Even the most conservative, unimaginative logotype can be very effective at putting forth a brand identity. Take the Crate & Barrel logo—it’s basically Helvetica Bold (or a minor tweak of it) with a very round, un-Helvetica-like C:
When it comes to corporate graphics, nothing is hoarier than good old Helvetica Bold. But the Crate & Barrel logo is memorable enough, and it pops nicely when stamped in big black type on the white bags and boxes that customers carry out of the store.
In Crate & Barrel’s early days, company executives probably paid tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of dollars to the design firm that created the logo, and the company likely considered dozens or hundreds of variations on the current logo before choosing one. The creation of a logo is often a painstaking process, and the end result is supposed to be an unalterable design whose elements are always rendered in exactly the same way.
So I was amused last fall when I noticed that some things had gone terribly wrong with the sign above the Crate & Barrel store on the northwest corner of Broadway and Houston. Below is what the sign looked like in late September. The r in “Crate” and the e in “Barrel” have rotated counter-clockwise, as if drunk, and the second r in “Barrel” is hovering above the baseline, as if it’s trying to float away:
A few weeks ago, I walked through that intersection and noticed that someone had performed first aid on the sign. It looks better, but it’s still not perfect. Here’s a photo from this afternoon:
The r in “Crate” looks fine now, and the e in “Barrel” has been rotated back into more or less the proper position. But the second r in “Barrel” is still trying to escape. Fly away, poor little r! Run off and join the American Apparel logo, where at least the use of Helvetica Bold is somewhat ironic!
