The SONY Logo, animated

In the last post, I wrote about the static SONY logo, which gives the eye plenty of time to tear it apart visually. When it's animated, it takes on a different life, with music, a voice over and other effects pushing the type back a few steps.

By far the most elegant is the current animated logo, a mere 2 seconds long:

A second, eight seconds long, two of which are in darkness and six of those in silence, the logo appears from the sunrise and ignites with the sound of a single piano key.

The logo for SONY pictures is also nice, though I'm not wild about the parting of the clouds in the beginning. The prism effect with a man's voice whispering "Sony" saves it for me. 

The one below has the same visuals, however, at the end, there is no voice, but some additional words appear: Pictures (in the regular, not bold Clarendon) HOME (Bold expanded) ENTERTAINMENT (Bold condensed). A little too much for my taste, but it runs quick. 

Here, Clarendon goes from the expanded to the regular in various representations. The animated graphic goes from a three-dimensional metallic sculpture to a flattened piece of typography. An underline animates in different presentations as well. 

Throughout it all, the font keeps its strong character while looking gently aloof and modern. 

The SONY Logo

The Sony Logo is set in Clarendon.

I always thought SONY was a Japanese word, but it's not. The company name was originally Totsuko Products when it was formed in 1955 (according to the website SONY Insider) and changed its name to Sony Corporation three years later.

  
Sony was the first Japanese company neon sign to show its logo in an upmarket area of Hong Kong; designer Yasuo Kuroki had modified the logo which was displayed in ads for Sony’s miniature televisions. The logo had slab serifs that looked something like Clarendon, but Kuroki's final design in 1972 is the one that's still in use today. It has less radical thicks and thins. 

In my opinion, the S and the O could use just a little kerning; perhaps it's the screen rendering that makes it look just a little too far apart. The sunrise version is quite elegant and is employed fully in the animated version for motion picture, which I talk about in the next post.
Ironically, the company had an international call for entries in the early 1980's to redesign the logo. After reviewing the thousands that came in, three were chosen, awarded with a thank-you, and the logo was kept to its original (PTL!)

Clarendon in the US

Back to the previous post: Why a type art piece and why now?

This election ripped some nasty scabs off a lot of gaping wounds. Journalists and artists got trolled mercilessly and shamefully. It became OK to talk about--well, you know. It's been pored over by everyone--and really, there's no one who hasn't groveled. Where are your scruples, Niki Haley?

But it goes back way before this, way back. This election has been in the making for 50, maybe 150 years. That's where it all began, and that's the reason why Clarendon is in the picture.

In the 1830's, a bunch of currents were sweeping the US, floating over from northern Europe, notably Britain. The Second Great Awakening. As ominous as the words sound, they were well-meaning. What they festered into was evident three weeks ago.

Left and detail above: A theatre poster from 1872. Note the thick but rounded
bracketed serif, a modification from the original British Clarendon. 

Around the 1830's the first winds of abolition started to pick up. They had been evident at the time of the Revolutionary War, but lay dormant as the US slapped together the Bill of Rights, the laws of Congress and the Star Spangled Banner. We settled into a country sharply divided by attitudes of City folks and Country folks, yet, as one of the most literate countries in the world at the time, we were in a position to make up our minds about a lot of things simply because we could read about them.

Tooling around the LOC website for 19th century graphics, I found the poster above, condemning the sale and keeping of slave in the District of Columbia. It was published in 1836 by the American Anti-Slavery Society, based in New York.

The Anti-Slavery poster, seems to be one of the early presentations of a Clarendon-style typeface: notice the bracket serif and the cross bar on the capital E, which differs from the Egyptian bold face regarded as Clarendon's predecessor.

Why a type art piece and why now?

Let's face it, this was a painful election. All sixteen months of it.

Starting with the 19--count'em--19--Republicans that had a go at the Seat of Power to Hillary and Bernie duking it out as the DNC sabotaged their way into the hearts of Wikileaks.

You can probably guess who I wanted for prez, but all in all, I was disappointed about the two finalists because they were such old fogies. Both of them. Not at all ageist, I had and still have problems with people running for office when they have an eye on the golf course (no smirks here; and, O plays a lot of golf. I just see golf as the last step before pull-ups and assisted living).

From the Fann Street Foundry Type Specimen Book.

That was one--of many--problems I had with RWR and his minion, 41. I think we need younger candidates; optimistic forward thinkers who are willing to chance and change it all. We need some disruption!

Well, that's what the electorate said; but they voted for the most establishment coot walking the planet. What could be more establishment than a billionaire daddy's boy from Queens?

Back to the type art piece.

I started it before the election. Really. I started it anticipating a hostile congress obstructing the plans and proposals of yet another president for eight years and I questioned why our democracy was being flung from a car window--from the get-go.

DEMOCRACY SPOKEN HERE responds to the voice of people who are marginalized and disenfranchised because of their gender, color or beliefs. It's a series of type treatments of quotes by Americans who were truly on the courageous edge and speak to the struggle of their journey.