Who would have thought that a new logo, for a company that seemed to be waning, would cause such a furore? But people went to the mat over the redesign…
![Image Not Available Old logo for World Aids Campaign](https://www.kcrw.com/images/image_replaced.png)
- Old logo, above; and new logo, below, for World Aids Campaign, designed by Mick Hodgson and Ph.D, A Design Office
- How much they matter, when they work and when to change them was the topic of DnA’s show — beyond the Gap fiasco — and it was vividly brought to life by two different but equally smart thinkers about logos, branding and “visual personalities”: Brand consultant Sasha Strauss, and Michael Hodgson, author, most recently, of Recycling & Redesigning Logos: A Designers Guide to Refreshing and Rethinking Design.
Not only does the book talk about logo redesign projects by other designers but Hodgson is a skilled designer in his own right, with logo and “visual personality” redesigns for the World AIDS Campaign (see above), Inner City Arts and many other projects to his credit. Mick will be signing copies of his book at Arcana Books on October 30.
![Image Not Available Yves Behar's SAYL Chair on show at Herman Miller](https://www.kcrw.com/images/image_replaced.png/@@images/592d0a5c-4fab-4c8d-a625-a08ef510e7ba.png)
This relatively light and affordable office chair is made with a mesh-like, urethane plastic back — supported by a Y-shaped spine — that is stretched and molded to be strong enough to support the back while doing away with the usual supporting structural frame around the chair back.
Last week I got to see Yves and try out the chair at Herman Miller’s LA showroom, a natty venue in a warehouse district just East of Culver City. One of the cute treats at the party — that played into the theme of materials lighter than air — were sorbets made with nitrogen, shown below (photos: Nicholas Mercure).
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