The matter of
letters in graphic images has been raised in regards to the AO &
AACA logos: see –
https://voussoirs.blogspot.com/2020/01/fancy-graphics-a-is-not-v.html
and
https://voussoirs.blogspot.com/2020/02/aaca-graphics-questions-and-answers.html
The AO image plays games with the A, using an inverted V instead, a
trick that requires the image be underlined to define the reading
that could easily become an unfortunate OV. The AACA logo uses the
letter A unchanged, but plays with the font style of the letter C.
Here a base line that looks like an invented Morse code has been used
apparently to smarten up the fairly ordinary appearance of standard
letter fonts. Both logos avoid any complications with other sets of
letters that seek to describe or expand on the message. AO is simply
Australian Open; and AACA is Architect’s Accreditation
Council of Australia.
What is an issue for
the latter logo is the popularity of the acronym. A simple search
reveals that there are something like eighty groups, bodies or
corporations across the world that claim the title reference of
AACA.* It is not very helpful when a body is seeking to establish an
internationally recognised identity. One assumes that the lower case
lettered logo – ‘aaca’ – comes from a previous, now disused
graphic. Alas, nothing appears to ever be removed from the Internet.
Variety is not useful in logos.
Both images avoid
the problem that the ABC TV has with its Q&A identity. The title
is obviously Questions and Answers, but
it is never named this; the programme is known as ‘Q’ ‘and’
‘A.’ It has a logo that is an intermingling of the letter ‘Q’
with the letter ‘A’ that has a swirling ‘&’ embodied in
the open spaces left from this overlay where one side of the ‘A’
is extended to become the tail of the ‘Q’ that is a completed
with a circular form around the ‘A’ markings.
Q&A desk
QI desk
QI logo
The desk, for want
of a better term, around which those involved in the show sit, was
originally a simple curved form, but has since been developed to
become the form of this graphic image. Unfortunately, it looks very
similar to the desk designed for the BBC QI programme. The desk seems
to have been copied without much variation, a least inspired by it,
much like many of the programmes that the ABC develops that have been
based on BBC prototypes or themes.
If one ignores what
appears to be a blatant copying of ideas, one is left with the
graphic itself. This is used in the upper parts of the screen and as
a background throughout the show, but, puzzzlingly, as if the ABC has
no faith or certainty, no confidence in the logo, it places directly
beside it the title: ’Q&A.’ It is as if the ‘Q’ and the
‘A’ in the graphic cannot be understood. The messiness weakens
the original logo, mocking its smartness, its slick games and clever
reshaping. The angle of the ‘A’ in the logo does not even match
that of the ‘A’ in the title. The two are at loggerheads for
attention; for the passing on of the same message.
The graphics give the appearance of visual stuttering.
Using a different symbol for 'and' only muddles the message.
The new font gives two different 'Q&A's, just to further add to the confusion.:
note the different 'Q' and 'A' - c.f. above.
Strangely, only adding to the confusion, 'QandA' uses a different font to that in 'Q&A' - both of them!
Note the 'A' with a point, and the 'A' with a truncated top; and the 'Q' with a square tail and the 'Q' with the wedge tail.
Has the ABC a section with designers keen to push their own individual agendas?
As if this muddle
was not messy enough, also at the top of the screen are the letters
‘QandA,’ which is intended not to be spoken of as ‘Q’ ‘and’
‘A,’ but as an invented word that can be used for social media references,
similar in sound to ‘ponder’ and ‘wander,’ but with an initial ‘q’ sound, giving us one of the few words with a 'q' not followed by a 'u'. Comments from social media are flashed across the bottom
of the screen throughout the show that is now peppered with three
messages all using the same letters: the logo, the title, and the
social media hashtag. This conglomerate creates a shambles of an
identity that is squealing out to be one: there are three almost
identical statements with three different intents and three varying
images.
The ‘Q’ ‘and’
‘A’ is crisp and catchy, and has an authoritative identity that
is not helped by battles between the three that all scramble for
importance, while demeaning each other in the effort. Just why any
logo might require a title is a concern, especially when the title
includes the same letters and message as that given by the logo. At
least the AO logo is expanded by the title, as is the AACA graphic.
The Q&A title is the logo, and vice versa. As for the social
media hashtag, ‘#QandA,’ these letters are the same as those in
the title, with an expanded ‘and,’ and with the same message as
that in the logo too, but it carries its own unique meaning as the
invented word. It is a reading and a sound that the ‘&’ used
in the logo and title, avoids.
The shambles is that
all of these messages are being offered on the screen using the same
letters with ‘&’ and ‘and’. It leaves a visual mess if
not an intellectual one. A logo needs its own strength remote from
titles and other brands: it is the brand. Everything needs to revolve
around it; it is the anchor of identity, the core reference. The ABC
is left struggling with three identities, all seeking prominence,
and, strangely, all given prominence, leaving the viewer with a messy
guessing game, trying to understand which is the primary reference.
Maybe Q&A needs a logo like that of the ABC, a logo that avoids
letters that get repeated in the title and the branding, holding
meaning eloquently and precisely.
An overload of graphic images.
ABC logo
Marketing needs better control of identity.
Now that Hamish Macdonald has taken the chair over, a new graphic has appeared, and a
new desk. It is good to see the desk go; the QI desk was always a
cringe: but the graphic is still letters, with a '+' sign reversed,
used as the link between the ‘Q’ and the ‘A’. The tail of the
‘Q’ is florid, and twists dramatically to along with one side of
the ‘A’ in an apparent attempt to relate the two forms. This
‘Q+A’ looks smart, but the problems remain.
The logo has something of a 'first aid' feel to it.
Might one to suppose that the show could become violent?
(** see note below).
Good graphics are a
marvel when they are working well. They are problematical, confusing,
when they are weak in their referencing, having to rely on other
messages to complete the intent. Just how all three ambitions can be
reconciled remains the challenge. Why not attempt a marriage – a 'Q
# A' as a development of the '+' to '#', underlined by lower case 'qanda' to
one side, after the '#'? At least there would be no 'first aid' reference. Why not try:
Q#A
qanda . . .
only more nicely integrated; and drop the 'Q&A' altogether. The
‘qanda’ in the graphic could look something like the comments
that appear at the base of the screen. Something needs to change.
*AO does not
overcome this challenge: see - https://www.abbreviations.com/AO
where nearly one hundred and fifty ‘AO’s are scheduled as
abbreviations.
NOTE:
The fuzzy images have been snapped from the television screen as the issue was originally pondered.
**
NOTE:
01 March 2020
The medical reading
of the logo has become more serious:
It is astonishing
that the designers missed this point. The logo needs to be totally
redesigned rather than merely placed onto a grey background to
overcome the legal problems. The ‘first aid’ reference remains, even though shaded, as does the 'qanda' problem noted in the text above, providing an ad hoc, messy complexity that just gets ignored.
The 'new' and the 'old.'
The 'first aid' image using the international symbol of the Red Cross.
Logos need to be checked and re-checked for sundry references and unintended readings, rather than blindly admired. One can see the problem in the multitude of meanings that accrue under the acronym AACA when it is supposed to clearly identify Architects Accreditation Council of Australia - see: https://voussoirs.blogspot.com/2020/02/aaca-graphics-questions-and-answers.html
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