CR Blog
Creative Review® Launches Bold New Brand Identity
Posted by Patrick Burgoyne, 5 October 2008, 17:54 Permalink Comments (73)
Creative Review® unveils its new brand identity which will advance our positioning across media platforms.
Following a universal brand audit instigated in the wake of an immersion expedition led by a cohort of leading brand ideators, we engaged in a thoroughgoing knowledge accumulation programme to facilitate blue-sky thinking and empower Creative Review® in the vanguard of world class best practice in thought-leadership. The following brand muscles were established: innovative, dynamic, square-shaped.
The compelling brand truth uncovered has been articulated in this brand statement: “Creative Review®: Leading ideation infonauts in a media neutral world”.
The word 'infonauts' is an invented one, stumbled upon in our brainstorming sessions through the expression of our core values of being an “information” provider for the creative industries boldly going to the outer limits of the new frontiers of media distribution networks in a web 2.0 world.
In a bold break with tradition our new wordmark features simplified and solid lowercase letterforms that are friendly and approachable. It has been crafted in bespoke font CRArial®ounded. Our branding agency conducted extensive research necessitating many days of highly specialised tyPoMetric© analysis before unearthing this rarely-seen vintage typeface that creates a unique visual tone of voice for the brand.
Our unique 3D marque - which we have christened the MaRble® - employs premium cues including the addition of vitreous accents denoting excellence and quality, deep hues, and a glazed lustre with an updated color palette and increased contrast. Its interconnected, dynamic graphic devices leverage CR®’s position as the epicentric enabler of an innovation matrix creating compelling brand equity.
Creative Review® editor - or Executive Infonaut as he will now be known - Patrick Burgoyne comments “Our new brand identity ecosystem positions Creative Review® as a forward-thinking, infoneering thought-leader in the digital and paper-based knowledge distribution sectors. In engineering a brand architecture founded on compelling brand truths I have no doubt that our £500,000 budget has been wisely spent.”
NB: Although the thought engineering that underpins our new brand identity is our own we must acknowledge the assistance of the world's leading branding agencies from which the above phrases and terminology were sourced
UPDATE: you might also want to read this
73 Comments
congrats! a great improvement!
2008-10-05 19:08:28
brilliant ;)
2008-10-05 19:11:26
nice joke ;)
2008-10-05 19:19:29
I particularly enjoy the 'infonauts' rationale. I wonder what genius coined that one in the brand meeting.
2008-10-05 19:41:39
In English, please.
2008-10-05 19:46:41
Unfortunately, you're not too far off. We get the joke because we all bemoan the psuedolanguage of press releases. Why, then, does it persist?
My career may be in the shit right now, but if I'm ever in command I promise I will never release anything that even hints of this self-important language.
Patrick, thank you for taking a moment to give us all a well-deserved slap. Especially those who write press releases.
2008-10-05 22:26:23
Oooooh nice! It's so pretty and shiny and so now! Very 3.0.
2008-10-05 23:11:23
Sounds familiar!
2008-10-06 08:07:50
April's come early!
2008-10-06 08:24:57
I like the marble icon, very nice. I had forgotten all about marbles until now.
But the type is ugly. Do all brand-names have to be onecontinuousword now? At least separate the two words with colour or tone.
Gah. Bring back the space-bar.
2008-10-06 09:17:48
Tell you what I’d like to see:
Shiny Round Marble Logo World Championships
At least that way there will be some practical use for them, and then we can all head back to the office and get back to designing proper brands.
2008-10-06 09:29:33
is the © as important as it looks in this logotype in the digital era?
2008-10-06 09:30:41
hhhmmmm looks like someone over at CR has some spare time on their hands it would seem ;)
2008-10-06 10:05:08
how ironic - nice work CR..
http://www.creativereview.co.uk/crblog/creative-review%C2%AE-launches-bold-new-brand-identity/
2008-10-06 10:14:06
Way to go, parody yourselves.. So was the extensive feature on the identity by Moving Brands a few months back a big joke too. can't see the difference myself. I can't really work out where you're coming from. read the Moving Brands article, then read this one. One is supposed to be a serious critique by Creative Review (which incidentally was the most farcical load of crap you have ever printed). The other is supposed to be a wry look at.. er, a serious critique? bollocks.
2008-10-06 10:24:02
Ha ha. I don't know which I like best - this or the Camden Town spoof.
Wait - what?
2008-10-06 10:39:45
ROFL!
http://www.underconsideration.com/brandnew/archives/Spherical_All_Vertical.jpg - Will it blend?
2008-10-06 10:40:32
That looks fucking great.
2008-10-06 10:43:13
Haha, a response to this?
http://www.underconsideration.com/brandnew/archives/global_is_as_global_does.php
2008-10-06 10:54:44
Joining the 'Ordinary World' ?
2008-10-06 10:55:15
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1QPll-TKaEE
2008-10-06 11:07:37
You forgot global, dynamic, swirling, friendly, innovative, novel, fresh, unusual, unprecedented, avant-garde, experimental, inventive, ingenious, creative; advanced, modern, state-of-the-art, pioneering, groundbreaking, revolutionary, radical, newfangled, all-inclusive, all-encompassing, encyclopedic, universal, far-reaching, extensive, sweeping, orb, spheroid, globule, bubble, spiral, circulate, revolve, spin, twist, flow, stream, surge, seethe etc. etc.
2008-10-06 11:19:22
I must be having a sense of humour failure, but I thought that the purpose of Creative Review was to highlight, evaluate, discuss, critique and, er, review creative design. I'm not sure that mocking the work of your contemporaries is appropriate. Glass houses and all that...
2008-10-06 11:30:08
Man, too early for this type of posting :/
Was about to bitch about 'In a bold break with tradition our new wordmark features simplified and solid lowercase letterforms that are friendly and approachable.' until I read the comments. And the marble logo is just awful!
Anyway, good joke :p
2008-10-06 11:43:06
My favorite kind of critique: satire. Well done CR.
http://www.creativereview.co.uk/crblog/swisscom-gets-moving-brands-treatment/
2008-10-06 11:50:11
Nice observation on the current marble + wordmark = logo design by flock of sheep climate! 'Infonauts'... I shall have to remember that!
2008-10-06 12:28:22
Had me going for a second as I looked at this article before my Monday morning coffee. I thought I was losing my... you know!
2008-10-06 12:51:04
You've got to be kidding me, where you guys doing mushrooms and listening to tubular bells and watching labyrinth. the logo is awful!
2008-10-06 12:56:46
not liking that logo at all!
2008-10-06 13:12:42
Mmmmm... a marble; very er... creative!
2008-10-06 13:18:33
Lol!
2008-10-06 13:55:12
It's time for that dead trend to come to an end.
PS: seems like a lot of readers can't catch the joke. It's a sick world.
2008-10-06 14:07:49
WTF? does the world need another spherical 3d mark? and coming from a leading design mag? we're doomed!
2008-10-06 14:12:56
Convoluted rubbish
2008-10-06 14:32:06
The phrase ‘the emperor’s new clothes’ comes to mind.
I think you may have opened a debate that is long overdue, but may not be very welcome. Well done.
2008-10-06 14:32:49
or should i say brandingvoluted
2008-10-06 14:35:05
boy, i really got scared this time....
2008-10-06 14:45:30
isn't that a rip off of a wolff-olins branding for a credit card called marbles?
2008-10-06 14:50:22
http://www.marbles.com/
2008-10-06 14:55:24
I think it is time to a proper Manifesto. Do you remember the "Swoosh-no-more" oath, circa 1998? I remember signing in to a web site promising not to use nike-like swooshes...
We should do the same regarding this marble-like logo trend.
G.
PS: "the epicentric enabler of an innovation matrix creating compelling brand equity"
Please tell me you made up this one...
2008-10-06 15:43:49
ha ha! if you had included something about "re-thinking public space" it would've been perfect.
2008-10-06 15:56:02
Says it all really: "we must acknowledge the assistance of the world’s leading branding agencies from which the above phrases and terminology were sourced"
Well done Patrick et al, good to see an opinion expressed at last!
2008-10-06 16:06:30
What a cluster FCUK, looks more like a photograph of a marble and NOT an actual logo and or symbolic mark that should of represented the damn marble.
A much simpler stylized and crafted marble, symbol could of achieved the same or better results. I hope that the Creative Review have also considered the costs of printing their 4 Color process logo on everything they produce?
2008-10-06 16:22:21
Michael - I do hope you're joking, because they are.
2008-10-06 16:33:14
Don't know which annoyed me more - your oh-so-clever (pointless) post or the responses of joe public who actually bought it! (please tell me they're not all designers..)
sigh.
2008-10-06 16:37:04
Hahaha can't stop laughing. CR guys, you must be kidding! Looks like another "Abbey" disaster.
2008-10-06 16:44:39
hahaha!!! another marble!
Oh sorry, I meant to say globe. And also - it's sooo instantly recognizable, job well done - oh dear me, how difficult clients can be!!!
Alice!!! Where's that Looking-Glass!!?
2008-10-06 17:03:24
I really, really hope you're joking.
"Following a universal brand audit instigated in the wake of an immersion expedition led by a cohort of leading brand ideators, we engaged in a thoroughgoing knowledge accumulation programme to facilitate blue-sky thinking and empower Creative Review® in the vanguard of world class best practice in thought-leadership."
Seriously, we look to you to help cut through all that bullshit, not propagate it...
2008-10-06 20:42:55
has someone been reading 'who moved my blackberry'..?
hilarious :D
2008-10-06 22:27:05
You guys having a larf? The rational is meaningless drival that really does de-value everything good design and strategy strives for. Design Blanding.
Kevin Blackburn, Elmwood Design, Melbourne
2008-10-07 00:28:53
So from this lot I understand that you think you're funny and on the pulse. You think you have a sense a humour and that you have the ability to have a good old chuckle at your self. And not that you are completely stupid and purile and tedious. And that you are basically as about as creative as the morons replying to this post who are not sure wether to critique it or themselves. Let alone contemplate attempting to understand the possibilities and values of satirical comedy post Rick and Ade's - Bottom. But if you had have written this I would have been impressed.
http://www.waveofmutilation.co.uk
but my guesses are you didn't. tell me you didn't. no... tell me you did and prove yourself. Actually tell me whatever you like i wont be listening anyway.
No offence, just how it is.
2008-10-07 00:57:42
CR, PLEASE write a 'read the comments' line at the end of the text. This is getting unbearable! So many just can't see it is too ridiculous to be serious.
2008-10-07 03:23:32
What a load of B*ll*cks! Yes we can all have a laugh at the current 'marbles' logos trend but keep in future this banter for your mates down the pub.
If you want to contribute such useless drivel why not join the young guns on http://www.qbn.com ?
Looks like my CR's will now be moved from the coffee table to the toilet for light reading or when I run out of paper.
Patrick Begone.
2008-10-07 08:40:05
I'm going to 'marble' a marketing director to death.
Or at least just hurt him/her abit.
2008-10-07 10:25:25
Please see
http://www.creativereview.co.uk/crblog/it-was-a-send-up-but-the-language-is-horribly-real/
Patrick Burgoyne
2008-10-08 08:00:54
erm.... I can't believe there are people here who didn't get the joke. But then I guess that's the proof that this industry has more than it's fair share of dimwitted morons. But wait, if they're all here, who's looking after the economy?... oh... yeah.
2008-10-09 16:04:26
Slow times at CR towers? I had a chuckle though.
2008-10-10 15:34:01
Absolutely love it.
it stands really well on its own!
...the joke, that is!
2008-10-10 15:45:58
That's nearly as good as the 2012 logo!
2008-10-10 15:54:30
This is straight off Brass Eye or even Nathan Barley. Excellent stuff. For a minute there...i lost myself.
Bet you love the word 'infonaut' thought. I do. Thanks for giving me that.
2008-10-10 16:00:57
Great EduTainment!
2008-10-10 16:29:18
It's lovely, but Creative Review's most recent e-newsletter of 6 October criticises Barlcaycard's new logo saying:
"Unequivocally, it says: I am another company with a hollowed-out spherical logo…"
http://www.creativereview.co.uk/crblog/an-ordinary-world/
Personally I can't see a huge difference.....
2008-10-10 16:33:05
Dear god, that looks like shit. I remember when creative review really was a designed magazine, these days it's a sloppy, wanky, mess.
That logo is faulty on several levels. The font might as well be arial rounded for all the style it's got.
The marble sits above and below the baseline, negative space is hard to keep consistent with a logo like that, whether onscreen or print, it causes layout issues.
And the BS that is being spouted about it... did it cost a lot of money?
A marble. Roundy sans serif grotesque. Hmmm, reminds me of play school. You wouldn't be surprised to find this as a primary school letterhead for a comprehensive in Balham.
NO MARKS FROM ME!
2008-10-10 17:04:21
OH YUK!!! Text shading?!?!?!!!
2008-10-10 17:05:32
LOL
it was a joke thank god.
2008-10-10 17:06:09
I don't think CR opened the envelope here. I don't even think it's driving the agenda (surely Kellaway, Humphrys and others actionated it long ago?). But I'm glad it's found a window within its brandscape to empowerate the anti-obfuscation debate in as poly-chromatic a way as it's able.
Ciao
2008-10-10 17:20:01
We all try so hard, don't we? We don't like to think that sometimes rationales and even good design can get away from the best of us at times. Lord knows, after three nights without sleep, sometimes the ground seems pretty far away.
Good for you, CR, for risking having your audience unleash its insecurities at your expense.
Yours faithfully,
Zoe, STSPD (Self-Taught, Self-Proclaimed "Designer": No official training and way too many years experience with loads of insecurity to boot)
2008-10-10 21:00:36
The use of wording is scary because it is so real.
It reminds me of those vague press releases by self appointed 'Community leaders' and Mystic Councils that seem to find their way into the papers every day.
Designers against bullshit!
2008-10-11 00:40:21
There are few things more embarrassing and unfunny than exaggerated satire. Subtlety is the key - it has to be believable to be funny.
Taking the piss out of jargon is also very tired comedy. Frankly, tired is the key word here. A bit like the CR magazine which seems to be permanently stuck in the 1997-9 era.
2008-10-11 13:00:41
Blimey - it is a shame that so many readers haven't spotted the joke. You got me at 1st para of wanky Pr/account person speak. I know we're a creative bunch but we've got brains too - stop letting the side down people!
2008-10-14 14:13:25
Too many verbs, otherwise not bad. You need to string more invented adjectives together. Despite all of your hard work there is clearly still the faint impression of an idea at the bottom of it. I grant you that it is little more than the homoeopathic memory of the shadow of a small bird flying across the immeasurably vast vast surface of a desert of unimaginable aridity. 9/10. Good effort.
2008-10-27 17:32:38
I love that the comments alternative between people complaining that the joke lacks subtlety and people not getting the joke at all.
2009-02-18 02:52:55
I think this a fantastic logo and the type is super clean and fresh. The only thing I would question is how this icon would appear in printed form?
2011-02-18 12:11:00
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