The New Face of DC Comics
Earlier this week, DC Entertainment revealed a new identity. Spearheaded by consultants Landor Associates, the new brand is the second redesign since abandoning their iconic DC seal in 2005.
The mark itself has all of the textbook qualities of a great logo. It’s simple enough to be shrunk to an inch, and it’s solid enough to stand on its own. It wouldn’t look out of place on a billboard either, though the peel shading does come across as a bit “stock photoshop gradient” at first glance. I could imagine one-color, two-color, and full color applications without a stretch.
One thing that never ceases to amaze me is that major brands still mar the face of million-dollar redesigns with a trademark symbol. In large applications, it sufficiently detracts from the mark. Presented in a small format, it often looks like a mistake by the designer, a “slip of the wrist” resulting in a few extra pixels. More on that controversy here… Moving along.
From a press release:
“DC Entertainment, a Warner Bros. Entertainment company and home to iconic brands DC Comics, Vertigo and MAD, revealed today a new brand identity. The new identity is reflective of the company’s mission to fully realize the value of a rich portfolio of brands, stories and characters, distinguished by incredible breadth and depth across publishing, media and merchandise. A new logo for DC Comics was also introduced, closely aligning with DC Entertainment’s new mark.”
While I believe that the adaptive, dual-personality DC symbol has great potential, and it looks like they’re headed a great direction, there’s another small issue that they may have thought about including in such a large change: Ever since they adopted “DC” from their Detective Comics series in 1940, their logo has had a bout of RAS syndrome baked right in. There’s a lot of historic nostalgia in the name, but next time they make a big move… let’s put this one on the table, kick it around, and see what happens.
That brings me to the end of my criticism — small comments for such a large undertaking. I truly believe that, while the basic symbol itself is a bit unremarkable, their speculative mocks show that they’re prepared to flesh this out with some deep integration into their rich collection of dynamic characters.
Seeing the extreme-edge application in the printed version gives an extra little *something* to the peel concept. A second layer of functionality is nice, adding a bit of extra dimension to the symbol.
Overall, I’d say it’s a good idea, and it’s been very well executed. Your thoughts?
I was underwhelmed by the logo when I first saw the basic black and white version a while back. Now, seeing the integration of their rich catalogue of heroes and iconic colors/symbols, I’m warming to it. I’m still not a fan of the label peel look. I lean toward minimalist design, so I don’t see why the simole adaptable DC symbol itself wouldn’t be enough (i.e. completely peel the label off and discard). But I am definitely warming to this after seeing the concept fleshed out more.
Agreed. Sometimes I wish I could visit the cutting room floor of designs like this. It’d be interesting to see what other ideas they had and turned down.
I love the logo so far. Very versatile, and looks great against black. Good thoughts, man.
It’s definitely a different direction for them, compared to their logo history. It’s the first one that’s not symmetrical and round in some fashion.
As for it looking great on black — I’d agree, for sure, especially in its customized forms. Their application looks like it’s in response to the recent slew of superhero movies, and the directions that their respective directors have taken with those. Think “Spiderman Intro or Credits,” and you kind of get the picture. I wonder how long it will stay concrete in this form…