GRAPHIC GAMES – THE KIA LOGO

The Australian Open graphic, the ‘OV,’ has already been reviewed to highlight its complications; it still gets used in ever more decorative options, such its its stylistic appearance – see: https://voussoirs.blogspot.com/2020/01/fancy-graphics-a-is-not-v.html  A major sponsor of the open tennis tournament, KIA, also has a graphic that uses an inverted ‘V’ as an ‘A’: so-called 'creativity' is an open book in graphics, where anything is possible, or so it seems.

In this year's open, 2021, the 'Covid Open,' there appeared a new graphic in the background. What might this be? The Initial reading was ‘KN’ with the ‘N’ ‘cleverly’ mirrored like the ‘V’; but what was ‘KN’?

Random 'KN' graphics.

On further consideration, one could read the image as ‘KVI’; then one thought of the airline ‘KLM’ - maybe there was a clever ‘L’ and ‘M’ ‘creatively’ layered in the mix. Nothing seemed certain; just what was being promoted here? Usually logos have more clarity, either as the letter message or the marker, or both.

Again, on looking further, one could easily read a ‘VV’, with extra bits that looked like a piece of a ‘K’ or perhaps an ‘R’, with a final letter 'I'. Here the ‘K/R’ option didn't really appear to fit. Might the logo read ‘VIVA’, with a smart, sloping 'I' to give it angled 'interest,' and an integrated ‘A’ as part of the second ‘V’?

Random 'VIVA' logos.

A sloping 'I' should not be unexpected.

None of this made immediate sense as any reference; it was all a real puzzle that annoyed with its lack of transparency and identity; its ambiguity. Then an advertisement came on with three cars doing clever backward spins in unison, (with a 'don't try this at home' message in fine print, as if this might stop people trying); after the spin, and the drive forward, the graphic appeared - it was 'KIA Movement that inspires': the company must have developed a new logo. Did it try to incorporate something of this backwards spin in the logo?

Knowing that this marking was indeed ‘KIA’, one looked again at the court images and could easily see a ‘KN’, even a ‘VIVA’, and a ‘KLM’ and the ‘KVI’. The ‘KIA’ had to be a learned reading by adjusting cognition. Like the ‘AO’, it was a struggle for the eye and mind to validate the understanding; it was ‘KIA’ just because it was. The reading made demands on the viewer, with a particular effort being required in order to see the letters ‘K’, ‘I’ and ‘A’ in that order in the angular patterning. Still the letter forms did not materialise with any definition or convincing certainty. The 'creativity' in other graphics like the ‘VO/ AO’ offers the reader endless possibilities in interpretations that make clarity elusive.

The graphic lacks that natural sense in letter shapings that allows the alphabet to be styled in an almost open-ended variety of fonts, and still remain eminently clear to the perceiving eye, without explanation, apologies, or further training.

While the new ‘KIA’ graphic has a rhythmic coherence, a little like an Oriental or Arabic character in cursive script, its understanding lacks the fluidity of comprehension seen in texts. Graphics work best when there is not only an eye-catching image, but also a clear meaning. They are even better when there is a meaningful complexity integrated into its identity, offering layers of reinforcing richness in the coherence as seen in the Jacobs Creek logo: see - https://voussoirs.blogspot.com/2015/01/graphics-from-grapevine.html; on complexity, see - https://voussoirs.blogspot.com/2021/01/a-pattern-for-complexity-and.html

The ‘KIA’ logo only highlights this circumstance with its seemingly singular concentration on appearance, and the corresponding effort needed to accept the message. The struggle to achieve the reading seems so obvious that one does wonder if the image might be attempting to do something like the Dubai graphic that cleverly spells out its meaning to read both in English and Arabic. Could the ‘KIA’ identify something in Korean? Might it be 'Movement that inspires'? Did the logo attempt to capture a clever line movement that could inspire? The image has a certain attractiveness about it - it is stylish - but it carries the tensions of identity that befuddle. The irony is that one has to be sold this logo that, by itself, seeks to sell cars by trying to establish its own field of recognition.

Designing good graphics is a difficult challenge; playing games with letters is always dangerous.

'K' and 'L'? 'P' & 'Q'?

Playing with the letter 'T'

'KN'?

Could it be that the sheer nuisance of the confusing intelligibility of the logo could prove to be its saving grace? Might one remember that the enigmatic ‘KN’, ‘KLM’, ‘VIVA’, etc. is really ‘KIA’? The tension generated by this struggle might not appear to be good PR, but the constant repetition, the persistence, one sees in the Open advertising might just do the trick – "It’s ‘KIA’ mate!" "Nuh; it's 'KN', 'KLM', . . . surely?" - "Mmmm."