13 months later addendum (for all the *salty* Canberrians). I should've been explicit (can't remember if I was) all the logos for states and cities are only the municipal logos, not the tourism/PR ones. Canberra.com.au doesn't count - go down the bottom and click the link "Already live in Canberra?" it takes you to the municipal website, which is act.gov.au. Otherwise, I would have had a whole other set of logos in this roundup... northernterritory.com - visitnsw.com - queensland.com etc. etc. Would anyone be interested in a followup with all of those?
Definitely. I'm expecting much higher budgets/effort, and I think that these effects will probably cause logos which are on the whole more worthy of praise, and whose flaws are more nuanced and/or covered up by the flashiness of their production value
My grandfather Michael Bryce designed the Brisbane city council, Queensland government and the previous Gold Coast council logos. Thank you so much for this video, he would have loved it...
As a fairly accomplished American graphic artist who now lives in Brisbane, I really like what your grandfather designed. What is evident is a sense of pride. The symbol of the city hall is dated, but still works so well (I hope that they never change it). I remember the first time I took a bus to the CBD, and that logo was embroidered on the seats... then I stepped out of the bus station, and saw city hall... it kind of gave me chills. The logo was so perfect. Like Linus said, a clock tower can be a bit cliché, but I think that your grandfather's work was spot on in distilling the flavour of Brisbane. And when I received a letter telling me that I qualified for a permanent residency, his logo was on that letter. I saved it. Cheers.
I've been a Brisbane girl my whole life and the logo evokes such nostalgia for me, particularly because they've made such an awful mess of King George Square. In the 90s we'd hang out on the grass, splash in the water, and wear t-shirts screenprinted locally saying "For my sins I live in Brisbane" with the iconic city hall logo above it.
Former TasGov employee here. Did my nut that the state logo (on all our letterheads) was Verdana, yet the style guide mandated Gill Sans for letters… bad news when you're printing alphanumeric IDs and need to distinguish uppercase i, lowercase L, and the numeral 1...
Personally, I absolutely love the green/gold combo, when done right. It is so distinctly Aussie, to me. But when it is slightly off...it quickly becomes an eyesore
As a South African I always feel like it’s turning into Springboks colours when it’s gold instead of the more garish bright yellows - but I’m happy to admit that it’s a cool colour combo and there’s room for more than one group of people to use it!
I've never liked the green and yellow ("gold") combo. Perhaps the problem is that green is usually overemphasised, which suggests nausea. Designs that emphasise yellow are more appealing, and are usefully suggestive of sun and sand.
In just a short time you've become one of those channels I'm always delighted to see pop up on my front page - and I've never even had much interest in graphic design before!
Thank you kindly! I've always appreciated what science communicators have been doing on CZcams, making science interesting and accessible to non-scientist, and recently a crop of channels have been doing that for things like music theory (Adam Neely) and law (Legal Eagle) -- my hope is to do the same thing for graphic design! So it makes me happy to hear that's the case for you. :)
Such an interesting video! Would have loved to hear your thoughts on other iconic Australian logos - one that's always stuck out for me is the ABC logo and how recognisable it is.
Reminds me of the time my image processing professor blasted channel 10 for introducing a gradient into their logo when their image quality is so bad that there's aliasing. In the logo.
My only critque of it is it looks like it could be the Tasmanian Government logo. I know it was a transition from the original government logo which also featured the Southern Cross, however I think they should ad a little dip at the top to make look like a stylized V and not like a stylized Tasmania
Very interesting - even though I’ve no connection with Australia. As an ex-biologist I’d say the unifying meme for the country should be marsupials! Where’s the duck-billed platypus?! Incidentally your fleeting footnote on Eric Gill led me down a rabbit-hole I didn’t know about, thanks (kind of!). Keep up the good work!
Thanks Dingo - but if you've no connection to Australia, where does the name come from? ;) The marsupials make a lot of appearances on Australian coinage - Platypus on the 20c, Echidna on the 5c, Kangaroo on the $1. Although no love for the Koala! Yes, I feel the conflicted about Eric Gill, his work is so entrenched in 20th century design, especially British Design, that he can't be overlooked, but then neither should we venerate history's monsters without an acknowledgement of their sins either.
19:10 shields within a coat of arms is well established heraldry. In this particular case the fourth quarter of the shield is taken from the arms of Perth, Scotland, the city after which Perth (WA) is named. Points too for abstracting the actual design to a simple escutcheon with a bordure (Perth, Scotland is "Escutcheon Gules within a double Tressure counter flory a Holy Lamb passant reguardant, staff and cross Argent with the banner of St Andrew proper, the whole ensigned with a Mural Crown Or").
Heritage is DEFINITELY a part to consider in design in government. You have hundreds of thousands of people's represented by a place brand, and many people are especially conservative and won't like contemporary "guff".
Since then, the national brand for Australia has been replaced, the NSW Government has been updated slightly (not much better, but the execution is a bit improved) and the City of Perth introduced a new logo. Might be time to do a follow-up on those and also to look at tourism logos?
This is fantastic. I love channels that bring something I'm completely unaware of and inform me of them in an engaging way. Thanks so much Linus. P.S. Love the SOLTE System
Another great video! It was a really good balance of analysis, opinion and Australian history. Given how much you talked about Australian typefaces, I would've loved to see some examples of typefaces from Australia, even if they're not representative. Maybe the Japanese prefecture designs could be next? 🙊
Cheers mate! A video on Australian typefaces would be good one - I was thinking of doing one on the national characteristics of different fonts - what makes American type vs British type vs German type, etc. most characteristic. But maybe individual, shorter videos would work better? Japanese prefecture flags are amazing - but the bit of graphic design I loved most when visiting japan was actually the man-hole covers! I'll definitely be looking at Japan sometime down the road. Just hoping I can find an online resource where I can reference these original designs. :)
My fear as an Aussie is that the Australian typefaces will be cringey. I think for many of us here the most common issue is probably American versus British spelling. I for one will never accept the name 'Australian Labor Party'.
I thought that it was a reference of their geographical location. If you look at Australia, the south-east "tail" looks like the triangle, and Victoria is a wide band right in the middle of it. Which the "VIC" right in the middle of the upside-down triangle mimics. I don't know if I'm reading too much into it.
I have a very sensitive ear for accents, and the first time I watched one of your videos, I concluded that you must have been born/raised in Australia, and that you have a naturalised English accent after spending many years in the UK. Having watched this video, I am pleased to learn that I was correct! Great videos, always a pleasure to hear your thoughts on graphic design!
@@LinusBoman you speak like if your accent was an unironed Australian shirt that got ironed on an english ironing board where they care more if your shirt is wrinkly or not
It's always so intriguing finding out how similar the modern Australian accent is to a southern English accent. We tend to think of the Aussie accent as being rather brash and obnoxious compared to the more subtle posh English accents but in reality, an accent from the south of England shares a lot of the same traits and pronunciations with a normal, neutral Aussie accent. I could be sounding ridiculous here but if you were to try to blend an American accent with a British accent, it would be noticeable immediately just from how odd it would sound, whereas with Aussie-English accents, they always seem to blend so seamlessly, almost as if the Aussie accent is simply another regional accent in the UK, and it often takes a while to decipher just exactly where the accent is from. Also, I've lost count of the amount of times Americans have mistaken Aussie accents for British
@@c.d.c9425 I think it's important to note that Australia only became its own nation, separate from the UK, in 1901. Whereas America separated centuries ago, so it isn't surprising the accents are much closer! As an Australian who's apparently mainly descended from Southern English and Scottish ancestors, it's interesting to me that apparently our accent is similar to the South of England! The more you know. Obviously Aussie accents vary regionally and ethnically too, but probably with less extremes than older nations.
It’d be interesting to see analysis of other gov/official logos like Medicare, Auspost, Centrelink, ABC, SBS, maybe even state logos like Queensland Rail Perhaps even a comparison to the same government services from other countries?
It’s cool to know that you did your time in Brisbane too! I was doing prepress for about half a decade in the early aughts, I wonder if we inadvertently crossed paths.
Your comments about the versatility of some of these logos and their suitability for use in various different contexts got me thinking. I'd love to see a Linus-style analysis of different K-pop group logos! They end up being used in all kinds of weird and wonderful ways - from costumes, to album art, to lightsticks - and there is soooo much diversity in the style and quality of logos. They really run the full spectrum from iconic to... well, questionable 😂
Recently discovered your channel and I'm on a binge now. If you keep doing the series on regional/district logos, check out Japanese prefecture flags, I think they're amazing design-wise. Would love a video about it.
If I recall correctly, the NSW Government was sourced from Designcrowd-one of those crowd sourced design competition websites. As you noted, it kind of shows. Appreciate the Newcastle shout out! Was cool to see that pop up.
This video has some of the politest, sharpest and well-fundamented burns I have seen in a long time. That aside, no critique is mean or "just because", and I love the explanations and comments. No, i'm not Australian (I'm Argentinian, we have tons of awful logos), I just love your videos. Thank for the video!
I'm not 100% on this but I think the City of Adelaide logo (the orbit-aligned spheres) is meant to represent the space industry since it's becoming the epicentre for that particular field for the entirety of Australia.
In the theme of national rivalries (and also national design language), I'd love to see a South African version of this. A lot of work is going into governmental designs that's simultaneously modernising and creating a new, "decolonised" national identity.
My immediate first thought at the Melbourne one was that it looked like a logo for a music website from about 2010... I feel like I had a very specific company in mind with that comparison, but I can't place who.
I've just transitioned out of a 12-year stint in presentations design, and aside from designing a logo for my band a few years back, watching these videos has been pretty much the first time I've actually got excited about type :D
The downward motion present in the Tasmania logo is actually intended to be a reference to the hydroelectric energy generation in the state. Downward flow of water due to gravity etc. I think it is quite a good logo.
I really think his read on it's center of gravity is off. To me it feels like it's moving up and to the right and I feel really comfortable when I make eye contact with the tiger.
I worked for the Gold Coast when they moved from GCCC to The Dot. None of us in my office liked it but the corporate spin was about the dot and it’s various colours. Our reaction was “yeah, right”.
I'd love for you to do this for Canada, I realised watching this that I didnt know most of them outside of my home province (Ontario). A quick google tells me that Winnipeg's is bad and British Columbia's looks like a health food brand
I actually quite like the NSW logo - it's very recognisable. And I'm sure it's been said before in the comments, but I think it's supposed to represent the Waratah as it blooms. If you look at photos of the flower earlier in it's lifecycle, you'll see those distinctive triangular petals.
I agree about the NSW logo. Its composition is well balanced, and the use of colour is pleasing. As for the flower, it might resemble a stylised lotus, but it does _not_ resemble an actual lotus.
The symbol for the Australia Made logo is reminiscent of the symbols used for individual sports during the 1982 commonwealth games in Brisbane. Perhaps there is a connection in designer or just an influence of the period when they were made being released around 82 and 86. The Brisbane City council logo tries to use the same style of lines but it’s curves don’t suit a straight edged stone building like it does movement and life of a kangaroo or athletes. Interestingly the kangaroo especially is also reminiscent of the Wiltshire horse from ancient chalk hill carvings in England which evoke form and movement with minimal unconnected lines. It was also used as the cover art for the XTC album English Settlement. (Edit - after watching more of your videos, I realised the pictograms for the 1982 commonwealth games were based on the 1972 Olympics)
Yep, I also see broccoli in the ACT… I do get a tad bored with the ‘roo/emu/wattle of so many Australian logos, but I am happy that the Aboriginal flag and colours are becoming increasingly common, as is the growing capacity to use traditional place names. And there is an increasing amount of ‘street lettering’ styles being used in designs by Aboriginal artists and thus being taken up by design teams more generally.
For context around the City of Adelaide logo/device: in the 2000s it was part of their TV ad campaign, and the stylised ‘A’ was basically meant to be one of those arrows on maps that points to a spot saying “you are here”. Of course, it loses obvious meaning outside of that ad campaign, but its context nonetheless. The eight dots were probably just what looked the best in a lineup of options, as it doesn’t bear any significance for Adelaideans from what I gather.
As a gold coaster I could not agree more with every thing you said about the logo change, it's truly terrible! I remember there was an uproar when they changed it and its easy to see why, it's not very inspiring for such a beautiful and vibrant city like the coast has become.
I really loved this video! ❤ I learnt so much and loved its focus on Australian government logo designs. Living in Sydney, that NSW Government logo just irks me every time I see it 😅 I also love that you added closed captions to your video-making it more accessible! Love your attention to detail in your work!👍
Thank you Van, I'm glad you enjoyed it, and to hear that the captions are helpful - it takes a bit of extra time, but I have quite a few friends who have English as their second language, and it makes it more accessible to everyone. :)
I would love to see some kind of sporting team logo review... especially ones from Australia. Glad you reviewed Newcastle's logo instead of my local council, Lake Macquarie.
Cheers Luke! I'd love to do that in the future once I find some collaborators who know the sports in question. It's a fascinating world, but one I'm out of my depth in on my own! 😂
As a designer that works for a municipal government, I got really excited to see this level of attention paid to the logos that a lot of people see everyday and think nothing of.
Brisbane city's brand is largely based around the flag of Brisbane and I'll be honest, I think it's one of the best city flags in the country as a result.
Yeah Roman Mars would have gripes with it, but it’s an incredibly striking flag. Of all of Australia’s city flags I think it’s the best. I think it gets away with its intricate details by using a repeating pattern. Many other flags that consist of 4 or 6 “sub flags” look super busy, but because brisbane just uses the same 2 rectangles 6 times in a checkerboard I think it pays off. The symbolism is also pretty strong
That was an amazing forensic look at the federal government logo, thanks. I didn’t think the Tasmanian government one was so bad, but maybe it should look backwards haha! Funny how the WA one reflects their personality so much. The old Beattie Burger confused me so much because I never saw a map there, but rather some bacon strips on a fried egg.
I fking love your channel! I am not a designer by any means but ever since been interested in design and typography. This is another masterpiece of a video!
I was just looking at my COVID Vaxx PDF certificate this morning, which has the Australian Coat of Arms Logo critiqued here as a giant watermark, and now I can't stop seeing the Lion politely declining some cheese and the *terrible* ribbon. I'd honestly love you to give the illustration-to-logo process a go, to show what a thoughtful conversion might look like!
I got recommended this video out of the blue, right up my alley, loved every second! If you could make this into a series I'd be overjoyed (And would recommend doing this for Canada)
The Perth shield within a shield has a lamb with a saint's halo, carrying the flag of Scotland. To me, that really tells me about the vibrant culture of Perth. Lamb... saint... Scotland... Yep, I think they captured the feel of the local community very well.
I think it’s saying something that the Sydney city logo seeps into the subconscious and has meaning beyond what it has to do in its job. After a generation or so, this connotation becomes automatic and people feel compelled to invoke the logo without being asked to use it. Success!
the city of adelaide logo is so unmemorable that i couldn't remember what it looked like and I've lived here all my life! i also spent a lot of time in the adelaide hills though, and i think their logo is more fitting (could just be nostalgia!!) great video :))
I have a feeling that the Adelaide °°°°°°°°A logo may have been a nod to the fact that the Australian Space Agency is based there? My theory is that dot motif is meant to symbolise the 8 planets of the solar system orbiting the A. Hate that the overlap in the A is pointed out - gives me bad SMR - but I'm into the idea of the dots even the way they did the subract, just wish it were executed a bit more creatively
Would love to see your take on Canadian design---we're in a culturally similar place to Australia, but it seems like there has been a more deliberate unifying force here (the Canadian Modern movement of the 60s and 70s) and there is the inevitable diversity of cultures, opinions, and image-stocks that comes with being such a large and disparate country.
I actually really like the Sunshine Coast typeface as a starting point. I think the angled cuts are distinctive and beget a lot of eye movement. I think with a couple rounds of reviews it could be a very valuable and unique custom type
You should see the old WA Government logo. It was a round globe with the state taking up all of it. Simpler, but it looked odd. They got rid of it because it looked like we thought WA was the centre of the world.
Once representing South Australia overseas someone from asked me if the piping shrike on the badge was a fearsome eagle or something. Nah it's a dwarf magpie.
ive lived in qld all my life and i never even realised those lines on the old logo were supposed to be in the shape of the state... always thought it looked like an abstract picture of smoke coming out if a cigarette tip
oh that upwards and to the right thing makes sense. I thought it was kind of weird that the logo I designed for myself worked well one way but looked 'off' if i flipped it...
The Australia master brand missed a beat: a large, golden emblem with the letters "A" "U" in it, ought to have the "U" in lowercase and ought to use the Metropolitan typeface. Bonus points if they'd have hidden a superscript 79 somewhere in there, too.
The Australia Master Brand logo, the fact that is Gold color, is kind of nice Au (latin: aurum) is a symbol for Gold, and Australia is leading miner and processor of Gold in the world. Just wanted to add. Other than that, logo is meh, especially the resemblencs to know what. "Australian Made" is the best I would say, followed by Victoria.
Your spiel about the "smashed cockroach effect" with the government logo reminds me of this bit on _Family Guy_ where the Beatles go over the idea for their next album cover (that of _Sgt. Pepper's_ ), and Ringo points out it won't look good when it's shrunk for a CD. And yeah, it's strange he knows about CDs in the 1960s, but hey, it's _Family Guy_ - they've done way weirder skits than that.
I really enjoyed your insight into these logos. The CBR logo is a good one I think which doesn't get a mention here unfortunately. Overall it is very apparent that graphic designers in Australia need to sort out this mess.
I'm, at best, an amateur graphic design "enthusiast" - I've taken a few courses in college but nothing super serious - and I feel like the city of Perths logo could easily be simplified down to the black Swan (their regional animal) holding the state shield under one wing with, maybe, a bar of gold in one of its feet to represent the states wealth and mining industry? To go even further, the addition of the Scottish flag in their non-vector coat of arms could easily be boiled down to a thistle - the national flower of Scotland - being held in the swans beak. If they want to have a call- back to their ancestry, given that Perth is the name also used by a city over here in Scotland, it may be worth adding in a non-native flower to pay homage to the original Scottish settlers who gave the city its namesake.
The Adelaide logo is supposed to represent the Malls Balls in Rundle Mall, with the stylised A made to represent the tall buildings around the CBD, surrounding the balls. Clever little logo imo. Though it definitely looks generic without context.
I actually like the Tasmanian logo. I see what you mean with the focal point being on the bottom left but to me it isn't a strong magnitude. To me it feels pretty centered. I'd even go so far as to say that the logo, while being pretty simple, has a movement towards the viewer, out to the third dimension, rather than a direction on the page. I could imagine it looking great as a sign with different heights to double down on this depth effect.
Small addition: it's require to offset the Tasmanian tiger (which is white) from the transparent background. So it'd need an outline? I like the idea. The execution is not ideal / not fully thought through tho
13 months later addendum (for all the *salty* Canberrians). I should've been explicit (can't remember if I was) all the logos for states and cities are only the municipal logos, not the tourism/PR ones. Canberra.com.au doesn't count - go down the bottom and click the link "Already live in Canberra?" it takes you to the municipal website, which is act.gov.au. Otherwise, I would have had a whole other set of logos in this roundup... northernterritory.com - visitnsw.com - queensland.com etc. etc. Would anyone be interested in a followup with all of those?
Definitely. I'm expecting much higher budgets/effort, and I think that these effects will probably cause logos which are on the whole more worthy of praise, and whose flaws are more nuanced and/or covered up by the flashiness of their production value
You did say that you weren't looking at the tourism logos. I'd watch a video on them though! :~)
You could have said the *SOLTE* canberrians!
Yes! Do a follow up. Loved this video - even as someone from the Gold Coast
would love to see your views on the tourism logos!
Me when a new logo pops up: That seems like a neat logo
Linus: This is possibly the worst logo I've ever seen
"and anyone who likes it is a terrible person"
@@GeneralAeon "And has to wash their Eyes with Soap"
My grandfather Michael Bryce designed the Brisbane city council, Queensland government and the previous Gold Coast council logos. Thank you so much for this video, he would have loved it...
As a fairly accomplished American graphic artist who now lives in Brisbane, I really like what your grandfather designed. What is evident is a sense of pride. The symbol of the city hall is dated, but still works so well (I hope that they never change it). I remember the first time I took a bus to the CBD, and that logo was embroidered on the seats... then I stepped out of the bus station, and saw city hall... it kind of gave me chills. The logo was so perfect. Like Linus said, a clock tower can be a bit cliché, but I think that your grandfather's work was spot on in distilling the flavour of Brisbane. And when I received a letter telling me that I qualified for a permanent residency, his logo was on that letter. I saved it. Cheers.
I've been a Brisbane girl my whole life and the logo evokes such nostalgia for me, particularly because they've made such an awful mess of King George Square. In the 90s we'd hang out on the grass, splash in the water, and wear t-shirts screenprinted locally saying "For my sins I live in Brisbane" with the iconic city hall logo above it.
Former TasGov employee here. Did my nut that the state logo (on all our letterheads) was Verdana, yet the style guide mandated Gill Sans for letters… bad news when you're printing alphanumeric IDs and need to distinguish uppercase i, lowercase L, and the numeral 1...
Personally, I absolutely love the green/gold combo, when done right. It is so distinctly Aussie, to me. But when it is slightly off...it quickly becomes an eyesore
and when done poorly you're either brazil or ireland
As a South African I always feel like it’s turning into Springboks colours when it’s gold instead of the more garish bright yellows - but I’m happy to admit that it’s a cool colour combo and there’s room for more than one group of people to use it!
I've never liked the green and yellow ("gold") combo. Perhaps the problem is that green is usually overemphasised, which suggests nausea. Designs that emphasise yellow are more appealing, and are usefully suggestive of sun and sand.
In just a short time you've become one of those channels I'm always delighted to see pop up on my front page - and I've never even had much interest in graphic design before!
Thank you kindly! I've always appreciated what science communicators have been doing on CZcams, making science interesting and accessible to non-scientist, and recently a crop of channels have been doing that for things like music theory (Adam Neely) and law (Legal Eagle) -- my hope is to do the same thing for graphic design! So it makes me happy to hear that's the case for you. :)
+1
I would also ad that i really like Linus voice.
I wish you would show us some examples of the “Australian-Made Fonts” you wished the logos would use.
He does sort of address it in his conclusion where he talks about the exciting time it is for designers to find their unique Australian voice
And AU being the chemical symbol for gold in the periodic table is so perfect.
He didn't mention that and I was so raged that punched my monitor.
@@faruk4310 He did 6:08
@@faruk4310 too focused on attacking your property to listen to the video? :P
@@fisheatsyourhead sorry english is my second language so i didnt get it in first listen
@@faruk4310 you should apologise to your monitor
“Things could always be worse… you could be on the Gold Coast” this is incredibly true for so many reasons
20:33 - the logo for Adelaide leaves almost no impression: then it's perfect for Adelaide!
:(
Shots Fired!
We like to keep a low profile to avoid undesirable people realising how good it is here
Sad that some sort of church based logo wasn’t used.
@@hermansnazzledorf2950 Adelaide is where you find undesirable miserable close minded people
Haha, "Refusing another slice of cheese toast at Sizzler".
This is fantastic.
Such an interesting video! Would have loved to hear your thoughts on other iconic Australian logos - one that's always stuck out for me is the ABC logo and how recognisable it is.
Yeah!! This would be great
Reminds me of the time my image processing professor blasted channel 10 for introducing a gradient into their logo when their image quality is so bad that there's aliasing. In the logo.
I’d say the Victoria one was my fave, just for how versatile it is.
My only critque of it is it looks like it could be the Tasmanian Government logo. I know it was a transition from the original government logo which also featured the Southern Cross, however I think they should ad a little dip at the top to make look like a stylized V and not like a stylized Tasmania
When I saw it I just thought *”film”* because of the government’s supervision on a lot of Marvel movies
@@lrgogo1517 funnily enough Melbourne has a Marvel Stadium.
@@harinderjeetsinghtiwana The Marvel Stadium is right next to the Docklands Film Studios.
@@allangibson2408 not really but it's about a 10min walk away from it
Would love to see your treatment of the Japanese municipal logos!
please!
Yes please
Pleeeeeease
It looks like they were all designed by the same company.
Me: That one looks good!
Linus: This one is terrible
Me: Oh ok...
Very interesting - even though I’ve no connection with Australia. As an ex-biologist I’d say the unifying meme for the country should be marsupials! Where’s the duck-billed platypus?! Incidentally your fleeting footnote on Eric Gill led me down a rabbit-hole I didn’t know about, thanks (kind of!). Keep up the good work!
Thanks Dingo - but if you've no connection to Australia, where does the name come from? ;) The marsupials make a lot of appearances on Australian coinage - Platypus on the 20c, Echidna on the 5c, Kangaroo on the $1. Although no love for the Koala! Yes, I feel the conflicted about Eric Gill, his work is so entrenched in 20th century design, especially British Design, that he can't be overlooked, but then neither should we venerate history's monsters without an acknowledgement of their sins either.
Where’s the drop bear appreciation?
The platypus is a monotreme, not a marsupial.
Echidnas are also monotremes and not marsupials.
The monotremes and marsupials are on our coins.
19:10 shields within a coat of arms is well established heraldry. In this particular case the fourth quarter of the shield is taken from the arms of Perth, Scotland, the city after which Perth (WA) is named. Points too for abstracting the actual design to a simple escutcheon with a bordure (Perth, Scotland is "Escutcheon Gules within a double Tressure counter flory a Holy Lamb passant reguardant, staff and cross Argent with the banner of St Andrew proper, the whole ensigned with a Mural Crown Or").
he's looking at them from a designer's standpoint, there is no argument here bud.
@@sgtpepper91 part of design is looking at the meaning and significance. he mentions that in his solte bit
The original Perth. The city after which ALL of the many other Perth's are named.
It’s not about the nuances of heraldic history.
It should be about creatively representing the state in a way that keeps up with technology.
Heritage is DEFINITELY a part to consider in design in government. You have hundreds of thousands of people's represented by a place brand, and many people are especially conservative and won't like contemporary "guff".
Since then, the national brand for Australia has been replaced, the NSW Government has been updated slightly (not much better, but the execution is a bit improved) and the City of Perth introduced a new logo. Might be time to do a follow-up on those and also to look at tourism logos?
This is fantastic. I love channels that bring something I'm completely unaware of and inform me of them in an engaging way. Thanks so much Linus.
P.S. Love the SOLTE System
'Looks like an Echidna with an obscene appendage'.
So, a regular Echidna?
Well, a male echidna. A five-pronged cloaca isn't so noticable
Another great video! It was a really good balance of analysis, opinion and Australian history. Given how much you talked about Australian typefaces, I would've loved to see some examples of typefaces from Australia, even if they're not representative. Maybe the Japanese prefecture designs could be next? 🙊
Cheers mate! A video on Australian typefaces would be good one - I was thinking of doing one on the national characteristics of different fonts - what makes American type vs British type vs German type, etc. most characteristic. But maybe individual, shorter videos would work better? Japanese prefecture flags are amazing - but the bit of graphic design I loved most when visiting japan was actually the man-hole covers! I'll definitely be looking at Japan sometime down the road. Just hoping I can find an online resource where I can reference these original designs. :)
My fear as an Aussie is that the Australian typefaces will be cringey. I think for many of us here the most common issue is probably American versus British spelling. I for one will never accept the name 'Australian Labor Party'.
It's a bit weird for Victoria to go so hard on the triangle when that is the shape of their next door neighbour Tasmania.
I think Victoria wants to annex Tasmania.
I thought that it was a reference of their geographical location. If you look at Australia, the south-east "tail" looks like the triangle, and Victoria is a wide band right in the middle of it. Which the "VIC" right in the middle of the upside-down triangle mimics. I don't know if I'm reading too much into it.
Bro your accent is crazy, it took me ages and ages to decide whether you were British or Australian lmao, and I'm British.
Haha - it's hard to pin down. It's mostly British now after so many years here, but there's still an antipodean residue. ;)
I have a very sensitive ear for accents, and the first time I watched one of your videos, I concluded that you must have been born/raised in Australia, and that you have a naturalised English accent after spending many years in the UK. Having watched this video, I am pleased to learn that I was correct! Great videos, always a pleasure to hear your thoughts on graphic design!
@@LinusBoman you speak like if your accent was an unironed Australian shirt that got ironed on an english ironing board where they care more if your shirt is wrinkly or not
It's always so intriguing finding out how similar the modern Australian accent is to a southern English accent. We tend to think of the Aussie accent as being rather brash and obnoxious compared to the more subtle posh English accents but in reality, an accent from the south of England shares a lot of the same traits and pronunciations with a normal, neutral Aussie accent. I could be sounding ridiculous here but if you were to try to blend an American accent with a British accent, it would be noticeable immediately just from how odd it would sound, whereas with Aussie-English accents, they always seem to blend so seamlessly, almost as if the Aussie accent is simply another regional accent in the UK, and it often takes a while to decipher just exactly where the accent is from. Also, I've lost count of the amount of times Americans have mistaken Aussie accents for British
@@c.d.c9425 I think it's important to note that Australia only became its own nation, separate from the UK, in 1901. Whereas America separated centuries ago, so it isn't surprising the accents are much closer! As an Australian who's apparently mainly descended from Southern English and Scottish ancestors, it's interesting to me that apparently our accent is similar to the South of England! The more you know. Obviously Aussie accents vary regionally and ethnically too, but probably with less extremes than older nations.
It’d be interesting to see analysis of other gov/official logos like Medicare, Auspost, Centrelink, ABC, SBS, maybe even state logos like Queensland Rail
Perhaps even a comparison to the same government services from other countries?
It’s cool to know that you did your time in Brisbane too! I was doing prepress for about half a decade in the early aughts, I wonder if we inadvertently crossed paths.
Your comments about the versatility of some of these logos and their suitability for use in various different contexts got me thinking. I'd love to see a Linus-style analysis of different K-pop group logos! They end up being used in all kinds of weird and wonderful ways - from costumes, to album art, to lightsticks - and there is soooo much diversity in the style and quality of logos. They really run the full spectrum from iconic to... well, questionable 😂
After visiting Hobart, I can only assume the city logo is designed after the entire city being a grid of one way streets!
Absolutely. The first thing I thought of when I saw the logo was "It's the one-way streets!"
Recently discovered your channel and I'm on a binge now. If you keep doing the series on regional/district logos, check out Japanese prefecture flags, I think they're amazing design-wise. Would love a video about it.
actually, I just reached the part of this video where you actually mention those flags :D
Te circles in Adelaide's logo probably represent the most iconic part of Adelaide...the balls in Rundell Mall.
Ah, the good ol mall’s balls
I think vic is fantastic and so well used across the state and in Melbourne
If I recall correctly, the NSW Government was sourced from Designcrowd-one of those crowd sourced design competition websites. As you noted, it kind of shows.
Appreciate the Newcastle shout out! Was cool to see that pop up.
If that is the case, just... wow.
This video has some of the politest, sharpest and well-fundamented burns I have seen in a long time. That aside, no critique is mean or "just because", and I love the explanations and comments. No, i'm not Australian (I'm Argentinian, we have tons of awful logos), I just love your videos. Thank for the video!
I would love to see the same review methodology applied to some of our New Zealand national and regional symbols please.
I'm not 100% on this but I think the City of Adelaide logo (the orbit-aligned spheres) is meant to represent the space industry since it's becoming the epicentre for that particular field for the entirety of Australia.
In the theme of national rivalries (and also national design language), I'd love to see a South African version of this. A lot of work is going into governmental designs that's simultaneously modernising and creating a new, "decolonised" national identity.
That’ll be cool
Agree, there could be some fascinating ‘before and after’ images, starting with the national coat of arms.
My immediate first thought at the Melbourne one was that it looked like a logo for a music website from about 2010... I feel like I had a very specific company in mind with that comparison, but I can't place who.
I've just transitioned out of a 12-year stint in presentations design, and aside from designing a logo for my band a few years back, watching these videos has been pretty much the first time I've actually got excited about type :D
The downward motion present in the Tasmania logo is actually intended to be a reference to the hydroelectric energy generation in the state. Downward flow of water due to gravity etc. I think it is quite a good logo.
Gutted by the low score for the Tasmanian logo. It's iconic to me.
I really think his read on it's center of gravity is off. To me it feels like it's moving up and to the right and I feel really comfortable when I make eye contact with the tiger.
I worked for the Gold Coast when they moved from GCCC to The Dot. None of us in my office liked it but the corporate spin was about the dot and it’s various colours. Our reaction was “yeah, right”.
I'd love for you to do this for Canada, I realised watching this that I didnt know most of them outside of my home province (Ontario).
A quick google tells me that Winnipeg's is bad and British Columbia's looks like a health food brand
I think Melbourne's logo looks like something I'd open up to make a new CAD drawing. Sydney meanwhile is a hipster coffee and craft beer bar.
I think MTV when I see it.
I actually quite like the NSW logo - it's very recognisable. And I'm sure it's been said before in the comments, but I think it's supposed to represent the Waratah as it blooms. If you look at photos of the flower earlier in it's lifecycle, you'll see those distinctive triangular petals.
I agree about the NSW logo. Its composition is well balanced, and the use of colour is pleasing. As for the flower, it might resemble a stylised lotus, but it does _not_ resemble an actual lotus.
Great video! Would love to see a review of some country's government logos/brand, or something like that.
Thanks Brian - definitely plan to look at other countries too. Picking which one is the tricky bit! :)
@@LinusBoman try doing India. :')
This is the best logo/typography YT channel!
Your likening of Wollongong’s logo to that of a regional shopping centre was spot on
The symbol for the Australia Made logo is reminiscent of the symbols used for individual sports during the 1982 commonwealth games in Brisbane. Perhaps there is a connection in designer or just an influence of the period when they were made being released around 82 and 86. The Brisbane City council logo tries to use the same style of lines but it’s curves don’t suit a straight edged stone building like it does movement and life of a kangaroo or athletes. Interestingly the kangaroo especially is also reminiscent of the Wiltshire horse from ancient chalk hill carvings in England which evoke form and movement with minimal unconnected lines. It was also used as the cover art for the XTC album English Settlement. (Edit - after watching more of your videos, I realised the pictograms for the 1982 commonwealth games were based on the 1972 Olympics)
Yep, I also see broccoli in the ACT… I do get a tad bored with the ‘roo/emu/wattle of so many Australian logos, but I am happy that the Aboriginal flag and colours are becoming increasingly common, as is the growing capacity to use traditional place names. And there is an increasing amount of ‘street lettering’ styles being used in designs by Aboriginal artists and thus being taken up by design teams more generally.
I think a potential future signature Australian typographical style would be upside-down glyphs.
For context around the City of Adelaide logo/device: in the 2000s it was part of their TV ad campaign, and the stylised ‘A’ was basically meant to be one of those arrows on maps that points to a spot saying “you are here”. Of course, it loses obvious meaning outside of that ad campaign, but its context nonetheless. The eight dots were probably just what looked the best in a lineup of options, as it doesn’t bear any significance for Adelaideans from what I gather.
As a gold coaster I could not agree more with every thing you said about the logo change, it's truly terrible!
I remember there was an uproar when they changed it and its easy to see why, it's not very inspiring for such a beautiful and vibrant city like the coast has become.
I really loved this video! ❤ I learnt so much and loved its focus on Australian government logo designs. Living in Sydney, that NSW Government logo just irks me every time I see it 😅 I also love that you added closed captions to your video-making it more accessible! Love your attention to detail in your work!👍
Thank you Van, I'm glad you enjoyed it, and to hear that the captions are helpful - it takes a bit of extra time, but I have quite a few friends who have English as their second language, and it makes it more accessible to everyone. :)
No wonder NSW Gov press conferences look so bad in comparison to other states
You mentioned the Japanese municipal flags when talking about NT and now I'm really interested in seeing a video on those
I'd love to see you do one on Canada, especially with Canada' ubiquitous Maple Leaf
I would love to see some kind of sporting team logo review... especially ones from Australia.
Glad you reviewed Newcastle's logo instead of my local council, Lake Macquarie.
Cheers Luke! I'd love to do that in the future once I find some collaborators who know the sports in question. It's a fascinating world, but one I'm out of my depth in on my own! 😂
Yeah I would like to see nrl ones too
As a designer that works for a municipal government, I got really excited to see this level of attention paid to the logos that a lot of people see everyday and think nothing of.
Really enjoyed this video as an Aussie designer! Would love some more content on Australia :)
12:32 I was fully expecting the statement to end "which is why this logo is a joke." Before I read the score
Brisbane city's brand is largely based around the flag of Brisbane and I'll be honest, I think it's one of the best city flags in the country as a result.
Yeah Roman Mars would have gripes with it, but it’s an incredibly striking flag. Of all of Australia’s city flags I think it’s the best. I think it gets away with its intricate details by using a repeating pattern. Many other flags that consist of 4 or 6 “sub flags” look super busy, but because brisbane just uses the same 2 rectangles 6 times in a checkerboard I think it pays off. The symbolism is also pretty strong
8:06
it's a perfectly good lotus. Why the hate?
"It's a warratah"
*OH.*
That was an amazing forensic look at the federal government logo, thanks. I didn’t think the Tasmanian government one was so bad, but maybe it should look backwards haha! Funny how the WA one reflects their personality so much. The old Beattie Burger confused me so much because I never saw a map there, but rather some bacon strips on a fried egg.
I fking love your channel! I am not a designer by any means but ever since been interested in design and typography. This is another masterpiece of a video!
I was just looking at my COVID Vaxx PDF certificate this morning, which has the Australian Coat of Arms Logo critiqued here as a giant watermark, and now I can't stop seeing the Lion politely declining some cheese and the *terrible* ribbon.
I'd honestly love you to give the illustration-to-logo process a go, to show what a thoughtful conversion might look like!
I got recommended this video out of the blue, right up my alley, loved every second!
If you could make this into a series I'd be overjoyed (And would recommend doing this for Canada)
The Perth shield within a shield has a lamb with a saint's halo, carrying the flag of Scotland. To me, that really tells me about the vibrant culture of Perth. Lamb... saint... Scotland... Yep, I think they captured the feel of the local community very well.
My problem with the Victoria logo is that the inverted triangle instantly makes me think of Tasmania
This was great, but I'd love to hear your comments on the CBR logo! I was surprised to not see it included here.
Melbourne's old logo looked like Autodesk Maya's logo.
That’s exactly what I thought when I saw it.
I think it’s saying something that the Sydney city logo seeps into the subconscious and has meaning beyond what it has to do in its job. After a generation or so, this connotation becomes automatic and people feel compelled to invoke the logo without being asked to use it. Success!
Great video! You really should do this for more countries!
the city of adelaide logo is so unmemorable that i couldn't remember what it looked like and I've lived here all my life! i also spent a lot of time in the adelaide hills though, and i think their logo is more fitting (could just be nostalgia!!) great video :))
Having just watched your video on swooshes and how they belong in the 90s, Adelaide's design seems extra unimaginative.
I have a feeling that the Adelaide °°°°°°°°A logo may have been a nod to the fact that the Australian Space Agency is based there?
My theory is that dot motif is meant to symbolise the 8 planets of the solar system orbiting the A.
Hate that the overlap in the A is pointed out - gives me bad SMR - but I'm into the idea of the dots even the way they did the subract, just wish it were executed a bit more creatively
as a queenslander this was a bit of a nostaliga trip I didnt even relise i stopped seeing the old GC or QLD state logo
The city of Darwin logo is very reminiscent of the MSN logo
Would love to see your take on Canadian design---we're in a culturally similar place to Australia, but it seems like there has been a more deliberate unifying force here (the Canadian Modern movement of the 60s and 70s) and there is the inevitable diversity of cultures, opinions, and image-stocks that comes with being such a large and disparate country.
With the theme in mind, that beginning "haircut" sounded like it was going to be something VERY different
You didn’t do the Canberra City Brand :(
16:25 looks like a logotype for an advertisement agency. their old logo was super neat ngl
I actually really like the Sunshine Coast typeface as a starting point. I think the angled cuts are distinctive and beget a lot of eye movement. I think with a couple rounds of reviews it could be a very valuable and unique custom type
You should see the old WA Government logo. It was a round globe with the state taking up all of it. Simpler, but it looked odd. They got rid of it because it looked like we thought WA was the centre of the world.
Once representing South Australia overseas someone from asked me if the piping shrike on the badge was a fearsome eagle or something. Nah it's a dwarf magpie.
Episode 1 of the Australian comedy ‘Utopia’ covers the development of a new logo for the fictional ‘Nation Building Authority’ - very funny.
6:48 That’s quite the roast
ive lived in qld all my life and i never even realised those lines on the old logo were supposed to be in the shape of the state... always thought it looked like an abstract picture of smoke coming out if a cigarette tip
I always thought they were rays of sunlight that were randomly placed.
The Sunshine Coast font reminds me of something from a 90s-00s waterpark.
oh that upwards and to the right thing makes sense. I thought it was kind of weird that the logo I designed for myself worked well one way but looked 'off' if i flipped it...
The Australia master brand missed a beat: a large, golden emblem with the letters "A" "U" in it, ought to have the "U" in lowercase and ought to use the Metropolitan typeface.
Bonus points if they'd have hidden a superscript 79 somewhere in there, too.
The Australia Master Brand logo, the fact that is Gold color, is kind of nice Au (latin: aurum) is a symbol for Gold, and Australia is leading miner and processor of Gold in the world. Just wanted to add. Other than that, logo is meh, especially the resemblencs to know what. "Australian Made" is the best I would say, followed by Victoria.
Your spiel about the "smashed cockroach effect" with the government logo reminds me of this bit on _Family Guy_ where the Beatles go over the idea for their next album cover (that of _Sgt. Pepper's_ ), and Ringo points out it won't look good when it's shrunk for a CD.
And yeah, it's strange he knows about CDs in the 1960s, but hey, it's _Family Guy_ - they've done way weirder skits than that.
I just found this video, and then checked your other vids for the Kiwi comparison being a New Zealander myself, but it's not there yet... lol
I really enjoyed your insight into these logos. The CBR logo is a good one I think which doesn't get a mention here unfortunately. Overall it is very apparent that graphic designers in Australia need to sort out this mess.
I'm, at best, an amateur graphic design "enthusiast" - I've taken a few courses in college but nothing super serious - and I feel like the city of Perths logo could easily be simplified down to the black Swan (their regional animal) holding the state shield under one wing with, maybe, a bar of gold in one of its feet to represent the states wealth and mining industry? To go even further, the addition of the Scottish flag in their non-vector coat of arms could easily be boiled down to a thistle - the national flower of Scotland - being held in the swans beak. If they want to have a call- back to their ancestry, given that Perth is the name also used by a city over here in Scotland, it may be worth adding in a non-native flower to pay homage to the original Scottish settlers who gave the city its namesake.
I'd love to see this with American states and government logos, but that may have to be a whole series
The Adelaide logo is supposed to represent the Malls Balls in Rundle Mall, with the stylised A made to represent the tall buildings around the CBD, surrounding the balls. Clever little logo imo. Though it definitely looks generic without context.
sunshine coast looks like some of 2000s' 2010s tv channel/supermarket chain rebrand
The NT flag is so beautiful
So wild and cool to see my hometown of Newy represented here.
I actually like the Tasmanian logo. I see what you mean with the focal point being on the bottom left but to me it isn't a strong magnitude. To me it feels pretty centered. I'd even go so far as to say that the logo, while being pretty simple, has a movement towards the viewer, out to the third dimension, rather than a direction on the page.
I could imagine it looking great as a sign with different heights to double down on this depth effect.
Small addition: it's require to offset the Tasmanian tiger (which is white) from the transparent background. So it'd need an outline?
I like the idea. The execution is not ideal / not fully thought through tho
I like how it's used as a muted watermark behind text. It works nicely for that
Wow. Your videos are absolutely delightful. Also, is the Hobart logo meant to resemble two side-by-side individuals with their arms around each other?