Red Star logo doesn’t quite deliver the goods

I am writing with reference to the new Red Star logotype that was featured in your magazine (DW 1 March).

There are obviously new and revised logos that come and go. Some of these logos create a certain amount of critical comment concerning all types of issues. The BT logotype is a typical high profile example. The issue of the logotype was mulled over for some time within the design community, during which time it came under some heavy fire. Now though, having been in circulation for a number of years, the dust has settled and I am sure that even the most ardent critics would have to say that it’s not so bad after all.

There are however, certain occasions when high-profile logos are redesigned and are simply badly conceived and badly designed – no room for hypothetical debate, no room for “it’s not my taste”.

The newly designed [in-house] logotype for Red Star is an example of the worst of such cases. I find it amazing the designer should choose to comment that the square keyline is “a graphic representation of a parcel”. Unfortunately, I would have to retort that its logo is representative of the fact that they should go back to the drawing board.

I do not like to look purely for faults in design and would have liked to have finished on some kind of plus point for the logotype.

But when all’s said and done, okay, the star is very… star-like!

Paul Thompson

Senior designer

Tiley Woodman Design

Reigate

Surrey RH2 9BS