25 Comments

Style over substance or what....

What happened to branding having meaning and actually having set out rules. These are just as bad as the little logos- meaningless, and just look like someone playing around. Very pretty, but why not choose one 'look' and run with that, rather than doing loads and being vague?

I seem to remember UE doing a similar thing with MTVs rebranding films...
Ben
2009-12-10 12:50:03

I like them. Goes a long way to redeeming the concept. If they hadn't been slapping lazy imagery behind the logo in the first still images I don't think there would have been the same negative response. Still not sure about the lowercase though. Presumably it's still pronounced A. O. L., right? Aol, kind of suggests you should be reading it as a word – lol.
Alan
2009-12-10 13:10:08

snore. matt creating the same old. if they were in some way emotive they might hold some water, however they are just pretty'ish pictures at best. matt rehashing some code [deleted by moderator] as per usual.
na
2009-12-10 13:23:00

@Ben

Branding never had meaning, it's always been about adding the idea of 'content' to a product, so that people would 'connect' with it, basically to make people buy the product. It's always been about style rather than content, and it's always been superficial. This is not to say there isn't good or bad branding, it's just the nature of the beast... :-)

Movies look alright though. But I wonder if this is gonna stop the decline of aol....
Jeffrey
2009-12-10 14:43:32

As a designer/art director I love it.
My Brother and my Mom are scratching their heads.
Need to see the whole intergrated campaign before it makes sense.
NEWMAN
2009-12-10 15:31:41

Further iterations of the logo here - http://www.fastcompany.com/blog/alissa-walker/designerati/exclusive-interview-wolff-olins-and-aol-why-aols-new-brand-future
james Greenfield
2009-12-10 16:06:54

Yet again those with negative comments are the ones without links to their own work.
Neil
2009-12-10 17:04:28

@Jeffrey

Branding does have meaning, even if it is quite shallow. It may not always be a deep, clever concept, but things have to be appropriate and coherent. Take a simple case study- Channel 4 and its off-shoots. Each one has appropriate branding based on a certain concept. They may only be as simple concepts such as youth (e4) or alternative culture (more4), but it is relevant and coherent, and they stick to it.

This new Aol thing seems to have no idea where it is going, and seems to be meaningless dicking around in the hope to make something pretty. If each logo/motion graphic was assigned to a certain element [can't give any examples, as I have no idea what Aol actually do anymore....kind of proves my point] then it might make a modicum of sense.

Real shame is, the wordmark is pretty nice. Just choose one thing that has some relevance, and run with it.
Ben
2009-12-10 17:13:14

As usual UE create some well crafted, visually appealing motion graphics that I guess do the job of giving a short hit of colour/shapes whilst revealing the brand but that's about it. Maybe these are part of something bigger we haven't seen yet but I don't think there is anything 'to get'.

Personally I've never had any interaction with the Aol brand and it seems to be on a turning point of either rebuilding itself or falling even further behind the other internet giants like Google, I think the success of this approach to their brand will make more sense over the next 12 months.
John Instruct
2009-12-10 17:31:31

I like it. I'm not in branding.
Adam Smith
2009-12-10 18:30:11

As with Aol.'s new logos... These just don't particularly grab me. I don't get a feel for who the company is (now), or what they do, or their values or anything. I never expect all from a single branding, but I expect to learn at least one side/aspect of the brand.
Hopefully the next step will reveal more?
Luci
2009-12-11 09:24:46

I quite like them. However as a launch campaign I'm not the sure that the average Joe would get it, they are a bit too designery and lack any kind of emotion to connect to the average consumer. For a company to hit back I don't think this has done the job.
V
2009-12-11 12:09:18

I don't know about the branding, but in my opinion "Pointer Swarm" is beautiful.
André Breda
2009-12-11 12:12:08

aol: web services
ok, theres gonna be a lot of tv ads and videos online, but the core of the brand is their main site - which looks plain and boring with just a changing image in the background (with a top bar that only works for changing that image). I mean these videos would make sense for mtv - even when theyre cliché now - but for aol?.... i don't know. they're lovely and well executed but the brand lacks everything: not memorable, not doing a good job describing the product, generic... it doesnt even tell if aol is changing for good or worst. new brand is invisible
eduardo
2009-12-11 12:35:48

I reckon it's early days, too early to get too hung up on anything. You either like them or you don't. But it's getting people talking about aol who probably wouldn't have been talking about them otherwise.
Dan
2009-12-11 13:18:34

They are very beautiful but what are they for?
MGC
2009-12-11 13:19:03

Just don't do anything for me and I doubt they will for Aol either.
Simon
2009-12-11 13:21:04

The problem is not about the execution (which are beautifully done by the way), I think it's the base idea behind the logo. I mean, isn't this trend of an all-purpose logo (simple typography, simple colors, often white or black) that can go on top of different multi-colored or photographic backgrounds a simplistic way of saying: "We don't have a strong voice, let's make a graphic platform where anything can go, it'll always fit ?" For me, this isn't a logo, it's a big compromise.
jeff clermont
2009-12-11 14:39:08

Like their MTV slots - requiring more thought before the button-pushing.
Matthew Ingram
2009-12-11 15:00:44

How can you make a judgement on something you do not understand? Would you write a review for a movie you haven't seen based on the trailer? I find it incredible that people are so negative for a new system that frankly is a huge statement for a company in this space, do you find Yahoo's branding appealing? Does the google logo and it's lifeless design system with varying shades of blue make you feel warm and cozy? Most of you know nothing about the brand and at the same time are happy to jump on the negative band wagon.

The fact is that this branding is a massive differentiator in the space, the design system is varied and flexible. I am not a fan of the lock up with the upper and lower case, but that doesn't change the fact that this is a giant leap forward for a brand that people love to hate. It's easy to be a sheep and follow the herd making snarky comments from the sidelines, but anyone that has any big brand experience will understand how difficult it can be to reposition a company of this size. I would love to see examples from your own portfolios or examples that you feel meet your mark of approval.

For the record I do not work for Wolff Olins or Universal Everything, it just bores me to read the same old negative posts on this blog.
Jimmy V
2009-12-11 15:17:10

What does AOL do again?
justin
2009-12-12 10:14:29

While I'm not particularly dazzled by motion work at the best of times I admire Universal Everything's handling of the idents/reveals for what they are: nice visuals to promote a product/service.

I find it bizarre to find such negativity surrounding this work. It may not be to everyones liking but the work done by Universal Everything and Wolff Olins is an improvement on what was there before and if anything a step in the right direction should be seen as a positive thing, no? What I've seen so far is much more appealing than anything offered up by Google, Bing or Yahoo.

Having had the pleasure of meeting Matt Pyke as a visiting lecturer at Sheffield Hallam University I feel the comments aimed at him by a few users hiding behind anonymity are more than a little unfair. He's one of the most interesting practicising designers out there who does some truly stunning work.
Alex Szabo-Haslam
2009-12-12 20:04:03

If the films were commissioned by Wolf Ollins and the new brand had already been built, many of whom on here already questioning its depth, Im not sure what you expected Matt Pyke to do? If the brand had no depth or meaning to start with, where was Matt meant to get it from in the transition to motion. I personally like them, furthermore for me I think the last two videos posted on here could have some meaning, to do with building a new company from scratch with the landscapes video, or following the direction of the rest of the web giants in web 2.0 etc with the pointer swarm. Not the deepest of observations, but my point is,many of us on here dont even know what Aol do, or are trying to achieve. Until we learn this how can we criticize both the work done by Wolf Ollins and UE.
A
Aly
2009-12-14 02:54:55

Hmm, I see no integration between the elements. If you look at the logo as a self standing entity it is useless. Anyone could have 'designed' this. Looks very boring / neutral, what we have seen 100.000.000 times. It would have been far more interesting to see the logo and the visuals actually interact with each other. If they could have created some kind of fluid / changeable logo and animated this, it would have been much better and logical to use these renderings. Now the renderings could just as well be wallpaper. And the logo, well... boring.
In the end, I think this is a soulless campaign, they just did it for the cash, and had to deal with a scared client. It's full of compromise. And please stop these awful nerdy renderings, they are sooo five years ago...
A3ooo
2009-12-14 15:36:53

People are negative because the 'media' praises anyone that has a reputation or a 'name' REGARDLESS if what they release is sub-par, which it seems to be in this particular case.

It happens in every genre and leads to recycled content from the same players and just reinforces the concept of false media.

People voice they're opinion anonymously because this isn't a show and tell forum for comparing work.

Get over it.

If it wasn't Matt's work, and he wasn't previously employed by The Designers Republic there's a really high probability it wouldn't be posted by every design blog and media outlet across the net.

All the while truly great work gets overshadowed because it doesn't lead with a media friendly reputation.
Truth
2010-01-09 19:02:55

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