So they've got themselves a new logo. One question: What the hell is that blue box doing there?
After more than 20 years of sticking with the classy, trademark logo, they decided to "up the game" by updating their logo with a design so rudimentary and trivial that my little 8-year-old cousin who recently made a Facebook with the sole purpose of playing Bejeweled would be able to outdo it using Paint in like, five minutes.
This new logo debuted yesterday via the official Gap Facebook page. It was met with so much criticism that they've deemed it as their "crowd-sourcing project" and are taking design submissions for their logo from the Facebook community.
This is fascinating to me, as it precisely illustrates the point Henry Jenkins makes about the blooming power of new media. The interactive nature of social networking sites is blurring the lines between the virtual world, the media and reality. Through Facebook and Twitter, TV sitcoms and films are being born from ordinary people (i.e. CBS's "&^%$ My Dad Says"). And now, laymen such as you and I can be the new logo designers for Gap, an international, multi-billion clothing retailer.
I'm so surprised that Gap would change their logo...after it's worked for them for so many years? I think this kind of media tactic is very intelligent. People like to feel that what they say matters. There's something about the idea that if it was made by the people, then it's for the people. And ideas that come from the bloggersphere feel like they belong to everybody.
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