Pepsi, The choice of a bored generation

I musta been under a rock or something.

Somewhere sandwiched between the election of a new president, the decline of my beloved Cleveland Browns and the discovery that, yes, we are indeed in the midst of a recession the reality that Pepsi cola updated their logo slipped totally under the radar.

I am old school in my design thinking. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. So for the life of me I don't understand why Pepsi decided to change its entire identity…oops, that's not the trendy word anymore. Ahem, er…change their "brand".

Now don't get me wrong I understand the need to have forward thinking to update and improve a logo. But I think this was an obvious step back. There was a simple beauty to the Pepsi logo that I think the latest collegiate marketing genius at Edelman, Inc., Pepsi's new PR firm missed even tho it was obvious in their video.



It's simple. It's was the yin and yang of a beautifully designed logo. Yup. It comes down to a simple Chinese philosophy of how seemingly opposing forces are bound together. That was always what I saw in the logo. From color palette red v.s. blue to the constant flow of the shapes that comprised the circle. Different, yet the same as one.


Yin yang transform each other
Like an undertow in the ocean, every advance is complemented by a retreat, and every rise transforms into a fall.

They kinda touched on this concept during the "Taste of a new generation" during the 80's.

Yin yang are rooted together
Since yin and yang are created together in a single movement, they are bound together as parts of a mutual whole. A race with only men or only women would disappear in a single generation, but men and women together create new generations that allow the race they mutually create (and mutually come from) to survive.

And again with "Generation Next" and "Choice of a New Generation" of the 90's.



So when they announced they were updating the logo I was genuinely stoked. I was interested how they were going to use design to push this high concept even further.

And then plunk.
Nothing.

Suh-wing, and a miss.

I don't hate the logo but I no longer love it either. I can still appreciate the minimalist approach even tho the logo type is so feminine. Wow, for one second, I thought I saw the Girl Scout logo in there.



I even like the concept of the ever changing spatial relationship of the logo based on flavor. It's subtle but nice. But when is anyone going to ever see the logos (outside of this blog) lined up all neat and pretty where you could actually notice the change? Plus it breaks my JDLR rule of design. If it JUST DOESNT LOOK RIGHT, don't do it.

What's even worse is that I like the new solution for Mountain Dew and Sierra Mist, also Pepsi products.

It looks as if the main goal was to appeal to their completely younger, attention deprived audience who will not be looking for letterforms anymore but simple, ambient symbols that make for pretty decent lottery balls. But I could be wrong.

Finally, you don't see Coka-Cola fooling with the Feng-Shui of their logo do you? But that's a different discussion for another time.

Allow me to introduce myself

Hi. My name is Clarence D. Meriweather and I'm a creative.

I don't know why but that has always felt like the greeting at Alcoholics Anonymous. No disrespect to alcoholics but I understand when you tell someone who or what you feel you are and there is that pause of trepidation that you get from them.

That moment of awe and assumption that they know your experiences and your struggles. They know from a one word included inside of your introduction, "alcoholic" or in my case "creative" exactly who are and what you are based on their own assumptions and experience.

Of course we know that is bullshit.

Anyhoo, this little piece of the internet is my attempt to discuss, dissect, pontificate, illuminate and generally talk that good shit about creativity, design, music and illustration. I will put up cool design shit that I come across and wanna talk about, photos that intrique or stimulate ideas or conversation.

At times I will put up examples of my own design and illustration work for you, dear viewer, to criticize, redicule, offer suggestions and or just appreciate.

Or not.

I hopes you dig what ahm sayin and more importantly I hope you join in the conversation.

Onward.

I usta be a caricature artist with Kaman's Art Shoppes at Cedar Point in Sandusky, Ohio. This was during my college years. Its kind of a rite of passage for Ohio artists who think they want to do this creative thing for a living. I think every artist should work there for one season just to find out what is most important to them; art or commerce. For me it was the art. Their model works perfectly because you need both types of people. People who want to practice, experiment, grow and improve their art and people that like to do art to get paid.

I promise I will include some of my old caricatures of myself from some of my friends and some of my old sketches. (CDM Art Fact #1—Caricature artists spend an inordinate amount of time drawing themselves and their peers to sharpen their chops.) Its a hoot (Did I just say that? I'm getting old.) to look at where you were and where you're going artistically..

Anyway, I say all of this so you can get a feel for what I usta do. I recently came across these next two sketches and at some point I may go back and rework them.

Vice President Al Gore






















I did this for a magazine cover of an industrial surplus company who likes to put goofy stuff on the front of the book. I didn't discover you could actually draw by hand and then clean and color electronically so this came out looking really old school. Sketched and colored in Photoshop exclusively. I'll have to post the cover later as my girl who as the archive of the cover is off today for Thanksgiving.

Imagine that.


Apple Computer's Steve Jobs and Microsoft's Bill Gates

For the same cover. I really think I wanna rework this one because I think I nailed their individual likenesses. Which is what the goal is when doing a caricature. Most of the time. Sometimes you just want to baffle em with bullshit. Graphic tricks and drawing style that while nice and look good don't add to the likeness of the subject.

That is what it is.

(CDM Art Fact #2— You can tell tis sketch is a little old because Steve Jobs was at this time a little pudgy. He has since lost weight amid rumors that he was dead. I must admit he looks good for a dead guy.)



Jean-Luc the Communicator


The first two sketches are at least 3 or 4 years old. Hopefully you'll see some growth.

Which brings me to now.

I just finished a sketch of the actor Patrick Stewart, popular for his role in Star Trek lore as Captain Jean-Luc Picard. I needed art for an article for a communication technology that is similar to the Star Trek badge technology in the television show.I used my own sketch with Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop. I was pleased with the way it came out. I fought with the idea of adding the Star Trek badge as a tie pin but eventually thought that detail would be lost because of the small size in which the illustration would be printed. And the fact that I don't wanna be sued by the estate of Gene Roddenbury.

Well, there it is. It's official. I'm here and hopefully, I'll stay awhile.

Y'all come back now, ya hear?