This is Michael Bierut.
这是迈克·布雷特
“I’m Michael Beirut.
我是迈克·布雷特
I'm a graphic designer”
我是一名平面设计师
You might be familiar with this work,
可能你对这个作品已经很熟悉了
but interestingly he thinks that logos are just kind of overrated.
但有趣的是，他觉得商标其实有点儿被高估了
I'm actually often very ambivalent about them.
我对商标的态度其实很矛盾
Let’s back out a second.
我们先不谈这个
What is a logo? Basically a face of a company.
什么是商标？商标基本上就是一个企业的门面
Some are beloved. Some.
有些商标深受大家喜爱，有些就……
The swastika is a logo and it's reviled. You know?
纳粹的十字记号就是一个商标，但它广受人们的非议，你知道的
They have to work at tiny sizes, and huge.
纳粹的标志有小的也有大的
There are three specific types.
商标基本上可以分为三类
First type is the Wordmark.
第一种是文字型商标
The wordmark is the easiest one. And it's the one we're all the most familiar with.
文字型商标是最简单，也是我们最熟悉的商标类型
I mean John Hancock's signature is kind of a word mark.
比如，约翰·汉考克的签名就是一种文字型商标
And it can look crisp clean and modern like the new Google logo looks.
商标可以很简洁、很现代，比如新版的谷歌商标
It can look somehow that it has roots in a shared heritage
商标也可以看上去就让人感觉它是有历史可以追溯的
the way the coca cola logo looks. You know?
就像可口可乐的商标那样，你懂的
The second is PICTORAL.
第二种商标是图像型商标
Pictoral logos often function as a kind of rebus you know.
你知道吗，图像型商标一般有类似字谜一样的作用
It's a picture, and what you see in the picture
它是一个图像，这个图像存在某种含义
and it's sort of identifying the name of the company.
它基本上就代表了公司的名号
Sometimes directly like Target.
有些图像比较明了，比如Target的商标
Sometimes indirectly like LaCoste.
有些就不那么明了了，比如（法国）鳄鱼牌的商标
The third kind is kind of the holy grail. Abstract inconography.
第三种商标也就是抽象图画，有点像圣杯
The third type is favorite kind of category
第三种类型是人们最喜欢的商标类型
because it just seems almost like magic you know.
因为它看上去就像魔术似的，你知道吗
As a designer people will come to me and they'll say
设计师们找我的时候，他们就会说
what I want was something like the Nike swoosh.
我想要耐克旋风那种设计
They think the Nike swoosh was the Nike Swoosh the day it was drawn.
他们以为耐克旋风一开始设计的时候就是那个样子
But it was nothing the day it was drawn.
但刚设计的时候它其实一点儿也不火
The company that birthed Nike commissioned a design student named Carolyn to draw some ideas.
耐克公司把画设计图的任务交给了设计专业一个叫卡洛琳的的学生
The Nike founders didn't really like it.
但耐克的初创者们并不喜欢这个设计
They sort of said awww let’s use that one.
他们的反应差不多是，呃，那我们就用这个吧

It wasn’t an overnight success.
耐克商标的成功并不是一夜之间的事情
And then they started putting it on the sides of shoes.
那以后他们就开始把这个商标用在他们的鞋帮上
The shoes were good
鞋子卖得还不错
and then the genius of Nike's marketing apparatus
接下来耐克的天才营销团队
made us further associate that product
让我们进一步把那个商标
not merely with performance athletic gear
不仅仅是和性能突出的运动装备联系起来
but with the very idea of athletic achievement itself.
还和运动成就这一概念本身联系起来
And that's how over a long time a little mark means something big.
这就是一个小小的标志能够在很长的时间里一直发挥重要作用的原因
That’s exactly how religious symbols work –
而这恰恰也是宗教标志发挥作用的方式——
it’s obviously not just anything inherent in about these shapes,
显然，重要的不是这些造型本身蕴含的某种意义
but what these shapes have come to represent in the minds of the people who are looking at them.
而是这些造型在人们心里代表的含义
But there's a fourth type of logo that goes beyond these three types,
然而，除了这三种商标类型，还有第四种
and can use elements of each of them: The Logo System.
这第四种能够使用前三种的任何元素：它就是商标系统
A graphical framework that can have endless permutations.
商标系统是一种有着无限排列可能的结构
The first gigantically popular example of the logo system would be MTV.
第一种备受欢迎的商标系统就是MTV
But google’s daily “doodles” are another great example the logo system –
谷歌每日更新的“涂鸦”商标则是商标系统的另一个成功案例
a familiar mark that also can point to other ideas and issues.
它不仅采用了我们熟悉的标志，还能指向别的事件或想法
This approach all has to do with technological change.
这种方法完全是得益于技术的推动
It used to be if a company was doing a logo
过去，如果一个企业要做一个商标
there'd be this military operation by which it would be inscribed on all their equipment
军队就会把这个商标用在他们的所有装备上
and on their airplanes and their retail facilities
飞机上、零售店里
and gold pins and cufflinks would be made for the executive suite
金色的别针和袖扣则是为长官的军装设计的
and put on spitoons, in ashtrays, the top of the skyscraper,
痰盂上、烟灰缸里、摩天大楼顶部
and everyone’s business card. Right?
每个人的名片上也有，它们到处都是，没错吧
Nowadays none of that’s important as an email signature
现在，甚至是一个邮件签名
or your twitter avatar or the little thing that sits next to your URL.
又或是推特头像，网址左边的网站图标之类的东西都比它们重要
Those things are much more ubiquitous
这些东西到处都是
and they can be changed at the drop of a hat.
而且随时都可能改变
” Bierut used this system approach for his Hillary Clinton logo.
布雷特就用这种商标系统设计了希拉里的标志
we wanted to have a mark that could reflect the electorate, and reflect the issues.
我们想要的是一个能够反映这一次选举，能够反映选举问题的标志
The simple forms that comprise the H with the arrow in it
由字母H和里面的箭头组成的这一简洁的标志
are actually designed to hold not just two colors, say red and blue,
不仅仅可以用来涂成随便哪两种颜色，比如红色和蓝色
but any colors you want
而且可以想涂成什么颜色就涂成什么颜色
The use of logo systems seems to be continually on the upswing now –
对商标系统的使用现在似乎继续呈上升趋势——
probably because it allows the the brand using it
或许是因为这种设计能让使用它的品牌
to expand the conversation beyond it’s own name.
将其与观众的对话扩展到品牌名之外的东西上面
The logo kind of reminds people.
这种商标有种提示的作用
that’s what our priority is today.
我们今天要做的设计就是这种设计
But at the end of the day,
但是，考虑了所有的情况之后，
regardless of the shape, style or system, it might not matter what the logo is.
撇开形状、风格和系统不谈，采用什么样的标志其实可能并不重要
It really is about thinking of these symbols as being empty vessels in a way.
从某种程度上讲，真正重要的是把这些标志当成空的容器
And then you pour the meaning into them.
然后你给它们赋予某种意义
So what's all this add up to?
那我们说这么多干什么？
Basically, those fights people get in about new logos are pretty misguided.
通常情况下，人们对新商标的争论很大程度上都是被误导了
They think they’re judging a diving competition,
他们以为他们是在评判一场跳水比赛
but actually all these organizations are in swimming competitions.
但实际上所有这些公司参加的是游泳比赛
It’s not what kind of splash you make when you hit the water.
重要的不是你入水时激起了多大的水花
It’s about how long you can keep your head above that water.
而是你能让头在水面上坚持多久
Logos need to have a long life, not win points in a discussion.
商标需要的是能够长久地存在下去，而不是赢得人们的争辩
12 years after the birth of the Nike logo,
耐克商标诞生12年之后
Nike came back to that graphic design student Carolyn with a gift
耐克重新把那个设计专业的学生卡洛琳请回来，并送给了她一份礼物
A Nike ring with her own trademark on it, the swoosh.
一个耐克戒指，上面有她自己设计的旋风商标
Thank you very much it's beautiful.
非常感谢大家，太漂亮了
And an undisclosed amount of Nike stock. Wow.
还有一份秘密数额的耐克股票，哇……
In 1973 when it was designed, her pay was $35.
而1973年她设计这一标志的时候，她得到的报酬只有35美元