Alberta, CA Rebrands Itself

The guy who posted about this new logo for the Canadian province of Alberta admitted that he didn't know much about the location.

I have family in Calgary, Alberta (which is the capital). So, although I'm not a native, I have a little insight into the appropriateness of the logo because I've been traveling there for a while.

Here's the justification the government gives:

Alberta’s new logo has been developed to speak to the freedom to create and the spirit to achieve. Such a promise calls for a unique logo approach. It requires a signature that measures up to the Albertan attitude: open, aspirational, strong, dynamic, and genuine. The essence of people realizing possibilities inspires a signature with personality:

• The line weight is strong.
• The flow and movement in the writing style is dynamic.
• The openness of the letters is inviting and the treatment alludes to our mountains and our prairies.
• The handwriting implies that Albertans are creating and endorsing this brand, this province.

I love visiting, but if the province of Alberta is known for anything it's the cold Canadian Rockies, for hosting the winter Olympics a decade ago, and having a really wealthy population of semi-conservative white people.

I think the new logo is not appropriate because the ideals the province is trying to stand for are a little inconsistent with reality. The old cool colored geometric design is perfect. It's conventional and clean-cut, reminiscent of the people living there. The cool colors remind the viewer of a cooler climate, which it certainly has, and the A in Alberta looks like a mountain or a ski jump. If anyone's heard of Banf, or watched the winter Olympics, then they'd associate the province with skiing and snowy mountains.

Therefore, the sunny, quirky, and (poorly done) modern appeal of the new logo is so conflicting with the old logo that it looses all brand recognition. The new logo associates Alberta with a completely new set of adjectives that I don't necessarily see as fitting.

Although there are new projects and wealth in Alberta because of oil, the new logo does not translate to a land of opportunity; it looks like a tropical vacation resort, which it absolutely isn't.

Selling with typography: Starbucks and Dunkin Donuts

I had no idea what to write for this blog, so I decided to take a look around the room. It took me a second before I realized the iced coffee in my hand would make a perfect topic. I was holding a grande iced coffee from Starbucks, where I had stopped before making my way back to the dorm. Why did I go to Starbucks and not Dunkin Donuts, which is also on Marshall Street and actually closer to my dorm? I do like the taste of Starbucks better, so that was the selling point for me. But is that why so many people around the world flock to a Starbucks (which isn’t difficult, seeing as there is one on every corner) instead of Dunkin Donuts? For the taste? I doubt it. However, I think the reason why is very simple.
Let’s analyze the clientele of each of the establishments. When you think Starbucks, you think celebrities with venti lattes walking through Hollywood, or extra-hot-soy-caramel-no-whip-macchiatos. Dunkin Donuts? I see the working mom on her way to work rushing through the drive-thru, or a “regulah” coffee with “cream n’ sugah.” (At least that’s the way it is in Massachusetts). It’s clear that the clientele of each company is different. The message that the respective chains are trying to convey is different, and they are attracting their type of people through their logos. They are branding their product. The logo, however, cannot be something obscure that requires a lot of detail—it needs to fit on a coffee cup. That is where typefaces come in.
When I look at the Dunkin Donuts logo, the bright colors attract me. However, the font of the text is the most important thing. The designers of this logo opted for a rounded font, which isn’t necessarily childish, but it reminds me of something a bit less serious. It is welcoming, unpretentious, and less assuming. Take a look at the Starbucks logo. The woman in the center draws allusions to mythical characters, and the sans serif, large block typeface is very serious and more sophisticated. The typefaces play to the clientele of each company. Starbucks sells a higher-priced, “fancier” type of coffee, and they have a fancier, almost more-educated type of logo. Dunkin Donuts has a less expensive, more home-y, and regular person-feel to their logo. This isn’t to say that only a certain type of person drinks each type of coffee; people should choose the caffeinated beverage that is most tasty to them. However, I’m sure that much of America is more concerned about the image of their cup than what is inside of it. Either way, (and it should be no surprise) both Starbucks and Dunkin Donuts have successfully used typefaces to sell their products across the United States and even around the world.