The French Logo Malfunction
Readers with elephantine memories will have no trouble recalling that last summer in this space I launched a jeremiad against the freshly-minted graphical identity for the French Government Tourist Office. Those just arriving, or regulars now scratching their heads, are encouraged to wade through the gory details. Note that there will be a short quiz at the end of this post to ensure you soaked up all the historical bits.
Here's where we are in a nut (snail?) shell. Last summer, France joined the ranks of countries having a graphical identity that embodies the delights of a touristic visit. For France, being the world's most popular tourist destination, this represented a non-trivial task, both for those managing the design project, and for the designers themselves. The result, shown below, was to my eyes far from a success, not least because it traded heavily on the mythic French image of Marianne, here in harness (or rather, out of it) to flog the wonders of French tourism.
Recently I stumbled across the logo again and did the proverbial double-take: "What th'...?!," as they say in the comics. Compare the new version below and spot the subtle, and not so subtle, changes.
This new version was launched earlier this year, the byproduct of an upcoming fusion between the Maison de la France, which serves as a promotional agency for tourist travel to France, and ODIT France, responsible for handling the professional side of travel, such as stats, deciding what hotels get a five-star rating, and so on. Stick with me, this will get duller. The two outfits were apparently crammed together into a basement office in a bad suburb of Paris (kidding!) to create some new entity that we're told "has ambitious plans for a better coordinated and more efficient public policy in order to respond to the challenges posed to French tourism." Challenges. Like running out of snails in the high season?
Anyway, this freshly-minted agency, which no doubt has fewer workers but more managers, in the grand fashion of such things, was given the blindingly obtuse name of, wait for it, Atout France. What does that do for you? As background, "atout" can be stuck in front of just about anything to signal comprehensiveness. So Atout Escargots... well, you get the idea. But for the rest of humanity, that moniker will mean less than zero. And just try finding this new entity with grand ambitions online. It doesn't show up in searches and seems to not have a website. Job done! But back to the logo.
It's true that when we deliver a blistering screed here in the blogs, entire governments tremble. So it would be nice to think that the French authorities took our earlier post to heart and subsequently decided to display Marianne just from the head up. But it was probably more a case of the classic administrative qualities of timidity and the need to meddle. Did you spot the deadening hand of committee-think elsewhere in the new version? That's right, the lower f in France now looks more a capital, turning it into one butt-ugly letter. And the star/starfish thingy is bigger. Hey, maybe there are other changes; if you spot them, feel free to share. Me, I'm too discouraged to look at this thing any longer. Especially since I had the misfortune to also see the logo for Atout France (which explains the darker blue in the new tourisim logo).
What would Strunk & White think about me using "What th'...?!" twice in one post?
Chris Dickman
Graphics.com
I'm not sure what you find so offensive about the original logo - personally, I find it much more creative than the 'updated' version. Agreed, the star is a bit of a wonder, but I understand the placement and color for balance, although I would have left it off had it been my design.
Personally, tourism in France need be more concerned with their worldwide opinion than their logo. I'm sure you could guess, I'm American. Having never been to France, but having visited Italy, Spain, Germany, etc., I have no desire to go to France. After a number of friends have returned from Holiday, the opinion is always - skip France when you go to Europe.
Obama can go to Europe and apologize all he wants, he can say we American's are uppity, but he sure doesn't speak for me or anyone that I know personally. I'd love to visit France, but from what I hear, France doesn't want me to visit.
Fix that first - who cares about the logo
Chris responds: If you read my first post on this topic, you would understand what I found offensive about the original version. Regarding your wacky views about how the French feel about Americans, I can assure you they like Americans just fine, it's the policies of some US administrations, notably the last one, that they have some issues with. Thanks to Obama, by the way, Americans are perceived as more interesting than ever, so you might try dropping by some time, along with the other 75 million tourists per year..
well, at least the new version is more effective as a logo - and since that's the essential point of having or redesigning a logo...
Pretty funny tho
(bear in mind that I live in Winnpeg which is still recovering from its own shudderingly lacklustre attempt at branding)
The colors have been changed. Did they think the old look sun bleached? Also why did they change the 6 pointed star between rendez and vous to a 5 pointed star?
I dunno I think the old one had a pleasant "Perky" feel to it.
Chris responds: Yes, now both "stars" have the same numbr of points. Civilization as we know it has been saved.
Uh. Chris? Look's like you have missed the obvious. New formed French whatyoumaycalit Committee is prude. What? speaking about France and not be able to exposed a woman's breasts! I would not be surprised if that was done not to insult the growing French islamic population.
The R and A (negative space) has been modified probably for this reason.
Chris responds: Keep in mind that this logo was created for tourists--that is, non-French. So it's probably more that they figured those outside the borders of France, including those in Islamic countries, might get the wrong message.
Well, hmm. I like the face.
I read your original post, and I really didn't (at first) see what was happening with the R and the a in the original logo. (What does that say about me?) I agree with you that it was a rather tacky representation of an entire country.
With either logo, I don't understand the * between Rendez and vous. It makes no sense, and therefore is a stumbling point. Logos shouldn't have stumbling points. The gold starfish shape makes me think they're advertising the Riviera, mostly, so it appears to limit the portion of France the logo represents.
The colors, though, I think are meant to look more like the French flag. That is better branding, as it is consistent with other colors people associate with France.
Yeah...not a great logo.
Personally, I like the original logo better. It does a much better job of conveying the overall character of the country.
The lighter blue used in the first logo is softer, more inviting. Heh heh, like it or not, the sexual undertones present in the logo themselves are uh, quite inviting too!
The dark blue in the second logo makes it more commanding and more noticeable, but it would not necessarily make me want to visit France the way the first one does.
The biggest problem is that the logo tries too hard to be flowing and 'organic' and draws your eye away in too many different directions.
It's a wonder though, that it manages to be successful in any respect, considering that it has had a bureaucratic albatross hanging around its neck since day one.
The 'A Tout France' (France for Everyone) is, well, bleh. It may be bold and commanding, but it doesn't clearly communicate the benefits of visiting France, nor does it give English readers who have no schooling in French a sense of what it really means.
Whatever happened to all those famous Cinzano posters from the Thirties and Forties? Now there was a model the designers of the France logo could have worked from.
While Cinzano is an Italian company, its posters had a Latin/Romance kind of sensibility that worked as well in France as it did in Italy and elsewhere.
Chris Responds: I agree that the design sensibility of those great posters for aperitifs would be a great starting point for such an identity. Alas, the current French adminstration has a heavy hand in all matters related to alcohol, and so probably would discourage such visual associations.