Michaelbox » Graphic Arts

My Favorite Logos #1: Target

tw2113 — Wed, 05 May 2010 15:00:22 +0000

Originally, this topic was meant to be a really quick highlight of a bunch all in one posting, but I realized that each one of these deserves the spotlight on their own. We are going to kick off this blog series with Target Corporation.

Brief history

Target Corporation, usually known simply as Target, is an American retailing company that was founded in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1902 as the Dayton Dry Goods Company. In 1962, the company opened its first Target store in nearby Roseville. The Target store concept grew and eventually became the largest division of Dayton Hudson Corporation, culminating in the company changing its name to Target Corporation in 2000. The company has opened stores in all but one state (the exception, as of October 2009[update], being Vermont), operating as Target, SuperTarget, and formerly Target Greatland.

via Wikipedia

Target logo from 1962 to 1968

The branding used for Target has evolved over time, but has retained the visual red ring element since its inception. The original logo from 1962 until 1968 had 3 concentric circles and a font that I have yet to identify. While it was fitting for a time, it was updated to make the branding more modern.

In 1980, Target redesigned their branding again. In this version, they simplified the bulls eye logo to a single ring surrounding a solid dot. They also highlighted the name of the store line in the strong yet simple font Helvetica. With this design the bulls eye became visual branding that people recognized most.

In 2004, one more branding change occurred, moving the Target name below the bulls eye and simplifying to a single red color. According to Target’s company site, “96% of people recognize the Bullseye, nudging out Apple and the Nike swoosh.” That is quite a high level of recognition with very strong competition in a world full of popular brand names.

Logo from 1980 until 2004.

It is not hard to understand why this is a personal favorite logo. The bulls eye is extremely simple and composed of two separate shapes. For those of you who have designed logos before, you know the best thing you can do is “KISS.” Keep It Simple, Stupid. Even when the bulls eye is coupled with the Helvetica typeface, it still works very well.

What are some of your comments or thoughts on this logo or perhaps some other logo that you really love?

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Top 5 Reasons For A Brand Redesign

tw2113 — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 01:51:19 +0000

Here it is in all its 5 long glory in reverse order.

We received an @reply about it saying the current one sucked
Lost all of the source files for all branding elements
There’s a new Adobe CS release soon and we want to incorporate the new features
Weird Al did a parody and business didn’t increase
Our girlfriends think our logos are too small and scale badly

Honorable mention:

Because Paul Rand hasn’t rolled over in his grave enough

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Synfig Studio now available in Fedora Repos

tw2113 — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 02:29:29 +0000

As per a Fedora Design mailing list post, Fedora now has the Synfig Studio program available in the repos for Fedora 11–12.

For those of you who don’t know what Synfig is:

Synfig is a powerful, industrial-strength vector-based open-source 2D animation software package, designed from the ground-up for producing feature-film quality animation with fewer people and resources. While there are many other programs currently on the market to aid with the efficient production of 2D animation, we are currently unaware of any other software that can do what our software can.

–Synfig homepage

Synfig has supported releases for all major operating systems.

If you are anxious and interested in getting started with Synfig, you can check out tutorials available at: Synfig Wiki Tutorials or check out a gallery at Synfig Gallery

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