门面
“Some are beloved.
有一些商标受人喜爱
Some… the swastika is a logo and it’s reviled. You know?”
但有一些 比如纳粹的万字符就被人唾弃
They have to work at tiny sizes, and huge.
商标需要在任意大小下都可使用
There are three specific types.
有三种典型的商标类型
First type is the Wordmark.
第一种是文字商标
“the wordmark is the easiest one.
字标是最简单的一种
And it’s the one we’re all the most familiar with.
也是我们最熟悉的一种
I mean John Hancock’s signature is kind of a word mark.
比如约翰•汉考克的签名就是一种字标
It can look crisp clean and modern
它们看起来简洁明了 具有现代感
like the new Google logo looks.
比如谷歌的新商标
Or it can look somehow that it has roots and a shared heritage
还有一些字标能体现出其根源和传承
the way the coca cola logo looks. You know?”
就像可口可乐的商标
The second is PICTORAL.
第二种是图形商标
“Pictoral logos often function as a kind of rebus.
图形商标通常像一个图形字谜
It’s a picture, and you will say it wasn’t a picture
它是一个图形 又不仅是一个图形
and it’s sort of is identifying the name of the company.
它象征着公司的名字
Sometimes directly like Target.
有些像塔吉特公司的一样直接
Sometimes more indirectly like LaCoste.”
有些像拉科斯特一样含蓄
The third kind is kind of the holy grail.
第三种是商标中圣杯式的存在
Abstract inconography.
叫做抽象图腾
“It’s everyone’s favorite kind of category
它是这三种中最受欢迎的
because it just seems almost like magic.”
因为它就像是魔法一样
As a designer,
作为一名设计师
people will come to me and they’ll say
人们会来找我要求说
I want something like the Nike swoosh.
我想要一个耐克对勾那样的商标
They think the Nike swoosh was
他们认为耐克对勾一被画出来
the Nike Swoosh the day it was drawn.
就像现在一样被广泛认可
But it was nothing the day it was drawn.”
实际上它在刚画出来的时候什么都不是
The company that birthed nike commissioned
当时耐克的总公司委托了
a design student named Carolyn to draw some ideas.
一位名叫卡洛琳的学生来做些设计
And the Nike founders didn’t really like it.
耐克的创始人不怎么喜欢这个商标
“They sort of said awww let’s use that one.”
他们当时勉为其难用了这个商标
It wasn’t like an overnight success.
它并不是一夜之间就成功了
And then they started putting it on the sides of shoes.
后来他们开始把它印在了鞋子上面
The shoes were good
鞋子的质量非常棒
and then the genius of Nike’s marketing apparatus
此外 得益于耐克公司天才般的营销
made us further associate that product not merely with performance athletic gear
使我们不仅将这一商标与高性能运动装备联系起来
but with the very idea of athletic achievement itself.
还与运动成就的理念本身相联系
And that’s how over a long time a little mark means something big.
这就是一个小小的标志背后的含义逐渐深化的过程
“That’s exactly how religious symbols work –
这也是宗教符号的原理
it’s obviously not just anything inherent in these shapes,
显然 这些形状不仅包含本身固有的含义
but it’s about what those shapes have come to represent in the minds
还包括那些形状呈现在人们眼前时
of the people who are looking at them.”
人们心中赋予它的含义
But there’s a fourth type of logo
但是还有第四种商标
that goes beyond these three types,
它超脱于这三种类型之外
and can use elements of each of them:
且可以使用每种类型的元素
The Logo System.
那就是商标系统
A graph of framework,
它虽然是一种框架
but one that can have endless permutations.
但是却有数不胜数的排列方式
The first giganticly, popular example of the logo system would be MTV.
第一个广为流行的商标系统实例就是MTV
But google’s daily “doodles” are another great example of the logo system .
谷歌的每日涂鸦也是一个很好的例子
A familiar mark that also can point to other ideas and issues.
通过熟悉的商标表现其他创意和主题
This approach all has to do with technological change.
这种方法的产生与技术变革有关
“It used to be if a company was doing a logo
在过去 如果一家公司在做一个商标
there’d be this military operation
就会采取军事行动般的措施
by which it would be inscribed on all their equipment
公司会把商标刻在所有的设备上
and on their airplanes and their retail facilities
飞机上以及它们的零售网点
and gold pins and cufflinks would be made for the executive suite
还有为行政套房特制金色别针和袖扣上
and put on spitoons in ashtrays,
刻在烟灰缸和痰盂上
the top of the skyscraper,
摩天大楼的顶部
and everyone’s business card. Right?
以及每个人的名片上
Nowadays none of that’s important as an email signature
如今这些都不如电子邮件签名
or your twitter avatar
或是推特头像
or the little thing that sits next to your URL.
或是网址旁边的小图标那么重要
Those things are much more ubiquitous
这些东西更为普遍
and they can be changed at the drop of a hat.”
而且改动起来也很快
Bierut used this system approach for his Hillary Clinton logo.
比鲁特使用这个系统方法为希拉里·克林顿设计竞选标志
“we wanted to have a mark that could reflect the electorate,
我们想设计一个可以体现选民
and reflect the issues.
反映当下议题的标志
The simple forms that comprise the H with the arrow in it
这个简单的图标包含H和里面的箭头
are actually designed to hold not just two colors say red and blue,
它被设计成不只局限于红蓝两种颜色
but any colors you want”
而是你想要的任何颜色
The use of logo systems seems to be continually on the upswing now
选择使用商标系统的品牌越来越多
probably because it allows the the brand using it
可能是因为使用它的品牌
to expand the conversation beyond it’s own name.
可以向大众传达出品牌名称以外的含义
“The logo really reminds people that’s what our priority is today.”
这种商标会让人们注意到当前的重点
But at the end of the day, regardless of the shape, style of the system,
但归根结底 无论什么形状 风格或样式
it might not matter what your logo is.
对商标来说可能都无关紧要
“It really is about thinking of these symbols as being empty vessels in a way.
实际某种程度来说 可以把商标视为空盒子
And then you pour the meaning into them.
然后你把意义灌注进去
So what’s this all add up to?
那么这些加起来意味着什么？
Basically, those fights people get in about new logos are pretty misguided.
人们对新商标的争论很可能是被误导了
“They think they’re judging a diving competition,
他们认为自己在评判跳水比赛
but actually all these organizations are in swimming competitions.
但实际上这些组织参加的是游泳比赛
It’s not what kind of splash you make when you hit the water.
重点不在于你落水时能溅起什么样的水花
It’s about how long you can keep your head above that water.”
而是在于你能在水里面游多久
Logos need to have a long life,
商标需要长久存留
not win points in a discussion.
而不是在讨论中赢得分数
12 years after the birth of the nike logo,
耐克的商标诞生12年后
Nike came back to that graphic design student Carolyn with a gift
耐克带着礼物找到了当时的设计师卡洛琳
“A Nike ring with her own trademark on it, the swoosh.
一个带有她自己设计的耐克对勾的戒指
Thank you very much it’s beautiful.”
十分感谢 它非常漂亮
And an undisclosed amount of Nike stock.
礼物中还包括一份未透露具体数额的耐克股票
In 1937 when it was designed,
1937年商标被设计出来时
her pay was 35 dollars.
她的报酬仅为35美元