Since this hits a little closer to home, I thought i’d mention that this year’s Woodward Dream Cruise— an event that draws thousands of enthusiasts to Detroit each year— just redesigned their logo. I don’t really care much for cars or the event but i’ve always felt the responsibility to make the Dream Cruise look more marketable and systematic fell largely in the auto industry’s court. And year after year, they’ve failed dismally:
2005 Logo
2006 Logo
2007 Logo
I cringe every-time i flick on the television and tune into the local ABC affiliate here in Detroit because the on-air graphics are clunky, outdated and unattractive. Meanwhile, the news anchors and event organizers seem keen on ignoring the issue all-together. They happily cover the event and i sit off to side shaking my head because i don’t get it. With all it’s resources and vast amounts of talent, visually the event never looked much better than the theatre posters the drama department at my former highschool would make.
Other logo iterations
But at least this time, i think they’re going in the right direction. I should mention the new logo was designed by long-time automotive designer Dick Ruzzin and digitized by Rochester based studio Catalyst (who live just down the street from us here at Trent Design). Previously, Ruzzin was director of Design for both GM Europe and Chevrolet North America.
I think this new 2-Dimensional look does a better job of communicating the spirit of the celebration sans all the hokey 3D gradients and chunky type-treatments. Plus the color palette is a little more livelier. It’s not a total turn-off.
