My Favorite Logo: 84 Lumber
by Adrian Hanft, (10 comments)
Every time I drive by an 84 Lumber I am captivated by the logo. This isn’t a new experience. I remember driving by the store as a kid and feeling unusually drawn to it. Today when I took a pinhole photo of the sign, I stopped to reflect on why this symbol has always fascinated me…
So, why is it called 84? If your guess has something to do with George Orwell, you’re wrong. The number 84 doesn’t refer to a year. Actually, 84 Lumber was founded in 1956 in the town of Eighty Four, Pennsylvania. I had a little trouble gathering any information about the logo. I emailed 84 Lumber’s customer service to inquire about the design history. I will let you know if I get a response.
Isn’t it refreshing to see a symbol without being interrupted by advertising? We attach so much garbage to logos that there is no longer any mystery or poetry to corporate identity. Taglines, mission statements, bylines, slogans, web addresses, and positioning statements clutter up nearly every logo ever made. Companies are so anxious to get your attention, that they try to give you the complete sales pitch in one knockout punch of a logo. How many times have you been asked to cram a six panel brochure’s worth of copy onto a business card? I wonder if the designer had to fight to keep the signs pure from taglines, or even the word “Lumber.”
The 84 Lumber sign is a lesson in simplicity. Think about how redundant a McDonald’s sign is with the word “McDonald’s” sandwiched (no pun intended) between the golden arches and the “billion served” slogan. McDonald’s could take a cue from 84 Lumber and strip everything away except for the golden arches on all signage. Redundancy is the reason why you don’t see the word Nike on top of the swoosh anymore. Redundancy is an insult to the audience. Unfortunately, this concept is almost impossible to explain to a client. I was disappointed to visit the 84 Lumber website to find the logo cluttered with a small unreadable tagline. The logo appears on their homepage 5 times, with 5 different variations. Oh well, at least their sign will always be beautiful.
Comments (10)
Clinton Carlson said:
Maybe we should enumerate all corporations…ridding ourselves of all advertising gunk. We could replace Home Depot with 82, Wells Fargo would be 27, Starbucks could become 36, Gap could have 45, and Gap for Kids would be 0.45!
Adrian, I do agree that many businesses want to solve way too many issues with their logo, however, never having seen a lumber 84, I’m assuming they have to have “lumber” somewhere in all their signage and communication materials.
Nike and McDonalds can eliminate their name (and both have on occassion) but only because they have created the recognizability of their mark over time and mega-dollars. Using just the swoosh or the arches would have been a tragic error 30-40 years ago when the brands were in their infancy and working their way toward international recognition. I don’t think ridding the logo of all “advertising” eliminates the potential for poetry. And I think for many of our communications, redundancy is essential. Especially when you look at corporations wanting to expand into new markets. I don’t think FedEx would have been nearly as successful in growing its share of the delivery pie, if they hadn’t drilled into our collective skulls, “When it absolutely, positively has to be there overnight.” And the FedEX logo would not have been nearly as successful if it was an abstract symbol. They needed their identity to include a unique symbol, their name, a distinct color scheme, and the repetitious tagline.
All that being said, I agree that from a visual standpoint the 84 sign is uniquely interesting. I can see why you like it. It’s quirky, simple, and different than the refined corporate crap we are used to… and maybe create.
Posted on February 6, 2005
Adrian said:
…Phillips 66 would become 6. Ha!
Good points, Clint. To simplify a logo to its absolute minimum essentials should be the goal of every logo. In that way, I think FedEx might be a better example than 84 Lumber. FedEx made a great move by shortening there name from Federal Express. They essentially dumped their name in favor of an “abstract symbol.” The words “federal” and “express” are vague and confusing. By creating a new symbol (and word), they could eliminate the confusion inherent in their company name. The use of color and minimal type in the FedEx subdivisions is wonderful. I don’t know if I have ever seen the FedEx logo cluttered by the “When it absolutely, positively has to be there overnightî tagline.
I think part of the reason I liked the 84 Lumber sign as a kid was because there wasn’t any explanation. It forced me to use my imagination and fill in the blanks for myself. It’s like solving a puzzle. When an audience voluntarily participates in your company it is vastly better than an unwelcome guerilla campaign. (I am thinking of Seth Godin’s “Permission Marketing.”) For that reason, I am not sure I agree that it would have been a mistake for McDonald’s or Nike to only use their symbol 30 years ago.
The 84 Lumber symbol is intriguing, but not necessarily the best example well executed marketing. I would love to work up their next campaign. It seems like it could be very fertile ground…
Posted on February 6, 2005
Adrian said:
84 looks alot like a BA… Hmmmm…
Posted on February 8, 2005
Donovan Beery said:
Interesing… I was always told that the shape people like the most is naturally the shape of their own signature, which explains your love for the 84 logo (being your BA logo and all) :)
On another note being mentioned, as Eleven19 (1119) is redundent, I guess that means I just need to rename my company 19. HA!
Posted on February 8, 2005
Clinton Carlson said:
Don, You better be prepared to shell out a pretty penny for number 19. These numbers are going to be hotter than dot-coms, and I’m sure most mega-corporations will pay big money for the single and double digit codes. In fact, I hear that Sesame Street might be auctioning off the rights to numbers 1-12. And there are rumors that they’ve already reached an agreement with an unnamed cigarette manufacturer to sell them number “1”. Of course the number “1” will only be used in “anti-smoking” campaigns that “don’t target children.”
Posted on February 8, 2005
DeWaun said:
from the 84 website:
There’s the history of the name “84”. I’m glad to have been some assistance…
Posted on February 8, 2005
Bennett said:
I find the 84 Lumber and the old Union 76 logo strikingly similar, especially in their signage form. I haven’t seen the 76 sign for sometime and I don’t think they exist anymore. I also have a very sentimental attachment to the 76 sign. My grandpa went to the Union 76 truck stop every morning for coffee and farm talk before he went out to the fields. I tagged along a couple of times. The building is still there, but the beautiful 76 sign is no more. Maybe somebody has it in their front yard like this guy. Apparently the city made him take it down.
Posted on February 11, 2005
Adrian said:
I wanted to repeat what I said over on the The Creative Forum that mentioned some of my thoughts in this post:
Obviously, a simple logo can’t do everything by itself. A good logo in combination with a strong marketing strategy allows you to get the maximum impact from a simple logo. Adding words to supplement a logo isn’t a marketing plan, though. “Taglines, mission statements, bylines, slogans, web addresses, and positioning statements” can all be valuable things, don’t get me wrong. However, very rarely do these things need to be attatched to a logo. Many times corporate identity gets misinterpreted into a checklist. They make a mistake of trying to include everything they can onto everything they produce. As a rusult, things like business cards end up with as much information as a product brochure. The result is an unorganized cluttered mess. There is no poetry or elegance. That’s not design.
Posted on April 2, 2005
John Beckett said:
so what is the significance of the number 76? does it refer to 1776 or something else?
Posted on July 22, 2005
Lyric said:
FYI…this per 84 lingo is called a lollipop (hence the shape of the sign). And came from founder Joe Hardy (who opened his first lumber yard in Eighty Four PA (minutes from Pittsburg!)
Posted on August 29, 2007