Opinion BY Armin

Pixelated Blogging

At a time when various blogs are evolving into printed products — Exhibits A, B, and C — it’s oddly reassuring to see what started as a zine back in the late 1980s maintain its web dominance a good ten years after it launched as one of the first juggernaut blogs in 2000. Chronicling all things technology, creative and sometimes just plain bizarre, Boing Boing has been an assured time waster for its thousands of readers for what seems like a blogging eternity. I realize that a blog is kind of off topic amidst the corporations, universities and consumer products we regularly feature on Brand New but in terms of impact, for a broadly niche audience, few entities can outpace Boing Boing. So as a fellow blogger I thought it would be nice to acknowledge identity design within our shared medium of communication.

Committed Boing Boing readers will quickly point out that the After logo is actually an old logo, and they would be right. It was designed by Boing Boing co-founder Mark Frauenfelder and was used from 1999 until 2007, when it was replaced by another pixelated wordmark designed by pixel-happy eBoy, and helped establish a look that would ooze into other Boing Boing ventures like Boing Boing Gadgets and Boing Boing Video. All of it, a kind of crude visual attitude — the pixelated equivalent of a zine no less. This past October, Boing Boing redesigned its web site, to a mixed review worth 285 comments, and brought back Mark’s old logo, which I always preferred to the eBoy one. Gone too, for now at least, is Jackhammer Jill, who had stood by the logo for a long time.

But as much as I liked the original logo, I couldn’t help but wish it had been pushed a little further and evolved. The letterforms and pixel construction lend themselves to plenty of visual play and for a site that derives much of its pleasure from the fun that the internet brings it would have been nice to embrace some of that variety and unexpectedness of the web. Or at the very least, the gridnik in me would have liked to see the counterspaces be a little more even and create a much more rhythmic set of tig

DATE: Nov.03.2009CATEGORY: Publishing 32 COMMENTS

Flo’s comment is:

Wow, they switched to 04b_19. A small improvement. Well.

I used it almost a decade ago for this

On Nov.03.2009 at 10:08 AM

Nate’s comment is:

The vernacular of this logo is very "Nintendo/NES" to me. Like something you'd see on the title screen of Mike Tyson's Punch Out.

Part of the problem with the overly-pixelated effect is that there is a lost association of the choppy displays of yesteryear and the visually stunning monitors we see today. Heck, even cell phones have relatively nice displays nowadays.

Conceptually, this has always been a weak logo. It's understandable why a web-related business would default to pixel elements for an execution, but it's a rather trite solution. What's more, the execution has nothing to do with the name, so there is a further disconnect between word and form.

On Nov.03.2009 at 10:25 AM

Skylar’s comment is:

It is worth mentioning that most of those negative comments in the linked article (http://boingboing.net/2009/10/06/boing-boing-the-worl.html) refer to the short-lived Oct. 6 redesign which looked like this:

The redesign brought back their vintage 80's zine logo, which (thanks to reader outcry) was scrapped on Oct. 12 along with most of the elements from the redesign, bringing back the 1999 logo.

On Nov.03.2009 at 10:26 AM

Nate B’s comment is:

At least its more readable?

On Nov.03.2009 at 10:27 AM

Nick’s comment is:

I think it was a good move to switch it back to the old one and I'm sure I will be in the minority on this one, but I actually like the old logo. It may not be technically "correct" but it so works for what it is. Plus, I think there is a good argument here for maintaining the "brand equity" (buzz word alert!!!) that it has built over the years.

All in all, I think if it aint broke dont fix it... good move boingboing.

On Nov.03.2009 at 10:28 AM

awesomerobot’s comment is:

As I said on the original boingboing redesign post, they really need to hire someone to take in what boingboing has done over the past decade or two and design a real logo.

That being said, I'm more happy that they listened to some input and edited the original redesign - which in my opinion was just a little abysmal (just a little). It's much better as it currently stands! For a few days Boingboing looked like 1992 showed up to hang out and vomited all over the place.

On Nov.03.2009 at 10:36 AM

Dennis Van Staalduinen’s comment is:

Meh, I'm a big fan of legibility. And while this identity has visual character to burn, neither version scans as the words "Boing Boing".

On Nov.03.2009 at 10:39 AM

Ronald’s comment is:

My eyes, my eyes! arghhh!

On Nov.03.2009 at 11:11 AM

Chicago Injury lawyer’s comment is:

I can't say that the change means much to me. Larger print is just larger print.

On Nov.03.2009 at 11:14 AM

Matt Hunsberger’s comment is:

I may be the only person, but I really like the first iteration of the redesign, weird rounded font and all.

On Nov.03.2009 at 12:14 PM

AJJB’s comment is:

@ Matt Hunsberger: I second that. It takes balls to go against the grain and actually design it well.

If you're retarded and use IE/windows, well, you're not going to see the awesomeness of embedded/well rounded fonts.

That being said, I don't dislike windows, just their userbase. And no, I don't use a mac either.

Who would want to see another 2.0 design (not that the current state is 2.0) and a changed title to bngbng if you can stand out like your content? dear boingboing, do the right thing here.

On Nov.03.2009 at 01:10 PM

gus’s comment is:

And the site's PAGERANK is 0, ZEROOOOO

does pagerank matter?

On Nov.03.2009 at 01:23 PM

Cory’s comment is:

It looks to me too much like Digg....

On Nov.03.2009 at 01:32 PM

Spencer Cross’s comment is:

To echo Skylar's point, I think your original post is missing an important step. The October redesign that debuted "to a mixed review worth 285 comments, and brought back Mark’s old logo" actually replaced the eBoy logo with Mark's original logo from the BoingBoing print zine (pictured in Skylar's screen capture). At some point, they then switched back to the pre-eBoy pixel art logo with no announcement or explanation.

On Nov.03.2009 at 01:48 PM

nik’s comment is:

The nick's/nik's of this world agree. The logo isn't broken, so don't fix it.

Of the two I'd say Mark's original one works best - but there's no rational reason for that - except to say that I love the subtle misalignment of the tops of the letters which creates a visual pun on the "bounciness" of your name. They both are essentially the same logo. I don't believe that change for change's sake is a good reason to discard your brand identity.

I'd say leave it alone and wouldn't listen to the people that say they both suck - because they don't.

On Nov.03.2009 at 03:33 PM

Rob Beschizza’s comment is:

Some clarifications!

We relaunched with the original 'zine logo in honor of BB's 20th anniversary. After a week, it returned to the original web-era logo you see above.

After the relaunch, we continued to make changes every day, messing with elements until everything settled at what you see now. This was partly in response to constructive criticisms, but also in pursuit of sweet, simple design and how best to present original features. (Back to the site as a regular item, like the zine!)

Changes are still being made, every day, though it's now in the details.

On Nov.03.2009 at 03:55 PM

john hughes’s comment is:

who cares about the logo. bring back jackhammer jill.

On Nov.03.2009 at 03:56 PM

Dan ’s comment is:

Please bring back Jackhammer Jill and formatting used previous to 10/09.
Thanks. - Dan

On Nov.03.2009 at 03:59 PM

Rob Beschizza’s comment is:

Jill is still there -- scroll down!

On Nov.03.2009 at 04:02 PM

ADAM303’s comment is:

Spongebob?

On Nov.03.2009 at 04:47 PM

soully’s comment is:

The Eboy one edges it for me personally, reason being it reminds me of the pixelated text from the videogame Day of the Tentacle, it was a quirky old game that, had a bizarre mix of cultural references- so it always seemed appropriate to BB, that said, both are lovely and I think the site is great.

On Nov.03.2009 at 04:56 PM

joe’s comment is:

From reading the article, I'm not clear which is Mark or eBoy's logo.

But it's clear to me that the mismatch weighted and sized letters is the best logo I have seen. It's more reminiscent of old digital numbers from back in the NASA/Hal era.

eg -

http://img.brothersoft.com/s_screenshot/softimage/m/mc_hal_font_install-25429.jpeg

On Nov.03.2009 at 05:55 PM

Addy’s comment is:

That's exactly what i was thinking Cory.

On Nov.03.2009 at 07:45 PM

Armin’s comment is:

Re: Digg similarity

It's the other away around folks, Digg (2004) looks like Boing Boing's (1999) logo. Boing Boing is the egg to Digg's chicken. Or something.

On Nov.03.2009 at 08:53 PM

lucasmelb’s comment is:

Its okay, but hand cut typography is being over used. Its appearing in a lot of ads, not sure if the type will date well

On Nov.03.2009 at 10:01 PM

babu’s comment is:

boring boring

On Nov.03.2009 at 10:51 PM

Ivan’s comment is:

bau, you cracked me up :) exactly what I was about to say

On Nov.04.2009 at 03:13 AM

janet’s comment is:

Hey at least both are legible. The top one has more variety to it and "feels" more energetic. boing boing . the non profit i work fort spent a tone to get a logo . your did it in 15 minutes. it works!

On Nov.04.2009 at 05:30 PM

jhalton’s comment is:

The current/older one has no character, eBoy's logo looks a little awkward, but it feels more like "boing" than the lego block looking one

On Nov.05.2009 at 02:01 PM

Mark’s comment is:

I chose Mark's it looks more stable.

On Nov.15.2009 at 10:21 PM

r4i software’s comment is:

Hi,
I will be in the minority on this one, but I actually like the old logo. It may not be technically "correct" but it so works for what it is.

On Jan.02.2010 at 04:04 AM

CybrHawg’s comment is:

The older logo is better in that the counter spaces and negative spaces echo the sound of the name bouncing up and down. The new logo does not "boing boing" up and down as well as the old one did. The jack hammer girl is another visual that should be incorporated as well I think. There is a lot of equity in that image, at least for me personally.

On Feb.04.2010 at 04:31 PM