I believe that, sometimes, good design can be over-thought. Such is the case with the new Jockey logo. It is a clean and interesting design that they unveiled last week. I really like how it looks, actually. The new website they have is realy something nice, as well. It all works.
But to me, I’m lost when they start describing the reasoning behind all of the design ideas:
“Jockey’s new swirl icon is a symbolic representation of the science and math that we are applying in our product development to raise the bar on our 130-year-old commitment to comfort,” explains Ed Emma, president and chief operating officer. “Through body-scanning technologies and cutting-edge fabrications, we are creating best-in-class apparel for consumers and generating positive results for our retail partners and our brand.”
Jockey is employing state-of-the-art body-scanning techniques to yield insights into the anatomical measurements and movements of the human body. Jockey’s first products to integrate this research include Jockey(R) 3D Innovations(TM), a men’s underwear collection introduced this year with a signature red waistband, signifying innovation and featuring the new icon. For women, Jockey is applying the anatomical learning to its Bra Collection.
Along with the alignment of math and science, the new icon symbolizes the brand’s global reach and pursuit of unity and harmony, according to Victor Herbert, chief creative officer, who oversaw the icon’s design.
“The ring in the center is a universal symbol for unity,” explains Herbert. “The seeds of life, which emanate from the ring, are the universal symbol for fertility and were chosen to represent renewal. Jockey has a heritage of innovation, and we are carrying ourselves forward in the spirit of renewal.” These two symbolic elements are combined to form a spiral or barrel vault, a design that illustrates the universal ratios found throughout nature that Jockey designers are using as inspiration for prints and patterns.
“Three vines of life were chosen purposefully,” says Herbert. “People from all cultures associate the number three with the triads of spirit-mind-body, art-science-religion, and past-present-future.” Inspired by nature and ageless mathematical principles, the icon is a symbol of the future, Herbert concludes.
The new swirl icon embraces both the brand’s heritage of comfort and its growth into the future.
To me, that is overkill. I feel bad for the designer(s) who had to sit in a room with all of the pinheads from marketing while they described all of these ideas that they wanted to capture in a logo. I feel worse if they had to sit in front of a computer while some sales guy stood over them saying “move that leaf a little to the right! Now move it to the left! That’s great! Now make it red and blinking! Oh, you won’t do that?”
But hey, the end result is nice so I congratulate them.