splorp . critique .

spirals

About | Blog | Cam | Critique | Domains | Hypercard | Links | Newton | Reality Related Links Please note: Most of the pages found on this site have been designed using reasonably valid standardized markup and cascading style sheets. This site will look much better in browsers that properly support web standards. That being said, the content on this site is completely accessible by any browser or internet access device - including a Newton. Oh, and those other pages... they'll be fixed up eventually too. What is with the current profusion of spiral logotypes of late? Are they being derived from the constant spin control that internet speed companies have to put on their insane valuations? Or is it symbolizing the way technology drains away our time from family and the more important things in life? Ok, that's a bit harsh... Seen a swirl in your travels? Let me know about it. grant@splorp.com
G

With the level of buzzword compliancy on the site, it's no surprise that they're a "leading information technology consultancy providing innovative, business-driven, Microsoftfile:///F|/ztemp/logo_critique_spirals/splorp.comcritique.html (1 of 34)16.02.2005 03:43:29

Being Jakob Nielson By Wayne Bremser eNormicom By 37signals Explaining "NT" Firms By Mark Hurst Free Logotypes By Designer.am Handspring Logos By Ad-Visor.net Hztelo T Mismo By Roger Ibars La Logothque By Webchantier Logo Database By URW++ Logoed By fridgedesign Logos For The Design Challenged By Gary Priester Logo Hell By Steven Lekowicz LogoSoup By eConsultant Logotypes Free By Graphit logotypes.ru By Anonymous Rate Logos By CoolHomePages.com Smilogos By Scott Heiferman Spirals

splorp . critique . spirals

centric solutions, ensuring predictable outcomes". Predictable outcomes like... their logo, perhaps? www.internosis. com WebMagic is one of the Internet's premier innovators. If that's true then it's really sad they can't innovate something other better for their own corporate identity. My guess is that they couldn't innovate their way out of the maze at the end of a Kubrick film. Ouch. www.webmagic. com

By Fernando Landgraf Stock Art Logos By GoPromos.com Swoosh No More By Alice Matsumoto Swoosh! There It Is. By George Mannes Symbols.com By HME Media Under The Swooshtika By Adam Greenfield What's In A Logo? Plenty By Kevin Jackson Xblog Logos & Symbols By Xplane Y2-Many Ellipses? By Eric Barao

file:///F|/ztemp/logo_critique_spirals/splorp.comcritique.html (2 of 34)16.02.2005 03:43:29

splorp . critique . spirals

Let's get this straight once and for all. A fog dog is a weather phenomenon. It has nothing to do with sporting goods. This logo has nothing to do with a fog dog or sporting goods. Works for me. www.fogdog. com I am pretty sure that if I were faced with creating an identifying icon for an internet portal company, a vortex-like spiral wouldn't be my first choice. Creating another portal wouldn't be my first choice either. www.freeport. com

file:///F|/ztemp/logo_critique_spirals/splorp.comcritique.html (3 of 34)16.02.2005 03:43:29

splorp . critique . spirals

Once upon a time, a group of Apple alumni had a wonderfully visual mobile computing platform called Magic Cap. They also had a really cool logo. In the shift between business models, someone misplaced the fun. www. generalmagic. com Speaking of Apple alumni. The folks at Eazel are putting a friendly face on Linux with a file manager called Nautilus. Why Nautilus? So they could use a spiral logo of course. I mean, Debian can't have all the fun. www.eazel.com

file:///F|/ztemp/logo_critique_spirals/splorp.comcritique.html (4 of 34)16.02.2005 03:43:29

splorp . critique . spirals

Your business is keeping people in the paper and printing industry in the loop. So obviously you name your company PaperLoop. What does your logo need to be? A loop on a sheet of paper, of course. Perfect. www.paperloop. com Plumtree is a cute name for a company that provides corporate portalin-a-box solutions. The logo is cute. Almost too cute. It's a good thing they have macho products like the Massively Parallel Portal Engine. www.plumtree. com

file:///F|/ztemp/logo_critique_spirals/splorp.comcritique.html (5 of 34)16.02.2005 03:43:29

splorp . critique . spirals

The venerable worldwide broadcaster goes portal. When the BBC dipped its toes into the ecommerce pool, no expense was spared on brand carryover. And that red dot just makes me want to click. www.beeb.com Say, what do we have here? A well established digital audio tool developer with a nautilus shaped logo. If you place your ear next to the corporate style guide, I wonder if you can hear the ocean? www.digigram. com

file:///F|/ztemp/logo_critique_spirals/splorp.comcritique.html (6 of 34)16.02.2005 03:43:29

splorp . critique . spirals

Not that we really needed to know, but eMation's company profile explains: "e for embedded. e for Internet. Working together for autoMation". I always thought that internet started with an "i". www.emation. com Yes, "your free office on the web" offers services such as calendaring and permanent storage for your files. Why the spiral? It's your head hitting the monitor when you can't get online to access all your data. www.space2go. com

file:///F|/ztemp/logo_critique_spirals/splorp.comcritique.html (7 of 34)16.02.2005 03:43:29

splorp . critique . spirals

SCT says they are a "global information technology solutions company" applying "relationship leverage initiatives". Covers all the bases doesn't it? So does that logo. Hold on tight, it's leveraging. www.sctcorp. com Hot out of the oven and right into the stew. AltaVista's shiny new Googlewannabe could have been a brand extension. They should have used their own image search to check the net for other spiral logos. raging.altavista. com

file:///F|/ztemp/logo_critique_spirals/splorp.comcritique.html (8 of 34)16.02.2005 03:43:29

splorp . critique . spirals

Yet another hotel and resort conglomerate that wants to surround you with all the warmth and charm of a dust devil. As if the obvious Hollywood reference wasn't enough to make your head spin. www.starwood. com The call to action on the splash page for this highly interactive museum is "Get Fascinated". While you're at it, you can get whirling, start spinning, and learn to build your own spiral logo. www.smm.org

file:///F|/ztemp/logo_critique_spirals/splorp.comcritique.html (9 of 34)16.02.2005 03:43:29

splorp . critique . spirals

When banks and other financial institutions start competing for business, it's not a pretty sight. Want to soften the consumer's scenario? Use an online intermediary that's organic and businesslike. www. lendingtree.com Need your hand held while shopping for electronic products? These guys will be the home theater Annie Sullivan to your technophobic Helen Keller. But will they untangle the rat's nest behind my stereo? www. getplugged.com

file:///F|/ztemp/logo_critique_spirals/splorp.comcritique.html (10 of 34)16.02.2005 03:43:29

splorp . critique . spirals

Given that Whole Earth 'Lectronic Link has been around since the punchcard, I should probably show some respect and cut 'em a little slack. But, I'm getting vertigo from that logo guys. www.thewell. com Did something just drop into a pool of yellow liquid? Or is there a pulsating subwoofer under that puddle. No matter, as long as the logo says high-speed Digital Subscriber Line to the end-user. www.rhythms. com

file:///F|/ztemp/logo_critique_spirals/splorp.comcritique.html (11 of 34)16.02.2005 03:43:29

splorp . critique . spirals

Providing ecommerce services for the bricks to clicks world, Retek spots trends in retail channels using something called Predictive Technology. That explains the Reveenesque hypnotic spiral. www.retek.com This Finnish group performs information technology research. And their cyclonic, whirling wave of a logo seems to fit the bill, once you read their tagline: "surfing on the top of the information age". www. mediateam.oulu. fi

file:///F|/ztemp/logo_critique_spirals/splorp.comcritique.html (12 of 34)16.02.2005 03:43:29

splorp . critique . spirals

Actually, this is a very cool service. Customizable, templated documents that come flying out of your browser like sheets of tissue off a big old, electronic roll of, uh... hot paper. www.hotpaper. com It's a recycled wood and polymer composite material. It's moisture and termite-resistant. It wears like stink, complements any home, and apparently comes in a roll like carpeting. www.timbertech. com

file:///F|/ztemp/logo_critique_spirals/splorp.comcritique.html (13 of 34)16.02.2005 03:43:29

splorp . critique . spirals

There's really only one logo that would fit this company, and good golly if they didn't nail it. But, I can't help thinking that they should be selling vacuum cleaners or lawn mowers or salad spinners... www. cyclonecommerce. com With a name like the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation, your visual identity should speak clearly about your company and work hand-inhand with your corporate values. Well? Hmmm... Right. www.dtcc.com

file:///F|/ztemp/logo_critique_spirals/splorp.comcritique.html (14 of 34)16.02.2005 03:43:29

splorp . critique . spirals

Hey, what's that thing swirling around in the abyss of the internet? Oh never mind, it's just the remains of a telephone receiver and the promise of next to free telecom from your pc. www.net2phone. com I'm not entirely sure why Cincinnati's Contemporary Art Center is located at spiral. org. There must be some logical or creative reason behind it, but for the life of me I can't find it on their site. www.spiral.org

file:///F|/ztemp/logo_critique_spirals/splorp.comcritique.html (15 of 34)16.02.2005 03:43:29

splorp . critique . spirals

What's that giant sucking sound? Another great idea gone, that's all. Black Hole is the final resting place for the orphaned, yet stylishly sincere matte black hardware platform once known as NeXT. www. blackholeinc. com With a name derived from a profound latin phrase, you might imagine that your logo would try a bit harder not to look like the one emblazoned on your most voluminous competitor. Again, it's the spiral and the swoosh. www.asicstiger. com

file:///F|/ztemp/logo_critique_spirals/splorp.comcritique.html (16 of 34)16.02.2005 03:43:29

splorp . critique . spirals

Raise your hand if you ever ran a fractal generator on your computer back in the early nineties. Chaos theory bred fractals and this company name obviously bred the logo. A spiral as nature intended. www.k-os.com Look out! It's the old flying compact disc as multimedia logo ploy. I was always under the assumption that the "multi" in multimedia meant "more than one". But I guess you can't make a web page look like a Q. www. multimediaquebec.com

file:///F|/ztemp/logo_critique_spirals/splorp.comcritique.html (17 of 34)16.02.2005 03:43:29

splorp . critique . spirals

I can see a real easy joke in here about people who work in marketing being snakes and speaking with forked tongues, but I'm not going to go there. However, there is this whole spiral marketing schtick... www. pythonmarketing. com This company, along with iBelong offer portal building services for business and organizations. The belief that portals all look and feel the same is perpetuated, seeing as both, in some manner, adopted the spiral. www.esociety. com

file:///F|/ztemp/logo_critique_spirals/splorp.comcritique.html (18 of 34)16.02.2005 03:43:29

splorp . critique . spirals

Where eSociety has that queasygreen parenthesis thing going for its logo, iBelong is wrapping it's ever-lovin' arms around you. Or is it a freakish brown tongue? At any rate, it's definitely saying "I be long." www.ibelong. com Implied sophistication through simulated calligraphy just ain't gonna cut it. You can run, but you cannot hide from the spiral, Mr. Hilton. Is it me, or does anyone else see two hotel room doors in a hallway? www.hilton.com

file:///F|/ztemp/logo_critique_spirals/splorp.comcritique.html (19 of 34)16.02.2005 03:43:29

splorp . critique . spirals

Topica is for people who can't seem to gain control of all the mailing lists bludgeoning their inbox to death. Hey Topica! Find me a reference! Circle a key phrase! That's life when you're the internet's highlighter. www.topica.com I guess everyone needs to belong to an association. The National Housewares Manufacturers Association apparently wants you to believe that home is where the swirl is. Maybe they should talk to cooking.com www. housewares.org

file:///F|/ztemp/logo_critique_spirals/splorp.comcritique.html (20 of 34)16.02.2005 03:43:29

splorp . critique . spirals

Transpoint offers a service to take care of all my bill payments online. Great concept, but I can't help being reminded by their logo that my hard earned money is still going down the drain. www.transpoint. com The convoluted road of Cosmo starts at Silicon Graphics. Then the promising VRML playback technology spun off into Cosmo Software now owned by Computer Associates. No wonder their heads are spinning. www.sgi.com/ software/cosmo/

file:///F|/ztemp/logo_critique_spirals/splorp.comcritique.html (21 of 34)16.02.2005 03:43:29

splorp . critique . spirals

They bill themselves as "more than the world's largest craft store". Commerce, community, chat, and a logo carved with a crazed router. And check out the man in charge, Angus Mackie. Nice pair - of scissors. www.craftshop. com It's a veritable three-ring circus of vertically integrated new media fun over at Corus Entertainment. They own radio stations, television studios, and apparently almost every typeface known to man. www.corus.com

file:///F|/ztemp/logo_critique_spirals/splorp.comcritique.html (22 of 34)16.02.2005 03:43:29

splorp . critique . spirals

Dynamic dragand-drop web content organization tools are the name of the game for this upstart startup. Stand back! That purple tentacle has been hollowed out like an aircraft fuselage for sheer speed. www.octopus. com With a product like internetbased fax storage and retrieval, you might adopt a logo that was a bit less reminiscent of the past. I like tightly curled wads of thermal fax paper as much as the next guy, but... www.efax.com

file:///F|/ztemp/logo_critique_spirals/splorp.comcritique.html (23 of 34)16.02.2005 03:43:29

splorp . critique . spirals

Things go around in the used music and video business. Discs, tape reels, LPs. But I think it's my head that's spinning from the electric purple and gun metal grey color scheme. To everything, turn, turn, turn... www. secondspin.com Perhaps the grandaddy of all spiral-based corporate identities. Sybase is where the classic mathematics of the golden section meets numbingly safe draftsmanship. Pythagoras would be so proud. www.sybase. com

file:///F|/ztemp/logo_critique_spirals/splorp.comcritique.html (24 of 34)16.02.2005 03:43:29

splorp . critique . spirals

A motivated group of web folk based in the UK have made the spiral their own by applying the age-old technique of antiquing. Just remember, we're the leading-edge design firm with the woodcut logo. www.forty2c. com Poor sods. What else could a interactive design company named Communication Wave do with their corporate identity anyway? A big, ol' c in their name, plus the implied radiating wave, and boom! We got spiral. www.c-wave. com

file:///F|/ztemp/logo_critique_spirals/splorp.comcritique.html (25 of 34)16.02.2005 03:43:29

splorp . critique . spirals

Unfortunately, this logo reminds me of the game where someone is blindfolded, spun around several times, and then has to stumble around the room aimlessly. Interesting concept for a travel destination site. www. go2orlando.com Appropriately symbolic for a modern resort hotel is the image of the sun. Warm, bright, and welcoming. But if the sun starts to spin around like this one, maybe you're just getting heat stroke. www.kealani. com

file:///F|/ztemp/logo_critique_spirals/splorp.comcritique.html (26 of 34)16.02.2005 03:43:29

splorp . critique . spirals

Now this must be a company who's 3D hardware products obviously go a long way to provide consumers with two of the most requested computer sensory experiences disorientation and dizziness. www.nvidia.com Beyond the literal representation of the fifth letter of the alphabet, I cannot fathom the concept behind this logo for a beauty products site. Unless it's a belly button or something... hmmm. www.eve.com

file:///F|/ztemp/logo_critique_spirals/splorp.comcritique.html (27 of 34)16.02.2005 03:43:29

splorp . critique . spirals

I think the idea here was to mesh a generic, recognizable symbol such as an animal paw with a stylized human finger print. Sort of a personalized service meets happy puppy kind of thing. Woof! www.pets.com A tumbling pile of ice crystals identifies this self-proclaimed "leading provider" of online stuff for what they call "generation i". Of course, you know what happens to snow when the heat is turned up... www.snowball. com

file:///F|/ztemp/logo_critique_spirals/splorp.comcritique.html (28 of 34)16.02.2005 03:43:29

splorp . critique . spirals

The biggest, baddest job-op portal in the universe has succumbed to the swirl. Yeah, I know, it's supposed to be a stylized purple eyeball to tie into the name. Whatever. Any openings for a logo designer? www.monster. com Evolution is your basic group of software developers and system integrators. Yawn. In a ironic twist of tale, they mention that they are a spinoff of another company called MindVox. Spin. Spiral. Get it? www.evolution. com

file:///F|/ztemp/logo_critique_spirals/splorp.comcritique.html (29 of 34)16.02.2005 03:43:29

splorp . critique . spirals

Makers of the original Video Toaster also have this way-cool animation app called LightWave. What a spurting petroglyphic spiral has to do with killer three-dee swankiness, I'll never know. www.newtek.com/ products/ frameset_lightwave. html The Open Market logo used to be a planet with a swoosh, as still seen in this part of their site. Recently the corporate look was overhauled and the logo morphed into a spiral within a square. Way to take a chance. www. openmarket.com

file:///F|/ztemp/logo_critique_spirals/splorp.comcritique.html (30 of 34)16.02.2005 03:43:29

splorp . critique . spirals

Underneath the skin of the seemingly clever visual concept, lies an evil lurking spirit known as the spiral design element. Sometimes you just can't hide the obvious. Springs. Spirals. They're all alike. www. mindspring.com As if he didn't control enough markets already, Corbis is Bill Gates' play into the world of digitized visual content. Currently, Corbis is engaged in a grudge match with that other old money picture-monger, Getty. www.corbis.com

file:///F|/ztemp/logo_critique_spirals/splorp.comcritique.html (31 of 34)16.02.2005 03:43:29

splorp . critique . spirals

Transmeta is a mysterious company with a mysterious chunk of hardware named the Crusoe processor. They apparently have a whack of patents that are much more impressive than their screamingly mediocre logo. www.transmeta. com Just what the world needs. Debian provides yet another free, alternative, opensource, Linux based operating system. These things seem to breed like flies don't they? Did I mention it was free? www.debian.org

file:///F|/ztemp/logo_critique_spirals/splorp.comcritique.html (32 of 34)16.02.2005 03:43:29

splorp . critique . spirals

Anyone within recent earshot of a game potato won't require any introduction to the Dreamcast, Sega's latest polygoncrunching, trance-inducing game box. Oooh, look at all those bright colors. www.sega.com/ console Tivola is one of Europe's highest profile and best known children's multimedia publishers and distributors. Apparently Sega hadn't heard of them when they designed the Dreamcast logo. www.tivola.com

file:///F|/ztemp/logo_critique_spirals/splorp.comcritique.html (33 of 34)16.02.2005 03:43:29

splorp . critique . spirals

At least the shape and color of this logo makes sense in relation to the company name. Unless of course, you use a gas cooktop or a Coleman stove - then I guess the connection would be less obvious. www.cooking. com

About | Blog | Cam | Critique | Domains | Hypercard | Links | Newton | Reality Questions or comments regarding this site? grant@splorp.com Copyright 1996-2004 Grant Hutchinson. All rights reserved, buddy. Page Updated: Saturday, March 20, 2004

file:///F|/ztemp/logo_critique_spirals/splorp.comcritique.html (34 of 34)16.02.2005 03:43:29