Lessons in Logo Redesign

Though The Gap is not a direct PacSun competitor, this whole logo redesign debacle is worth watching closely. People are LIVID.

In a nutshell:

The Gap redesigned their classic blue box and serif logo. It now looks like American Apparel and looks like a 10-year old did it in about 8 minutes. In response, Gap's President issued a rather unenthusiastic statement explaining the redesign and standing by the new logo, but acknowledged that they need to foster this energy and engage in dialog with their consumers by offering a chance for consumers' to submit designs. At the outset, that seemed like a "save," but it seems to be backfiring. On their Facebook Page, hundreds of designers are expressing their outrage over this crowdsourcing experiment calling it "spec work" and lazy.

Watching this unfold will be amazing. One for the history books, no doubt.

Read all about it:

From Fast Company: Gap's Retro Redesign Incites Flaming Logo Rage
From AdAge: Gap Introduces New Logo, Mass Criticism Ensues

Sooooooo....

Lesson #1: Don't let your 10-year old redesign your logo in Microsoft Word.
Lesson #2: When the entire design community and consumers at-large erupt in outrage, don't try to turn it into some crowdsourcing experiment.