Anyone who's ever handed their tablet to their child to keep them
occupied knows that when it returns
it usually requires a pretty intensive swab-down.
Or look at the screen on a child's TV and it too
can become a bit fuzzy and sticky, all at the same time.
There's a world of wondrous things behind that screen.
And I really believe it's human nature for us to want to reach in and grab them.
Our kids learn pretty quickly that this is all illusive eye candy.
But nonetheless, even as adults, the temptation to
touch still rears its head from time to time,
and with HD technology and plasma screens, let's
just say that fantasy overrides logic now and again.
Enter the designer, and it may be you, who creates these
temptations, whether behind the screen, or in print, or some other medium.
It's the designer that is expected to guide their client
and tell them what the public will best respond to.
But the public can be a bit fickle.
At one moment, and depending on how the pendulum is swinging, half
of the designers may believe that the current trend is spartan and flat.
And the other half, fully in the camp of vivid realism.
Up until recently, these were the well-known, but
unremarkable, and flat logos, of three major networks.
And, in less than six months' time, NBC, ABC
and Univision independently decided to fully invest themselves in
highlights and crystal caps, turning this group of marks
into a 3D, tour-de-force of jump off the screen reality.
That's a pretty astonishing coincidence and a very strong vote
for how consumers respond to a measure of dimensional branding showmanship.
In the right case, building a highly
tactile identity can become nearly trance inducing.
We know it's not real, but part of us wants to touch it.
As a logo, it may just help your clients stand
out in a world of the flat and fully unadorned.