Cue GAP and Urban Outfitters.

Is this a fashion thing, or is this a new trend hitting corporate boardrooms everywhere? What I’m referring to, is the unvieling of new logos for GAP and Urban Outfitters. GAP was the first, and their absurd logo “refreshing” was about as refreshing as a big cup of boiling grease. In short, it wasn’t.

I mean, what could have possibly been going through their heads when they decided to take a pretty solid design and change it into something that resembles clip-art from Microsoft Word? I mean, not even good clip-art, like, this is worse than some of those neat little illustrations grandma uses for the church bake sale raffles.

Nothing spells fashion like a blue square and helvetica.

These guys were either A. COMPLETELY asleep at the wheel. Or B. TOTALLY trying to pull a fast one on the public and get free media attention.

Because, sure as the sun don’t shine in Seattle, they reverted back to their old logo. What gives? This smells like a calculated PR stunt to me. And I sure as hell wouldn’t give most corporations the benefit of the doubt, especially when they’re trying to be relevant in a fading market.

So, URBAN OUTFITTERS…is this your game too? Are you and GAP sharing trade secrets in a secret poker game, drinking whiskey and getting sloshed? I mean, the UO logo looks like something a drunk person would do, so I guess that certainly might have something to do with it.

It kind of looks like they had to put up with some Creative Director telling them to make the logo in his office. I can just see it now:

Joe, Designer: “But Bob, we need to take these ideas back to the computer and refine them.”

Bob, the Creative Director: “Nonsense. We can make it right here in my office. I’ve got Microsoft Word installed and a bunch of fonts. Let’s just use the same font and stretch it out in weird ways. It’s like two fonts in one! Hell, we could even do all the ‘brand-messaging-hero-promise-marketing-verbiage in the same style! That’s ULTRA hip!”

Stretched out letters? DEFINITION of urban. And everyone knows outfitters makes more sense in an arch shape. Duh, that’s like, the first thing you learn in design school.

So what do you think? Are these publicity stunts? Or merely the outcome of old farts in high-positions trying to be hip? Or perhaps it’s something else entirely? Share your thoughts in the comments below…