Knowing the work quality from TAXI we were surprised by the end result. Somehow we thought that it was an inside decision that went wrong.

I believe that soon they will try to redefine the logo and simplify it for the better.

Great work!

I agree, Ian. TAXI gets a little free PR, but more than that, I was very interested to know how this one panned out.

Thanks very much, James. I’m curious, was there anything in my book you thought I could improve upon? I’ve been thinking about writing another — one that’s less “logo design,” more “brand identity.”

Alex, I think you’re right when you say the fingers have become so visible they can stand alone, and I can understand why the organisation wanted to remove the book. Pages are definitely still relevant, though (i.e., web pages), just less-so the book.

Ian, I quite liked the lower-left option, too, but I felt that including white in the design added an increased level of contrast that really helped the symbol stand-out. Interesting to note you saw a mouse in the TAXI symbol. As you’ll see in part II, it is in fact a pebble.

The shape of the yellow blob that TAXI came up with reminds me of a little of a mouse, but in that sense it’s going to get outdated quite quickly even without that terrible 3D effect. User interfaces are moving quite rapidly towards touch these days (pushed by the iPhone and the iPad), so in that sense I think the Yellow Pages walking fingers are going to come full circle and be extremely relevant once again.

Do you not feel that the idea is lost some what by dropping the little icon of the book below the fingers? I really liked the idea that the fingers were walking through the pages, I always understood that that’s why the fingers were walking in the first place?
You could argue that the fingers have become iconic enough now to not need the book element to back it up.
Having said that, your crafting of the hand is very much an improvement, and your concepts are very visually strong.
I have to say, I am disappointed with the outcome from Taxi, it does nothing for me at all. I would even go as far to say that the typography is a downgrade from the original logo.

Alex

Also, just read your book. Fantastic job. Congrats on all your success.

Hats off to TAXI though, like you said, for contacting you and for sharing their design process with you (although they get some free PR from it). Looking forward to reading it.

Your proposal preserves very well the essence of the company.

Also I think TAXI’s proposal is good, but the colors are a bit disturbing, the bright bright yellow mixed with a shade of grey, I’d prefer if they would use the same colors as yours.

Nina, you could very well be right about the options TAXI produced.

Lauren, back in the day I would’ve been quick to bash the competition, but after a few years in the profession it’s easy to understand how big a role the client plays in the design process, and how rather than compete with each other, design studios should think of it more as colleagues learning from each other. If that makes sense — I’ve been awake for quite some time.

You ask some great questions, and from the quick glimpse I’ve had at TAXI’s work, I think you’ll find they’re answered in my upcoming post.

Thanks for joining in the chat, folks. Off for some kip.