Graphic designers try to be original, to be different, but almost in every case the “face” of the magazine they create is a part of the mainstream. Another typo twin.  I’ve seen the covers of the “V” magazine a few months ago.. and I wanted to present the approach to you. Well… to appreciate it - I also added some popular magazine covers.  

The difference is big. And I love it. The “V” is simple and stylish enough shape to play with it. As is the case with the letters “A”, “W”, “O”, and the other “Usual Suspects”, designers preffer to use.

If we try to think in the traditional logo models.. we can say that magazines like “National Geographic” and “Times” are cleverly using logotypes + marks. In their case - the frame of the cover is the mark. The sign that gives their ordinary logotypes an unordinary look… Ofcourse, they’ve notice the effect and created more items, using the frame as a real mark ( there are National Geographic DVD’s and stuff with the logo, combining the mark and the typo ).

I’ve looked also to find for you  some magazines that are using real marks instead of logotypes… and “One Magazine” was the only one I’ve found. It’s a real bulgarian print magazine with an art audience, so I guess - that’s why the model is working last few years. 

If  you want to share some more examples or thoughts - the comments are open as always! If you want to look trough some more magazine covers and logotypes - visit Magazine.org.

Interesting, isn’t it ? It’s a Google logo, rendered with actionscript in flash.  The author is Mark Knol. You can look at his artworks in flickr by clicking on the name :)

The following logos were exhibit during the Bulgarian Design Biennial in Sofia, Octomber, 2008. All of them are from bulgarian designers. All of the pictures are shot with photocamera and then I’ve tried to clean the background and the reflections as far as I could. If you like a certain logo - you can read a few words about some of the symbols at the end of this post.

# 2 - client - space greenhouse “Svet 3″

# 3 - “Ontotext” - software for text analysis

# 4 - 112 - the emergency number you can dial in BG

# 5 - European Chess Championship , held in Plovdiv / Bulgaria , 2008

# 6 - created 2007

# 7 - Institut Superieur Des Arts Et Metetiers De Kairouan

# 8 - Center for management and professional training.

# 9 -

# 10 - “Center for Hope” - I guess it’s about kids care…

# 11 - Singing Bird Landscaping

# 12 - Euro Pro Consulting

# 13 - ON - energy efficiency

This is Mini E. Only 500 owners will drive the yellow “E” logo. “E” stands for Electricity. I want to share this logo with you for some reasons: It’s new, it’s witty, it’s a classic styled logo ( 2d, simple primitives, etc.), and it’s great.  The E is “eaten” from a cirle, showing us a “electric plug” - telling the hole story of this mini model in a simple sign. A yellow one. No way to miss it. The most of the logo spots on the car are typical ( the roof - there was the UK flag in the past, the front grille - the usual place for tuning and other modification signs…, the reservoir lid - an ordinary place for stickers… but I bet some of you don’t know why the logo is on the front hood. The yellow NY cabs got this tradition to place their “badges” on the same place. These special badges indicate the status of the cabs. The one with the badges can stop anywhere and pick passangers. Could be wrong, but I think this is part of the story for this branding spot on the Mini :)

Anyway, do you like the logo ?

Just wanted to share some logos from this book: