The new logo

Is here. What do you think?

Personally, I think it's a bit silly.

Ooh, um, aah. Not sure to be honest Councillor.

IIRC this logo will be used from next year onwards for everything, bringing all merchandising under one banner.

It's better than the old one. I like it.

I'm afraid the new logo has done what I thought impossible in the new series, and turned me into a h8ter. To expand from GB:

The desiners of the logo make so many mistakes as to be unbelievable. The letter forms are too awkward, the serifs on the H make it read as an R, the W doesn't look like a W because of the lack of an indentation on the base, the R looks strange. The fact that some letters have serifs and others don't also confuses the eye. The blockiness of the type face renders all the words as a solid mass with no room to breathe, yet at the centre are holes formed from the C and the T, with the T in particular having the wrong letter spacing (ie, it is too far away from the letters around it) Meanwhile, the lack of a connection at the centre of the R make the centre line that's produced thicker than the gap between it and the O next to it. The type face, colouring, and lens glare all look incredibly dated to me, and the whole thing reeks of retro.

I also can't figure out how they're going to place the logo on a product, as it's essentially a square, and most products aren't, which means it will either be tucked away, embarrassed in a corner, or has been designed so it will always be seen with the DW logo next to it.

The DW as Tardis is the only part of the design that works, and for me looking at it, seems to be the basis of the logo idea-- I imagine that they came up with that idea first, and then had to try designing the proper logo from it.

All in all it looks stifling and dated. If it sums up the new series it's essentially saying it's looking backwards, not forwards. The previous logo, for all it's faults, was very of its time, and totally unlike anything that has come before. It was bright and it was attention grabbing. This one simply isn't. It's dull and square.

Working on the Celestial Toyroom cover and redrawing the classic Tom logo in illustrator made me appreciate the amount of thought that had gone into it, and how uniquely the designer had solved many of the problems inherent in the Doctor Who logo (in particular, the C, T, O letter spacing and the fact that the WHO part will always dominate the logo if the Doctor part is placed above it). The same can be said for the 2005 logo. This logo looks amateur. It also looks resolutely masculine, and if it's an indicator of the new series as a whole, I see a massive drop off in the female audience for the new series.

Sorry everyone, but I'm afraid I really don't like it..

That's quite a harsh assessment Lee and I bow to your designing skills. I don't mind the logo, although I find the Tardis shape cheap and tacky. It does scream retro (which is why it's being loved on GB) but I'm sure I'll get used to it.

I did have a text from someone who said it's a 4:3 design not a 16:9 and there's a lot of truth in that.

Fascinating to hear the views of a professional Lee. Thanks.

very retro- bit uninspired really. but it is only a logo

Looking at Lee's comments made me think 'yes, that's what I was thinking without having the skills or knowledge to express it'. Especially

All in all it looks stifling and dated. If it sums up the new series it's essentially saying it's looking backwards, not forwards. The previous logo, for all it's faults, was very of its time, and totally unlike anything that has come before. It was bright and it was attention grabbing. This one simply isn't. It's dull and square.

It feels like something that could have been stuck on one of the bad movie ideas from the 90s to me - aside from the Tardis bit, it feels very generic and 'ooh, that looks Sci-Fi' (or worse, SyFy) rather than Whoish.

That TARDIS logo is well naff. The Moff must go!

Without wishing to sound like the logo-police (ho ho ho), I'm really not keen at all. The serifs, as mentioned, just don't seem to work, and the whole thing looks a bit 'cartoon-y' - like it was designed for a 1998 webcast or somesuch.

I suspect that placing it next to the DW TARDIS does it no favours, mind - I wouldn't be at all surprised if the 'Doctor Who' was the main logo, used on covers, the telly, et cetera, and the TARDIS portion was used more as a kind of shorthand on spines, bags, and the like.

Although, in the long run, my lack of being-impressed-ness may well be a blessing - I was 'Oh, pretty cool' about Mr Smith's casting, 'Hmm...' about his costume, and now 'Not sure at all' about the logo - all of which nicely manages my expectations and stops me collapsing into a frothing fan-mess about the new series. Which I'm sure will be aceness.

I had thought I'd react with "oh, yeah, whatever, it's a logo." But no, I'm with Lee; my first reaction was actually "Oh. Ick." It's clumsy. And a poor use of (not enough) color. How's that gonna work on a white tee shirt in the summer? (I was able to get the surfboard to work fine on both black and white...)

The 'Tardis' thing is...um.

Lee - good lord. This is why I tend not to argue with the professionals. When I look at the lettering, I think "this is the sort of thing I would end up with after a morning of well intentioned playing around in Paintshop Pro". This is not a good thing. It looks a bit...slapped together from fonts laying around on a Windows PC.

I don't hate the Tardis-y thing. I do think it's a bit...um.

Underwhelmed.

"Underwhelmed" sums up my reaction as well.

Bloody hell, it's strange that, for the first time in around five years, I'm criticising Dr Who instead of praising it. and then getting into arguments over at GB with people I usually side with.

Ah well, I imagine in time I'll grow to accept the logo, but at the moment, every time I look at it my eyes hurt.

I blame RTD!

I think the H looks a little like a K. The use of serifs is intended to imply movement in the letters, as though the word "who" is moving right to left on the screen. Now, look at where the serif is on the D in Doctor. It's as though the movement in "doctor" is left to right.

A bit confused in design orientation, then, as Lee said upthread a bit. But I'll give it this: it certainly has that franchise brand quality about it: The Cybus Industries of Doctor Who logos.

While we're slagging off Doctor Who, did anybody see the photos of Matt Smith in Ten's suit? And did they think, like me, that he looked a lot better dressed normally, instead of like a freak?

SFX have published another version of the logo that is, unbelievably, even worse. Ok, it solves the blockiness of the previous version, but only at the cost of making the Doctor part even more unintelligible.

And Rich, yes, I see what you mean about Smith in Tennant's outfit.

Oh god, I've become a h8ter!

Ok......Very interesting thoughts folks.
Mt first reaction was ...Oh.
Hmmm, Im not sure so retro, in terms of Font or echoeing back to the old style was a good idea.
So gut reaction was surprise.
I agree the spacing is a little off. and yep, its very 4:3 and as a whole I prefer 16:9 or even 2:40:1 so theres the initial concern there.
Personally I liked what RTD did.The surfboard was bold, totally different, instantly recognisable shape and font. The second you saw in , even at a distance, you knew what it was. It was a branding success. and yep, worked fantastic on a big widescreen telly.

Its hard to scope what the logo will look like now in the new titles.....

BUT, Moffat , Im sure must have had a big hand in it. The Tardis DW is genius.....tacky, a little cheesey, but hes right, the kids will (hopefully) stencil it on their copybooks and that too can be as brandable as the surfboard.

Im actually not adverse to the Logo on SFX....with the DW logo between the doctor and the Who.....Ill wait to see what they do with the titles and I hope theres no face in the titles....thats too cliched and corny now.

I remain undecided. Just showed Mrs C=O and she really likes the new logo. And she's probably a good representative for the *not we's*.

I quite like it, especially the light at the top. It is very much harking back to the Movie and late-ninties logo when written in full.

Alright, but... could somebody w/an eye for gfx work out how to fade out (in streaks or something) from a dark background, so that one could see the letters and also put the results (at a discreet size) onto a white tee?

My surfboard tee logo (made ourselves from the 05-09 art, I mean--they don't seem to sell anything this classy) is like... 3" x 1" and easily recognizable. (Goes at the top of where a guy's tee might have a pocket. Works great black or white, as I said.) How to do this with the new logo?

hmmm..


looks the wrong size on windows








...


miss the color, looks somewhere between cybus and psilon, but I'd like to see what they do with it -- who knows, they might be able to make it work..

konstantin wrote:hmmm..


looks the wrong size on windows

Speaking as another professional graphic designer, I think it's elegant and quite pleasing and I see no problems whatsoever with the unique shapes involved. I can see the spacing issue with the T but don't see it as remotely a problem whatsoever.

The DW TARDIS is of course brilliant. I would have been quite happy to design this one. It's also worlds apart from the incredibly tacky, thinly lettered and poorly spaced "lozenge" we've had to deal with in the last few years.

Just to provide a different perspective.