The HabForum

Posted: **Sat Oct 27, 2012 11:20 pm**

I'll say finally that, at the very least, they should use it for the Space Camp for Educators program. I think it works well for that program as well.

Posted: **Mon Oct 29, 2012 7:33 pm**

I don't hate it... But I don't love it. I'm glad it resembles the old logo so much but agree the astronaut man could be better.

Maybe it's just nostalgia but I don't want a big change!

Posted: **Tue Oct 30, 2012 7:55 am**

Wow! The one based on the Astronaut Hall of Fame logo is great!
(and the second merged with the Official Camp logo just makes it!)

Posted: **Tue Nov 06, 2012 3:35 pm**

The redesign form the video isn't the best... but the suggestions posted here look great. The shuttle is still very symbolic of spaceflight, and one that children still know today. Another capsule design would be suiting but without being popular and well-known yet, I don't think it would work. The child reaching for the stars seems most suiting to me for many reasons.

Posted: **Tue Nov 06, 2012 9:10 pm**

Thanks for all of your comments and complements on my "reach for the stars" concept. Now if we could wrap this entire thread up and send it to the mothership, that would be great

Although I have a feeling, based on what little feedback I got from the mothership, that it may already be too late and that their minds are set on their decision to go with the re-hashed version of the current logo with the "anthropomorphic" sci-fi spaceman.

Posted: **Sun Feb 03, 2013 7:45 pm**

Just spotted the hideous aquanaut logo on the Space Camp website being used for the robotics program.

Posted: **Sun Feb 03, 2013 7:55 pm**

It's funny you made this comment now. I've just heard that the logo, slightly tweaked, has been approved to replace the old logo.

I'll write it up with more detail (and commentary) on the front page soon.

Posted: **Sun Feb 03, 2013 11:36 pm**

Nope. I don't like it one @#*&ing bit...

They did clearly tweak it a little though from the original released.
From:

To:

Posted: **Mon Feb 04, 2013 10:21 am**

The new one is slightly improved from the original. The person doesn't look so much like a blob; it has a bit more definition. The orbiter logo will still be true to my heart, but I get which direction they are taking it - away from the shuttle and towards future missions like the ISS, Orion, and Mars. I'm still not keen on it but I don't want to be judgemental. I look forward to Vincent's update on the home page. Will other Space Camps (Canada, Turkey) be changing the logo as well?

Posted: **Tue Feb 05, 2013 1:33 pm**

As franchisees, I would think they would have to (eventually) adopt any logo changes...

Posted: **Tue Feb 05, 2013 5:01 pm**

As someone who designs logos for a living http://www.facebook.com/matneygraphics, allow me to post some more detailed thoughts now that the new logo is "official".

Space Camp basicly had two options: 1. Design a completely new logo or 2. Refresh the existing logo. A new design would be more costly, more difficult to create and be harder to phase in. This totally new and different concept would have to be a home run and make everyone forget about the previous Space Camp logo that's become so recognizable. It's likely they did not have the budget to pursue this option in the proper manner. Refreshing the existing logo is cheaper, and if the changes are minimal enough and executed correctly, it can be phased in without too much commotion. A bonus of a logo refresh is that you get to keep the brand recognition generated by having the same design in the market for so many years already.

Having been in this situation before, a designer like myself can tell you exactly what happened. The management went with the cheaper Option 2 and gave it to a staff member or friend of the staff to execute, with the orders to "change the shuttle to an astronaut figure in an anthropomorphic space suit." There is nothing wrong with Option 2 or these types of limitations. In the hands of the right creative person with a strong skill set, it can be done. But the refreshed Space Camp logo we're stuck with now was not not dealt with in a creative way. Visually, you can tell it was executed by someone with a skill set that is not on par with the previous logo.

But forget about how badly drawn the cartoon astronaut is for a moment. Let's just look at the figure himself. He is standing, which implies gravity, and in space you are weightless. So unless you throw in a moon or martian landscape, you're just showing kids what they can do at home for a lot less money: dress up in a space suit and run around pretending to be an astronaut. And we can't throw in a lunar or martian landscape because we are limited to using the red flag stripes of the existing logo background. So, Strike One in this attempt at a home-run logo by showing the astronaut figure standing.

Strike Two is the fact that the figure is idle and not doing anything. He is not interacting with his environment in any way. He is completely irrelevant to everything surrounding him. The old Space Camp logo we all know and loved was great, but there is always room for improvement. One way to improve it might have been to make the subject (in the previous case, the shuttle) interacting more with its' environment (that was the basis for my mission patch you see in my avatar). With this logo refresh, we have the opportunity to explore ways that could possibly improve the design in this type of way. How cool would it be if the astronaut figure could be doing something that shows what kids actually do at Camp (either in the literal sense or a more symbolic way like "touching the stars")? This is the area where you hit home runs as a creative designer.

Strike Three is just the poor execution of the drawing of the astronaut figure. Like Vincent said in his post, each logo should look better than its predecessor. This is correct, even if it's just a refresh of the existing design. At the very least, It should appear as if it was drawn and designed by the same person who did the orignal, even if it wasn't. In the case of the new logo the mothership has seen fit to go with, we have a step backwards in visual strength.

I could go on and on about this, but that will have to come at a later time. I'm concerned at how lightly the powers-that-be are taking this. They are weakening their brand and I'm not sure they realize the importance of the task at hand. There is still plenty of time to reverse course before too much damage is done. They need to get some real creative people on this and right the ship.

Posted: **Tue Feb 05, 2013 9:33 pm**

The article on the Hab1 home page is very well written, Vincent! I was thinking much the same, minus the male perspective.

Posted: **Wed Feb 06, 2013 10:49 am**

SpaceCanada wrote:The article on the Hab1 home page is very well written, Vincent! I was thinking much the same, minus the male perspective.

Yes, it's a vital consideration that others may have missed!

Good thing I'm here to point it out!

Seriously though, it'll happen. A lot.

Posted: **Fri Feb 08, 2013 9:09 am**

I had my brother look at the new logo. He is the founding professor of the Brand Center at Virginia Commonwealth University and appears regularly as a branding consultant on tv news shows. His response was: "The new logo is not very good. They could do so much better. "

That from a professional. Kelly O'Keefe if you want to look him up.

Posted: **Fri Feb 08, 2013 11:58 am**

"Hmm. You're right, that is pretty weak..."
-My wife (who's always right about everything, just ask her)

Posted: **Fri Feb 08, 2013 12:55 pm**

Conan wrote:I had my brother look at the new logo. He is the founding professor of the Brand Center at Virginia Commonwealth University and appears regularly as a branding consultant on tv news shows. His response was: "The new logo is not very good. They could do so much better. "

That from a professional. Kelly O'Keefe if you want to look him up.

For the lazy:

http://www.kellyokeefe.org/
http://www.okeefebrands.com/

Tell your brother that his company has a mighty fine logo!

Posted: **Sun Feb 10, 2013 11:21 am**

I talked to Kelly about the logo a little more this weekend. He said that it is truly awful, and he too would be willing to help them with a better one if they were willing. I told him that we already had a member who made the same offer and designed a great logo. He did say that Cal Tech tried to institute a new logo that was bad recently and people were able to kill it by going on social networking such as Twitter and Facebook. He thinks that this is a strategy that we should try.

Posted: **Sat Feb 16, 2013 12:13 pm**

There's yet another logo printed in the 2012-2013 program brochure (page 10), used for the robotics camp. The online version has been updated to the new person logo but the old one had an orbiter, satellite, and Canadarm. I will see if I can scan it and post it one of these days. I noticed it whilst looking through the brochure that was sent with my USSRC store order in December.

Posted: **Sat Feb 16, 2013 1:47 pm**

I showed the new logo to someone I went through art school with yesterday, who has designed logos for several companies with a ad/branding agency in New York. Talking with him on the phone when he got my e-mail, he stiffled some laughter than busted out giggling when I told him he wasn't offending me at all with any reaction. "Seriously, this is what they came up with?" he asked. He agreed that the new logo should probably keep in the same theme as the old one for brand recognition due to the target market but asked, "what's this supposed to be, pale Gumby goes to space?" I ran my first idea of the same logo background with a traditional rocket going up through the center and he agreed that was similar to his first idea as well. Hotdog, we liked all three versions of your ideas. "All of those are much better than what they wound up with," he said. He wondered who's wife or kid at SC designed this, adding, "I've seen a lot of jobs my firm has had with large companies suddenly get terminated because someone's wife or kid desinged something that a suit on the top floor of the client's building wanted to use instead. I'd bet this is something like that."

SpaceCanada wrote:I noticed it whilst looking through the brochure that was sent with my USSRC store order in December.

I'll have to look that up when i get home tonight, I have the same one from my ill-fated SC jacket order saga, but I never noticed any new logo stuff (but I didn't pay much attention, I was looking mostly for any changes in the Adult program portion).

Posted: **Sat Feb 16, 2013 7:07 pm**

Does any one know what brought on the change of logo? Looks like we need to step back to the past, before we blast off to the future!!

The HabForum

Possible New Space Camp Logo

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