you've strategically hit upon the logo & icon portfolio and blog of UK logo designer Graham Smith — the original Logo Smith since '86.
Help me out with this one.
I can’t get my head around the John Lewis Creative Collective logo. On one hand I marvel at the combination of C+D whilst on the other hand I almost have to stop my brain from blowing-up due to the intersecting and intertwined negative spacing. It looks like it wants to be right, but struggling to pull it off. It looks clever and cool, but feels unsure and awkward.
I love it, but I just can’t make my mind up about it. Maybe it’s been used far to big in relation to the wording and needs to be less prominent. Feels to me a little too loud and harsh even for a simple black and white mark. Maybe I just need some time to get used to it.
So as a little experiment I removed the inner D shape to see if this reduced the noise but still retained a visual connection to the D. They would have certainly looked at this as an option. I think this is a more subtle and easier option, but then it lacks the impact of the original which certainly makes it very distinctive. Thoughts?
But on the whole I do love the overall identity design of the John Lewis Design Collective. Stylish work.
The Official Line From Pentagram
Harry Pearce and his team at Pentagram have designed the identity for the John Lewis Design Collective. The Design Collective showcases the best design talent from the UK and beyond and highlights John Lewis’s commitment to sourcing the highest quality of design for its customers.
Designers who form the collective include Bethan Gray, Sebastian Conran, Matthew Hilton and Timorous Beasties.
The mark created in collaboration with John Lewis Brand Creative is a reversed out ‘D’ in a solid ‘C’ and is being applied to promotional material as well as being used in publications, point of sale and in store promotions.
Found on Pentagram
Tagged: John Lewis Creative Collective, pentagram
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I honestly agree with you, made my interpretation about it before i read your post. I believe if the ‘D’ was abit more inside the ‘C’ it would be easier on the eye.
Wish you had an option to add photos to comments, i would have taken the time to re-design and show you what i mean. However, your #justbrilliant, no doubt you understood what i said. So am ‘offski’…<my cousins a brit and she says it slang lol
I agree, beautiful though it is, wasn’t sure the 1st time I saw it – looked more like CD – amazing how different it looks knocked out on black though.
Personally I prefer the logo as is. As soon as you remove the inner shape of the ‘D’ the mark becomes ugly and loses its current delicate grace.
I also think its not just about the symbol – but the interaction with the typograhic elements too. And again the original wins out.
As a test, why not photoshop your solution into the original images and then decide whether the ‘new’ is an improvement or not.
Cheers
I
Hi,
This D is mean, it cuts the C very straight, hard..it doesn’t make me feel comfortable.
What about soften that D up with just a bit of shadow in its right angle.
It would be like a D ribbon inside that C, make it pop better.
May I send my ideas by email?
Regards,
Lionel.
Just stumbled across your blog and this article stood out to me. I too love the interaction between the D and the C, and think I agree it’s not quite right. I think it just feels slightly unbalanced – a bit left-heavy.
Your version looks better balanced, but I think the C is more prominent, which leads me to interpret it as CD. In the other one, I see the D first, so it reads as DC better.
I’ve tried it with a slight tilt, and with the D’s counter in grey, but am not sure either are quite right. And without spending ages playing around with it, I’m not sure I can do any better!