Multilingual Logo Design

[Albretch]

I am trying to design a "multilingu al" logo.

I was thinking about having a background graphic with two letters
(the company name's accronym) on top of it. The thing is that (of
course) the accronym changes for each particular language.

John Yunker in his excellent book on web globalization: "Beyond
Borders", rightly critisizes the use of accronims like "IBM" in a
global market, he gave plenty of reasons and related etc.'s.

I had a basic idea that I presented to my designer, but he didn't
quite like the idea of mixing letters and graphics on a logo.

._ It causes work each time a new language logo needs to be crafted;

._ as people would say: "a picture tells more than thousand words"
and

._ a picture could be "global".

The most globally understandable logo and most powerfull I have seen
so far is Deutsche Bank's: "take the diagonal" ...

Check out www.db.com

What pros and cons do you see with this type of "letters + graphic"
design?

Do you know of any company that does that?

Any legal strings you can see?

Thanks

[Peter Connolly]

Re: Multilingual Logo Design

[color=blue]
> The most globally understandable logo and most powerfull I have seen
> so far is Deutsche Bank's: "take the diagonal" ...
>
> Check out www.db.com
>
> What pros and cons do you see with this type of "letters + graphic"
> design?
>
> Do you know of any company that does that?
>[/color]

I only know a few small companies that mix graphics and text in their logos,
and have a multinational brand...

Massey Ferguson (www.masseyferguson.com)
Agricredit (www.agricredit.biz)
JCB (www.jcb.com)
Rolls-Royce (www.rolls-royce.com)
Fendt (www.fendt.com)

If text is part of the corporate branding, then it should be so regardless
of country. I can actually think of far fewer companies that only describe
themselves with a logo and no text.

HTH,

Pete.

(X-Posting removed)

[Alan D-W]

Re: Multilingual Logo Design


"Albretch" <lbrtchx@hotmai l.com> wrote in message
news:f8544ad2.0 308311039.21334 fd0@posting.goo gle.com...[color=blue]
> I am trying to design a "multilingu al" logo.
>
>
> I had a basic idea that I presented to my designer, but he didn't
> quite like the idea of mixing letters and graphics on a logo.
>
> ._ It causes work each time a new language logo needs to be crafted;
>[/color]
Consider: craft your logo with PhotoShop and the text always remains fully
editable in the original .PSD file.
Alan

[Shawn K. Quinn]

Re: Multilingual Logo Design

Alan D-W wrote:
[color=blue]
> "Albretch" <lbrtchx@hotmai l.com> wrote in message
> news:f8544ad2.0 308311039.21334 fd0@posting.goo gle.com...[color=green]
>> I am trying to design a "multilingu al" logo.
>>
>> I had a basic idea that I presented to my designer, but he didn't
>> quite like the idea of mixing letters and graphics on a logo.
>>
>> ._ It causes work each time a new language logo needs to be crafted;
>>[/color]
> Consider: craft your logo with PhotoShop and the text always remains fully
> editable in the original .PSD file.[/color]

This assumes Photoshop is available for the operating system he is using.
(It is not available for the one I use, for example.)

--
Shawn K. Quinn

[Bonnie Granat]

Re: Multilingual Logo Design

lbrtchx@hotmail .com (Albretch) wrote in message news:<f8544ad2. 0308311039.2133 4fd0@posting.go ogle.com>...[color=blue]
> I am trying to design a "multilingu al" logo.
>
> I was thinking about having a background graphic with two letters
> (the company name's accronym) on top of it. The thing is that (of
> course) the accronym changes for each particular language.
>
> John Yunker in his excellent book on web globalization: "Beyond
> Borders", rightly critisizes the use of accronims like "IBM" in a
> global market, he gave plenty of reasons and related etc.'s.
>
> I had a basic idea that I presented to my designer, but he didn't
> quite like the idea of mixing letters and graphics on a logo.
>
> ._ It causes work each time a new language logo needs to be crafted;
>
> ._ as people would say: "a picture tells more than thousand words"
> and
>
> ._ a picture could be "global".
>
> The most globally understandable logo and most powerfull I have seen
> so far is Deutsche Bank's: "take the diagonal" ...
>
> Check out www.db.com[/color]

To me, that forward slash inside a dark box that's inside a white box
is just a decoration. I don't see it as a logo. If there's supposed to
be some optical illusion where the letters "d" and "b" are in that
box, I do not see it.

I think what we have here is a nonproblem. Everything is translated
these days, so it makes no difference what language is used. When a
native Japanese-speaking person talks about that company that is
practically the number one seller of cars in the US, what do they say?
Probably the same thing we in the US say -- Toyota. So what's the
problem? If we both say the name the company wants us to say, where's
the problem.

But aside from that, I think your globalization guru is wrong. IBM is
recognizable worldwide, like Microsoft. No problem.

Bonnie Granat

http://www.editors-writers.info

[Shawn K. Quinn]

Re: Multilingual Logo Design

Albretch wrote:
[color=blue]
> The most globally understandable logo and most powerfull I have seen
> so far is Deutsche Bank's: "take the diagonal" ...
>
> Check out www.db.com[/color]

You should cite Web addresses as URLs including scheme name, for example:
<http://www.db.com/>

That said, all I get is a bunch of baloney about enabling Javascript and
frames.

Is there a version of their logo that I can view without exposing my system
to potential security hazards?

--
Shawn K. Quinn

[Jonathan Brady]

Re: Multilingual Logo Design

On Sun, 31 Aug 2003 19:52:57 -0400, Shawn K. Quinn wrote
(in message <6KCdnT6wR-PIFM-iRVn-sA@speakeasy.ne t>):
[color=blue]
> That said, all I get is a bunch of baloney about enabling Javascript
> and frames.
>
> Is there a version of their logo that I can view without exposing my
> system to potential security hazards?[/color]

Out of curiosity, what type of security hazards does one expose oneself
to by enabling JavaScript in their browser, other than the risk of popup
windows (which any decent browser allows you to block anyway)?

--
J Brady

[Alan D-W]

Re: Multilingual Logo Design


"Shawn K. Quinn" <skquinn@xeviou s.kicks-ass.net> wrote in message
news:6KCdnT6wR-PIFM-iRVn-sA@speakeasy.ne t...[color=blue]
>
> That said, all I get is a bunch of baloney about enabling Javascript and
> frames.
>
> Is there a version of their logo that I can view without exposing my[/color]
system[color=blue]
> to potential security hazards?
>[/color]

Frames are security hazards now?

[Brian]

Re: Multilingual Logo Design

Alan D-W wrote:[color=blue]
> "Shawn K. Quinn" <skquinn@xeviou s.kicks-ass.net> wrote in message
> news:6KCdnT6wR-PIFM-iRVn-sA@speakeasy.ne t...
>[color=green]
>> Is there a version of their logo that I can view without exposing
>> my system to potential security hazards?[/color]
>
> Frames are security hazards now?[/color]

No, js is.

--
Brian
follow the directions in my address to email me

[Stan Brown]

Re: Multilingual Logo Design

In article <0001HW.BB78232 F0004215DF03056 00@enews.newsgu y.com> in
comp.infosystem s.www.authoring.html, Jonathan Brady
<jbrady@removet hisspamkiller.m yfmail.com> wrote:[color=blue]
>Out of curiosity, what type of security hazards does one expose oneself
>to by enabling JavaScript in their browser,[/color]

http://www.cert.org/tech_tips/malicious_code_FAQ.html

--
Stan Brown, Oak Road Systems, Cortland County, New York, USA

http://OakRoadSystems.com/

HTML 4.01 spec: http://www.w3.org/TR/html401/
validator: http://validator.w3.org/
CSS 2 spec: http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-CSS2/
2.1 changes: http://www.w3.org/TR/CSS21/changes.html
validator: http://jigsaw.w3.org/css-validator/

[Doc O'Leary]

Re: Multilingual Logo Design

In article <f8544ad2.03083 11039.21334fd0@ posting.google. com>,
lbrtchx@hotmail .com (Albretch) wrote:
[color=blue]
> I am trying to design a "multilingu al" logo.[/color]

Stop it.
[color=blue]
> I was thinking about having a background graphic with two letters
> (the company name's accronym) on top of it. The thing is that (of
> course) the accronym changes for each particular language.[/color]

No it doesn't. No more than a company name changes.
[color=blue]
> John Yunker in his excellent book on web globalization: "Beyond
> Borders", rightly critisizes the use of accronims like "IBM" in a
> global market, he gave plenty of reasons and related etc.'s.[/color]

That is moronic. IBM is a well-recognized trade mark. People don't
need to know the English words it stands for, or even be able to
recognize them *as* English letters, for the use of that mark to be
effective in identifying the company.
[color=blue]
> The most globally understandable logo and most powerfull I have seen
> so far is Deutsche Bank's: "take the diagonal" ...[/color]

You're joking, right? There is nothing "understandable " about a slash
in a box, including the millions they probably spent someone to design
it. Whether or not it makes a good trade mark depends entirely on how
they use it.

Your wanting to change your logo based on language usage only serves to
dilute your brand identity.

[Jonathan Brady]

Re: Multilingual Logo Design

On Mon, 1 Sep 2003 11:56:04 -0400, Stan Brown wrote
(in message <MPG.19bd362257 e1111798b2ad@ne ws.odyssey.net> ):
[color=blue][color=green]
>> Out of curiosity, what type of security hazards does one expose
>> oneself to by enabling JavaScript in their browser,[/color][/color]
[color=blue]
> http://www.cert.org/tech_tips/malicious_code_FAQ.html[/color]

Have you read that page? And the couple of linked pages from it?

It's so vague and outdated it's not even useful anymore. The only thing
that they say is that 'malicious code' could be passed around. The
server has to be very badly designed and the browser has to be crappy
for 'some malicious code' to have a chance of working.

What kind of 'malicious code' could be written with JavaScript that
would warrant this kind of paranoia? I need examples, not some link to a
general page that doesn't mention anything but vague 'malicious code'.

Active X could be used to build malicious stuff because the technology
was built to grant the applet/control/doohickey too much power over the
computer executing the code, but that has nothing to do with JavaScript
alone.

I use a Mac, with safari as my default browser. What kind of risk am I
putting my online computing life in by allowing JavaScripts to execute
on my machine?

Please if you're one of those paranoid people that don't use any
interactive web browsing things, enlighten me -- what should I be afraid
of? give me an example of something that happened with you that made you
that paranoid; maybe I should be as paranoid too but never had a reason
for it yet.

--
J Brady

[Robb Shecter]

Re: Multilingual Logo Design

Someone wrote:
[color=blue]
> That is moronic. IBM is a well-recognized trade mark. People don't
> need to know the English words it stands for, or even be able to
> recognize them *as* English letters, for the use of that mark to be
> effective in identifying the company.[/color]

Interesting discussion! I'm working on a logo for my company, Green Fabrik.
There's a metaphor in there, and I'm playing with working it in to the
logo.

Anyone care to comment on my current idea? http://www.greenfabrik.com/

Thanks!
Robert

[Matthias Gutfeldt]

Re: Multilingual Logo Design

Robb Shecter schrieb:[color=blue]
>
> Someone wrote:
>[color=green]
> > That is moronic. IBM is a well-recognized trade mark. People don't
> > need to know the English words it stands for, or even be able to
> > recognize them *as* English letters, for the use of that mark to be
> > effective in identifying the company.[/color]
>
> Interesting discussion! I'm working on a logo for my company, Green Fabrik.
> There's a metaphor in there, and I'm playing with working it in to the
> logo.
>
> Anyone care to comment on my current idea? http://www.greenfabrik.com/[/color]

In German "Fabrik" means "factory", and the letters "g" and "f" have a
cloth-like texture, so I'd guess this a factory producing clothes
exclusively in green colours.
Not quite what you had in mind, I'm sure :-). Is there a particular
reason for that fabrik instead of fabric?


Matthias

[Doc O'Leary]

Re: Multilingual Logo Design

In article <bjqmcg01ruf@en ews3.newsguy.co m>,
Robb Shecter <robb@greenfabr ik.com> wrote:
[color=blue]
> Anyone care to comment on my current idea? http://www.greenfabrik.com/[/color]

It's cute, but what is the intent? Is it just a graphic for the web or
do you want it to be a trade/service mark? It doesn't work quite as
well as the latter because it doesn't scale well in size (the fabric
quality will get lost at low resolution) or color depth (a solid color
B&W print pretty much just makes it a regular ol' font). It'd be nice
at the top of a web page, but it wouldn't make so great a favicon.ico
and trying to make letterhead with it would be very pricey!