Introducing Watsi's new logo | Hacker News Reader

Introducing Watsi's new logo

exposure.watsi.org

42 pointsnettatheninja41 comments

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I hate doing this to a new, exciting brand launch, but... it really looks like a pair of underwear (briefs) to me.

Exactly my thoughts when I viewed it. But if you think about it, it is probably a enhanced "W" for Watsi.

This would not be the first time!

"A Brief Problem"...

http://blog.rjmetrics.com/2013/10/09/our-logo-looks-like-und...

It's not something you'd have thought was a common problem but some things surprise you...

I didn't see it until you mentioned it, but now I can't unsee it.

That was my initial reaction as well.

What have been seen...

All I see is BVD's.

First thing I saw were underpants too. I can't get it out of my mind.

Saw the same thing. Wasti + BVD collaboration coming soon?

Still not as bad as the OGC logo a few years back:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Office_of_Government_Commerce#L...

Especially in one of their earlier mockups: http://i.imgur.com/yFwXJF3.png

Maybe not a huge deal to most, but the use of "OCD" in this sentence made me wince a bit: "They put up with our OCD tendencies and pulled long hours to make sure we walked away with a perfect mark."

Not sure it's good form for a company dedicated to healthcare to misuse a medical term like that.

Edit: They've since updated the post. Thanks for doing that!

Likewise. I've mild OCD and I wouldn't wish it on anyone as although it doesn't interfere with my life all that much, it's an incredible annoyance.

Being picky over details or striving to make something perfect (in your view) is not obsessive compulsive disorder.

You're 100% right. Edited.

Still makes a similar OCD remark in the image halfway down the page.

Not to nitpick :P

Swapping out the screengrab too, will be updated soon.

That's brilliant, and very professional of you. Thanks

True, they meant OCPD tendencies which is easy to confuse with OCD given the overlapping terminology. I'd give them the benefit of the doubt.

If you're going all in on responsive design, make sure your images still look passable on a decently sized monitor. I'm on a cinema display, and every image of that logo on the page looks atrocious...so much pixelation it's hard for me to even judge the logo itself.

This is the unveiling of months of work and debate that went into a new logo. Feels to me like the absolute worst time to decide to skimp on file size.

Same on retina. I thought 2x was pretty much standard now, guess not.

This is truly puzzling. If you spend that much time on logo design, you ought to at least devote some effort to ensuring that it doesn't look pixelated across a smattering of typical displays.

The problem with logos, for outsiders, is that if they're well designed, they just work...and it's hard to discern why without a frame of reference and comparison. So even a matter of fact description ("In the final version, we connected the individual triangles and unified the mark with color.") is really interesting to a typography/design-layperson like myself, so thanks for posting this!

(in the case of that last step, the reason for the change isn't fully described, but I imagine at least one person thought, like me, that the previous iteration looks like an angry bird looking right at you)

Also, here's what Watsi's original logo looked like, which they had to change because of an infringement claim by Blue Cross: http://teespring.com/watsi-blue-logo

Did anyone else order this t-shirt and get like 3 shirts or more? I think they had a surplus or something...

They sent out an email about it. They had some goof ups in printing them (wrong material, wrong color) so they ended up sending out multiple shirts. My first was on Gildan cotton instead of AA, then I got the right one, and then I got an additional one in darker grey. Only got charged for one so not a big deal, just kinda funny.

Two thoughts:

1) More work could've been done on the rounded edges. They don't flow very well and after seeing the W + bars graphic, the problem stands out more.

2) Why are such low-quality images being used on the page announcing the logo? https://exposure-1.imgix.net/production/users/23251/avatar/o... I realize they've chosen to host this on Exposure and can't control how they compress files so maybe the question is why did they go with Exposure?

Yup, it totally looks like underpants.

Looks like the "thermal core" of the Mac Pro.

Or Darth Vader's breathing piece.

Or a sharp, fanged trapezoid with extremely menacing eyes.

Or a pair of underpants.

The old logo was decent, but yes, it did look too much like BlueCross' logo. This... I don't really have much to say. It's unremarkable. Uninteresting. Just... uncreative. I think a simple W would have sufficed.

Unfortunately, all I can see is either 1) a pretzel, or 2) the mouth area of Darth Vader's mask.

I don't usually over-think logos, but this one looks strangely angular, aggressive, and kinda mean-looking, considering Watsi is a non-profit healthcare company.

It's very angular and bold, which I agree is unusual considering their goals and message.

First thing I thought of for some reason when I saw the images of people with the logo imposed over them was a company similar to BP. Not 100% sure why.

I think I like the second one in the iterations better. It is more abstract for the W and it doesn't make you immediately jump to underpants. Though I really didn't see the underpants until someone else mentioned it.

It's close to being good, but currently looks to me like a diaper.

I like Watsi, an interesting and downright good company, but this post reminded me a little too much of W1A[0].

[0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1EySLuYWTy0

What was the old logo?

http://tctechcrunch2011.files.wordpress.com/2014/02/watsi.jp...

Before/after here: http://blog.watsi.org/post/85923886351/introducing-our-new-l...

Underpants logo fail.

Phase 3: Profit

Why is this hackernewsworthy?

If you need to do a post in the blog to explain, the logo is not good.

On the contrary, rebrandings rarely come without an accompanying press release, and this is a rather nice presentation.

At least we know that they didn't mean it to look like underpants.

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