I'm Michael Bierut. I'm a graphic designer.

我是 Michael Beirut，我是個平面設計師。

You might be familiar with his work, but interestingly, he thinks that logos are just kind of overrated.

你可能對他的作品不陌生，不過有趣的是，他覺得這些商標都被吹捧過頭。

I am actually often very ambivalent about them.

我其實對他們是有點矛盾的心態。

Let's back out a second: What is a logo?

我們先來討論一下，什麼是商標？

Basically the face of a company.

基本上就是一個公司的門面。

Some are beloved. Some... the swastika is a logo and it's reviled, you know?

有些商標備受愛戴，有些則被厭惡，像是 卍 (納粹的黨徽)。

They have to work at tiny sizes, and huge.

他們要在不同大小都可通用。

There are three specific types.

一共有三種類型。

First type is the wordmark.

第一種是文字。

The wordmark is the easiest one, and it's the one that we're all the most familiar with.

文字商標是最簡單的，也是我們最熟悉的。

I mean, John Hancock's signature is kind of a wordmark.

你看 John Hancock (獨立宣言上很有型的一個簽名) 就有點像是一個文字商標。

And it can look crisp, clean, and modern, like the new Google logo looks.

文字商標可以看起來俐落、乾淨，就像 Google 的新商標一樣很現代。

It can look, somehow, that it has roots in a shared heritage, the way the coca cola logo looks, you know?

或者是他可能有歷史傳承，就像是可口可樂的商標。

The second is pictorial.

第二個是圖像。

Pictorial logos often function as a kind of Rebus, you know.

圖像商標像是個畫謎。

It's a picture, and you say the... what's in the picture, and it sort of is identifying the name of the company.

他是個圖片，你要去體會圖片裡的意象，並可以跟公司的名字有所連結。

Sometimes directly like Target, sometimes more indirectly like LaCoste.

有些圖像商標可以讓你很直接地聯想，像是 Target，有時則不然，像是 Lacoste。

The third kind is kind of the holy grail, abstract iconography.

第三個是人人追求的境界，抽象的象徵。

It's everyone's favorite kind of category because it just seems almost like magic, you know.

他是每個人最喜歡的類別，因為它具有種魔力。

As a designer, people come to me and they'll say, "Oh, I want, like, something like the Nike swoosh."

身為一個設計師，有人會跟我說他們想要設計像是 Nike 勾勾的商標。

They think that the Nike swoosh was the Nike swoosh the day it was drawn, but it was nothing the day it was drawn.

他們以為 Nike 勾勾在被畫出來的那一刻就成了商標了，不過這不是事實。

The company that birthed Nike commissioned a design student named Carolyn to draw some ideas.

在公司改名為Nike前委託一位叫 Carolyn 的設計系學生設計一些商標。

And the Nike founders didn't really like them.

但當時的創辦人都不太喜歡。

They sort of said, "Uh... let's use that one."

他們說「好吧，不然就用那個吧。」

It wasn't like an overnight success.

這個設計當初並非一舉成名。

And then they started putting it on the sides of shoes.

然後他們開始把這個圖像放在鞋子側面。

The shoes were good and then the genius of Nike's marketing apparatus made us further associate that product,

這些鞋子很不錯，後來 Nike 天才的行銷團隊更進一步強化商標與商品的連結。

not merely with performance athletic gear but with the very idea of athletic achievement itself.

不只是一個運動品牌，而是代表著運動家精神和成就。

And that's how over a long time, a little mark means something big.

這小小的標誌經過一段時間後，更加意義重大。

That's exactly how religious symbols work.

這也同樣是宗教圖像的運作方式。

It's obviously not just anything inherent in shapes.

很明顯地，單看那些形狀並沒有任何意義。

But it's about what those shapes have come to represent in the minds of the people who are looking at them.

形狀的意義是來自於那些看到形狀的人們心裡所反映出的想法。

But there is a fourth type of logo that goes beyond these three types and can use elements of each of them.

不過有第四種商標是超越了前三個類別，並且活用這三個類別的元素。

The logo system, a graphical framework that can have endless permutations.

那就是商標系統，它是一個可以組合變幻出無限可能的視覺架構。

The first gigantically popular example of the logo system would be MTV.

第一個極度成功的例子是音樂電視網。

But Google's daily doodles are another great example of the logo system⏤a familiar mark that can also point to other ideas and issues.

不過 Google 的「每日塗鴉」也是另一個很棒的例子，我們可以看到這個熟悉的標誌被賦予各種不同意義或議題。

This approach all has to do with technological change.

這種商標的興起與科技的發展息息相關。

It used to be if a company was doing a logo, there'd be this, you know, military operation by which it would be inscribed on all their equipment and on their airplanes and their retail facilities,

以往若一個公司要有商標，它會是一個標準化的程序，商標會出現在所有的裝備、飛機、零售設備上，

and gold pins and cufflinks would be made for the executive suite and put on spittoons, in ashtrays, and the top of the skyscraper,

以及專門給經理主管部門的金夾子、袖夾上，甚至是在痰盂、煙灰缸上，或高樓大廈的頂端，

and would say "dwell" on everyone's business card, right?

也會印在所有人的名片上，對吧？

Nowadays, none of that's as important as an email signature, or your Twitter avatar, or the little thing that sits next to your URL.

不過現在那些都不比一個電郵簽名、推特顯圖或那個在網址旁邊的小圖示來得重要。

Those things are much more ubiquitous and they can be changed at the drop of a hat.

那些東西更常見而且可以隨時更換。

Bierut used this system approach for his Hillary Clinton logo.

Bierut 用了一樣的系統來設計希拉蕊的助選圖像。

We wanted to have a mark reflect the electorate and reflect the issues.

我們希望這個商標可以代表全體選民，也能反映重要議題。

Those simple forms that comprise the H with the arrow in it are actually designed to hold not just two colors, say red and blue, but any colors you want.

這個簡單的商標由 H 跟箭頭所組成，我刻意將它設計成不只有紅、藍兩色 (象徵美國的元素)，而是加入任何想要的顏色 (各式各樣的議題)。

The use of logo systems seems to be continually on the upswing now, probably because it allows the brand using it to expand the conversation beyond it's own name.

商標系統日趨流行，可能因為這讓商標不僅代表一家公司的名字，而是更寬廣的世界。

The logo kind of reminds people that that's... that's what we're... that's what our priority is today.

這樣的商標可以提醒人們，我們此刻最應該重視的是什麼。

But at the end of the day, regardless of the shape, style, or system, it might not matter what your logo is.

不過最終，不管是形狀、風格、或是系統，商標長得怎麼樣無關緊要。

It really is about thinking of these symbols as being empty vessels in a way, and then you pour the meaning into them.

可以想像這些商標為空的器皿，你要做的是賦予它們意義。

So what's this all add up to?

所以結論是？

Basically, those fights people get in about new logos are pretty misguided.

基本上，這些在網路上戰新商標的人都沒有搞清楚。

They think they're judging a diving competition, but actually, all these organizations are in swimming competitions.

他們都認為他們在觀賞跳水比賽，但這些公司其實是在進行游泳比賽。

It's not what kind of splash you make when you hit the water, it's how long you can keep your head above that water.

重點不是跳水時你濺起了多少水花，而是你可以持續游多久。

Logos need to have a long life, not win points in a discussion.

商標需要歷久不衰，而不是在討論中爭贏。

12 years after the birth of that Nike logo, Nike came back to that graphic design student Carolyn with a gift.

Nike 商標設計出來的十二年後，他們送平面設計學生 Carolyn 一份禮物。

A Nike ring with her own trademark on it, the swoosh.

禮物是只戒指，上面有著她所設計的 Nike 招牌勾勾。

Thank you very much, it's beautiful.

謝謝你們，這真的是太美了！

And an undisclosed amount of Nike stock.

以及數目未知的 Nike 股票。

Wow.

哇！

In 1973 when it was designed, her pay was $35.

在 1973 年她設計 Nike 的商標時，她的報酬只有 35 美金。