Like Anyone Cares, or, Sears Has A New Logo!
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So, I was watching “Bands Reunited” featuring New Kids on the Block (Shut it, Tubby. So what, I was watching New Kids, who are now Bloated Old Guys on the Block. You were watching it too. You just don’t have the guts to say so in print.) and a commercial for Sears comes on.
Normally that’s my cue to hit “swap” on the ol’ picture in picture, and switch to Telemundo so I can pretend to learn Spanish, but this time I didn’t. Something seemed strange.
Yep, seems those old school peeps at Sears & Roebuck tweaked their logo to a combination of caps and lowercase characters. I’m neither old enough or interested enough to recall a time when Sears didn’t have an ALL CAPS logo. So, that’s got to be many many years.
This bums me out, because as I build my rocketship which will one day take me to Pluto, I shop for tools exclusively at Sears.
OK, you got me, part of that last sentance is a lie.
It doesn’t bum me out.
As for the rest, well, that’s true! My scientist buddy Dr.Cody is working feverishly in a woodland cabin drawing up plans to transport me and my robotic puppy to the outermost reaches of our galaxy.
A place free from gravity. A place free from posers like Boyz II Men. Most of all, a place free from Sears and their new logo.
You Bet.
Comments (10)
Bennett said:
I’m not a fan of the old SEARS logo, but this doesn’t seem to be much of an improvement. I read an article where the author concluded that the AOL logo was as horrible as the SEARS logo and that AOL would never have a quality brand until they adopted a new logo. AOL hasn’t totally ditched their triangle logo, but they seem to be using it less and less. Side Note. If only we could get Ditech and Capital One to change their logos, I would not have to put up with their visual assault every five minutes on the tube.
Posted on September 9, 2004
Tom said:
Come on now, I don’t know if I’d place CapitalOne and Ditech in the same category. Ditech has just a scummy, scummy logo — the rainbow pixy dust floating around the logo, et al — but Capital One is not so terrible. Sure, its drab, boring, unexciting even, but it is a bank after all. Not exactly the most exciting place, unless you just won the lottery and are there to deposit your winnings.
Posted on September 10, 2004
Portfolio Genius said:
I love the underline, too. I hope they were paid by the millions for that logo. It’s essentially the same type treatment as before, with the lines reversing out of the text, right? So for X amount of dollars, they dropped it from All Caps to Initial Caps and then, as if to send a big F-U to every designer who shops at Sears (I think they might in Kentucky or someplace like that) they through in the milennium-swoosh underline. That’s awful. Just awful.
Posted on September 10, 2004
Drew Davies said:
Now let’s be fair: that underline is essentially a variation on the “lipstick swash” unerline from the 80’s, rather than the millenium-swoosh. Perhaps they’re cashing in on the retro-80’s craze.
Posted on September 13, 2004
Tom said:
Sears has always been retro. Like all old things, if you hold onto them long enough, they become worth more. I’m reminded of a quote in “Raiders Of The Lost Ark”, where the villain says to Indy as he drops him into a tomb, “See this watch? Its worthless, I bought it from a street vendor for $10. But if I bury it, in a thousand years when its dug up, it becomes priceless. Who knows, perhaps in a thousand years even you may be worth something!”
Sears has always been retro — just not cool. By adding the lipstick swash (and hopefully lots and lots of neon) their dated merchandise suddenly takes on a sort of panache. Its brilliant, really.
I am speaking fascitiouscly, of course. Sears is still not cool.
Gee, we’ve picked on ShopKo, now Sears — who’s next: Pamida?
Posted on September 13, 2004
Adrian said:
Yeah, Sears is still uncool. I could see myself wearing a ShopKo or Pamida T-shirt for the “its so bad its good” factor, but not Sears. Seriously though, Sears has about as much equity in their name as anyone, and a logo redesign is an opportunity to really cash in on it. Unfortunately, I don’t think many people will even notice a change. If they want to get away from the impression that we all agree on, that they are uncool, they missed their opportunity. By dumping the old and adopting something new and modern, they could shake their stiff personality and become something exciting. I think the value of their identity is tied more to the word than to their logo; dumping the graphics isn’t a loss. Since everybody already knows who Sears is, a dramatically new logo would make people stop and take note of the change, and possibly change their opinion of the company. “I know Sears, but I thought it was…” Then they have an opportunity to cash in on their name and redefine themselves in the minds of their customers. Sears should get their money back and hire BE A DESIGN GROUP to do their rebranding…
Posted on September 13, 2004
j.p. said:
I don’t really care for the slightly tweaked Sears logo, but it’s a lot better than the one they had pre-1984 (where “Sears” was written in Times New Roman and in a box). I’ll take the new Sears logo over that pre-1984 one anyday. (I though the previous logo held well over the last 20 years—although it was slightly adjusted to make it more sleeker in the mid-90s)
Posted on September 16, 2004
David said:
The underscore “comet” on the Visa corporate wordmark served mutliple purposes. Just one of which was bringing in the color from the Visa Flag brandmark. This elimated design decisions based on color production issues( i.e. Do we have 1 or 2 to work with?). Visually the “comet” arc had its origins in cropped globe studies because of the worldwide acceptance of the brand and its products. The letterforms of both the Visa Flag and the wordmark Visa were redrawn.
The Sears arc seems to have nothing in common with the letterforms but proximity. And in proximity it seems to emphasize “ears”.
Actually if banality is the goal. Sears is totally cool. Or it was until it became self concious. But, then like the deranged computer HAL it just seems to selfdestruct.
Pity the designers who now have this in their portfolio as a mark of pride.
Posted on September 23, 2004
Bennett said:
Just our of curiosity I asked my Dad, not a visual person, what he thought of the new Sears logo. He was looking through their flyer at the time. He had a perplexed look on his face. I then explained what they had done and he still didn’t notice. It didn’t look any different to him. I think the only people that will notice this change will be designers. Maybe that is what Sears wanted. I kind of doubt it.
Posted on September 27, 2004
logo design said:
what a bad logo wwooooo
Posted on July 10, 2007