Tennessee and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Logo Redesign

[sm4him]

Oh, huh, I *might* have just given a teeny little clue as to what *I* think of this.

So, Tennessee's governor decided the state needed a new logo--supposedly, this was a move to "give the state a more unified look on signs and letterhead." (quote from the Gov).
New Tennessee Logo Aims for Consistency Elicits Mockery Adweek

A LOT of people are up in arms about the $46,000 cost of the new logo, but that's not my main problem with it. Good graphic design, like good photography, costs money.

The problem is: This, imo, is NOT good graphic design. This looks like it took someone about 45 seconds to think up and another 90 seconds to create. It's made worse by the fact that I have yet to see anything other than a fuzzy copy of it that looks like a low-res mess.

In my opinion, the governor really missed a golden opportunity here, anyway. Why not run a statewide contest for a new logo? Heck, offer a $15,000 award to the winning design and you would still have saved over $30K, and probably had a whole passel of logos that were magnitudes better than this thing!

So--especially for those of you outside my fair state--what do YOU think?

Old logo on left, new logo on right:

 

[Derrel]

I see the company that designed the logo was GS&F, a Nashville firm. I wonder if that's the same GS&F company started long ago by P.T. Barnum's newphew, Gougers of Suckers & Fools, and later shortened to just GS&F shortly after the "K-Mart will become Big K" fiasco?

 

[pgriz]

Looking at the new logo, my mind is either adding a "T" at the end, or inserting an "I" in the middle. If its the former, then the same mind is adding a handle on top of the box, you know, the kind that you push down to make things go "Boom!".

So is the new state slogan "Come to Tennessee and have a BLAST of a time!"?

PS: Sharon, I'm really glad you can stay objective about this.

 

[baturn]

So GS&F is a kindergarten, right?

 

[snowbear]

I remember AT&T's new logo ('80s) . . . The brushed red circle that followed the "death star." It looked like a big, red sphincter.

 

[sm4him]

Looking at the new logo, my mind is either adding a "T" at the end, or inserting an "I" in the middle. If its the former, then the same mind is adding a handle on top of the box, you know, the kind that you push down to make things go "Boom!".

So is the new state slogan "Come to Tennessee and have a BLAST of a time!"?

PS: Sharon, I'm really glad you can stay objective about this.

Hey, objectivity is my middle name. Well, okay, not my middle name. My hyphened last name. Okay, maybe my suffix after my name.

But then, I'm the person who, when our city was looking for a new "catchphrase" sort of slogan many years ago, really wanted to push for "Knoxville: Really close to a lot of places you might actually want to visit!" I see the folly in that now. I should have charged them $46,000 for that idea and they'd have been all over it.

 

[Bitter Jeweler]

It looks familiar....




Oh yeah!

 

[sm4him]

It looks familiar....




Oh yeah!
View attachment 101636

Good point.
Except that whoever designed GM's logo at least spent the extra 20 seconds to add a gradient to it.
(Edit after a Google search: Well, okay, in MANY cases, it has a gradient anyway...)

 

[Designer]

So--especially for those of you outside my fair state--what do YOU think?

I think your assessment of this is absolutely correct. The problem is; the "designer" has at least a whole paragraph and maybe three that not only "explains" the "art" but in all likelihood also justifies the fee.

Unfortunately this kind of thing happens a lot. Our state has fallen victim to poor graphic design more times than I can count just off the top of my head.

It's too bad that whoever is in charge of hiring the designer and then approving this design isn't more umm... aware of things. I also agree with your idea of a state-wide contest to get some better ideas. The problem with that is the same person/committee who is in charge now would probably be in charge of that contest as well, so who knows how it would turn out.

Well, looking at the upside; we will probably remember the postal abbreviation for Tennessee.

Oh, edit... on second thought, we now have to remember the postal abbreviation in order to identify the state.

 

[Derrel]

Here are some famous, high-quality, EXPERTLY-DESIGNED logotypes...

Some Famous Logos And The Mysterious Symbols And Meanings Behind Them

You know, just for comparative purposes.

 

[table1349]

So--especially for those of you outside my fair state--what do YOU think?

Old logo on left, new logo on right:
View attachment 101621

I think I'm glad I don't live in Tennessee.

YOU KNOW YOUR FROM TENNESSEE WHEN.....................

You've never met any celebrities -- other than Fred Thompson.

"Vacation" means going to the family reunion.

You know all four seasons: Almost Summer, Summer, Still Summer, and Christmas.

You laugh when people from anywhere north of Tennessee try to say or spell "y'all."

It's "Mar-vull," not "Mary-ville."

It's "Knox-vull," not "Knox-ville."

A toboggan is a hat, not a sled.

You butter your hot biscuit by cutting it open, putting a slab of butter inside, and closing it back up again.

Pigeon Forge is not pronounced with a French accent.

Gatlinburg does have an "L" in it and it should be pronounced.

Sales tax is 9.75%.

You shop at Wal-Mart for groceries, not at a grocery store.

You don't drive in Knoxville on game day. EVER.

You or your friends chew.

You can't remember the last time you saw snow.

You know when Elvis Presley Day is.

You know all of the words to "Rocky Top."

You avoid going anywhere near Bristol Motor Speedway on race weekend.

You think it's worth it driving to Alabama just to save 1.25% on the sales tax.

You eat "dinner" at noon and "supper" in the evening.

Your Wal-Mart has specific parking spots for horses and buggies.

You use "commode" in conversations and absolutely no one knows what you're talking about.

You barely get snow days because there's hardly ever any snow. Better yet, you get snow days if your local weather stations predict even the slightest bit of snow!

You and everyone you know goes to one vacation spot: Panama City.

You know how to do the watermelon crawl.

Everything is COKE, and if you don't like it, tough. Ex: "You want a COKE?" "Sure." "Which kind?" "Dr. Pepper."

You're in a Carhartt jacket one day, shorts the next, and no one thinks anything about it.

Everyone you know owns a truck, and at least one of those trucks is just painted with primer or more colors than the rainbow.

You measure distance in minutes, not miles.

You drive through a rich neighborhood and see the wannabe redneck kids with their brand-new Fords and their designer holey jeans and cowboy hats.

Boomsday in Knoxville is equal to New Year's Eve at Times Square.

Knoxville becomes the third largest city every Saturday in the fall.

Sweet tea is THE DRINK...no questions, no exceptions. Most people from Tennessee begin drinking sweet tea even before they can drink out of sippy cups. Iced tea is appropriate for all meals, and you start drinking it when you're two. We do like a little tea with our sugar!

You've ever had to switch from "heat" to "A/C" in the same day.

You use "fix" as a verb. Example: "I'm fixing to go to the store."

All the festivals across the state are named after a fruit, vegetable, grain, insect, or animal.

You install security lights on your house and garage and leave both unlocked.

You know what a "DAWG" is.

You carry jumper cables in your car -- for your OWN car.

You own only four spices: salt, pepper, Tabasco, and ketchup.

The local papers cover national and international news on one page but require six pages for local gossip and sports.

You think that the first day of deer season is a national holiday.

You find 100 degrees Fahrenheit "a little warm."

Fried catfish is "the other white meat."

You describe the first cool snap (below 70 degrees) as good pinto-bean weather.

You're convinced you don't need driver's ed -- your father's and uncles' pickup trucks were training enough.

Possums sleep in the middle of the road with their feet in the air.

There are 5,000 types of snakes, and 4,998 live in Tennessee.

There are 10,000 types of spiders. All 10,000 live in Tennessee plus a couple no one's seen before.

If it grows, it sticks; if it crawls, it bites.

Onced and twiced are words.

It is not a shopping cart; it is a buggy.

Fire ants consider your flesh a picnic.

People actually grow and eat okra.

"Fixinto" is one word.

Backards and forwards means "I know everything about you."

Jeet? is actually a phrase meaning "Did you eat?"

You don't have to wear a watch because it doesn't matter what time it is. You work until you're done or it's too dark to see.

The Guberment spends $40,000 on two letters, $5,000 on a patch of red and $1000 on a blue stripe.

 

[Braineack]

beats the logo the GAP went with for like 10 minutes.

 

[sm4him]

I think I'm glad I don't live in Tennessee.

YOU KNOW YOUR FROM TENNESSEE WHEN.....................

I'd say that a shocking percentage of those are absolutely true. Some of them made me laugh out loud (and others made me cringe a little, especially if they were also true!)

I'd add another one:
The word "Far" has two meanings--one is a description of distance and the other means something is in flames. "Did you hear about Billy Bob and Aunt Sue? Their house caught far last night."

A few I just have to comment on:

So--especially for those of you outside my fair state--what do YOU think?

Old logo on left, new logo on right:
View attachment 101621

I think I'm glad I don't live in Tennessee.

YOU KNOW YOUR FROM TENNESSEE WHEN.....................

You've never met any celebrities -- other than Fred Thompson.
Ah, but you forget Dolly Parton! In fact, if you're from TN, you've likely either MET Dolly, or you're related to her, or both.

It's "Mar-vull," not "Mary-ville."
Actually, it's something closer to "Mur-vull." Hearing "foreigners (anyone NOT from here) try to say it is as comical as Yankees saying y'all. I once heard Tom Brokaw attempt it on the national news. It was hilarious.

You know all of the words to "Rocky Top."
Wait. Doesn't everyone???

You're in a Carhartt jacket one day, shorts the next, and no one thinks anything about it.
Sometimes, you're in a Carhartt jacket AND shorts. And no one thinks a thing about that, either.

You measure distance in minutes, not miles.
Addendum 1: You give directions by landmarks, not by roads and mileage. "Just go down this road and in about 3 minutes, you'll see this stand of old, dead trees. Turn left after that, then stay on that road until you get to the old church and graveyard (there will likely be a 5-minute delay here, while you hear all about the old church and what it USED to be named, and what is was named before that, and whatever happened to it), turn right at the next fork in the road, and it's just a short piece from there."
Addendum 2: Not all the roads are marked with names. If you don't already know the names of the roads you're on, we figger you got no business being there anyway.

Knoxville becomes the third largest city every Saturday in the fall.
Actually, Knoxville is ALREADY the third largest city in Tennessee. However, if all the people attending the football game were actually Knoxvillians, it would mean over half the city would be at the stadium.

Sweet tea is THE DRINK...no questions, no exceptions. Most people from Tennessee begin drinking sweet tea even before they can drink out of sippy cups. Iced tea is appropriate for all meals, and you start drinking it when you're two. We do like a little tea with our sugar!
This is TRUTH. My grandmother always made tea so sweet, it was like syrup. Sometimes I expected her to have to spoon it out of the pitcher! And ironically, though I'm a born Tennesseean, and have lived either here or even further south my entire life...I do NOT like Sweet Tea. I get some of the strangest looks when I order UNsweet Tea at a restaurant.

The local papers cover national and international news on one page but require six pages for local gossip and sports.
And, if the Vols are playing, that one page that national and international news gets is NOT the front page. And I am NOT making that up!!

People actually grow and eat okra.
See comment on #3, "You know all the words to Rocky Top."

The Guberment spends $40,000 on two letters, $5,000 on a patch of red and $1000 on a blue stripe.
Bahahahaha!!!
Sad but true.

 

[snowbear]

I think I'm glad I don't live in Tennessee.

YOU KNOW YOUR FROM TENNESSEE WHEN.....................

I'd say that a shocking percentage of those are absolutely true. Some of them made me laugh out loud (and others made me cringe a little, especially if they were also true!)

I'd add another one:
The word "Far" has two meanings--one is a description of distance and the other means something is in flames. "Did you hear about Billy Bob and Aunt Sue? Their house caught far last night."

A few I just have to comment on:

So--especially for those of you outside my fair state--what do YOU think?

Old logo on left, new logo on right:
View attachment 101621

I think I'm glad I don't live in Tennessee.

YOU KNOW YOUR FROM TENNESSEE WHEN.....................

You've never met any celebrities -- other than Fred Thompson.
Ah, but you forget Dolly Parton! In fact, if you're from TN, you've likely either MET Dolly, or you're related to her, or both.

It's "Mar-vull," not "Mary-ville."
Actually, it's something closer to "Mur-vull." Hearing "foreigners (anyone NOT from here) try to say it is as comical as Yankees saying y'all. I once heard Tom Brokaw attempt it on the national news. It was hilarious.

You know all of the words to "Rocky Top."
Wait. Doesn't everyone???

You're in a Carhartt jacket one day, shorts the next, and no one thinks anything about it.
Sometimes, you're in a Carhartt jacket AND shorts. And no one thinks a thing about that, either.

You measure distance in minutes, not miles.
Addendum 1: You give directions by landmarks, not by roads and mileage. "Just go down this road and in about 3 minutes, you'll see this stand of old, dead trees. Turn left after that, then stay on that road until you get to the old church and graveyard (there will likely be a 5-minute delay here, while you hear all about the old church and what it USED to be named, and what is was named before that, and whatever happened to it), turn right at the next fork in the road, and it's just a short piece from there."
Addendum 2: Not all the roads are marked with names. If you don't already know the names of the roads you're on, we figger you got no business being there anyway.

Knoxville becomes the third largest city every Saturday in the fall.
Actually, Knoxville is ALREADY the third largest city in Tennessee. However, if all the people attending the football game were actually Knoxvillians, it would mean over half the city would be at the stadium.

Sweet tea is THE DRINK...no questions, no exceptions. Most people from Tennessee begin drinking sweet tea even before they can drink out of sippy cups. Iced tea is appropriate for all meals, and you start drinking it when you're two. We do like a little tea with our sugar!
This is TRUTH. My grandmother always made tea so sweet, it was like syrup. Sometimes I expected her to have to spoon it out of the pitcher! And ironically, though I'm a born Tennesseean, and have lived either here or even further south my entire life...I do NOT like Sweet Tea. I get some of the strangest looks when I order UNsweet Tea at a restaurant.

The local papers cover national and international news on one page but require six pages for local gossip and sports.
And, if the Vols are playing, that one page that national and international news gets is NOT the front page. And I am NOT making that up!!

People actually grow and eat okra.
See comment on #3, "You know all the words to Rocky Top."

The Guberment spends $40,000 on two letters, $5,000 on a patch of red and $1000 on a blue stripe.
Bahahahaha!!!
Sad but true.

A number of those work for SOMD as well. How about "ax" as in "lemme ax a queschun."

 

[table1349]

My favorite southern "word" has to be yunto. As in: "I'm gonna go get some lunch, yunto?"

My second favorite is widja didja. "I don't spose ya brough yor truck widja didja?"