Founded in 2005 by an ever growing group of young designers and vagabonds eager to collect and share the best design work they came across, FormFiftyFive soon became an international showcase of creative work.
Although the site was doing a great job at sparking creativity, we felt it could, and should, be even bigger and better. So we spent many moons working on a brand new FormFiftyFive, still high in eye (and brain) candy, but with a brand new look and lots of new features that dig even deeper into what’s happening in the design community.
We’ve also added more interactive elements on the site so people can exchange and store ideas more easily, encouraging collaboration and making the site more than just another design blog.
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The new brand for the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth games was launched this morning. With studios in Glasgow, London and New York, Marque was the agency chosen to deliver the brand.
In order to find out more about the thinking behind the project, It’s refreshing to have access to the Brand Story which is available on the official games site.
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Read more - 6 Comments Add ShareTo celebrate the release of director/designer Mike Mills’ new film Beginners, in cinemas July 22nd, we're are offering two lucky winners the chance to win a pair of tickets each to an exclusive preview screening of the film plus Q&A with Mike Mills on ...
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8th Mar 2010
3:07 pm
I had high hopes for this but sadly it\’s fallen well short of Marque\’s expected standard. There are two glaring reasons why this is not good enough just looking at the report on this site: 1. logo shown in black and white and 2. no opinion given, instead we\’re asked to read up on the thinking behind the project. If we need to do that with a logo then the logo has failed.
Please, no \’see it in context\’, \’the supporting brand is great\’, \’getting these logos past committee is a nightmare\’ bull – this logo is just not good enough. The torch element is seemingly compulsory which means that Marque, instead of trying to work with it, seem to try to ignore it. Their typeface selections are poor. It all just looks horribly clunky.
A real shame
Michael
8th Mar 2010
5:02 pm
I like it.
Not sure if its right for Glasgow, it feels more New York. So maybe I shouldn’t like because its wrong. Oh bugger it, it’s nice.
Very…Art Deco?
James
8th Mar 2010
5:27 pm
ah hem, covent garden identity by biblioteque ring any bells…
James
8th Mar 2010
5:28 pm
whoops Bibliotheque*
Patrick
8th Mar 2010
9:17 pm
Nothing\’s new anymore.
http://www.sulki-min.com/wp/?p=2081
The torch and the mark do feel like two very separate thoughts, forced together to create a symbol. As a solitary stamp though the G/Circle/C is strong, so perhaps it will grow in strength in application.
Patrick
8th Mar 2010
9:18 pm
Nothing’s new anymore.
http://www.sulki-min.com/wp/?p=2081
The torch and the mark do feel like two very separate thoughts, forced together to create a symbol. As a solitary stamp though the G/Circle/C is strong, so perhaps it will grow in strength in application.
David Marsh
8th Mar 2010
10:07 pm
I really like the circular G graphic.
Simon
9th Mar 2010
12:47 am
James, I was thinking the exact same.
Ben
9th Mar 2010
10:08 am
It\’s almost identical to http://www.marquecreative.com/#/the-common-guild/
Nikolay
9th Mar 2010
10:57 am
Rob Chiu did nice job on the promo of the games. http://theronin.co.uk/Motion/?2014_Glasgow.mov
Ryan Miglinczy
9th Mar 2010
11:16 am
Seeing it being ‘applied’ in the Rob Chiu piece certainly helps it, and I like the thinking behind the mark, but at the same time I can’t help but thinking it’s missing some of the excitement and energy the games will produce.
Brian Copeland
9th Mar 2010
4:48 pm
My only issue is that awful footer enforced by the Games organisers, without it I think it will work well for them. It\\\’s certainly more timeless that that awful 2012 moniker.
fanie
9th Mar 2010
5:38 pm
Thanx a lot for taking our logo in reference.
We are a bit upset by this big plagiarism.
Could you please write us at this adress [email protected]
Gary
9th Mar 2010
5:39 pm
Don’t mind it, although I prefer the Glasgow Candidate City logo.
Only issue is the colour scheme, although I think they are the original Commonwealth Games brand colours.
Ewan
10th Mar 2010
11:15 am
As others have commented upon the promo video looks fantastic and works well to promote Glasgow and the games.
I think the accusation of plagiarism is unjustified of course there are some similarities but aren’t there in almost every logo out there?
My own gripe is the hue of green in the logo as discussed by Gary,
Because of this I feel the single colour representation of the logo is stronger.
Nikolay
10th Mar 2010
3:40 pm
http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/news/Row-over-39identical39-logo-for.6137459.jp
Interested article about the logo and Marque’s identity for TCG which look pretty similar.
Darren
11th Mar 2010
9:43 am
The accusations of plagiarism are I bit harsh in my opinion and I actually don’t mind it.
Like someone said earlier though, there’s a definite feel of New York Art Deco’ness about it and I’m not sure that’s right for Glasgow.
Darren
11th Mar 2010
9:47 am
Promo vid is ace though!
Rydo
11th Mar 2010
10:55 am
Lothians independent MSP Margo MacDonald was shocked at the similarities between the logos. She said: “At a cost of £95,000, I do hope we don’t have an old logo for the Commonwealth Games. “I know that when the SNP designed their iconic logo back in the Sixties, it cost them about £12. That would seem to be about the right price. The company that provided this logo deserve a medal for their entrepreneurial flair.”
(From Scotsman article, link provided by Nikolay)
—
So now we have half-wit politicians belittling our profession in the mainstream press. Great.
(Actually, I wouldn’t consider the Scotsman mainstream… it’s a rag in broadsheet clothing.)
Andrew
11th Mar 2010
11:01 am
Would work well for the Gotham City games!
Wealth of the Commons
11th Mar 2010
11:09 am
As with all these identities, its painfully predictable how the mainstream press will react. Probably best just ignored, and do something creative instead.
If anyone wants to forget the ‘pitching/getting commissioned/getting paid/getting a load of abuse/on a hiding to nothing/stuck between a rock and a hard place/’ma weans could do that’ way of doing things, you can leave all that behind and indulge in some parallel branding… all contributions welcome.
http://wealthofthecommons.org.uk
This site was launched on 08.03.09 in parallel with the ‘official’ games identity and suggests ways that sporting/cultural events and organisations could carry multiple identities and ways of designing/being/communicating, without the need for these cumbersome 20th century ways of conducting business.
Martin B
11th Mar 2010
4:23 pm
To produce a logo that bears a clear similarity to one of your previous jobs, for an organisation in the same city, is always going to cause a bit of a stir. If it were me, I would have steered well clear of doing so and I’m sure many other designers who frequent this board would also.
Taking a fair whack out of the public purse for a design very similar to something you’ve done previously will understandably rile politicians and the public. Perhaps we should consider how doing so portrays graphic designers and our industry before automatically playing the persecution card.
The 2012 logo was/is controversial because it’s a bold and adventurous design. I personally wasn’t into it at first, but as the years go by it’s starting to look pretty good. It’s energetic and engaging, like the Olympics. To me the Glasgow 2014 logo feels stale and static, not particularly athletic. Perhaps I will be proven wrong again in time.
However, pushing forward the background rationale to justify the design is completely back-to-front. The logo should communicate in its finished form. It’s just us designers who are interested in the background chat and process. The finished result is ultimately what the punters and politicians should and will judge it on.
Rydo
11th Mar 2010
4:50 pm
I’m sure a lot of you out there — particularly in Scotland — have spent more time than you’d care to admit battling with clients to justify process / work / timesheets / costs / blah blah. The last thing any of us needs is high profile politicians making stupid throw-away comments in public which undermine our industry.
I certainly don’t appreciate some hack MSP having a cheap dig.
Darren
12th Mar 2010
10:43 am
Where do you start with a comment like that of Margo MacDonald’s. It beggars belief!
JP
16th Mar 2010
1:01 pm
see our thoughts on the subject here: http://www.turquoisebranding.com/viewpoint/
V
7th Apr 2010
4:50 pm
This reminds me the OCP logo from Robocop.
This is not necessarily a bad thing.
http://mutantreviewers.files.wordpress.com/2009/11/ocp_logo.jpg