May 31st, 2007
This week, Design Interact introduced a new site called Wanderwall. This news item describes Wanderwall as:
…aiming to blur the boundaries between professional and user-generated content in a novel, fun and interactive format.”
For the sake of this post, let’s just agree to say “claiming” instead of “aiming” since it actually makes a lot more sense.
Here’s Wanderwall in a nutshell. Started by a London advertising executive, this site blends user-generated content with purchased advertising content and displays them in small graphical blocks spread across the page. As you roll over each of the images, a window opens up with a larger photo and a caption. And if you’re interested, click on it and away you go to that site, video clips, etc. There are 9 categories to choose from, including news, sport (apparently there’s only one sport), showbiz, men, women, celebrities - you get the picture.
An innovative interface where user-generated and advertising content is displayed in a uniquely visual and interactive way? Great, I’m in. That is, until you actually go the site.
Just Enough Flash to be Dangerous
Wanderwall is made completely in Flash. No, not the cool Flash sites with video, dynamically-generated content, etc. It’s old school, bad flash. Choppy animated transitions with windows swooping in. The entire site shrinking in proportion with the browser size. Annoyingly bright, primary colors with the standard overuse of drop shadows, bevels, and outer glows. Overly-beveled, blurry photographic images. Oh my god, I’m back in my first year of art school. It’s my “Introduction to Flash” class all over again.
Web 2.0 does not mean the year 2000
Just because users can submit content to be displayed on your site does not mean you can call yourself a “user-generated” site. Especially when they have to fill out a form that opens in a new browser window and then their content takes 24 hours to show up on the site. And please, don’t compare yourselves to MySpace and Facebook since it’s obvious you’ve probably never even visited the sites.
Suggestions and Solutions
Where to begin? Where to begin? How about you start by keeping the overall concept and trashing the site. Throw it away. Kill it. Destroy it. Do a Pink Floyd and “break down the wall”. Then start again by figuring out what Web 2.0 actually is, look at your competition and pay some real money for professional usability engineers, web designers, AJAX developers, etc. It’s a solid concept. Just do your due diligence and create a site that is so damn incredible that users have no choice but to “wander”.
Bad, CommArts, Bad
This is where I stop my critique. Not because I have nothing else to tear down and over-analyze because, believe me, I do. I just want to focus on the most disappointing part of all this hubbub - Design Interact and Communication Arts.
Communcation Arts is a professional, industry magazine. Design Interact is a section of their site that focuses on the on-line and interactive professionals and industries. There are forums, resources, interviews, and even “Site of the Week” awards for the best of the best - which they definitely are. I know countless web professionals, including myself, that explore the winner archives for trends and inspiration.
So how is it that such a valuable resource to countless design and marketing professionals can promote Wanderwall in the same breath as the Michelin Better Mobility and Verizon’s action hero websites? I’m at a loss.
I understand that the article was a press release and not written by your staff. You can tell by the self-congratulating fluff that’s permeates through every paragraph. But isn’t there anyone at that magazine that reads this stuff and possible asks, “Does this belong on our site?” or more importantly says “Wow, this is a pretty crappy site.”
Who knows. Maybe it was just a slow news day.
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August 19th, 2006
Last week, I posted a review of today’s most popular logos of Todder TV and analyzed them in the areas of design, emotion and representation. I then boldly declared the winner, loser and honorable mention (at least in my own mind) of each of these categories and overall.
Earlier today, I had the distinct honor of showing a 2-year old and a 4-year old - a true representation of the target Toddler TV audience - the logos I chose for that original post. They excitedly identified, like most kids would, most of the logos with energetic chatter about the characters and storylines.
But then they pointed to three of the logos and asked one, innocent question:
What are these?
Much to their confusion and my pride, they were asking about
- The Backyardigans - voted worst in Emotion
- Dragon Tales - voted worst in Design
- Higglytown Heroes - voted worst in Representation and Overall
I gave them both a lollipop, a high-five and my business card. “Call me when you can drive, kid. I can always use a great designer.”
For the full review, please read (or re-read) “The Best and Worst Logos of Toddler TV“.
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August 10th, 2006
I’d like to raise a glass to Bob Thaves, the creator of Frank & Ernest and an originator in the field of comics. Mr. Thaves sadly passed away last Tuesday at the age of 81, leaving behind his loving family and many generations of F&E fans.
Thanks to his twisted phrases and unconventional observations of life, Bob Thaves changed the way comics are read and drawn. This is easily demonstrated by the tremendous success of Frank & Ernest over the past 30+ years - appearing in over 1,200 newspapers worldwide and read by more than 25 million people daily.
The F&E comic strip was a platform for his many innovations including:
- the first single comic panel presented in a strip format
- first to vary the roles and settings of its characters
- first to use block lettering with a font he created
- first to use comic book-style digital coloring for the Sunday pages (introduced in 1995)
- and one of the first comic strips to have its own website - www.frankandernest.com.
Thank you, Mr. Thaves, for the many years of insightful humor and contributions to your craft.
And now, a word from our sponsor.
Philosophy of Life: What it comes down to is, when you come into the world you have nothing … when you leave you have nothing … and in between there’s the IRS.
–Bob Thaves
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August 2nd, 2006
I’ve always been fascinated with toddler TV, specifically the animated shows. You’ll find techniques in this genre that you’ll rarely find in any other demographic, such as puppetry and stop action. When I have the opportunity to watch these shows with children, I take advantage of it. My attention is split among the storyline, the animation techniques and the kids’ reactions.
And let me tell you, I’m Mr. Popular Adult when these shows are on. Oh, yes. I’m frequently told to “Shut up. You’re ruining it for the kids.” Is that really fair? Must I suffer this cruelty because I simply point out things that are so intriguing to an animation fan and professional designer but quickly destroys a child’s illusion that these characters are real? Yeah, probably so.
The Question
As I watched the “Toddler TV” episodes and how I and the audience reacted, it made me wonder - do their logos receive the same reactions as their shows? I can tell you with confidence that there are some shows I love and some I absolutely hate, both on a professional and personal level. Do their logos bring up the same feelings? Are they helping or hurting the success of the programming and the larger brand? Why?
The Audience
Before we get to the logos, let’s define my self-imposed label of “Toddler TV”. These are television shows that are targeted towards 2 to 6 year-old children. They’re usually found on PBS Kids, Nick Jr., and Playhouse Disney as well as every DVD collection of every parent of children in this age group. There are obviously some older and younger kids that also watch, but we’re going to stick with this target demographic for the sake of this discussion.
The Criteria
I’ll be rating these logos based on the following areas:
- Design - This area takes a look at the more technical aspects of the logo, such as the font choices, color palette, white space, etc.
- Emotion - Here, I’ll examine what feeling the logo emotes and if it’s in line with the show’s character and personality (as much as I can as an adult)
- Representation – Does the logo accurately reflect the show? Can you gather the setting, storyline, etc. from just looking at the logo?
- Overall – Which logos stand out and which ones give up?
So without further ado - the logos.
[ View Larger Images ]
You’ll notice that I didn’t include the long-established logos in this discussion, such as Sesame Street, Mr. Rogers Neighborhood and Clifford. Purely from a design perspective, they were created in a different era with different design trends and societal influences.
I’ve also excluded any logos that include the show’s characters (Arthur, Dora, Wiggles) because the emotional response and level of animation integration could be based on the characters and not the logo itself. And since many of these shows use both logos interchangeably, it didn’t impact my analysis to choose the non-character versions. The only difference is Arthur, which doesn’t have a non-character version.
To see a larger version, click on the selected logos below.
Design
BEST – Bear in the Big Blue House
This is a very clean and well-balanced logo. All of the lines, including the wonderful font choice, seem to follow the same slight curve, almost like they’re following the horizon. These curves coupled with the lack of hard lines and corners makes it calm and welcoming. There’s also a great balance between the brown and blue as well as the colors and surrounding white space. And although bear’s face is the majority of the logo, it rests comfortably within the surrounding space and doesn’t overpower the design.
WORST – Dragon Tales
This logo looks unfinished not very well thought out. The color palette of green, green and greener blends the logo into a grassy blur. The blue outlines don’t help because they’re too close to the dark green to bring out the tail or anything else. The font choice and placement crush the words within the tail to an almost unreadable status. Dragon “Tales” – Oh, it’s a play on words. I get it. Thanks for over-explaining it.
HONORABLE MENTION - Bob the Builder
This one was a toss up between Bob and Little Einsteins. But solely from a design perspective, I have to give it to Bob. Unlike most of the logos, this is a very heavy and compact design that works for the show it’s representing. The hard lines and heavy bevel of the background bordered with rivets works well with the font and spacing choices of the show’s name. The yellow letters are beveled just enough to fit nicely in the steel-like structure, but not too much that it competes with it. And while the tight kerning might hurt another logo, it aids in the portrayal of a solidly-built structure. Very well done.
Emotion
BEST – Barney & Friends
With a simple illustration and flowing fonts, this logo does a great job of making you feel like singing and marching down the street without a care in the world. It utilizes all the available white space to give that open air feeling while appealing to all ages of their target audience.
WORST – The Backyardigans
Besides the two “Nick Jr.” flowers, there’s really nothing to give the viewer any sort of feeling. What emotion you get from the color yellow is minimized by the squashing of the uppercase letters as well as the equal thickness of the yellow and its similar green border. A negative emotion is probably not what was intended when designing this logo, but that’s about the only emotion I get.
HONORABLE MENTION – It’s a Big, Big World
Although the design has something to be desired, this logo allows you to feel the emotions also found in the TV show. The logo height combined with the extending kerning and individually-angled letters adds some spontaneity and playfulness. The well-chosen contrast between the lower-case and upper-case words also adds to this feeling.
Representation
BEST – Dora the Explorer
This logo does a great job of representing its TV show and the larger brand. The font colors are bright, unique and energetic. And with the leaves in the background, an adventurous feeling is created for the viewer. The two “Nick Jr.” butterflies add the final touch with the element of nature. The entire package works flawlessly together to give a solidly represent the show.
WORST – Higglytown Heroes
This logo shows absolutely nothing about the TV show it represents, not even subtly. The color and font choices are unrelated and since the characters are egg-shaped, it’s beyond me why the logo is not the same shape. Especially in the children’s entertainment industry, some representation should be present, even subtly. This logo just doesn’t work.
HONORABLE MENTION – Blue’s Clues
This is an excellent example of how to use a logo as a main story element. In the show, the blue footprint indicates a clue location. Children interact with the show by actively looking for these blue footprints throughout the story and using those clues to decipher the puzzle.
Overall
BEST – Dora the Explorer
Although the design isn’t as polished as some of the other logos, it’s definitely a solid choice as the overall winner. The treatment of color, font, layout and white space is pleasing to the eye and gives the viewer an energetic and adventurous feeling. The logo also does a great job of representing the TV show and the overall brand. It effectively does this with its design and the use of the blue arrow as a key plot element in the show itself. Others may have come close, but this logo stands above the rest.
WORST – Higglytown Heroes
There isn’t much that’s inspiring about this logo. The colors don’t compliment each other and the shape isn’t symmetrical or pleasing to the eye. It seems like everything is competing for the same space. Besides being poorly designed and executed, this logo elicits no emotional response and no indication of what show it represents. Although there are definitely other logos that I’m happy to put here, this logo offered nothing positive in any of the categories of this review.
HONORABLE MENTION - Bear in the Big Blue House
As I previously mentioned, I’m very impressed with the clean and well-balanced design of this logo. It also gives the viewer a very calming and welcoming feeling and effectively represents the show. Not necessarily in literal terms, like the rivets in the Bob the Builder logo, but more in the personality of Bear through the illustration.
Well, that’s my 2 cents. Now, as promised, it’s your turn.
Please take a moment to let me know which logo you think is the best and worst overall and within each category. Feel free to add a logo that I didn’t include in this article. I’ll do my best to post the results for our own selfish enjoyment.
Or, if you want to play it old school, just leave a comment ranting about the Wiggles and the end of the world. You know how I love a good rant.
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May 4th, 2006
Sincere congratulations to NPR and All Things Considered for 35 years of quality news and thought-provoking commentaries.
One of my fondest memories was the May 13, 1995 story about the CD “Doggone Country: All Time Favorite Songs about Dogs.” My favorite quote was from the producer David Haerle when he said that there are not enough country songs about cats to produce a companion CD. Yes, sir. I am a dog person through and through.
What? Ok, fine. I really didn’t listen to that particular episode. I just did a random archive search on NPR. But I have been listening for the last seven years. During that time, All Things Considered has been a consistent part of my morning and evening traffic jams to and from work.
Thank you, ATC and NPR. I truly appreciate the knowledge and curiosity you bestow upon me every day as well as the numerous topics of conversation I can use at superficial cocktail parties.
See you in the morning.
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Wanderwall falls down as CommArts builds it up
