In earlier years, designers had to
be concerned with over-enlarging a printed logo,
for fear of exposing what is referred to as a bindaid dot pattern.
It was a closeup of the pattern created by thousands of microdots to
print an image in CMYK or to create the appearance of a gradient.
Allowing these dots to be perceptible used to be a major faux pas, but occasionally
we see this pattern being embraced by designers for a very different reason.
Using this effect on the edge of a logo can almost be visually disturbing,
and if that means gathering someone's attention, that may not be all bad.
If it occasionally allows us to stop a consumer and if it's used in the
right context, this little illusion can actually be very arresting.
I'm a particular fan of this seagull logo
used by an Italian shipping company AJ Mobilità.
I see this image and I immediately feel like I'm standing in a hazy port
with this firm's container ships and these birds
cutting through the fog at the same time.
Both veteran seafarers completely comfortable in their environment.
As you look through hundreds of optical illusions
that are out there, you might ask yourself
if it's possible to integrate a few of
their tricks into your own kit of solutions.
I look at an image like this.
And despite the fact that it's not animated,
I certainly feel it's crawling all over the screen.
Could the same principle be integrated in a future
identity, so consumers are forced to confront the illusion, possibly?
Or, look at this pattern.
It isn't animated either, but the more you stare, the more you'll
swear the white dots and the intersections appear to be blinking at you.
Doesn't it only seem natural that this
effect could be incorporated into an identity?
And in fact it actually was.
When Turner Duckworth design were asked to redesign the Tab energy
drink for Coca Cola, they built this effect right into the cans.
Nothing like a can of Tab winking at you from the cooler.
So, much of the illusion discussed here in logo design is really
a battle between what the consumer sees versus what they believe they see.
Your first objective should be great design, regardless.
But, by encouraging this battle of illusion in their mind,
we're able to buy a little more of their attention.
And in the marketing world, where every millisecond
of impression counts, that may make a difference.