its been cool to read all these thoughts so far on logos…
for me, i was struck by a couple of things when i was thinking about all of this the other night, the first being that in one way the covering of the logo actually just serves to highlight what is under the covering. and for me for some reason its especially conspicuous when the covering method is “sloppy” or appears to be an afterthought… i don’t know why exactly, maybe because the thing they are covering has been so designed and is so intentional… that you have to fight fire with fire perhaps?
it also reminded me when people write f*ck instead of just writing fuck. its like the word intentionally gets even more attention even though the person writing the word like that is trying to be less offensive (??) somehow? i totally get the ambient light leak issue on mac laptops. but i did a quick google search and apple hasn’t had a light up logo for a few years now on their new laptops. i would guess that a fair number of people taping their laptop lids are doing so to obscure the logo itself and not for any distracting lighting reason.
its an issue i am thinking about a lot now because i am working on a new production for 2020. i have one piece of gear i want to use in the show but it has branding written across its face that is literally burned into the product. i inquired about getting a “clean” version and they said its not possible since its so well incorporated into the production process. as a visual artist i feel its my job to care about every single detail in the visual experience of the performance. not sure what i’m going to do about this piece of gear- either not use it or try and find some very creative solution to hide it.
sorry, lots of random thoughts here, but the hasty taping of the apple on laptops is totally understandable when a musician has spent all of their bandwidth crafting the auditory experience in a live performance. i get it that we can’t all control and micro-manage every single detail in a performance, no one has the time, energy, resources, or interest for that. its just that there is an intention there, a gesture towards the visual aspect of how an audience will have a total experience. and that the gesture is perhaps not as elegant as the other aspects of the work, i was trying to think if there was some sort of common communal reaction since everyone seems to deal with this at the gigs i go see.
and obviously being a visual artist i have way over-thought this subject in the past days. though i am really inspired by the variety of answers here, it makes me feel good to just jump in and find a randomly creative solution for hiding logos when needed. its certainly a good excuse to carry a small house plant with me!
as a final stream of consciousness, the casual taping of the laptop lid also reminded me of classical musicians in an orchestra when they are not playing. i’ve had the luck to tour with a couple of orchestras again this year and from the outside its a very different culture. one thing that sticks out most to me is how the musicians physically carry themselves when not playing- one moment they have the best posture and are playing the most incredible music, and in the next moment when its not their turn, they sit slumped in their chair as if they were invisible because they weren’t playing at that exact moment. i’m certainly not getting down on anyone for doing their thing, it just really struck me as an outside observer of how clearly the internal culture values the music above all else, including visually distracting elements of the non-playing members looking around the stage, or looking dreadfully bored, or slumping in direct opposition to the cultivated airs of their dress and the concert hall. i guess for me logos are kind of like this- a form of visual noise which i generally try to curb as much as possible. maybe that’s why i really love norns, grids, and arcs for shows since there is no branding on them at all, not even in terms of functions!
