Ehses & Lipton Discussion
Find an example of a symbol or logo (like the Quaker logo on page 2) that has changed over time. Can you explain the changes? How has the symbol or logo evolved due to cultural, historical, technological, political, economic, or other changes? (Or, how has it not changed?)
The change from Kentucky Fried Chicken to KFC in the logo occurred because of various reasons. The official reason was that consumers were health-conscious and wouldn’t like seeing the word ‘fried’, so they changed it to the shorter version.
Some websites felt that the change occurred due to licensing the name Kentucky, the fees were too high and so when the brand was getting updated, they chose to update the name as well.
The latest change to the KFC logo was changed to give customers the feeling of a youth-oriented restaurant mixed with a retro look. The graphic design also tried to show that the Colonel was the type of person who wasn’t afraid to get into the kitchen and cook by changing the Colonel’s attire.
Originally he wore his trademark white suit and string tie for the previous logos, but now it has changed to a red apron covering his white suit. Since KFC’s branding is based on the Colonel, they wanted to maintain that while updating the graphics to a vector-style.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15705220/
http://qa.kfc.com/about/history.asp
http://www.underconsideration.com/brandnew/archives/the_colonels_brand_new_clothes.php
http://www.tesser.com/client_work/kfc.htm
http://www.logoorange.com/logodesign-K.php
- How do Ehses and Lupton define rhetoric? How do they argue that rhetoric can inform graphic–and, for our purposes, communication–design?
Rhetoric is a complex tool that uses various types of medium to achieve a purpose. Another definition discusses how rhetoric uses language and creativity to ‘facilitate’ human affairs. (Ehses and Lipton, 3) Ehses and Lupton argue that rhetoric can be used in design by ‘focusing on the relationship between image and text’. (Ehses and Lupton, 3)
In the question and answer section, they also answer to rhetoric as effective, persuasive use of speech, and that it is based on the culture and appeal that will be successful and appropriate to its audience (Ehses and Lipton, 7). They also believe that meaning is a relationship between a culture and symbols.
