God Awful Things

I have had Fuel bookmarked for a while, and I’m not even sure when or why I first bookmarked it, I think there was some article about uh, something.  Anyway, it mostly sits in my bookmarks unchecked because it seems to link to similar crap that Undrln does, only way worse. Both are something of a Digg for design, well, the intentions of digg. But just as digg is infected with abusive exclamation points (admittedly it has gotten much better about this) so is Fuel infected with “Kick Ass”. Kick Ass Portfolios, Kick Ass Logos, etc etc.

But here is a prime example:
50+ Kick Ass Logos for Inspiration, the only problem is that these aren’t Kick Ass logos, they are boring logos, short of about three of them if I just saw the logo I couldn’t even tell you what kind of company the logo is for. “Evan”, you may say “what do you know about kick ass logos? you sure as shit don’t make any!”. True, but I don’t need to eat shit to know that I don’t like the flavor either, and most importantly, I don’t proclaim to be some place to provide insight into kick ass logos.

Back in the university days, between binders when I actually studied design, I remember thinking that I always felt any piece to have 3 clever parts to it, like two was good, but three was when you had been struck by genius. Unfortunately, in the field I am now there really isn’t any room for this, well, seldom, so even if you can put in one piece of clever than you’re doing really well.

Anyway, another link from Fuel:
30 Dual Element Logos, Do You See Them All? Now, some of these I can get behind, visual metaphor is always a great place to go, and you can really convey an idea without beating the viewer over the head with it. I am reminded of something a professor once told me, “If you have to be there to explain it, then you’ve failed.” That’s how I feel about logos, if you have to tell me what the business does? then your logo blows.