從星巴克 GAP到Airbnb 歷數那些不如不換的品牌logo
Vacation rental service Airbnb unveiled a new logo last week that generated a wave of criticism for its design. Some likened it to a triangular paperclip or, even more crudely, to certain female the company still stands by the logo, which it calls Bélo and says represents belonging. “It’s a symbol for people who want to welcome into their home new experiences, new cultures, and new conversations,” Airbnbsaid on its blog. Well, maybe if you squint.
度假公寓租賃服務網站Airbnb上週發佈的一個新logo引來了不少人的批評。有人說它像一枚三角型的曲別針，更無節操者甚至說它像是女性的某個器官。但是Airbnb公司仍然支持這個logo，該公司把它稱做Bélo，並稱它象徵着歸屬感。Airbnb在其官方博客上稱：“它是一個象徵，代表了那些想要在家中獲得新的體驗、感受新的文化、開啓新的對話的人。”大概只有斜視眼才能看得出來吧。As to be expected, branding experts aren’t exactly thrilled by the design. Their verdict: Why futz with something that seemed to work just fine.
在Airbnb發佈新logo的背景下，《財富》也收集了另外幾家公司選用了失敗的logo的案例——至少人們的主流觀點都認爲這些logo是失敗的。現將這些例子羅列如下：Gap
Gap
Date released: 2010
發佈日期：2010年Lifespan: A week
壽命：一個星期Clothing store Gap tried to recast its image from "classic, American design to modern, sexy, cool," a company spokesperson said at the time. That ended in failure, however. The retail store has always been known for the elegant and elongated letters of its font. But it switched to lowercase black letters with an awkwardly placed blue box atop the letter.
當時服裝商店Gap的一名發言人曾表示，Gap想把它的形象從“經典美國設計”改變爲“現代、性感、酷”。但是這種改變最終以失敗而告終。Gap一直以logo上典雅的瘦長字體爲人所知，但是後來它把logo改成了黑色的小寫字體，最後一個字母上還有一個尷尬的藍塊塊。JCPenny
JCPennyDate released: 2012
發佈日期：2012年Lifespan: A year
壽命：一年For JCPenny, the logo woes were many. In fact, the company switched up its design every year for four years. In 2011, it threw out its classic logo for another featuring lower case letters and a red box. It then held a competition for a new design. The winner? A lowercase "jcp" in a blue box, bordered by a bigger red box. The tweak didn't make customers happy, however, and they changed the design back a year later (having also changed the logo a year before that in 2011). Of course, all these redesigns came as the company stumbled financially, capped by a $550 million loss in the fourth quarter of 2012.
對於JCPenny公司來說，有關logo的苦水着實不少。這家公司曾經在四年時間裏，年年都換一次logo的設計。2011年，該公司丟棄了它的經典logo，取而代之的是一串小寫字母和一個紅框框。然後它又舉辦了一場徵集新設計的競賽。最後勝出者，是把小寫的“jcp”三個字母放在一個藍塊塊裏，外面圍着一個更大的紅框框。不過大概一年後，他們就改變了這個設計。當然，logo接連變換的同時，該公司的經濟狀況也是步履蹣跚。2012年第四季度，JCPenny報虧5.5億美元。Starbucks
星巴克Date released: 2011
發佈日期：2011年Lifetime: Still alive
壽命：至今健在Starbucks switched its logo to something simpler to celebrate its 40th anniversary. The company added a lot of green to the design and removed the "Starbucks Coffee" phrase that had wrapped around the company's signature symbol - a siren. CEO Howard Kurtz said that the mascot had "been through it all" over the last four decades, and needed a "small but meaningful update." Reactions were initially mixed, although the criticism has since died down.
爲了慶祝公司成立40週年，星巴克給自己換了一個更簡潔的logo。首先是在logo里加入了很多綠色，其次是除去了“星巴克咖啡”的英文字樣。這串字母原本環繞在星巴克的招牌符號——女海妖的身邊。CEO霍華德o舒爾茨表示，這位女海妖在公司40年的風雨歷程中“一直都在”，而且需要一次“雖然小但是有意義的升級”。消費者的反映最初是褒貶不一，不過目前批評的聲音已經淡去。（財富中文網）
