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The Nickelodeon Logo Guide –or– An Unconventional Lesson in Branding
Click the image to view entire guide
Pretty surreal, huh? This is the official Nickelodeon logo guide from the ’90s, designed to keep one of the most versatile symbols in television history on track. For those of us in our twenties, it’s a little weird to think that while we were watching The Adventures of Pete and Pete, there were a bunch of grown-ups worrying about Pantone swatches and drop shadows. It’s perhaps even more bizarre that many of us now worry about Pantone swatches and drop shadows ourselves (while continuing to watch The Adventures of Pete and Pete).
The Nickelodeon identity was created by the same people behind MTV’s generation-defining logo, and it shows–just as MTV needed the visual flexibility to keep up with ever-changing music trends, Nickelodeon needed a way to reflect the spontaneity and imagination of their programming. In both cases, the result was not so much a traditional “bug” but a more modular core that could be modified, rearranged and repackaged indefinitely while remaining surprisingly memorable.
It’s ironic, though, that while branding as an art form has exploded in the last decade, it’s also starting to feel more like an engineering discipline than anything else: less about creativity and more about rules. And maybe it’s always been that way. But while Nickelodeon’s logo guide drives home its share of dos and don’ts, it also gives designers an unusually big world to explore.
My point is that while brands tend to live and die by their consistency, it’s worth remembering that two of the most iconic logos in the pop culture lexicon were built with the goal of constantly changing. I think it’s an interesting lesson, easy as it may be to forget while a client is breathing down your neck. But we can all probably think of a few trademarks that would do well with a little less order and a little more good-natured chaos.
Lastly, check out this blog post by one of the creative directors in the mix at the time. It’s a really interesting read, especially the bit about the uncertainty surrounding the decision to call a children’s TV network “Nickelodeon” in the first place.
Back to TopTopic: Design, Strategy
Tags: logo, logo logic, mtv, nickelodeon
- COMMENTS (6)
I was wowed by the Nickelodeon Logo Logic photos: what a fun presentation of what is actually a rather dry topic! I felt compelled to read the entire guide, because it was so well put together, unlike the last commenter’s “thick notebooks” (which I’ve also had to deal with). While tiny, it felt like a presentation itself, yet in a kid-friendly picture-book format. And now I’m an “expert in logotology” 
Nice find!
Nice post. However, I thought that a brand had means more than just the rules for designing the logo. Interesting.
Great share. I really enjoyed flipping through the ‘book’. It drives home how one group handled that balance between consistency (that you always know who you’re dealing with) and dynamism (that the people you’re dealing with are flexible, interesting, and constantly evolving). RE: ade – of course branding is more than the logo – but how a company manages its logo can often be a guideline for managing the rest of the brand.
I’m someone who’s been thrust into branding and marketing a small company, one that doesn’t have a thick notebook, thin notebook, colorful flipbook… while some people may feel constrained by rules like these, as someone without these guidelines, it can feel like you’re flailing at a consistent brand.
Just as well you got this review in .. the Nick logo has just been killed …and look what they’re replacing it with !
What a find! I always praised Old School Nick for being so spontaneous and creative, and it doesn’t phase me that it was “planned” spontaneity and creativity. I think that it’s a good lesson for modern day designers. And don’t forget that so many people hold the memories from this era so precious, so there’s a lot of things that we can learn from Nick!
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Anson
July 28th, 2009
4:07 pm
It’s not just Nickelodeon and MTV that have detailed rules for branding. Two big companies I worked for in the past ten years had strict guidelines as well, also documented in thick notebooks. They specified fonts, colors, acceptable variations, etc., etc. One was a major brand name brick-and-mortar and the other a high tech company whose customers were other corporations. The first advertised on TV and the second didn’t market to the public so mass marketing wasn’t the primary motivation. It was all controlling the message and the trademark.