31 May 2010

Hypothetical Creative Brief that may shed light on the recent USDAA logo redesign.

Problem:

The USDAA, United States Dog Agility Association, keeps taking heat from a competing organization that their logos look too similar. The competitor, AKC, has been around since 1884, while the USDAA one came along approximately 100 years later. AKC's logo (See Fig. 1 below) was presumably designed by a colleague of Abraham Lincoln, while someone's neighbor who enjoys scrapbooking made the USDAA logo (See Fig. 2 below), and tried to disguise it from the AKC logo by not using the little ear thingies on the lettering. And adding horizontal stripes. Which were sporty. Also in not using a wiggly, rick rack like border on the identical circle which looks like something grandmas sew on pillows. But really, the stripes and wiggly lettering should have thrown everyone off the trail and unfortunately, they didn't.

Someone's neighbor also came up with the official mascot of USDAA, a dog agility lady wearing a curtain purchased at Bed Bath and Beyond who was just out picking flowers with her racing greyhound in a meadow in bare feet. You can almost see one of her nipples except the curtain fabric was drawn to be quite sturdy, so it's really just a suggestion of nipple. It is readily apparent, however, that she is NOT wearing a sports bra.

Solution:

The new logo should look like a patch an astronaut could wear on their astronaut costume. Like the Dharma initiative guys, they had ones that said Workman. Or Scientist. This one could say Dog Agility. It doesn't need to say United States anymore because everybody knows that USDAA stands for United States Dog Agility Association and not meat inspecting. The flower lady and her racing greyhound and their flowers help everyone understand the difference.

The type treatment should be reminiscent of lettering from a Disneyland space ride. Crossed with an '80's arcade game. Because that would be really cool.

There could also be running dogs. Like they are running in space. They are close to the sun and the closer they get their color becomes fiery. This was a myth about a guy wearing wings made of wax and he ended up burning and falling to his death but our dogs are turning on a dime and they won't actually burn. Too fast. Sporty. Like the old stripes. But more subtle. But we should only show their butts. Not enough dog logos show dog asses. It could look like they are weaving in weave poles that are set 22", and 22" ONLY, apart. And maybe a swoosh. Sort of like Nike's, except to avoid a lawsuit maybe it can be like the Nike swoosh got straightened out and put it under the dogs.

Maybe something like this (See Fig. 3 below).

Outcome:

This will be a smashing success. Everyone knows that doing a logo revamp is a sneaky way for marketing departments to cover up all fatal errors of the past and call it Re-Branding. A good logo is one that stands for our organization, and our organization only. That everybody else is jealous of. And can feature fiery dog butts. And who else has fiery dog butts?





7 comments:

vici whisner said...

Perfect.

Lynn Ungar said...

Exactly! The font makes me feel like I'm going on the Space Mountain ride at Disneyland, which is a good thing. Space Mountain is extremely fast and weavey, but always stays on track. Unlike me. Maybe with a new logo I'll be able to do USDAA agility and not be all "Oh wait, we were supposed to do the jump over THERE...."

maryclover said...

I'm not an art director or an artsy graphic designer and my name isn't even Art, but the spacing between the A's seems off, like they are rocket ships set apart from the USD. But I kinda like rocket ships and agree with Lynn that the Space Mountain ride is fast, weavy and fun, so maybe those "art" people do have a clue.

Anonymous said...

Great brief, even down to the use of 'figure 1, 2' etc, your blog is so professional. My brain then remembered this series of videos. I hope I havn't sent the link to you before. I do that when I find something brilliant.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmw7JfsNzoY

team small dog said...

When not spewing typos, wrong grammars or potty languages, professional is certainly a word thats ome people would use to explain my blog and some of them would be Penny.

I hope to watch the brilliant video that you include here as soon as I can explain to my computer to watch the videos without crashing which is how it enjoys watching videos currently.

Elf said...

Penichops: Oh, my, science videos as if team small dog had contributed to the script, I think! I watched only the one you pointed to (sulpher) and my dogs are now very concerned about those funny noises I've been making.

LJ said...

Awwww, c'mon, how can you have not even mentioned the hideously bad, amateur kerning?