A while ago we received an email from Gary Hustwit the director of 'Helvetica - A Documentary Film' asking our advice on what type i would use for a new documentary he was producing on product design. We replied saying it might be nice to make the letterforms from actual products, he liked the idea, and would we be up for doing it?
We said of course, what's the title?, "Objectified" he says.
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The next few days were spent researching and drawing various iconic, and not so iconic product design that resembled characters, and arranging them into the word. Some were more successful than others, readability was a big factor. We also thought it would be nice to try and reference/use objects that were by people who were going to be in the film (Dieter Rams, Marc Newson, Jonathan Ive amongst many others), there's nothing like making things harder for yourself. I've uploaded a jpeg here of all the versions/revisions we went through before Gary was happy with the final design which can be seen below.
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We've got to say we're really pleased with the result, and Gary? I'm glad we went with the Panton chair :)
More information about the film can be found on the Objectified website.
We also designed a poster and t-shirt featuring the logo, which can be bought from here.
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Lovin’ it.
—POSTED BY: Edvard, November 7th, 2008 at 1:05 pm
Michael, thanks for sharing the design development work, this is a really nice piece of design. Top job
—POSTED BY: David Bennett, November 7th, 2008 at 3:31 pm
Nice, Michael what products did you use for the final logo?
—POSTED BY: Abdullah, November 8th, 2008 at 10:10 am
Abdullah–
—O — iPod scroll wheel (Jonathan Ive).
B — Marc Newson sunglasses.
J — Toothbrush (see film).
E — Paperclip.
C — Alvar Aalto stool.
T — Corkscrew (can’t remember the name of the designer).
I — T41 Pocket Radio (Dieter Rams).
F — Ideal Standard taps (Marc Newson).
I — Energy bulb.
E — Scotch tape dispenser.
D — Panton Chair (Verner Panton).
POSTED BY: Michael, November 9th, 2008 at 6:54 am
the panton chair, the radio by dieter rams and the ipod click wheel were the ones i recognized :-)
i wonder what they have to say about dieter rams and jonathan ive :-P
PS: love the B btw :-)
—POSTED BY: D Kim, November 9th, 2008 at 5:50 pm
Lovely to see work in progress. But one question Michael: ‘standard’ yorkshire tea or yorkshire gold?
—POSTED BY: jerseyraindog, November 10th, 2008 at 1:40 am
Jerseyraindog–
—Standard for day-to-day, Gold for ‘best’.
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POSTED BY: Michael, November 10th, 2008 at 2:06 am
Very inspiring work— great blog! Keep it up! Cheers from Oslo
—POSTED BY: Mathias, November 10th, 2008 at 3:24 am
Greetings! And many thanks for sharing the entire set :-)
—Bharani Padmanabhan
POSTED BY: Bharani Padmanabhan, November 10th, 2008 at 4:46 pm
Really nice work. Nice to see the process!
—POSTED BY: gunnar, November 11th, 2008 at 4:07 am
it reminds me a bit of our logo, done about 4 years ago.hm.
—http://www.trickski.org
POSTED BY: daniel, November 12th, 2008 at 12:38 pm
but yours is a little better done, I have to admit. there are probably a few more with this idea…
—POSTED BY: daniel, November 12th, 2008 at 1:07 pm
Yours is a bit harder to read. Probably because of the black background. I can see some similarities (barely) but.… MCP/Build is logo is just beautiful.
“Beauty is a good idea well executed.”- Stefan Sagmeister
—POSTED BY: Abdullah, November 12th, 2008 at 9:30 pm
I think the trickski logo is harder to read because because of the fact that all letters / shapes are parts from skiing equipement, which makes them less recognizable. the fundus is way more limited. but the idea / concept is exactly the same.
—the look of the objectified logo I like better because the letters are far more iconic and very well known. they are also better executed. almost everybody that is into design can identify them. good job!
… still the same idea. which rather honours me! ;)
POSTED BY: daniel, November 13th, 2008 at 4:56 am
I thought through that question and came up with a logo when thinking of an idea for a logo for my design school. I like the idea of a ‘new’ logo (can’t believe I’m saying this but, kind of like what Wolf Olins were trying to do with the London 2012 logo). Something that can change and adapt and is well integrated into an idea rather than just a symbol or logo type.
You can see what I did, with various links, here: http://lyeedesign.blogspot.com/2008/11/what-is-logo.html
—POSTED BY: Lindsay, November 22nd, 2008 at 9:40 pm
Hi Michael,
I’m not too sure about the film, but I love your logo and it is about as iconic as it gets.
Well done and 2 rounds of cheers from me! Please keep in touch?
Regards,
—dt
POSTED BY: DT, November 26th, 2008 at 8:58 pm
I’m not trying to spoil the party and there’s nothing wrong with this logo, but it’s hardly doing anything new. It’s just executing someone else’s idea in a more commodified way. Once something has been formulated, it’s easy to quote it while thinking you’ve just done something new and fresh. To me, this is nothing but a cleaned-up, watered-down and made-commercial version of the work of fellow London designer/writer/teacher/artist Paul Elliman, who has been on this track with his BITS alphabet for well over a decade, and which is widely published in various contexts. Elliman’s ever-expanding collection of BITS was even exhibited as part of the “Century City” exhibition at Tate Modern’s launch in 2001. Working in London as a well-informed designer, you must be aware of this work and not mentioning it as a source of inspiration (to say the least) makes me question its value.
—POSTED BY: Jerome Meyer, December 6th, 2008 at 5:48 am
good work !
—I’ll share it in logoblink.com so more people can see it.
POSTED BY: Logoblink.com, June 20th, 2009 at 1:56 am
Thank you sir.
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POSTED BY: Michael, June 21st, 2009 at 4:16 am
@ Jerome Myer — While you are right that making letters and words out of objects is not exactly groundbreaking this solution is worth more than a dismissive comment regarding similarity to Elliman’s BITS typeface.
This is an example of the idea fitting the message perfectly. The title itself makes it hard to imagine any other solution.
The construction and composition of the logo has been executed exceptionally well with the visual balance between the objects and the readability of the word is damn near perfect; an imperceptible flickering between the two states of recognition and legibility.
Well done on another definitive piece of work.
—POSTED BY: Nic Eldridge, November 7th, 2009 at 7:25 am