
New Logo and Identity for Library of Congress - prismatic
https://www.underconsideration.com/brandnew/archives/new_logo_and_identity_for_library_of_congress_by_pentagram.php
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reustle
I definitely prefer the old logo. The new one feels like it was made in paint
using system default fonts. It's not necessarily bad, just feels generic.

~~~
koboll
I get that Pentagram feels they have enough of a handle on good design that
they know the right way to break some of the rules of design. But this feels
like breaking the rules of design so much that it's _actually_ breaking the
rules, in a way that produces something unpleasant and ugly.

I mean... a close cousin of Impact? Black and orange? A second, unnecessary
copy of the word 'library' that's so large it's hard to make out the name of
the institution by comparison? This smacks of designers being so in love with
their own process that they abandon the basic principles of good design --
i.e., it has to be immediately recognizable and look aesthetically pleasing --
entirely in favor of some weird brutalist experiment.

Which might be a good idea for an avant garde institution in Manhattan, but is
entirely inappropriate for the Library of freaking Congress.

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alexpetralia
It's seriously surprising that a premiere design company produced this.

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koboll
Contrast this with their excellent identity refresh for American Express:
[https://www.pentagram.com/work/american-
express-1](https://www.pentagram.com/work/american-express-1)

The difference is night and day. Imagine how fantastic that kind of
modernizing light touch could have looked for this client, too.

~~~
nkkollaw
I think this is pretty horrible, too, though.

~~~
Bluestrike2
I disagree, but I accept that there's a lot of subjectivity to it; the Amex
refresh is just that--a refresh of an existing brand identity with _very_
strong recognition, and consistently high brand loyalty. Pentagram managed to
refrain from abandoning everything, while fixing problems that were...annoying
(see the alternate blue square logo for small-space digital use, for example).
I'm not a fan of the more aggressively cropped 'C' but that's more a nuisance
feeling than anything objectionable. Overall, I'd say Pentagram's AMEX work is
interesting more for their restraint and ability to recognize when it's not
appropriate to just abandon everything.

The surreal thing is that, as important as continuity and timelessness can be
for financial services firms, it's even _more_ fundamental to the LOC's roles.
If you've ever been to the Thomas Jefferson Building, to walk its halls the
first time is to almost be overwhelmed by a sense of connection to millennia
of human thought and achievement. There are libraries out there with modern-
looking identities (as an example, Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh--though I
really hate the combined i/l mark).[0] I don't know of any that are as in-
your-face as the LOC redesign. A lot of these kinds of "make it modern"
updates are because companies are trying to better connect with consumers. The
really crazy part about this is just how irrelevant that is to the Library of
Congress' mission. The LOC isn't trying to reinvent itself before the internet
kills it, as with so many other libraries across the country.

It's really hard to imagine someone actually visiting, well, any of the LOC
buildings and coming away with the impression that Druk Condensed feels right.
Pentagram has an impressive body of work, but their work for the Library of
Congress comes across as the sort of pitch an intern might make prior to being
fired before they might accidentally stumble in front of a client.

0\.
[http://www.landesbergdesign.com/projects/carnegielibrary.sht...](http://www.landesbergdesign.com/projects/carnegielibrary.shtml)

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clircle
My gut reaction is that this new logo is strictly worse than the old one. This
is my first time seeing either of the logos.

Can someone with a graphic arts background explain why the LoC is so attracted
to this new design (after only 8 years with the previous one)?

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Eric_WVGG
They traded what was "just a logo" for an entire design system. This is the
branding equivalent of Google’s “Material Design.” Also for what it’s worth
Pentagram — and Paula Scher — are very prestigious, considered top-of-their-
field.

But I agree they phoned this in. Unnecessary and uninspired.

~~~
sdrothrock
I wonder why they couldn't make a design system that integrated or utilized
the previous logo, or an updated version of it.

The new one is hideous and redundant, as are all of the alternatives (which
look more like positioning/alignment errors in Microsoft Word).

1\. "LIBRARY Library" \-- really?

2\. The colors don't evoke a library OR Congress, but a construction site.

3\. There's no "logo" here, strictly speaking: just a bunch of words.

The article even explicitly says "Our view here at the Library of Congress is
the image of a treasure chest, filled with limitless information and services,
ready to explore and amaze if you open it up."

There's absolutely nothing in this new logo that communicates "the image of a
treasure chest" filled with anything at all.

Similarly, the "bookshelf" examples look less like a bookshelf and more like
someone having issues putting clip art into text in Word.

I really hope feedback about this logo influences all involved parties to
reconsider this design.

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c3534l
I don't think the library of congress should have an aggressive, in-your-face
logo. It's a library. It's mission statement is about maintaining history.
There's no reason to try to appeal to hip coffee shop urbanites. The old logo
was both more clever (resembling the American flag and a book at the same
time), and still pretty darned modern. Designing a new, tone-deaf logo is a
waste of everyone's time and resources.

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vatys
Libraries are quiet. An all-caps logo is the branding equivalent of yelling.

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amacbride
Gah, that's awful. It looks more like the branding for a protein bar: "New
EXTREME library to the maaaaax! Get some!!"

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smacktoward
It is kind of amazing how inappropriate a slab typeface feels for a library.

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wavefunction
Libraries are serving their communities all sorts of media beyond just books.

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onomics
The old logo has an authoritative look without feeling dated. It looks great
on a website, in print or on a sign. The new logo is meaningless and bland and
has massive scaling issues. Interesting direction, I'll admit.

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midnightdiesel
This must be a joke, right? Using the word “library” twice in the new logo
looks ridiculous. As do the variations where “library” is split in two.

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ukyrgf
For some reason it wanted me to think "LIBERAL ARMY".

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claytonjy
interesting tidbit from the comments there; this design firm, Pentagram, also
did the recent redesign for EFF: [https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2018/07/effs-
new-logo-member-s...](https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2018/07/effs-new-logo-
member-shirt)

Looks very similar, and while I strongly dislike the Library of Congress
redesign, it almost works for EFF.

~~~
lainga
It is the same logo. Big heavy sans-serif font with the full name of the org
stuck in the middle. The only difference is EFF's big EFF letters are
stretched and the full title is condensed, while LIBRARY LIBRARY's big LIBRARY
is condensed and the full title is normal-width.

~~~
comex
It makes more sense for the EFF, though, since both “EFF” and “Electronic
Frontier Foundation” are valid names for the organization. The LoC’s version
creates the impression that the brand name is just “Library”.

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armandososa
I don't like the logo, but let's take into account that this is supposed to be
a identity system and they are designing a logo that is extremely flexible in
service of such system.

The identity in this case will not come just from the logo or the colors or a
rigid manual that says what pantone codes to use and how many `x` should be
around the logo (where x is the dot of the i or whatever) which everybody will
ignore anyway. This identity seems to be designed to be misuse-proof.

We're used to the logo being the centerpiece of an identity system but this
"flexible identity" trend has the order of priorities backwards.

~~~
sp332
I think that it's leading with its weakest aspect, which is the logo with
nothing but LIBRARY. It's much more interesting when there is an actual goal,
like identifying an event or department and then putting a little Library of
Congress logo next to it.

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werds
Standalone comparison of Old Logo vs New Logo, i think most agree that Old
Logo wins hands down. Old Brand Identity vs New Brand Identity is where the
new one makes a lot more sense.

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weehobbes
I actually like the concept of inserting the images in between the "LIBRARY"
bookends. I agree that the narrow slab san-serif typeface is mildly
inappropriate for a library, but it's passable assuming the intent is for the
brand to feel bolder and more modern. My biggest complaint is the omission of
a logomark. The old logomark was boring and uninspired, and I think Pentagram
not doing a logomark was a huge missed opportunity. They had the chance to
create a truly iconic logomark for an iconic institution, and instead said
"Eh, logotype is enough." It is definitely not enough.

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yummybear
My initial reaction to the logos was, wow that really doesn't look good, but
the video helped sell it.

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MrZongle2
I found the change.... disappointing.

I'll gladly concede that there could be a better logo than what previously
existed, _but this isn 't it._

When I look at the old logo, I think "professional and clever". When I look at
the new, I think "WE'RE SHOUTING IN A LIBRARY! A _LIBRARY_ LIBRARY!"

If this places me in among the unwashed masses that "just don't get it", so be
it. I see regression, not improvement here.

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ArchTypical
The redesign looks fine. Most people, seeing the log, will never have visited
a Library as they fade into obscurity beyond obsolescence. It's good to get
ahead and set up the idea that it is THE Library.

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c5karl
Libraries are far from fading into obscurity.

[http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-
tank/2017/06/21/millennials-...](http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-
tank/2017/06/21/millennials-are-the-most-likely-generation-of-americans-to-
use-public-libraries/)

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canthonytucci
A lot of branding I hated when I first saw it has grown on me over time, this
one though - I know it sounds like a joke but I find it hard to read.

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spaceandthyme
I love this redesign.

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lainga
LIBRARY is set to become my new favourite candy bar.

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cannonedhamster
Why are they screaming at me? Can we keep the signage and ditch the new logo?
Was this solving an actual issue?

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kwhitefoot
Why do they want to change it? What purpose does the change serve? Or indeed,
who is it who wants to change it?

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html5web
I’m not a designer, but the new logo looks meh.

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zwerdlds
Best of luck to the LIBRARY LIBRARY OF CONGRESS on their new logo.

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smacktoward
It's even worse in the examples where they jam an image in the middle of the
word LIBRARY. Welcome to the LIBR <jpg> ARY LIBRARY OF CONGRESS! Dear God.

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diiaann
Paula Scher, you can't win them all.

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restlessdesign
Literally her own words (over 7 years ago):
[https://vimeo.com/hillmancurtis/artist-series-
paulascher#t=1...](https://vimeo.com/hillmancurtis/artist-series-
paulascher#t=188s)

“If I don’t get it in the first crack, I get it in the second. And if I don’t
get it in the second I almost never get it.”

"I’ve never been a refiner"

This is not identity design—this is ego.

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bovermyer
My initial reaction was shock and disgust.

My reaction after mulling it over for awhile and reviewing some of the
material is.... contempt and disgust.

So there's that.

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pizzetta
I definitely prefer the old logo. The new one is extremely generic and does
not convey any feeling via the logo.

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bovermyer
My biggest problem with the new logo is that they're effectively un-branding
the Library of Congress by trying to brand it as LIBRARY.

That's like trying to rebrand the White House as HOUSE.

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Fomite
Their concern is that too many people read "...of Congress" and assume it's
not for them. They're very much pushing the idea that it's a library first.

Not sure I like how they did that, but I get the idea.

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ada1981
In yet another bold move for America, President Trump mandates that all gov
webdesign will be done via Fiverr Gigs...

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ada1981
My bad. I meant _graphic_ design.

