The Logos of Gucci and Chanel - Case Study Example

Comparing and Contrasting the Chanel and Gucci Logos in Graphic Design The logo is possibly the most important part of the branding effort for many companies. For companies that design products themselves, a logo can become much more. Logos in the design industry are a concise, to-the-point representation of a design company’s style, history, and motivation (VanderLans, 22). For graphic designers, designing a logo represents the challenge of packing a powerful message into a simple but meaningful design that has a wide exposure. That means that a logo must be something that makes sense to many different kinds of people in different industries, people that often have very different backgrounds. Two prominent logos in the fashion industry are the logos of Gucci and Chanel, both with characteristic use of letters as design elements. In order to understand the impact and longevity of these logos it is necessary to define design in terms of logos and logotypes, examine the graphic structure of each logo, and review the historical and cultural context in which the logo is significant. Many people define the term ‘design’ in different ways, but by all definitions designing has something to do with arranging elements towards an outside purpose. Sometime that purpose is to transfer or realize and idea, such as in industrial designs. When discussing logos, however, the purpose of design is communication (VanderLans 22). When presented with complex information, such as images, the raw data delivered by the human eye is interpreted by the brain. The brain innately sifts through the elements of the data in order to simplify it, grouping and categorizing these elements by type (White 5). Designing can be understood as a process of exploiting the similarities and differences in an image in order to convey a message that is easily understood by the observer (White 5). By this definition, logos are designs that exploit the way that the brain interprets images in order to convey a message in a simple, graphic form. In designing, it is important to be aware of the elements of design. In designing logos, which normally have relatively few elements compared to images and photos, each element has heightened importance and must be carefully constructed. The elements of design are form, color, texture, value, shape, line, and space (Incredible Art Department). Lines, which represent the outline or contours of shapes, may be particularly important in logo designs in order to achieve bold effect. A logo may use any of the elements of design, but may leverage one more than others to convey its message. In logo design it is important to carefully the color of individual design elements, as it impacts the hierarchy, or order of perceived importance, of design elements such as type and shapes. Color may be used to convey importance. In general, red and yellow tend to come forward off the page, whereas blue and green recede. This is why important text in books is often written in red or highlighted in yellow (White 67). Black and white create maximum contrast against one another, and depending on how they are used they may either come forward or recede. In the Gucci and the Chanel logo, a monochromatic scheme of white on black is used. The Gucci logo contains two elements that appear to be overlapping shapes of the letter ‘G’, and similarly the Chanel logo contains two elements that appear to be overlapping shapes of the letter ‘C’. Both logos are completed in black and white, but appear in many of the company’s designs in a variety of colors as engraved, embossed, embroidered, or printed logos. The simplicity of the designs has a practical element in that it lends itself well to a variety of media, such as printing and embroidery, which cannot retain the resolution of a great amount of detail on small scales. The simplicity may also produce a cost savings, requiring only a single screen to print or a single thread color to stitch. When producing products on a global scale, a simple monochromatic logo can equate to millions of dollars saved over complex, more expensive logos. The two logos also share several common characteristics. Firstly, they are monochromatic. Secondly, they achieve a non-ambiguous figure to ground relationship, meaning that the shapes that form the letters are consistently perceived to appear in front of the background, even when the colors are inversed (White 19). This can be seen in comparing Figure 1 and Figure 2, where the shapes that form the letters are consistently perceived as being ‘in front’ of the background. The The shapes used in both logos are geometric shapes, or shapes that could be represented with mathematical formulas rather simply. As such, these shapes are easily represented in vector-based drawing programs, such as Adobe Illustrator, that allow them to be easily resized and manipulated (Incredible Art Department). The shapes in both logos also appear static, or non-moving (Incredible Art Department). This is because the shapes are oriented vertically in the plane, in the direction that one is accustomed to seeing letters in reading material. If the shapes were presented at an unusual angle, there would be more hint of dynamic movement. In common to the two logos is also the lack of lines on the border of the shapes that form the letters. Though there are no lines separating the two letters in each logo, the viewer sees to letters instead of just an anonymous geometric shape. This is because, the brain acts to complete incomplete shapes (White 35). This is why dotted lines may still be perceived as lines, instead of just a string of rectangles. The same reason is why the two letters can be distinguished by the onlooker that is accustomed to seeing western characters. It is, however, left ambiguous which letter is more forward in space. There are also significant differences between the two logos. In the Gucci logo the letter ‘G’ on the left side is presented in the normal left-to-right configuration that Western cultures, such as Europeans and Americans, are accustomed to seeing in reading materials. The ‘G’ on the right is an overlapping mirror image of the first one. In the Chanel logo, however, the ‘C’ on the right side is in its normal orientation and the one on the right is an overlapping mirror image. The position of the letter in a normal orientation can affect the way the viewer reads the logo, and most western cultures would be more drawn to look at the correctly oriented letter first, with their eye secondarily moving to the mirror image. This also has the effect that the viewer perceives the correctly oriented letter as ‘closer’ to the viewer in space. In cultures, such as Chinese, where the language is not generally written left to write, this trend may not apply (White 53-54). When designing logos in graphic design it is important to consider the culture that will be seeing the logos and how learned differences may affect the logo’s message. In the Chanel logo, the correctly oriented ‘C’ draws the viewers eye by appearing in an accustomed fashion, and thus forward in space. This means that the viewer’s eye is drawn towards the right of the image first, and led by the complete line forming the arc of the ‘C’ to a secondary shape created by the negative space where the letter overlaps with its inverse. Because there is a single enclosed shape created by negative space with nearly as much perceived visual weight as the letters themselves, the relative contrast between negative and positive space is reduced. This makes the whole logo appear to be closer to the background (White 15). This gives the Chanel logo a softer, less bold look, which matches the often feminine product message of the company. The softer logo likely influenced the choice to use a thinner line width in the letter than that appearing in the Gucci logo. Conversely, in the Gucci logo, the ‘G’ in the ‘normal’ orientation is on the left, which also corresponds with the Western viewer’s normal left-right reading pattern. This makes the shapes appear to stand out above the other letter shape and the background much further than the letter shapes in the Chanel logo. This increased the apparent depth in space of the image, giving it a bold look, which similarly matches Gucci’s innovative and bold product line. This may also have influenced the choice to use a less bold font in the Gucci design. Additionally, the shape formed by the overlap of the letter ‘G’ in the Gucci logo is a much larger enclosed shape that does not appear contiguous because of the vast difference in the perceived position in space of the letter and its inverse. In fact, because the open area of the letter is so small, the eye completes the space leaving the impression of two overlapping circles. The logos fit into the historical context of each company. Gucci, founded in Florence as a high-end shop, where its logo first appeared, has a reputation for chic, new-age designs (Fragrance X). The bold logo choice with geometric shapes, including an underlying di-circular geometry, as well as its larger perceived depth fit with a fashion-forward, luxury-based company. Chanel, grown from the humble roots of Coco Chanel’s original millinery, was developed on the founding principle of comfort, outing corsets in favor of loose, boyish skirts, and going on to produce classic feminine looks (About.com). The logo first appeared well after the label became successful. Though the differences between the Chanel and Gucci logo are subtle, the Chanel logo much more accurately represents a soft, less bold, classic simplicity—the look that made the label a household name. The similarities and differences in the Gucci and Chanel logos clearly communicate the message of the two respective companies. This can be understood by defining the design of logos and its goals, examining the graphic elements within each logo, and putting the information into a historical and cultural context. References White, Alexander. The Elements of Graphic Design: Space, Unity, Page Architecture, and Type. New York, NY: Allworth Press, 2002. Print. VanderLans, Rudy. Nudging Graphic Design. New York, NY: Princeton Architectural Press, 2004. Print. "Elements of Design." Incredible Art Department. 2010. Web. 9 Dec. 2010 "History and Background of Gucci." Fragrance X. 2010. Web. 09 Dec. 2010. Lewis, Jone Johnson. “Coco Chanel: Fashion Designer, Fashion Executive”. About.com Guide. 2010. Web. Appendix Figure 1: Gucci Logo (left) and Chanel Logo (right) Figure 2: Inversed Gucci Logo (left) and Chanel Logo (right) Read More