Designing “Anti-Logos” - Using Visual Satire To Rekindle Civics Education

Source: Bored Panda

We admit that we're fanatical about the power of logos to expand student learning. A logo packs a world of meaning into a tidy visual icon. Corporate and candidate logos combine precise elements, such as color, text, strategy, replicability, malleability, recognition, branding, and loyalty. For students, if they can unpack these multiple tiers of significance, then they can truly grasp the messages stowed within each succinct icon. This is visual and cultural literacy at its best.

Source: Lawrence Yang

In our classes, we have used logos with students to develop media literacy, to explore visual civics, and to trace Olympic history. One of the ideal uses for emblems, though, lies in visual satire. Visual satire twists familiar images to convey ironic or satirical takes on society. By warping commonplace trademarks, artists (or students) can create “anti-logos.” An anti-logo turns the intended message of an insignia on its head, using the expected visual components to springboard to a higher level of parody and meaning.

Source: Visual News

Recently, anti-logos have popped up in all sorts of places:

• Mocking bombastic presidential candidates
• Expressing outrage at universal rights violations
• Tweaking corporations over health and human effects

In lessons, teachers can invite students to create their own anti-logos. Kids can choose an established symbol and then sketch a redesign – perhaps for famous novels, historical eras, scientific discoveries, or Fortune 500 businesses. 

This activity incorporates five different rungs of higher-order thinking:

• Understanding the essential components of a company’s, country’s, or person’s identity
• Crafting a persuasive point of view about the topic to communicate
• Designing a new version of the logo with a clear graphic representation and visual metaphor
• Manipulating efficient language to tweak the original wording or intent
• Incorporating the subtle art of satire to exaggerate or caricature the original message

Source: Fast Company, Christophe Szpajdel

Especially in the world of civics and government, a student’s ability to lampoon a candidate’s logo can provide a prime avenue for research into current events and for the development of individual political opinions.

Source: Viktor Hertz

EdSurge and Flocabulary have recently partnered, in fact, to redesign the traditional logo for a “teacher.” The familiar symbol of a bespectacled adult pointing to a blackboard seems out of date for modern, student-centered classrooms. They invite anyone to submit a new graphic via Twitter (@EdSurge) to rebrand the image of today’s educator. It reminds us of earlier efforts to rebrand education and the next generation learners.

Source: Viktor Hertz

For more ideas about teaching with logos, check out:

• Creating Logos With Students - Understanding Visual Metaphor And Symbolic Meaning
• Logo Design And Branding A Class Project
• Teaching With Logos - Making Branding History
• Branding The Next Generation

Visual Civics - Designing A Candidacy

Source: ASIDE, 2014

In the past 20 years, the study of civics has taken a backseat to the more elementary "social studies" and the more secondary "government." Civics, however, embodies a richer appreciation of the structures and services of American political life. In other words, civics is the marriage of a democracy's fundamental frameworks with its citizens' essential responsibilities in a free society.

The teaching of civics is often centered in the careful examination of primary documents. Today's learners, however, increasingly thrive in a visual world, where all of their educational inputs arrive via media and technology. The traditional pictures of civics, though, rely on linear flowcharts of the three branches or static portraits of the vice presidents.

To update civics education for contemporary learners, we try to blend media literacy with election politics, to communicate the power of logos, advertisements, and videos in marketing national candidates. The nuanced ability to decode shades of meaning in fonts and posters lies in the key literacy of graphicacy. It also reinforces the practice of pedagoptics, which is a method of teaching with visual tools. Click here to check out some lesson ideas for using election logos in the classroom.

The upcoming 2014 midterm elections in November feature prime opportunities to bring visual civics into the classroom. A perfect case study is the current dead heat between Mitch McConnell and Alison Lundergan Grimes in the Kentucky Senate race. This closely watched, richly funded contest features all of the binary contrasts that make politics riveting: old vs. young, male vs. female, insider vs. outsider, leader vs. rookie.

Source: McConnell Senate Committee '14

Incumbent Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is an institution in Kentucky, which explains why he has almost universal name recognition in the state but also dangerously low approval ratings thanks to Congress' massive unpopularity. McConnell's campaign logo is designed to present a casual, even youthful image in order to combat the perceived myopia of the 72-year-old's three decades in the Senate. The slogan of "Team Mitch" invokes an informal club, a chummy loyalty among like-minded voters. McConnell also falls back on the time-honored gambit of using only one's first name, like the historic "I Like Ike" and the more recent "Rudy," "Hillary," and "Newt."

On a design level, the exacto sans serif font is a little clumsy. The two-tone blue also makes little sense, especially in the word "team" that stretches in an Obama blue. The icon, however, is excellent, rendering the image of the state in a paintbrush swipe of the American flag. At a quick glance, the kilter of the emblem almost appears to be the head of horse. This subtle kinetic signal to Kentucky's thoroughbred heritage is clever and effective. It bodes well for McConnell's no-stone-unturned chances in November.

Source: Alison For Kentucky

Kentucky Democratic Secretary Of State Alison Lundergan Grimes faces exactly the opposite mission in crafting her logo. At 35 years old, she is little known on the national stage, and she must represent strong local bona fides to match McConnell's renown. Her insignia is much more composed than McConnell's, with layers of text, color, and image to offer a range of connotations. The bold white "Alison" aspires to first-name recognition, yet she registers her full name underneath in an overt reference to her famous political father, Jerry Lundergan. Most distinctly, Grimes features both the office of "U.S. Senate" and her campaign website prominently, reinforcing her need for name recognition and multi-source marketing.

Her seal etches a Columbia blue silhouette of the state against a Yale blue background (although Grimes also uses an identical banner with inverted blue-on-white coloring). Her landscape of spring and asparagus hues reminds us of Terry McAuliffe's winning crossover in last year's Virginia governor race. In fact, the blue and green pairing would be peculiar if not for its understated allusion to the "bluegrass" birthright of Kentucky's nickname. Clearly, both campaigns are playing for keeps, leaving nothing up to chance in their winning, contrasting designs.

Check out our other posts about design and education in elections.

Is The Media Patriotic? Image Advertising In The Sochi Olympics

Source: Team Canada, #WHATSTHERE

In our opinion, the winter Olympics provides an advertising bonanza that outshines the recent Super Bowl buffet. The Sochi Games offers a roster of appropriate choices to share with students, especially when compared to the risque NFL cavalcade. So far, the 2014 ads have been patriotic rather than prurient, sensitive rather than sexual, sincere rather than sensational.

Most of the recurring NBC ads support one of the many USA sponsors. Even in their commercial branding, though, they weave a stirring quilt of contemporary Americana (and in one case, Canadiana). The commercials highlight inspiring athletes, and they paint tear-inducing storyboards of tragedy and triumph. Mostly, the ads reinforce national pride in featuring unparalleled athletes.

We have been featuring a daily "Olympic Moment" in our class each day. And we've been urging our colleagues to incorporate media literacy as an essential component of their core curricula.

The following videos are our favorites so far from the NBC broadcast. Even though these clips obviously are trying to celebrate a corporate brand, they still honor the bravery and commitment of our nation's athletes. They also introduce us to many heroes who might otherwise go unnoticed. The ads are good learning tools to pinpoint visual cues, sentimentality, symbolism, and editing. They also help introduce the idea of "image advertising," where no obvious product is for sale, but instead the idea of sponsorship is meant to reinforce a corporation's loyalty and character.

Here are our favorite commercials so far from the NBC Sochi 2014 Olympics:



Liberty Mutual's "Rise" series singles out key moments in Olympic history when athletes needed assistance and encouragement to reach the podium. The best clip, "Missteps," features the U.S. hockey team and Kerri Strug to emphasize the support of coaches, teammates, and family that all help humans achieve greatness.



Visa's ad "Flying" features ski jumper Sarah Hendrickson in a tribute to equality, fearlessness, and breaking down barriers. It also takes rich advantage of a classic quote from Amelia Earheart about the nature of success and failure.



A powerful commercial from Team Canada uses clever letter boxing to celebrate the Paralympics. The hashtag "#WHATSTHERE" invites viewers to look past the limitations of these world class athletes and instead cheer the glory in their supreme skill and strength. 



The best series of ads is probably the #itadsup collection from TDAmeritrade. Each commercial spotlights one athlete, telling his or her Olympic journey in reverse. In personal, home movie clips, the videos rewind to the beginnings of greatness. The ads are testaments to fierce determination and hard work, grit and disappointment. Each one is inspirational, but the two above and below are our favorites. They feature skeleton slider Noelle Pikus-Pace and snowboarder Louie Vito.



For other helpful resources in teaching with the Olympics, check out:

• The Olympics In The Classroom - Videos And Motion Graphics
• Visualizing The Winter Olympics - Designing The 2014 Sochi Brand
• Figuring The Skating Math - Watching & Teaching The Sochi Olympics
• Visualizing The Winter Olympics - Mapping The 2014 Torch Relay
• The Olympics As Teaching Tool - Going For The Gold
• Visualizing The Olympics - Shaping An Iconic Brand

Visualizing The Winter Olympics - Designing The 2014 Sochi Brand

Source: idsgn

The Olympics is a quadrennial media and marketing bonanza. It is also an educational goldmine, with countless opportunities for classroom explorations of culture, sport, geography, history, and especially design.

The branding of the 2014 Sochi Olympics has taken the typical TV blitz to new, technological heights. While the Winter Games cannot compete with its flashier Summer cousin, the creative minds behind Russia's visual presence have devised some elegant interactives to engage viewers around the world.

Source: ap.org

So far, coverage of February's event has centered on misfortunes like the horrific terrorist bombings and the ill-fated torch relay. More attention, though, should be paid to the crisp designs of Sochi's graphic themes.

The 2013 logo underwent numerous changes and focus tests before settling on a revolutionarily modern template. The designers eschewed the traditional notion of an actual emblem or icon and instead opted for a web banner that could be deployed across an array of digital platforms and posters. In fact, the graphic scheme with the ".ru" extension is itself an advertisement for the online site. The idsgn blog nicely highlights the forward-thinking approach of this insignia.

It remains to be seen where Sochi will rank among the best and worst logo designs in Olympic history. The 2014 crest does not renounce visual flourish entirely. Indeed, the maya blue hue and the clever mirroring of the date beneath the city, as though reflected in ice or a glacial pool, echo a gelid coolness befitting a crafty contemporary Games.

Source: Sports.cn

The process for deciding on Sochi's mascots was equally as populist. An at-large contest solicited blueprints and votes, and the eventual winners were at once safe and singular. The principle figures for the Games uncontroversially feature a polar bear, a bunny rabbit, and a snowboarding leopard. The intriguing characters, however, are the two extraterrestrials of perpetual warmth and winter that represent the companion Paralympics.

Source: Sochi 2014

The official Sochi site presents a terrific interactive visualization about the mascots that explores their genesis and their historical relevance. The personae themselves may not be particularly innovative, especially when compared to the perfectly pitched First Nations animals from Vancouver 2010. They doubtlessly win, however, when pitted against the laughable mascots from Atlanta 1996 and London 2012.

Source: Olympic.org

The final design hallmark of any Games is the signature medal that a champion earns. The best and worst medal designs in Olympic history feature many iconic hits and misses. This year's Sochi ornament ranks among the finest. The imaginative cutout of etched "glass," with peak-a-boo windows of ice patterns, and the jagged interest of the implied mountain peaks all make these medals surprising and enchanting rarities of Olympic excellence. Any athlete would be proud to stand on the podium wearing one of these dignified and peerless badges.
 
For other avenues to follow the Olympic action, the Sochi site offers an interactive app for most smartphones. It also includes a regularly updated media gallery, with videos and photographs to chronicle the spectacles.

Source: ap.org

By the way, for a fascinating gallery of historic Olympic posters and designs, we recommend perusing this fine Associated Press collection that shows the evolution of advertising and marketing.

For other ideas and tools about teaching with the Olympics, check out:

• The Olympics As Teaching Tool - Going For The Gold
• Visualizing The Olympics - Shaping An Iconic Brand
• Visualizing The Winter Olympics - Mapping The 2014 Torch Relay

New York's Mayoral Race - Designing A Candidacy

These are the dog days of summer, which is fitting given the sexual brouhaha over New York City's mayoral race. The world may be fawning over the royal baby, but the cable stations stateside can't resist lingering over the lurid details of former Congressman Anthony Weiner's ongoing scandal. Since the spotlight is already on election politics, therefore, it seems as good a time as any to examine the relative prospects for each mayoral candidate based on his or her campaign design.

If you teach older students, particularly in high school or university government classes, it's also an opportunity to debate the impact of financial and sexual scandals on political fortunes. The data is not as clear cut as you might think. Check out this study from researchers at Yale University and the University of Illinois, titled "Are Financial or Moral Scandals Worse? It depends."

The New York polls change daily as each news bulletin breaks. From a visual standpoint, however, there are obvious winners and losers in the originality and effectiveness of the candidates' logos. Twelve contestants are heading into the primaries on September 10, 2013, but only a handful have an actual shot at winning the mayorship. Also, because NYC registrations are almost 60% Democratic, it's likely the primary will decide the office.

Source: Weiner for Mayor

Democrat Anthony Weiner may be getting most of the current attention, but his campaign placard is as much of a mess as his personal life. The immediate visual response is fairly arresting, with two bold banners of blue and orange and his last name in looming block letters. But the unfamiliar pumpkin color and the bleed of the font into the white horizontal divide fashions a fuzzy union. Also, most of the letters meet at off-kilter points, leading to a jarring eye-line. The only aligned elements are the "N" and "Y," which together yield a scheme better suited for the NY Mets.

Source: Quinn For New York

Democratic Council Speaker Christine Quinn offers a more subtle, contemporary motif in her layout. Her tones of blues, French on denim, seem Obama-esque in the modern shade and the defining "Q." The even-more-interesting letterface, lowercase Solomon Book over uppercase Solomon Bold, creates an inviting pairing. Overall, her poster seems personal and approachable, which perhaps was the intent given news reports of her behind-the-scenes temper.

Source: New Yorkers for de Blasio

Democratic Public Advocate Bill de Blasio presents the most memorable trademark of the bunch. His scarlet red background stands out in a field of blue competitors, and the nestling of his first name into his nobiliary particle adds an appealing uniqueness to his bright canvas. In fact, the commercial optimism of his emblem seems more fitting for the supermarket aisles, closer in cousin to the labels for Pocky sticks, KitKat candy, or Muller yogurt.

Source: Friends of John Liu

Democratic Comptroller John Liu also opted for the metropolitan orange and blue. The silhouetted skyline beneath his slogan renders a nice urban echo for America's largest city. The net effect is passable and unoffensive, but everything about it seems familiar. The underscoring swipe of white paint and the single star have been featured on similar logos by Newt Gingrich, Tim Pawlenty, and Amazon.com. For a candidate with lower name identification, a more inspiring crest could have been more helpful.

Source: Bill Thompson For Mayor

Former Democratic Comptroller Bill Thompson has more local recognition, but he suffers from overly common first and last names that need pizzazz to make his marquee marketable. Mindbogglingly, however, his campaign team defaulted to the blandest brand possible. The uninspired white letters on the gradient, midnight blue background supply no vision or ingenuity for the office. To be fair, we've seen posters in Thompson's public appearances that add a few white stars beneath the same generic blueprint. But still, in sum, the result is as forgettable as Thompson's candidacy.

Source: Joe Lhota for Mayor

Former Chairman of the MTA (and likely Republican nominee) Joe Lhota seems to have settled on the "kitchen sink" approach. He features a font-apalooza, with a new choice on each line, and he includes two slogans where most candidates have none. His goals, in highlighting his years of experience and his vision of unity, are noble. And the azure font with the crimson underline stand out well on the white backsplash. It's difficult, however, to settle on one visual takeaway. Perhaps an artistic icon could have given Lhota some leverage in breaking into the Democratic news stranglehold.

Check out our other posts about design and education in elections.

New Jersey's Governor Race - Designing A Candidacy

Source: Flickr

A political brand is the same as a corporate brand. Both try to carve out unique identities. They seek to evoke positive emotions and consumer confidence at the mention of their names or at the appearance of their insignia. A familiar logo is the ultimate encapsulation of brand loyalty.

Political campaigns spend hours with focus groups crafting their ideal icons. This messaging becomes part of the larger world of media literacy, which can be a productive way to frame discussions with students each November. It can be difficult to teach civics in non-presidential election years. This constraint, however, actually presents an opportunity, since it allows teachers to focus on the critical role played by state and local governments within the federalist system.

Source: Chris Christie For Governor, Inc.

Interestingly, the only two governorships before the voters in 2013 are both in deeply purple states. This offers an additional opening for students to explore the changing nature of the American electorate. The race in Virginia is expected to be a scorched-earth nail-biter. The race in New Jersey, however, is currently tilting entirely in favor of reigning governor Chris Christie. The current polls show him leading 60 percent to 28 percent. 

Christie's logo evokes this sense of strength and inevitability in the prominent all-caps lettering and the no-nonsense moniker of “Governor.” He is not running “for” governor, nor does he mention any party affiliation. His design reinforces his incumbent status and the de facto nature of his assured return to the capital. Here, Christie succeeds in the “Governor” tag, while Ken Cuccinelli’s similar but over-serifed and presumptuous attempt fails in Virginia. Christie incorporates both dark slate blue and fire brick red texts to unite the two sides of the electorate, and the trio of stars seems a fitting klaxon to underscore his name and tee up his office. 

Source: Chris Christie For Governor, Inc.

As a whole, however, Christie’s placard is something of a mess. Sideways text never succeeds well, since it is foreign to the expected flow of readable text. The minute first name of “Chris” tucked vertically in the left corner is jarring to the eye and unnecessary in a state where the governor has universal name recognition. It also exaggerates the chunky nature of the “Christie” Impact font. The generic slogan at the bottom, “Strong Leadership Now,” is equally as redundant. With an approval rating of 70 percent, Christie doesn’t need to remind voters of his “strength,” especially in an oddly kerned justified blur. In fact, the catchphrase undermines his prior term, by suggesting that “now” the state needs a strong leader (as opposed to the past four years). We like the banner at the top of his website much better, where he eschews the puzzle-pieces and simply features his name and title. The color is a contemporary Tufts blue, and the font is like an elegant, interesting Caronta. The campaign team should have used this modish layout for all of its marketing pieces.

Source: Barbara Buono for Governor

Christie’s opponent, Barbara Buono, faces an uphill battle in name recognition, but her logo is a good first start. As a state senator and former member of the General Assembly, Buono has a solid political resume, but she can’t compete with Christie’s successful stewardship during Hurricane Sandy. In mocking up her poster, Buono’s team made several key design choices. Similar to Terry McAuliffe’s squad in Virginia, they opted for the increasingly popular pistachio color, which until recently was almost unheard of in red-white-and-blue politicking. The green juxtaposition with the charcoal gray background gives a popping quality to the bold serif Frusta of her all-caps name. 

The subtitle in fine white Kohinoor Latin prominently mentions her political party, which many candidates opt to obscure in order to reach independent voters. Buono is making a key calculation that with her low voter identification, she should appeal to the state’s Democrats, who make up the majority and who twice elected President Barack Obama. While Christie did not include a logo, Buono’s trademark is the state itself, textured and encircled by a ring of stars. While simple and not terribly original, it’s a solid choice for a politician trying to amplify the authority of her candidacy. Even though she’ll likely lose at the polls in November, Buono wins in the modern appeal of her brand.

Check out our other posts about design and education in elections.

Virginia's Governor Race - Designing A Candidacy

Source: Wikimedia, Flickr

The 2012 presidential election was historic for many reasons, not least of which for the quixotic logos that candidates on both sides used to market themselves to the American public. Luckily, this summer offers more opportunities to examine political brands. These carefully crafted icons present avenues to study how various campaigns plan to pitch themselves to voters and define themselves through visual messaging. In May, for example, a judicial candidate in Dallas was flagged for hijacking the Brooklyn Nets logo for his own t-shirt design.

This post is part of our ongoing series in "Designing A Candidacy." We talk a lot with our students about logos and branding as components of media literacy. They become engaged during civics comparisons of television commercials and candidate bumper stickers, and they enjoy assigning adjectives to the relative strengths and weaknesses of political insignia. Even though 2013 is an off-year election, we want the future voters in our classrooms to remember that citizenship matters more than once every four years.

Only two governorships, Virginia and New Jersey, are up for election in November. The state of Virginia limits its governor to a non-consecutive four-year term, meaning current Republican governor Bob McDonnell cannot succeed himself. The principle candidates vying to replace him are Republican state Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli and Democratic businessman Terry McAuliffe. Cuccinelli is pitching himself as a jobs-focused successor to the popular (but currently under ethics investigations) incumbent. Cuccinelli is best known, though, for his attempt to sue the University of Virginia over its research into global warming and for his steadfast opposition to same-sex marriage and abortion. McAuliffe, as the former head of GreenTech Automotive, is also trumpeting his job-creating credentials. He is most remembered, however, as the former chairman of both Bill and Hillary Clinton's respective presidential campaigns and as the former chairman of the Democratic National Committee.

Source: Ken Cuccinelli For Governor,

Cuccinelli's logo is traditional and stately, with classic blue, centered, horizontal lettering in a heavy serif on a clean background. The Williamsburgian design features the state prominently in a deep red shadow to emphasize the candidate's Republican ties. The single all-caps "Governor" stands out prominently with its two side spears, avoiding any suggestion of a contest "for" governor. The colonial layout evokes patriotic tones similar to Ron Paul's blueprint. It also allows for flexibility to customize the mockup for later niche posters. The absence of any style distinction, though, makes Cuccinelli's flavorless emblem fairly forgettable. And the lack of any slogan or motto means voters won't glean a specific message from the marketing.

Source: Terry McAuliffe For Governor, Daily Kos

McAuliffe's scheme marks a stark contrast to Cuccinelli's. The stylized white, serif-free letters slant upward in a modern pitch on a bold blue canvas. Most striking is the unexpected and clearly intentional green banner. The bright spearmint shade, with no mention of the Democratic Party and no overt logo, seems to position McAuliffe as a nonpartisan choice for an environmentally friendly future. The bold slogan also unequivocally accentuates his business background, rather than his hyper-political past. It's unclear whether voters will be swayed by this attempt at rebranding, and the choice of "Andes Mint" green is somewhat jarring to the eye.

Current polls, by the way, show a tie between the two contestants. As reference points, the winning logos from the recent Virginia candidacies of 2012 Democratic Senator Tim Kaine, 2009 Republican Governor Bob McDonnell, and 2008 Democratic Senator Mark Warner are featured below.

Source: Wikipedia, Republican Express, Kaine For Virginia

Check out our other posts about design and education in elections.

The Branding Of America

Source: IdeaLaunch

The December spirit of holiday consumerism is once again festooning the airwaves. Storefronts are trumpeting their gift-giving slogans, and email inboxes are overflowing with tantalizing discounts. The current branding bounty makes an interesting sibling to November's election season. One month ago, presidential advertisements waged a similarly irrepressible campaign for our dollars and our votes.

The need for media savvy, therefore, has never been more acute. And coincidentally, our students happen to be working right now on Prezi advertising presentations to create unique logos and slogans for the thirteen colonies. Many recent design projects across the Internet have focused on the branding of America. They offer lively perspectives on the nation's history, as well as keen case studies of graphic artistry. As a whole, they invite viewers to reconsider images that have become so iconic as to be routine. Here are a few of our favorites:

Source: Meg Jannott

Branding The U.S. Presidents

One of the most fascinating projects we've come across in a long time is designer Meg Jannott's personal challenge to imagine a unique brand and logo for each of the nation's 44 presidents. In "Branding The U.S. Presidents," she assembles a surprisingly diverse portfolio of altered graphics and signature fonts. Aside from their visual appeal, her images are great companions to any study of leadership or American history. Her eye for balance in layout and text offers an equally valuable lesson for artists of all ages.

Source: Jared Fanning

The United States Of Football

Students are accustomed to examining reference or thematic maps, but designer and illustrator Jared Fanning has created a cultural map somewhere in between the standard geographic expectations. Fanning takes advantage of what Geography and Earth Sciences Professor Rob Edsall calls "cartographic silences." He deliberately leaves out the standard political boundaries of states and replaces them with patterns of football fandom. In "The United States Of Football," Fanning paints the regional loyalty of teams, complete with "unincorporated territories" for the lands neglected by the NFL's marketing squad. Fanning's map is a great tool for teaching media saturation, financial literacy, and sports branding.

Source: Dollar ReDe$ign Project

Dollar ReDe$ign Project

Compared to many other nations' currencies, the United States dollar is relatively bland. Creative strategy consultant Richard Smith thinks "it's time to rebrand the buck." He has sponsored the Dollar ReDe$ign Project, a yearly competition to reimagine the stale green notes. Smith has collected a stunning array of innovative designs, which he hopes will renew faith in America's economy. We definitely encourage you to check out all of the entries on his site, to appreciate the full scope of his project and the fresh range of monetary blueprints. For students, it's also a tour of eminent Americans who might well deserve a place on a banknote.

Source: Library Of Congress

The Branding Of America

The Library Of Congress has produced a helpful site to let students explore the history of American brands. The product map and teaching resources at "The Branding Of America" explore the entrepreneurial minds and iconic products that have impressed their mark upon the consumer nation. It is a good site for teaching media literacy, as well as a fond trove of American nostalgia.

Teaching With Logos - Making Branding History

Source: Lava360

We try to layer logos into our daily teaching as much as possible. Not only do they subtly help students become familiar with media literacy, but they also add pizzazz to bland handouts and SMARTboard files. Mostly, we acquaint our kids with logos because they fortify such a range of curricular lessons. Students are already investigating actual insignia of western cattle and heraldic crests. They identify the trademark signatures of John Hancock and Walt Whitman, and the presidential emblems of the 2012 election go a long way toward conveying personalities and messaging. Students also actively need to brand themselves, to take control of their online profiles and their future dossiers.

A terrific introduction to the history of branding comes via the stellar PBS Off Book series. "The Art Of Logo Design" features artistic insights about the evolution of branding, as well as interviews with experts in bygone "marketing." The PBS mini-documentary about Typography also beautifully expresses the basics of visual presentation.


A great activity for all range of age groups is to consider the "Branding Of America - Guess The Name." This fun exercise rewards the conscientious shoppers and the billboard watchers in our classrooms. It also helps our students become more attune to how corporations are targeting young buyers.

For a contemporary survey of creative promotions and crisp designs, we've been watching a 2011 video from the MSc Brand Leadership team at Norwich Business School. Entitled "What Is Branding?", this brief clip elegantly captures the fundamental concepts of graphic communication.


We also recommend two superb galleries of well-curated media literacy and typography examples. For further reading, we suggest the following resources:

• Design Is History
• How Brands Were Born: A Brief History Of Modern Marketing
• 30 Typography Style Elegant Logos For Your Inspiration

Creativity Killers & Visualizing Different

The Anti-Creativity Checklist is one of those videos that hits home and requires no words to describe its powerful message about how to kill the creative spirit. It was published on the Harvard Business Review Blog Network in March 2010. The creator is Youngme Moon, a Donald K. David Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School. Her research focuses on the intersection of business, branding, and culture and how it affects marketing and strategy innovation. Perhaps the strongest message is that so many of the points made in the video are reflected in the bureaucratic approach to our current education system and the lack of forward thinking on the part of legislators and administrators to make changes.


The takeaways are clear: if we stick with the list of 14 points, so carefully depicted as a series of patterned statements followed by quotations that emphasize each one, we can systematically kill creativity. Maintaining the status quo is not good enough anymore. Our students need to compete in the marketplace for their future, and it requires us to change tactics to raise innovative and creative kids to be entrepreneurs.

Creativity is a necessity. Students need time to tinker, grapple, and ponder what they are learning to develop their imaginations, artistic abilities, and ingenuity. It's at the top of Bloom's Taxonomy and the key criteria in IBM's 2010 Global CEO Study. Countless other resources, from Ken Robinson's infamous TED talk on schools killing creativity to Tony Wagner's new book Creating Innovators: The Making of Young People Who Will Change the World, support the idea for raising and not killing the creative spirit.  Without it, our kids will have an increasingly difficult time adapting to changes in a fast-paced, growing, complex world.

Source: Architizer

Education needs to differentiate itself from its routine, homogenized view for this century. It needs to be different, because kids learn differently. New schools look like old schools. Big deal, instead of black boards they have interactive whiteboards; most new schools haven’t taken a risk like a new one built in Stockholm designed without classrooms for today's kids. Now that breaks from the norm.

Youngme Moon addresses this, too, in her book, Different: Escaping the Competitive Herd, about breaking with conformity. Her message:

"Get off the competitive treadmill that's taking you nowhere. Aspire to offer the world something that is meaningfully different-Different in a manner that is both fundamental and comprehensive."

The book trailer Youngme Moon produced for Different captures what it means to think differently in a mesmerizing visualization that in and of itself is creative. The design and clarity of the message to deliver her a point of view remind us of The Value of Visualization video from Column Five. Its straightforward and simplified delivery on being different is a powerful message and one we need to think about as educators.


We need to be forward thinking and not afraid to make the necessary changes for the world of learners we teach now. Technology changed the game rules, and if we don't watch out, we could be out of the game of school.

The Best Of Underground Branding

Source: Branding 10,000 Lakes

With the school year almost over, we've been looking back at our planbooks, checking what to keep and what to chuck for next fall. It's inspired us to gather together our favorite logos and emblems from our year of teaching media literacy.

All year long, we've urged our students to become branding aficionados. We want them to avoid being duped by artful marketers so they can take ownership of their own social identities. It's helped to have engaging examples of modern logos to spur their interests and reinforce contemporary messaging. Talented designers all over the world are constantly sharing their latest ideas with little fanfare. It's been fascinating to track the evolving work of these innovative graphic artists.

Here are our favorite old and new branding initiatives, created by both individual tinkerers and large conglomerates. Examining these insignia have made for great Monday morning conversations or quick student blog responses. They also provide intriguing models for students themselves to follow in generating their own icons. Our resources page features many easy online tools for creating customized logos.

Branding 10,000 Lakes

Source: Branding 10,000 Lakes

This is not only the coolest branding project we've come across all year, but it's also the epitome of fascinating, niche blogging. Designer Nicole Meyer has promised to create one logo every day for each of Minnesota's 10,000 lakes. After 27 years, it will be amazing to see her catalog of quirky, crisp, colorful trademarks. This is a blog we check everyday.

Railroad Company Logo Design Evolution

Source: Christian Annyas

Designer and curator Christian Annyas has collected 100 company logos from 100 years of American and Canadian railroad history. His collection reveals how marketing and printing has transformed over the century, offering a stylistic chronicle of American expansion, industry, and identity.

The Metrocard Project

Source: Melanie Chernock, AIGA

Graphic designer Melanie Chernock undertook an assignment to update the classic (but relatively bland) New York subway Metrocard. She also offers good advice for aspiring artists and thinkers: "Creating the cards is an experimental process - I found that the first few I made were very conventional and as the project progressed became more unusual."

National Park Stamps

Source: Valerie Jar

Valerie Jar created these evocative stamps for the National Parks by National Geographic iPhone app. Clear and iconic, they follow in the National Park tradition of ground-breaking art, established by the WPA travel posters in the 1930s.

The Brooklyn Nets

Source: GOOD

The movement of the NBA New Jersey Nets to the heart of Brooklyn has generated a lot of news here in New York. Following buzz about changes in the stadium plans and about the high-profile team owners, the black-and-white retro redesign of the Nets logo created equal waves among hip urbanites and basketball purists.

Hipster Branding

Source: Hipster Branding

Hipster Branding created these clever redesigns of familiar brands. Simplified and nostalgic, they offer great examples for students to reimagine logos they often take for granted.

Other Resources

Source: I'm Just Creative

Here are some other terrific sites for brands, logos, and visual inspiration:

• 20 Inspiring Typographic Logos For Logo Designers

• Vernacular Typography

• 100 Awesome Logos With Script Typography

• Logo Design Round-Up

Also, as we've mentioned before, Logopedia is an invaluable resource of historic logos and their metamorphoses over time.