Parkhurst Creative

These are a few iconic and most loved tv shows over the years. I’ve taken the liberty to critique the logo of each one and appreciate the genius that went into them.

Cheers is one of those shows that everyone loves and everyone knows it’s name. I’ve only seen a couple episodes (it was before my time) but the logo has always stood out to me as iconic.

I actually had the privilege of getting to know this logo on a personal level a few years ago when I was asked re-create it with a different word for a church series. It wasn’t until then that I realized how many design effects were put into this design.

First of all the font itself is beautiful and unique, I love a bold script! The perfected rounding of the words in an upward arch complimented by the “S” swoosh underneath is just a pleasant visual. That is followed by an intentionally vintage shading of brown lines across the bottom half of the word and crisp bevel and the golden blotches that makes the shine feel active and alive. To have thought about how to pull off that effect in a still image takes some serious brain power. I’m both impressed and delighted!

This next logo is from a more modern show but also with a goldenized lettering. The font itself is unique but actually very simple and classic. Primarily the only difference between the common Garamond and this logo are 3 lines inside each “O” and yet it creates an entirely new feel to the name (I neglected to mention the elongated “T” but that’s there as well). Beautiflly done! And I’d also like to note that the kerning between each letter is perfect.

It seems we can’t escape the yellow/gold lettering in our tv show logos. That will change soon. This Is Us is a tv show that I have watched in its entirety. And I have always been annoyed by its logo. What you see above is ok but how the words “this”, “is”, “us” are displayed in the intro of each show is something that my wife and I have always cringed at. It is a show from the 80s and it has old, ugly, vintage essence to it but it still hurts. This design above is much sweeter and desirable. It’s simple and unassuming yet well placed and elegantly displayed.

The Big Bang Theory came out perfectly timed when memes were becoming a big thing and behold, the Big Bang Theory used the same unofficial font of memes everywhere: Impact. Impact is one of those fonts that works great in theory and in fact is a well designed font but because of that ended up becoming so overly used it is now an eyesore unless used in a special and uniquely functional way. And I think the Big Bang Theory does that. It’s childlike and playful yet unashamed and unbashful. I don’t like when icons intersect with lettering in logos but it’s not the worst example in this case.

The Mandalorain; a delightful show in the Star Wars universe that tells of a hero and unlikely vulnerability. The logo we see, I feel perfectly matches the ambiance of the show itself. The font used, Agency Bold tells a story of a ridged man whose skillset and powers are required to survive in the world of selfishness and genocide. Excellent touch customizing each “A” in the name and in some versions of the logo there was an actual silhouette of the Mandalorian in the center “A” giving it an even more unique look (but has too much detail for a “perfectly well designed” logo).

And now to perhaps the most recognizable tv show logo of them all; Friends. Oh, how we all just love Friends. What a great and hilarious show! That went and used the most atrocious font possible to create what is an absolutely delightful image of color and happiness. For a show that began in the 90s it doesn’t venture far into the realm of terrible design but again we’re working with a font or combination of font types that have been so overly used and are now so hated by the design community that anyone caught using them today will immediately be shamed.

When designing a logo I always try to use as few colors as possible, two, maybe three. Here we have 5 and yet it’s not harsh or overwhelming to the eyes. I always want to use a font or at least customize the font so that the edges are clean so that its easy to read and easily copied without replication flaws. This logo doesn’t have that ability. But you can’t deny that, that wide kerning and simple lettering has created something that the world immediately recognizes and feels.

“If you build it they will come.”