FUTURE AMAZING

“We all get stuck as designers. Don’t forget that.

“No matter who you are, the number of accolades you’ve received, or the past successes you’ve had, it’s still hard. You can look at this a few ways, but I largely take comfort in it.

“Becoming a good designer is, in my mind, directly related to one’s curiosity and willingness to work. If you keep asking questions and deliberately practicing your craft, you get better. It’s that simple. So when it feels difficult and you want to scream, grab a pencil and a big blank sheet of paper, and just start drawing. With each iteration you’re closer.”

— ERIC KARJALUOTO, SMASHLAB

The new logo incorporates several graphic elements that represent the fundamentals of the hobby, including a hop cone, a barley stalk and a tall glass of beer, on a circular background that evokes the shape of a bottle cap. AHA Director Gary Glass explains the design process: “It wasn’t easy, and the AHA staff and our graphic design team took the redesign seriously. We’re thrilled with this new visual representation of the AHA, our members and the broader homebrewing community.”

Neither the old nor the new logo is better than the other. They each have their cons and they each, well, don’t have many real pros to speak of with conviction. But let’s try. The previous lobster was much better, it felt like something you would find, or at least imagine to find, in “the New England Coast” as Red Lobster is trying to mimic. It had that vintage, woodcut texture to it that never fails to make people hungry. Sure, probably a pain in the ass to reproduce but surely there could have been room for a professional illustrator to update the lobster to retain that effect with more flexibility for reproduction, instead of getting the new latex-covered lobster. Seriously, I’ve never seen a lobster so shiny or smooth. The typography in the new logo is a slight improvement over the old but that’s simply because condensed bold serifs don’t rock my world and because it’s not the 1980s anymore. There is a second tag line, “Fresh Fish, Live Lobster”, that someone jammed into the bottom of the lock-up, either as an afterthought or as a display of lack of proportion and spacing awareness. I liked the old framing device better, even though it was slightly ambiguous. The new rounded-corner rectangle is fairly boring. Overall, it feels like an update that makes sense and Red Lobster feels more contemporary but it’s quite middle-of-the-road logo design. Put a garlic biscuit on it though and I’d be sold. (via Shiny Happy Lobster - Brand New)

The brand positions the Museum as a place that celebrates our people and our culture of storytelling. It invites people to come together to share stories of our unique and distinctive nation, to be part of a national conversation about our story. The brand uses speech bubbles, conversations, emotion, energy and the line “where out stories live.”