Portfolio Task 6- Theory Into Practice

I have chosen Gary's post about stereotyping in design, more specifically, stereotyping in typography from different cultures.

This is what he says

'This simplification suggests that we are made ‘dumb’ therefore docile in the face of difference.
More important than that is a deeper issue related to ‘difference’ and that is that by being singled out as different, it is presumed that we ‘know’ what the norm or standard is. This knowledge is in fact the hidden Panopticon. '

So as a designer have you ever used a stereotype to initiate communication? For instance an idea of youth as opposed to age or what it is to be female as opposed to male? Have you tried to communicate to an audience based on class stereotypes? Have you seen other designers doing this?"


I have chosen a logo that I created for the YCN competition. The brief was to create a brand new identity for Marks and Spencer's Plan A. This is their campaign for the company to become greener and they set themselves 100 goals to achieve within 3 years that will improve their negative impact on the environment. Now Marks and Spencer wants to get the customers to get more involved with Plan A. The company had done their bit and now they want to get the customers to engage. So the brief was basically to create a new logo and use that new logo to promote Plan A.

This is the logo that I designed for Plan A. and I have chosen this as even though the resolution to the problem and the design were appropriate to the brief and what Marks and Spencer was looking for. I thin that this could definitely be seen as a stereo typical 'green' logo. The clean sans serif typeface, the simple shape , particularly round ( representing planet earth or some sort of metaphor to sustainability ), the leafy shapes.' And not to forget, the 'green' colour, that's always a give away. I created this Plan A , obviously, based on the fact that this is a call for cumtomers to get involved with this environmental campaign. I also based the design on the letter 'A' of plan A. but most of the design directions were influenced by the fact that this logo needs to say ' we love the environment.'

Here are some examples of other stereotypical green logos





This is pretty much the ultimate stereotypical logo for a green product or green company. TheHowever, I also think that eventhough it is a 'stereotype' it is also effective. How else would you be able to create a logo for a company that wants to be seen as 'green' or ecological. It is unavoidable. Most people who sees a logo that is green, has leaves on it will immediately associate that logo to something 'green' and surely thats the response that one will want when designing this kinda of logo. Every designer wants to be individual and to stand out but ultimately, our job is to communicate effective the message we want people to hear. If the message is ' hey look, I'm a really green company who cares about the environment' ( even if you're not ), you use imagery and typography that will get that response. We can do everything else to stand out and be individual, like , which sans serif typeface? which shade of green? etc. and thats what makes Graphic designer problem solvers.

How do you communicate the message effectively to our target audience but still stand out as an individual?