So back in June my friend and fellow voice talent Doug Turkel pinged me about Twitter’s new logo. It’s nice, simple and, I thought to myself given all the different feed services and mobile devices we all use now, maybe a tad irrelevant.

Think about it.

With no scientific data to back this up (because that requires work and this is Sunday etc.) I’ll offer my “expert” (ha!) opinion: I feel with services like HootSuite and others, most of us don’t directly and visually interact with Twitter alot. So I don’t know that we’ll see the new logo too terribly much.

That got me to thinking about MY Twitter home page. As you may or may not know, Twitter allows you to customize your home page with some branding. (Here’s a link to a video if you want to see how it’s done otherwise your graphic designer can probably help you too).

Does my (or yours or anyone’s) home page on Twitter matter any more in our world of feeds or aggregators? Well, I kinda think it does for two reasons…again my “expert” (ha!) opinion.

1. When you’re a business, people expect a certain professionalism to your work. Your design not only conveys what your business does but also it’s attitude and personality. Should someone come across your Twitter page, an impression will be formed. Do you want to risk a bad impression? Probably not but if you really don’t care, I’d also ask why you’d really want a business presence on any Social Media channel.

2. It’s a free, colorful and fun way to convey your business message. It’s so simple that even if only 10 people see it a year, to me it’s money well spent.

Oh, and just in case you are completely clueless (it will be our secret) one of Twitter’s default backgrounds on your Twitter home page is the fastest way ever to publicly communicate that in your personal life you also wear plaid shirts with checked pants.

Dress nicely if you go out in public. 😉

I would love to know your thoughts on the matter.

Tags: advertising, branding, commentary, logo design, marketing, twitter by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
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It’s not everyday that a major corporation changes its logo. Although throughout its history, Microsoft has had it’s share of logos.

But last week when I saw they’d crafted a new identity, I kinda smiled.

At the beginning of August, I was in Seattle and my hotel was next to the Microsoft campus in Redmond. I didn’t make the time to drive around (which I’m sure I’ll end up regretting) but I saw so many Microsoft signs.

I quickly tabulated, when the new logo was revealed, how much it was going to cost the company to do a signage overhaul across the globe (not even counting the packaging changes).

Boy, there were a lot of people who could live a simple and happy life just off the interest earned from that signage bill.

But ya gotta keep the brand fresh and relevant. And the new look is nice, I think. Here’s a little more info on the logo.

Tags: branding, commentary, logo design, marketing by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
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It has been a while since I’ve seen a new logo or revised logo worth talking about on these pages. I know many readers are voiceover-centric and not quote the logo addict I seem to have become. As addictions go, it’s not a bad one.

As many of you also know I have a soft spot in my heart for the American Red Cross and the work they do. So when I saw recently on Brand New the updated logo for the American Red Cross, I thought I’d take a second to chat it up with you.

Of course for many of a certain age, if they think about it, this is the only American Red Cross logo they’ve known and by and large, it has been pretty consistent. So a change on this puppy is noteworthy.

What I noted right off the bat were three things: the cross surrounded by the modern, shadowed button icon made popular by icons designed for Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, et al; the change of the color or the word mark from black to gray and the darkened red of the Red Cross.

The button reminded me, as I said, of social media logos but also I recall (I think) seeing pins like that on people’s jackets or sweaters at the Red Cross, so I was cool with it.

The graying of the word mark seems intent on making it modern, and I get it. I think the black made it stand out more and it’s a name I don’t think should be put in the background. I believe they changed their font to this current font on their last logo change and I think they were smart not to change that in this iteration.

What I am really undecided about is the darker red. The red in the Red Cross is the ball game. I get that there needed to be shading on the red to help with the button design but it just strikes me as too dark. The vibrancy of the red is the key to the whole icon.

Overall, a nice change. But that’s my opinion…what’s yours?

Tags: advertising, branding, commentary, logo design, marketing by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
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Combining my love of typography with my sincere enjoyment of Conan O’Brien, I really enjoyed watching this and I hope you do too.

And I was watching Vimeo because I just uploaded my first video to it – my new commercial demo.

Tags: commentary, logo design, marketing, media, video, vimeo, voiceover by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
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I have been sooo darn remiss in my logo blog posts. I know most folks here like my voice over posts but I have aligned yet varied interests…logos being a weird obession of this guy who can’t draw a straight line.

So earlier this week, the CBS Television Network celebrated the 60th Anniversary of their “Eye” logo – with their wordmark, its a logo I have always liked.

Here is a nice piece by CBS News’ Charles Osgood on the history of this world famous icon.

Tags: advertising, CBS Television Network, commentary, logo design, marketing by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
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What you think is inconsequential is not always so.

What may be invisible to you has more meaning than you realize.

Take a minute to appreciate the art in all this – I did.

Tags: advertising, commentary, logo design, marketing by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
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