Zan Barnett - Design & Direction

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New Idea, Better Idea: Ctrl+Z

Alright, So I hit an epiphany last night. . . 

Long(ish)-form writing is hard and can be very much a daunting task. I feel like I need a ton of words, some well-formed thoughts, a beginning/middle/end, etc. And most of the time I have an idea of something I want to write about, I usually abandon it after I start because it starts to feel like I'm writing a paper (Lots of unpublished drafts).

So I had a better idea.

My new posts are gonna be more rapid-fire takes on designs I see/like/love/hate/whatever. They could be things I've found in nature, or large-scale redesigns or anything really. They're gonna be simply divided into two categories: Ctrl+Z and Ctrl+S. Basically undo it vs save it, dig it vs. not digging it. 

Hopefully, this lets me write more/better/quicker with less pressure to actually be a solid writer while still throwing my thoughts out into the ether. 

 

Here's an example: 

Ctrl+Z: New Library of Congress logo, Designed by Pentagram (Paula Scher)

Pentagram doing Pentagram things again, which on it's own is not a bad thing at all. Paula Scher (fellow Tyler School of Art alum, hell yeah) is fuckin' inspirational and her work is never not good. But the bummer about this update is the loss of the previous mark created by Ivan Chermayeff (RIP in Peace) and Tom Geismar in 2010. On it's own it's insane that the previous mark is only from 2010, as it has that CGH timeless-as-shit quality about it that is simply beautiful.

If you don't know CGH's work, I'm not sure what to tell you, but it can be argued that no agency has created more brilliant and long-lasting marks over the years. So I guess I'm gonna CTRL-Z this new shit because I'm sad about throwing out the old mark, and I think the expected Pentagram solution (see Public Theater or EFF identities to see what I mean by 'expected'), while bold, doesn't validly replace the gravitas of the previous logo. 

That's my 2-cents: Ctrl-Z the new Library of Congress logo.