Pepsi’s new logo
Recently there has been quite an uproar over Pepsi’s redesigned logo. As usual, there are some that have openly vilified the effort and some that have conveniently agreed with the naysayers. I got a forwarded email with a link to this article, which called the logo nonsensical and a waste of $1 million.
Initially I was also pulled into agreeing with the writer, but as someone who has actually seen the magic of the golden ratio in my photography, I hesitated. There have been a few attempts to scientifically predict art. One can argue that art forms that are pleasing to the human eye can be mathematically calculated. But as Malcolm Gladwell would state repeatedly (and manage to write yet another book out of) an artist ‘feels’ a design. A white coated scientist may come along later and prove how the design fits into his equations, but that does not mean that we need to take a scientific approach to art.
That’s where I think the Arnell group went wrong in justifying the new logo. They put forth different theories and what not to show how the logo cannot fail because the design elements are based on the golden ratio. And what they did with the Tropicana packaging is another story.
But as an overall design, the new logo has grown surprisingly quickly on me. I really prefer it to the old ones, which now feel like they are distinctly lacking in character. And on the Pepsi Natural bottle, the logo looks simply amazing. A friend also said that his son, till recently a Coke drinker, now instinctively reaches for the Pepsi can. He said that it just draws one to pick it up. What do you think?
