BY Armin

Start with Trust, Simmer in Design, Hold the Onion

I have had bad service in the past: At restaurants with rude waiters, on the phone with neglectful customer representatives, in cabs with plugged-to-their-cell-phone reckless drivers, and in a myriad other establishments. I never complain to the manager or a higher authority, I just don’t have the patience or the time — a well-intoned “screw you”, plus a mean stare with my bushy eyebrows and knowing that karma will eventually have its way is usually satisfaction enough. But for one in five adult consumers in the U.S. this is not enough: Just in 2006, 1.2 million complaints were handled by the Better Business Bureau (BBB), the “leader in advancing marketplace trust”. With a new logo and tagline, Start With Trust, the BBB is hoping to extend its equity as the most reliable and trusted source of information when it comes to filtering good from bad businesses. The most public manifestation of the BBB is their “Seal Program” where businesses, previously scrutinized and approved, have the honor and privilege of sporting the seal — which, I have to admit, has proven the biggest enticement for further complaining anytime I see it on a store’s entrance or web site — but is usually lumped together with signs that indicate that Discover cards are accepted. So the BBB’s campaign will hopefully result in a higher appreciation of this seal, both by consumer and owner. A task perhaps facilitated by a fresh new logo. Gone is the onion on top of the widest torch ever created and the chunky serifs that formed some interesting negative spaces in the endless BBBBBBnes of the logo. And in is a new take on the torch — which may be, along with hands, one of the hardest things to draw as a logo — that now looks (and smells) like a well-brewed stew of Excellence, Integrity, Teamwork, Trust and Respect (the BBB’s values) simmering in a soup plate (unless someone sees the handle of the torch, and don’t tell me it’s the second B because, even though it is, it visually doesn’t work). Replacing the old Bs are a new triad of sans serif Bs that feel a little better suited for the job and less distracting in their repetitiveness. I’m not sure this was the best direction and execution of the logo, but as a replacement to a logo that had been in use since 1962, this may be a better option… And I’m not one to complain.

Thanks to Bart L. O’Dell for the tip.

\n\nI have had bad service in the past: At restaurants with rude waiters, on the phone with neglectful customer representatives, in cabs with plugged-to-their-cell-phone reckless drivers, and in a myriad other establishments. I never complain to the manager or a higher authority, I just don't have the patience or the time — a well-intoned \"screw you\", plus a mean stare with my bushy eyebrows and knowing that karma will eventually have its way is usually satisfaction enough. But for one in five adult consumers in the U.S. this is not enough: Just in 2006, 1.2 million complaints were handled by the Better Business Bureau (BBB), the \"leader in advancing marketplace trust\". With a new logo and tagline, Start With Trust, the BBB is hoping to extend its equity as the most reliable and trusted source of information when it comes to filtering good from bad businesses. The most public manifestation of the BBB is their \"Seal Program\" where businesses, previously scrutinized and approved, have the honor and privilege of sporting the seal — which, I have to admit, has proven the biggest enticement for further complaining anytime I see it on a store's entrance or web site — but is usually lumped together with signs that indicate that Discover cards are accepted. So the BBB's campaign will hopefully result in a higher appreciation of this seal, both by consumer and owner. A task perhaps facilitated by a fresh new logo. Gone is the onion on top of the widest torch ever created and the chunky serifs that formed some interesting negative spaces in the endless BBBBBBnes of the logo. And in is a new take on the torch — which may be, along with hands, one of the hardest things to draw as a logo — that now looks (and smells) like a well-brewed stew of Excellence, Integrity, Teamwork, Trust and Respect (the BBB's values) simmering in a soup plate (unless someone sees the handle of the torch, and don't tell me it's the second B because, even though it is, it visually doesn't work). Replacing the old Bs are a new triad of sans serif Bs that feel a little better suited for the job and less distracting in their repetitiveness. I'm not sure this was the best direction and execution of the logo, but as a replacement to a logo that had been in use since 1962, this may be a better option… And I'm not one to complain.\n\nThanks to Bart L. O’Dell for the tip.

Many thanks to our ADV @ UnderConsideration Partners