Gap logo fiasco gives folks in Adland fits, but what do we think of our own logos?

Holy logo changes, Batman!

A lot of us were upset by the Gap’s new logo, especially the design and advertising community. The Gap logo fiasco (sounds like a bad rap act, doesn’t it?) made me think about that old saw: “the pot calling the kettle black.” Or the much older saying: “Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.”

I want you to do something. Open your wallet and take out a business card. If you don’t have one go online to your company’s website. Now look at your agency’s logo. Really look at it. Consider it as you did the Gap’s. Does it feel old and familiar like the clothier’s original logo or new and remote like their updated one?

Chances are it’s one or the other. Ergo, like the Gap, two scenarios exist: leave well enough alone or make a change. Both options are problematic. While the old logo might seem old-fashioned modernize it and, well, we’ve seen what could go wrong. Granted, the new Gap logo really did suck but even if it didn’t you know hater’s gotta hate.

So what about your firm’s logo? Is it badass or just plain bad? I dragged a random sample of well-known ad agency logos off the web. Is yours one of them? Do you think any of these are truly great…or truly awful?

Maybe when it comes to logos we ought to mind our own business.

An old logo is like a birthmark. It becomes part of us, attached in every sense of the word. A new logo is like a tattoo, brazen and intentional. Unlike the familiar birthmark your new mark draws attention to itself, much of it often critical. And even if the new mark is aces five or ten years down the road and it’s old and familiar anyway.

Just for fun, here’s a site that finds logos everywhere with lots to be desired yourlogomakesmebarf. And here’s one that offers to convert anyone’s current identity to one resembling Gap’s short-lived logotype, including mine! craplogo.me