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Author
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Topic: Boston Globe: Redesigning the NASA logo
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Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 23493
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted April 25, 2010 09:10 AM
   
Personally, I like the meatball. From the Boston Globe...Space, the designer's frontierThe let's-go-to-the-moon-again scheme wasn't the only way NASA has been stuck repeating itself. Even the agency's current emblem is a rerun -- it is 51 years old, a cluttered mess of lettering, a red airfoil, and a white orbital path, all crammed into a blue-and-white starry globe. Its in-house name is "the meatball." Drawn up in 1959, when the outline of the airfoil represented, in NASA's words, "the latest design in hypersonic wings," it was brought out of mothballs in 1992, in the malaise of the post-lunar, post-Challenger era, in a vain attempt to recall the days of brave explorers on their new rocket ships. Today, it's just a reminder that a half-century ago, the future seemed exciting. Ideas asked four graphic designers to come up with a new emblem for the 21st-century space agency, to conjure a vision of NASA that fits the present. |
ejectr
Member Posts: 1444
From: Brimfield, MA
Registered: Mar 2002
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posted April 25, 2010 09:58 AM
I'm sorry but I don't agree with his view. Besides. it's the Boston Globe. Enough said. Some things are best left alone as the new Navy uniforms are testament to. There are some things that are better left to tradition. The NASA logo is one of them. |
Tykeanaut
Member Posts: 1070
From: Worcestershire, England, UK.
Registered: Apr 2008
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posted April 25, 2010 11:37 AM
New is not always better, especially in this instance. I never liked the "Worm" patch much either. Keep the "Meatball"! |
Go4Launch
Member Posts: 353
From: Bethesda, MD
Registered: Jul 2003
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posted April 25, 2010 12:04 PM
I'm firmly in the "keep the meatball" camp, but that aside, these are the best that "big-city" graphic designers could come up with? You have got to be kidding. |
KSCartist
Member Posts: 2300
From: Titusville, FL USA
Registered: Feb 2005
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posted April 25, 2010 01:28 PM
Clearly created by people unfamilar with NASA. Keep the "Meatball" but I would accept the font from the "Worm" to replace the font in the "Meatball". |
Fezman92
Member Posts: 820
From: New Jersey, USA
Registered: Mar 2010
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posted April 25, 2010 02:14 PM
Don't change the logo. Keep the meatball. It's nice. |
GACspaceguy
Member Posts: 1011
From: Guyton, GA
Registered: Jan 2006
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posted April 25, 2010 03:29 PM
The meatball is NASA. |
FFrench
Member Posts: 3002
From: San Diego
Registered: Feb 2002
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posted April 25, 2010 03:39 PM
quote:
Originally posted by KSCartist:
Keep the "Meatball" but I would accept the font from the "Worm" to replace the font in the "Meatball".
Yes, I always thought the unofficial Wormball was an interesting hybrid. |
GoesTo11
Member Posts: 644
From: Denver, CO USA
Registered: Jun 2004
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posted April 25, 2010 04:08 PM
Yeah. Yeah, that's what's wrong here...the logo!Seriously, while I have a child-of-the-80s soft spot for the "Worm", I still love the "Meatball." I'm not reflexively opposed to the notion of overhauling NASA's logo, but if that happens I'd hope the agency would be able to find more creative energy than the Boston Daily Worker, uh, I mean Boston Globe did. Those "alternative" designs are about as inspiring as the staff meeting I'm going to have to endure tomorrow morning. |
Rick Mulheirn
Member Posts: 1916
From: England
Registered: Feb 2001
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posted April 25, 2010 04:14 PM
If it ain't broke... don't fix it. The NASA meatball is just fine and evocative of an earlier pioneering heyday. Leave it alone. |
cspg
Member Posts: 3315
From: Geneva, Switzerland
Registered: May 2006
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posted April 25, 2010 11:40 PM
Today, it's just a reminder that a half-century ago, the future seemed exciting. I fail to see how changing the logo is going to make the present (and future) as interesting as the past.It was probably a slow news day. |
Mike Z
Member Posts: 384
From: Ellicott City, Maryland
Registered: Dec 2005
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posted April 26, 2010 01:08 AM
The NASA Meatball is one of the best logos of all time. Past, present or future!! It would be sad to change anything!! It stands for some of man's greatest achievements! The only other logo that's anywhere near the Meatball might be the Coca-Cola script and bottle. |
Space Emblem Art
Member Posts: 149
From: Citrus Heights, CA - USA
Registered: Jan 2006
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posted April 26, 2010 01:19 AM
With no disrespect to the artists who've designed these proposed updates, I must say that they're not my cup of tea. I've always liked the meatball but concur with KSCartist Tim that updating the font with the worm style would be OK. It would modernize it without abandoning the meatball's origin and history. |
KAPTEC
Member Posts: 406
From: Madrid, Spain
Registered: Oct 2005
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posted April 26, 2010 03:40 AM
The Meatball his the History. I like it over all logos. It is the NASA.But I like also the 'Wormball'. It could be the future... leaving the history present. |
Philip
Member Posts: 4495
From: Brussels, BELGIUM
Registered: Jan 2001
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posted April 26, 2010 10:34 AM
For some reason managers believe that a brand's logo should be changed from time to time (e.g. Raider bar became Twix) but in most cases the original (genuine) logo should be kept for ever... That's certainly the case with NASA! |
mjanovec
Member Posts: 3391
From: Midwest, USA
Registered: Jul 2005
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posted April 26, 2010 05:18 PM
The funny thing is that the article is critical of the meatball design (and NASA's use of an old design for the modern spaceflight program), but three of the five designs they came up with were just re-workings of past designs... two reworked meatballs and one reworked worm logo. Only two of the five designs were original... but had the misfortune of being extremely bland. Is that really the best they could come up with? |
Fezman92
Member Posts: 820
From: New Jersey, USA
Registered: Mar 2010
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posted April 26, 2010 06:13 PM
I am a bit confused. Is this article just talk or is NASA considering changing its logo? |
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 23493
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted April 27, 2010 01:27 AM
quote:
Originally posted by Fezman92:
Is this article just talk or is NASA considering changing its logo?
NASA is not considering changing its logo; the article was simply an exercise in design by the Boston Globe. |
kyra
Member Posts: 452
From: Louisville CO US
Registered: Aug 2003
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posted April 27, 2010 02:39 AM
The Meatball will never go out of style  |
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