Fixing the Discord Logo (Clyde)
I'd like to first express how much I dislike the new logo, color pallet, and font. Second, I would like to demonstrate why the previous logo is superior and how it could have been improved.
Why was the logo changed in the first place?
According to their blog post, these are the main reasons:
- Undefinable (Mickey Mouse pants? A game controller?)
- Ugly
- Icon was too contained "in" something, "stuck in a bubble"
- Asymmetry in the original design
- "Antenna's didn't translate well when printed"
- Was "old" and need a fresh look
My response to these arguments is as follows:
Undefinable
Not every corporate logo has to be definable. What is the Google Chrome logo, for example? It's not definable either. What makes an icon a brand is uniqueness and repeated familiarity with what it represents. Changing it upsets that brand recognition. But here's the other thing: An icon doesn't necessarily have to represent a known thing. It can be suggestive or even fanciful. And I would argue that the discord icon was probably originally designed to be suggestive of a few things.
First, yes it does suggest the shape of a modern controller, with the main horizontal body and two side lobes familiar to any gamer. But what it's also suggestive of is one of the old enemies from Space Invaders during the classic arcade era of gaming. Also, Clyde is an interesting name for the icon, but did you know that one of the ghosts from Pac-Man was also named Clyde? All of this suggests a knowledge of gaming and intention in the original design. If it wasn't intended it's a happy accident because it fits really well. So why change that?
Ugly
That's a matter of opinion and taste. I would say the original icon has appeal. It has a square feel to it but also a rounded feel to it. It's got some depth to it due to the antennae. The large eyes and forehead evoke cuteness while the lobes and corners give it a robotic quality. It's not too far off from the appeal of Wall-e. The main unappealing part of the logo is it feels a little thin in places, not quite balanced. But I wouldn't call it ugly; far from it.
Icon needs to be "free"
Why? I liked the speech bubble, it had unity with the font originally used. The Clyde icon itself could live in just about anything. And if a standard containing shape wasn't provided for whatever reason, the speech bubble works great. I see no reason for an icon to "be free."
Asymmetry
I bet if you had subtly fixed the asymmetry problem, no one would even notice. Most of the time people aren't looking at your logo at a large enough size to notice the difference. But I can understand OCD kicks in for designers so there's no problem there. But the new logo is overkill to address such a minor issue.
Antennas don't print well
Well, yes and no. If a logo has a lot of thin lines, it can get lost in things like screen printing at small sizes. But that can also be fixed by slightly thickening the thinnest lines. I can't imagine wanting to print that logo so small that it looks bad on a screen print. It really seems like a non-issue in my professional experience. I've seen overly complicated logos that did need to be reworked (look at Apple's first logo as an example). But this is oversimplifying something that was already quite simple.
It was Old
Ah, now we come to the real reason for the redesign. "It just looks old." I'm sorry, but this is a tired excuse for redesigning tried and true products. Just because something is old does not mean it's useless and needs to be replaced. Iconic things stick around because they have staying power. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Constantly reinventing something to stay "fresh" and "with the times" is a sure fire way of making your brand look like it's not relevant anymore and desperate to reach a new audience. Remaking something like your logo is a slap in the face of your current audience because they like the product and the brand.
Let's fix the logo...
I'm going to show you how I would have "updated" the logo per the reasonable "issues" lined out in the blog. Specifically, the asymmetry is the only issue that bothers me in the slightest.
I've kept the general same shape and layout to evoke the original ideas of gaming, but I also made the antennae a little thicker at the top to help with readability at small sizes. Other than that it's nearly identical. It has a little more of a rounded feel to it but still maintains that blocky feeling as well.
I would also say, stick with the old color pallet and the old font. The new color pallet has a lot of issues with readability, as does the new font. I would also argue the new font/colors are ugly but that's my personal taste. Some people like clown barf; I don't.
Thanks for coming to my TED Talk.
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The new logo is better for printing and scaling. hard pointed corners are problematic, especially when scaled down. They wont go back to the old logo, it doesn't make sense
To clarify, these parts DO NOT SCALE OR PRINT WELL and will become detached or dissapear
Discords new logo resolves this problems that will result in inconsistencies-1 -
@digimbyte Did you not read what I said? The logo would have to be at such a small size for screen printing to be a problem. If they're that desperate to print the logo the size of a dime, they can modify the points before printing. It doesn't mean they have to change how the logo looks on screen.
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are you not familair with PPI?
This also applies to screen resolution as well as print resolution.
Been a photoshop expert for 12 years and an app designer for 5 years.
The goal of a designer should be to create and execute a design for all media and future needs, not just the limitations of the current.
you don't design 6 variations on a logo as it also creates inconsistencies within a brand, and makes it more problematic to update if a future update was to be rolled out.
You may have heard of a PR kit, this is the same issue.-1 -
@digimbyte Yes, I am familiar with PPI. I've been designing vector art assets since 20 years ago. I know how the process works. I've also been using Photoshop for longer than that.
Are you familiar with DTG printing?
Normally, if you want that fine a line to show up on a print that is very, very small it has to be done with CMYK on an underbase print. If you're screen printing straight to the substrate, you need a VERY good silkscreen. But realistically, back to my main argument: how small do they intend to print this logo? At 3-4 inches height you will loose very little detail on those corners. And, like I said, if they're printing very, very small, those problem areas can be reworked to smooth out the print. I've done plenty of designs to know that it can be done.
Remember, most people don't view T-shirt prints at a 5 inch distance. If they're printing that small for it to be a problem, the logo's just going to blend together and look like a dot with eyes anyway. It's all about knowing your final medium. Just as an example, billboards you see aren't 1000 DPI because it's not meant to be viewed with a microscope. You can get away with 25 DPI no problem.
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then you should know that sharp corners are prone to rounding errors in ALL formats of media. and to prevent this, it needs to be at a greater angle of interception. it's purely a case of solving that, as well as minimizing the overall logo.
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I learned that many years ago. And you should know that it only applies to screen printing at very small sizes and very low resolution raster graphics that don't have proper antialiasing. What you just demonstrated is one way of fixing the problem if it arises but it's usually not an issue. The top antennae are a bit excessive, but gets the point.
But again, when are they ever going to be printing this icon in such a case? Even consumer level inkjet printers can print at a DPI of 300. Use case is the important point here. Considering they are a digital company with a web presence and an app, such sharp points are not a problem because of good antialiasing (although Apple has decided to deprecate their sub-pixel anti-aliasing in favor of higher DPI monitors when the standard 109 DPI is more than adequate these days, but that's beside the point). Considering most of the time the logo will be seen in a digital format, the angle of interception is not an issue. The use case where it might be a problem is the exception, not the rule.
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It also applies to icons, low-resolution displays with mipmap compression.
Discord also sells and gives away merch, hoodies, plushies, etc.
I was always considering digital format first and foremost without discarding the notion of physical goods. Such as icon rendering and resizing, pre-rendered and OS 'enhanced' scaling.cheap phones and monitors will enhance any irregularity from all compression methods. you don't want crisp hard edges. at certain resolutions and on the wrong compression algorithm can make the antennas all but vanish.
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Discord sells merch? That's news to me. I guess it's only natural. I would have expected just corporate T-shirts or something.
True enough, but once you're delivering to a device that has such a low DPI that the icon cannot even be distinguished because it's an amorphous blob, you've got bigger design challenges than worrying if a sharp corner will be readable. Mipmaps are certainly helpful especially when, depending on the use case, you can adjust the contrast of each level of map to be readable at each intended resolution. That is one of the drawbacks of vector design: for very low resolutions it's often better to just create a raster graphic.
Take the favicon of this website for example: It's obvious they just took the new logo and scaled it down. Looks pretty bad; just a blob with dots for eyes. But if they had taken the time to make a proper raster image, it could look pretty good at that size.
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Discord has been around for a while now and has become one of the most popular chat platforms among gamers. However, there's one thing that's been bugging me lately, and that's the Discord logo.
The current logo is fine, but it's not great. The "D" doesn't really stand out, and the whole thing just looks a bit bland. Thankfully, there's an easy fix for this.
I'm sure you all have seen the new Clyde discord bot and you may have even used it a few times. But did you know that the Clyde discord bot's logo was actually broken?
Yes, it's true. The logo was broken and it looked like this:
Don't worry, though, because I'm here to fix it!
I'm going to use the best sublimation software to fix the logo and make it look like this:
Now, let's get started!
First, you'll need to download the software. I recommend using GIMP, but you can use any software you want.
Once you have the software, open the Clyde discord bot logo in it.
Next, we need to fix the colors. The easiest way to do this is to use the color picker tool.
Click on the eye dropper tool and then click on the Clyde discord bot logo.
Now, change the color to something closer to the actual color of the Clyde discord bot logo.
Finally, we need to save the logo.
Click on File > Save As and then choose a file format. I recommend using PNG, but you can use any file format you want.
Now, you have a fixed Clyde discord bot logo!
So there you have it, a quick and easy way to fix the Discord logo. Be sure to share this tip with your friends, and make sure to follow me on Twitter for more tips and tricks like this one.
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#spam
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Your thoughts on the logo change say that the old logo had some good things. You say it didn't need a big change. The antennas on the old logo were a problem when printed small, but it wasn't a big issue. You suggest fixing small problems without changing everything.
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