Designer Bullshit: Perimeter Oscillations and the Pepsi Ratio
This 6MB PDF that is purported to be the pitch used by design group Arnell to sell executives at Pepsi on a new logo design is perhaps the most brilliant example of puffed up design faffery I've ever seen. I think the final design of the logo family, each slightly modified on each Pepsi product, is weaker than its predecessor, but the bolstering quasi-science used to justify the recalibration of a few bezier curves is art of Timecubeesque magnificence. [via]
Some choice excerpts:
"1929 Pepsi Geometries: Perimeter Oscillations", giving me a new favorite term to trot out the next time I'm criticizing the shape of a design.
There is supposedly some equation underpinning the ratio of each of the logo curves, which, well, duh. It's as if the designer took off his chunky glasses, peered around around the conference table, and stared into each Pepsi executive's soul. "Gentlemen, we will make these lines...with math."
The first half of the presentation is mildly credible, relying on classic if trite design fundamentals like the Golden Ratio, but this is one of the first signs that they've gone off the trail into the faerie fields.
"Laugh Out Logo". You know, like the internet.
Towards the end they're just pulling out anything from their clip art library that looks even mildly scientific.
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What a crock of shit... but I envy the job(s) of whomever put that together, looks fun.
As far s I can tell, if a parody, not only would this have taken just as long to make as the genuine article, but anyone brilliant enough to have pulled this out of a comedic orifice could have just as easily composited it for real, for serious.
Occam's Verdict: the first real pitch that is also its own parody.
Fabulous. The Emperor's new soda!
I can see whole new career opening up in front of me (if only I can keep a straight face for long enough)
"Magnetic field are impacted by sun radiation and wind motion."
Woah. Sold!!
Except, I hate the new logo.
The final version reminds me of Obamas campaign logo. I thought that was what Pepsi were going for. I'm obviously just ignorant.
Say what you want, but some jerk owns a boat because of this crap.
Yes. Yes, I'm a little jealous.
In fact I'm going to dig up my Spirograph, and then I'll show 'em.
I'll show EVERYBODY!!!
My opinion is that the new logo was derived from Sheperd Fairey's Obama(image borrowed from AP photo)HOPE poster.
I've been having this pretty intense debate with a friend of mine for quite sometime. And - while I can't say that the logo is AMAZING - I think what Pepsi has managed to do here has been nothing short of brilliant.
Now - I can't think of a single person that I know who even remotely LIKES the logo; but does the general, undesign related, soda buying populous really care about the logo? Probably not.
However - with this redesign its given Pepsi a reason to launch a multi-million dollar marketing campaign to remind those people that - "Hey! We're still out here! Look at this new edgy brand"
As a design centric community - most of us hate it. But we can't deny the fact that the logo is EVERYWHERE. And that combined with the thousands and thousands of angry designers posting and reposting their logo, Pepsi has suddenly become one of the most advertised brands around.
I think - what it comes down to in this situation, is that Pepsi is getting the most exposure its ever gotten. Good or bad - they're getting tons of attention, and now when consumers go to the store, that's the first thing they see.
Now - will it work? Who knows. But I'm guessing that there are more people out there who don't really care about how bad the logo is, but suddenly remember "Oh yeah! I used to drink Pepsi. Maybe I'll try it again."
Just my two cents. Nice job Pepsi. In 10 years we'll see you switch back to the "Retro" logo and start a new marketing campaign.
There had to have been some people at Pepsi who have been pondering, for a couple of decades or so, "Could we fuck up as badly as Coke did in the eighties if we really, really tried?"
Guys, this is a PITCH. Did Pepsi buy it? I don't know. The design company's website doesn't shed much light. On anything.
But I APPLAUD the precise application of Scientific Method to provide a rationale for Design!
This is what Science is for. It's a magic tool and can be used anywhere. Awesome, staggering work!!
I'll be using this.
Who even likes Pepsi?
This is to scientific method what feces is to dark chocolate.
@17
This Obama logo is waaaaay better than that Shepard Fairey Obama logo.
This is all I see now:
http://www.suckatlife.com/pepsiLogoBlowatlife.html
So, at least in my case, the new logo was an epic failure.
The current campaign with this logo seems to already assume you know about it, just billboards with the new logo replacing the 'O' in 'delicioso' or 'oohlala'. Except, I first saw these billboards near SFO, so I assumed that Korean Air now offered service to Paris and Mexico City.
It was probably two weeks before I figured out it was Pepsi.
Disclaimer: I prefer [diet] Coke. :)
It's a little too serious and methodical in the old logo deconstruction for it to be (intentional) parody I think. And I know designers who really are this whacked out and freaky - as they like to frequently remind you, they are ARTISTES. And sometimes the weirdness results in something really cool - this time it didn't. So just sit back and enjoy the horror like I did.
Full marks for taking bullshit to even higher, prettier levels. It's still nonsense, but hey, it's pretty-looking nonsense
Sadly the next logical step is to replace the new logo with a vector goatse and republish the document on the nets.
Sounds like a job for... somebody else!
You would really need this level of bullshit to convince anyone to buy into that terrible new logo. It's one of the worst logo designs I have ever seen. If it were a good logo, it would be immediately apparent and wouldn't need all this rationalization. They would still do it though. That's what these people do.
wow, it's like Alan Sokal wrote a design pitch
Haha #19 I'd like to see the "perimeter oscillations" on a goatse vector.
Reminds me of the crock of shit companies that name other companies (great reading):
http://www.dansdata.com/sillynames.htm
http://www.salon.com/media/col/shal/1999/11/30/naming/print.html
I love how it will literally PULL PEOPLE IN based on the "Gravitational Pull of Pepsi". You can't resist! It's like a black hole!
I wonder: does this logo look backwards (moving away from the future) if I'm a native right-to-left reader?
It's so far out there it's becoming a parody of itself. I call shenanigans. How do we know this isn't some viral thing Pepsi recently released?
It's funny. Most of the critical comments posted here are reminiscent of the same guff that the London 2012 logo received when it came out.
Logo design is bloody hard work, I can tell you from experience. There's a tremendous amount of trial and error. The problem is, justifying this amount of hard work to clients, let alone billing for it, is fiendishly difficult. For pretty much any amount you charge the customers for a logo, they're going to complain it's too much money.
This problem is compounded when we start talking about a multi-million dollar project for one of the largest companies on Earth.
The solution: spend at least as long coming up with an arcane justification for the logo as you do coming up with the logo itself.
Among big American corporations, it's no secret that Pepsi and Coke are basically unofficial post-MBA training for American CEO's. That means many of these guys are fresh out of business school and think they know a lot more than they actually do. Selling to them is a challenge, and I would imagine it would require a delicate dance between speaking in extremely basic terms and making the suits simultaneously feel visionary for supporting such a revolutionary idea.
I will admit I think the logo is only so-so, but that's irrelevant. I have to applaud these ad designer's inventiveness in finding a way to sensationalize their expensive design brief up to the point where Pepsi actually bought it. After all, they were only being asked to sell a multi-billion dollar global empire a new identity...
Consider that, folks, before you criticize this companie's choice of extreme selling tactics.