Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2018/01/15/this-american-life-gets-a-new.html
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5 Likes
I think the logo is conceptually brilliant.
I’ve seen them catch some flak for the similarity of the new design to that of the Economist, but I think that concerned just one example of the use of the logotype on a red background (which indeed projected the same feel).
3 Likes
Simple but pretty nice-looking logo.
1 Like
Very cool! As a designer with public radio who has to work with the This American Life logo a lot, I’ve never really liked the tall AMER / ICAN / LIFE logo. The new logo is classy, unique, communicates the program in a visual, and I love the nice newsy serif font.
9 Likes
Very nice, but will it grow the brand?
3 Likes
This American graphic designer approves!
2 Likes
Looks like a thumbs down flag to me. Very political.
1 Like
I think the new paradigm enables synergies that result in win-win-win scenarios for all the stakeholders.
I think it’s a good logo.
4 Likes
No critique of the font? Put my name on the list.
5 Likes
Change is bad - I don’t like this at all!
2 Likes
Great logo for a conservative life insurance company.
15 Likes
I don’t care for it either. A hint of blue in the flag would have been nice as well.
1 Like
This American Blockchain Life.
FTFY
Now perhaps this might reduce the amount of fundraising time alloted.
4 Likes
I think the show is great. It’s hard to believe it’s been around for 20 years, though.
1 Like
It’s only my opinion. There’s no accounting for taste. Relax.
Maybe the new one is easier to use in some settings, but the old one communicated that the interesting part was that this was about life in America - the weird treatment of the word American was emphasis. The new one doesn’t do that for me, now that the word “American” is just part of the text.
And the symbol really doesn’t help - it does a poor job of representing the American flag with its red field of no stars. And the fact that it looks like any other “speech bubble” icon means it can’t be used by itself - as much as designers might have disliked the vertical stack, now they’ve got a wide horizontal one which always has to be big enough to read.
Maybe de-emphasizing “American” is the plan? Now they can substitute any stylized flag and adjective to represent “This Canadian Life” or whatever more easily than with the old one, for easier global franchising.
In the end, it’s a speech-bubble dingbat at the left end of a string of text that isn’t distinguished from any other text - they even used the same typeface (almost) for the rest of the content of the site. It’s bland and looks like any number of corporate “logos” that aren’t really logos. Oh well.
It’s only my opinion. There’s no accounting for taste. Relax.
7 Likes
The primary time I see the logo is when it’s playing as a podcast on my phone. As such, the old logo filled the space in a nice and recognizable way. The new logo appears to be a single line stretched across the center of the phone.
Perhaps the logo is designed to wrap on smaller devices, but so far I’m not giving this logo an expected lifetime anywhere near as long as the original.
3 Likes
I like the new logo, but I actually prefer the old one (which I don’t recall seeing before).
The new logo is designed to be far more flexible than the old one; it gives them something they didn’t have before — an icon — so they’re not tied to the ‘stack of text’. Here’s how it looks as a website banner, a podcast cover, and app icon, respectively.
11 Likes
Way to pick the low-hanging fruit, outside the box . . .
1 Like
I’ve seen the old one. It works well for podcast apps. The new one, I’m guessing not so much. We’ll see what they ultimately go for there, though.
