Ryan Alan is a NYC based graphic and web designer. Watch as I build my empire. Portfolio here.

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Oct 7, 2010
@ 1:53 pm
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There has been a lot of chatter on the new Gap logo unveiled on the company website yesterday. Unsurprisingly, almost every comment is negative and a lot are hilariously so.  Overall, I think Brand Channel nailed it, “Ironically maybe, the new logo is perfect for the brand. It communicates exactly the values currently embodied by Gap: A sense of being lost and a lack of clear vision and creativity.”Also unsurprising was the immediate deluge of designers who tried to do Gap one better followed by Gap announcing some kind of brand engagement through crowd sourcing on facebook. On this I have to agree with Paul Soulellis (@soulellis), who sent out a plea earlier today via twitter, “…do not post new logos for @Gap’s benefit. Protect your profession & insist that work be strategic & compensated.” That said, there is something to be learned. Wading through some of the crowd source entries over at ISO50 it is pretty clear Gap didn’t need to do anything to their logo. There are a number of clever ideas (and a lot of terrible ideas too) but they are almost all variations on the same theme - the old logo.  This just reinforces how culturally ingrained the brand identity is. Why would you ever want to trade in on that? Besides, the brand is clearly flexible enough to roll out iterations for seasons or new campaigns without abandoning it altogether. At the very least, Gap needs to step back from a logo that could easily fit in with the lamer entries in a crowd sourcing competition. There have been a lot of comparisons to the rollback of the Tropicana logo. After such a widely publicized fiasco, I can’t believe Gap’s brand strategy team didn’t learn anything or that the new logo tested well before implementation. They did test it right? Maybe this was the test? It’s nothing that can’t be undone at this point and negative or positive, the brand has certainly received a lot of attention over the past 48 hours. Regardless of your opinion on the new logo or crowd sourcing in general, the conversation is fascinating. To round it all out, there is a tongue-in-cheek interview with the new Gap logo here and a meme where you can create your own Gap logo.  UPDATE: Gap takes it all back.

There has been a lot of chatter on the new Gap logo unveiled on the company website yesterday. Unsurprisingly, almost every comment is negative and a lot are hilariously so.  Overall, I think Brand Channel nailed it,
 
“Ironically maybe, the new logo is perfect for the brand. It communicates exactly the values currently embodied by Gap: A sense of being lost and a lack of clear vision and creativity.”

Also unsurprising was the immediate deluge of designers who tried to do Gap one better followed by Gap announcing some kind of brand engagement through crowd sourcing on facebook. On this I have to agree with Paul Soulellis (@soulellis), who sent out a plea earlier today via twitter, “…do not post new logos for @Gap’s benefit. Protect your profession & insist that work be strategic & compensated.”

That said, there is something to be learned. Wading through some of the crowd source entries over at ISO50 it is pretty clear Gap didn’t need to do anything to their logo. There are a number of clever ideas (and a lot of terrible ideas too) but they are almost all variations on the same theme - the old logo.  This just reinforces how culturally ingrained the brand identity is. Why would you ever want to trade in on that? Besides, the brand is clearly flexible enough to roll out iterations for seasons or new campaigns without abandoning it altogether.

At the very least, Gap needs to step back from a logo that could easily fit in with the lamer entries in a crowd sourcing competition. There have been a lot of comparisons to the rollback of the Tropicana logo. After such a widely publicized fiasco, I can’t believe Gap’s brand strategy team didn’t learn anything or that the new logo tested well before implementation. They did test it right? Maybe this was the test? It’s nothing that can’t be undone at this point and negative or positive, the brand has certainly received a lot of attention over the past 48 hours.

Regardless of your opinion on the new logo or crowd sourcing in general, the conversation is fascinating. To round it all out, there is a tongue-in-cheek interview with the new Gap logo here and a meme where you can create your own Gap logo. 

UPDATE: Gap takes it all back.