Hillman Curtis includes Paula Scher in his Artist Series of mini-documentaries made for the web. I really like these. They're just the right length and present a nice, well-balanced impression.

Scher recounts how she sketched out the new Citi logo on a napkin in "one second" during an early client meeting. It's quite a believable story, since I've shared the experience. Often, there's a glimpse of a solution or an outright, clear vision during early client briefings or informal chats. Sometimes, I've done the same thing... sketched the answer out right then and there "in a second" on whatever's handy.

Paula's right, too, to add her 34 years of experience to the one second to yield the real time invested for such revelations to be enabled.

All that being said, I feel the Citi logo shown above is really not such an extraordinary leap, but a rather obvious evolution. And I'm somewhat disappointed because, in my mind, the merged rendering has casually reduced what was once an icon of the insurance industry (among few others, a group that includes Prudential's “rock”) to an oversimplified, concrete arc pasted over a cold and unemotional logotype. I'll admit that I've never really been fond of Citicorp Identity to begin with.

Being naturally curious, I was compelled to dive deeper into the mark’s predecessors.

So, Citi sucks in Travelers usurping its trademark in the process as we've seen. Not too long afterwards, Citi spins Travelers back out... now stripped of its signature umbrella and its equity of immeasurable worth.

Finding itself in need of a new identity, Travelers, astoundingly turns the dilemma into an employee competition:

About 700 employees out of the company's 20,000 participated in the contest and more than 1,700 ideas were generated. Once their ideas were submitted, senior management reviewed the ideas and chose 26 that were possible logo ideas. Then they brought in focus groups to help them narrow it down to three that would best express the company. The final logo, a red ellipse surrounding the company's name, was a combination of all three winners’ ideas.

“A combination of all three winners’ ideas.” I love that.

If not already battered and beaten enough, the very next year Travelers merges with St. Paul to form St. Paul Travelers.

-

My daughter taking a picture of the moon on Yakushima.

[Posted to: Other Places]

As of about 1:20 p.m. last Wednesday afternoon, I am a permanent resident — 永住者 — of the great nation of Japan.

[Posted to: The Good]

A good example of the type of forest you see on Yakushima just under a kilometre or so above sea level. (Now with desktop versions.)

[Posted to: Other Places]

Anyone inclined to a sense of genuinely absurd injustice will not be surprised to learn that the obese now outnumber the hungry.

[Posted to: General Rants]

My least favourite of the bunch, but why exactly?

[Posted to: Advertising]

Of course you knew you were going to see onigawara from Yakushima

[Posted to: Architecture]

I noticed they seem to go after the larvae that give them a bit of a chase, ignoring the easy ones right in front of them. They're sporting about it, and not unaware of the thrill of the hunt, bless their carnivorous little souls. I hope they prosper and multiply (within balance).

[Posted to: General Rants]

Imagine a roughly circular granite island 12 kilometres in diameter which rises to a series of peaks approaching 2 kilometres above sea level, the highlands of which receive, on average, 8,000 milimetres of rain a year (yes, that's 8 metres of rain annually). You'd expect the water and the rock to come to some pretty interesting arrangements over the millennia. On Yakushima they most certainly have, and negotiations are vigourously ongoing.

[Posted to: The Good]

The ripple of events for the first weeks of August, 2006, will reverberate for years.

The impact is immediate and demands attention. If your brand sells anything in liquid or gel, cream or cappuccino, solid or gas (is there anything left?) then the new bans on airport carry-on items demand immediate change in fundamental marketing models.

Personal care brands that deliver product in forms newly banned are in high-rent, high-risk environments. If volume goes down one tic, it can be catastrophic.

The impact of these events may not be limited to airport proximity. Your customer may be less likely to buy your personal comfort items if the ability to take them along when they travel is uncertain. High-traffic, high-cost retail environments are occupied by high-value brands. Suddenly, higher cost is a higher risk and no longer a higher benefit.

If your company sells fragrances, beverages, skin creams, balms, powders, water and so on… you can: 1) shut down, as some are doing; or 2) shift perspective.

Shift Perspective
At any airport, your customer about to embark is waiting for a flight with up to two hours to kill. Obviously, this has been a prime market. Nothing to do, but shop, until now. With increasingly strict security measures, shopping on entry to an airport terminal will certainly diminish or even vanish entirely.

Shift your perspective. Your new customer has successfully navigated ticketing, baggage checkin, security, wait for boarding, seating, flight, hunger, discomfort, anxiety, landing and disembark. How might your product welcome and reward?

Move Delivery
In what form might your product be sold that escapes new restrictions on travel? New product forms, packaging, vouchers, complimentary shipping, et cetera beg further consideration.