passion for the splat
Nickelodeon Logo 1984-2009
As I reference yesterday regarding a change I’ve known was coming for sometime, the cable channel Nickelodeon is planning on changing its logo for the usual reasons: an anniversary is coming up, they’re changing their direction slightly, their company has grown and has too many separate identities and they need some cohesiveness, all that sort of stuff. Seems reasonable.
But passion has a way of erasing reason in something faster than a nanosecond, and folks who have had the Nickelodeon splat logo since about 1984 don’t care about anniversaries and conglomerations – they like “their” logo and the web is awash with pissed off viewers on the proposed change.
While there seems to be really good hints about the new logo’s design across the web, there is no official rebranding on the channel’s main web site or on the web site of their parent company, Viacom, as of this writing. This means design elements could change from what I’ve found on the internet (I doubt it, though) So basically grown-up viewers are pissed off at a hint of a new logo. That’s passion!
Proposed Nickelodeon logo 2009-?
The hint of the new logo seems to be nothing more interesting than a stylized word mark. I think (and I don’t know) that the concept here is that the network can use that stylized lettering in various designs across multiple channels so there will be that all important corporate cohesiveness, synergy and alignment. In other words, the business cards will look prettier with all the logos aligned.
If this is the look of the new logo, I guess it’s OK, strictly from a design standpoint. It evokes little of what the Nickelodeon channel is about (fun) but maybe there is some major format change coming. The challenge with flat print network logo is that the value and interest of a logo only truly presents itself when put in motion on TV. A black and white MTV logo (Nickelodeon’s sister channel) isn’t bad on its own but it really came alive with the various animated ID’s that were developed over the years.
But a word of note to those so impassioned about (against) the new logo (a group to which I do not belong): you are not the target audience anymore. Your relevance to Nickelodeon has passed. You’re too old. This channel is about kids and as brand crazy as we make our kids today, as long as the show they’re watching is entertaining and they can get a lunch box with their favorite character on it, a network logo matters very little to them.
We should all be so lucky and simple.
