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Forums > Critiques
Written by Terri Stone on October 17, 2008
Below are five logos for AT&T that range from the mid-20th century to today. What do you think of the evolution?
Vote for your favorite incarnation at www.creativepro.com/node/63416.
OK, so the medium mixes up the message
Of course, most of these logos weren't intended to be compared on a computer monitor.
Terri Stone
Editor in Chief, CreativePro.com
Just The right touch!
With many new logos penetrating the marketplace it seems that many company's are trying to reinvent themselves in an effort to keep up with the current trends. I think AT&T did a great job re branding themselves without reinventing the logo. Such a simple change keeps the overall brand but updates the logo as well. I give this logo a thumbs up! its such a subtle change but has a huge impact!! - Joe Malouff - Denver
my ma bell
Working in AT&T's Corporate Communications Department as a Graphic Designer from 1986 to 1994, I spent many an hour with #3 and it's 8-line iteration (to be used at smaller sizes). At the beginning of the PC days (and we did work on PCs, built by AT&T) It was always a struggle to keep the corporate integrity of the logo intact. It seems every other department within the organization had a someone with software who wanted to alter it in some way.
Natural Evolution
I like what they did making the globe more three dimensional to more readily communicate their connection throughout the world; however, the jury's still out on their font choice/treatment of at&t.
Changing with the times
It is sort of interesting that the most current version is so far the most popular. Is it partly because it is new and contemporary looking that most people like it?
I personally prefer #3. I think it has stood up well over the years and doesn't look too dated. That #4 & #5 are modifications of its basic structure is a testament to its staying power.
The Death Star
We always referred to #3 as the "death star." ( It first appeared in the days of Star Wars) It still looks like the death star to be, albeit a warmer, more friendly death star.
A difficult choice
I liked 3, 4 and 5, but eventually chose 5. I guess that's a tribute to your original design vladerod.
I think I'd like the text a little smaller though. It gives the illusion that it's wider than the globe ... but then maybe that's appropriate.
What does the designer who worked on #3 think?
I'm curious, vladerod, what your take on #4 and #5 are given your work on #3? Myself, I guess #5 is adequate, although I don't see the point of the update. I also don't like the font choice there. I think they could've stuck with #3.
clarification
I should clarify, I did not create logo #3, I had to use it on every piece of training and presentation material that I worked on. I like the flatness of #3 (more print-friendly) and the balance of font-to-globe. I agree with suzinart's comment the #4 and #5 are a progressions in the development of the logo. I'm glad they carried on in the same direction instead of trying something completely different (ala Michael's logo from last week). I'm fairly certain that with the merger with Cingular, one of the reasons they decided to be called AT&T was because of brand recognition. I think the maturation of the logo has helped in that regard.
#2 & #5
Forced to choose, I like #2 the best. Although it's clearly from a different time, I like the strong clear glyph-like identity of the phone in the circle. I remember being overseas and the phone companies there using similar strong, graphic logos (with a bell incorporated somewhere) which always made it easy to identify where a telephone might be. A great advantage when you don't speak the language well.
Having said that, #5 has grown on me in recent months, it seems like a logical extension of the previous logos, but I bet in some applications it's a real bugger to reproduce (i.e. one color screenprinting or flexo or some other method that doesn't handle screening well)!
IIRC, #3 was designed by a famous graphic designer in the early '80's (extra brownie points to whomever can remember, it's the end of my workday, my memory is done...) and was a case study in our design and again in marketing classes. It also spawned a number of 'look-alike' logos, many with the multiple parallel lines like this one. I've always thought it busy, and #4 used less lines, which seemed to give it more substance.
I dont get 1 & 2
What does a bell have to do with cell phones? Maybe something to ring tones on my phone and bells ring? I dont know I thinik 1 & 2 are far out there.
I like number 4. It symbolizes the world and that att is all around the world and that you can use your cell anywhere in the world.