Criterion Cover Art & Packaging Babble-on Vol.2

[Gigi M.]

I really like these new covers. What I don't like is the new logo. Oh well, I'm still buying it, so no more bitching.

[toiletduck!]

I want to officially go on record as a big fan of the tab design. It's managed to work with amazing versatility already in the first month.

-Toilet Dcuk

[Gigi M.]

Great observation. Perhaps the big C is taking my concentracion off the tab design. I think the covers would look a lot greather without it.

[domino harvey]

these Rohmer covers cement it: this is a step in the right direction. I retract my earlier freak-outs and come out in full fledged favor of this new design.

[jmj713]

It's like, find 10 differences between new and old covers.

They added an extra ray of sun on the background, the bird is not crossed over, the town has more houses around the church and they added a tank with soldiers. Unfortunately, once a lush - always a lush...

Can somebody post the two versions side by side. I can't find the first one anywhere...

[Anthony]

I like the Rohmer covers also... except for that Damn stupid-ass "C" in the top left hand corner. WTF???

[Ashirg]

Wow, looks like they fixed the year in Kicking and Screaming cover. That was fast!

[Cinesimilitude]

[Derek Estes]

That right there, makes me glad they changed the look.

[Cinesimilitude]

I like the new look on seduced and abondoned, and the rohmer box, but I'm not sure if I'll like it on every release.

[Mr Pixies]

ah, it's just a change, but i'll miss the logo. The "C" is ok, but I hate those tabs, they're too obtrusive, eh, losing the logo altogether is better than this new one.

[Jem]

For what it' worth, I love the new Criterion symbol, it is so strong but understated, and most importantly it doesn't interfere too much with the cover designs. (unlike like the last logotype)

[headacheboy]

Two rules of thumb for companies and their graphic art design team should be:

1) Make the design understandable so that first time buyers will know what they are looking at. The average patron at Best Buy is going to pull the Kicking and Screaming DVD off the shelf and not understand what that symbol is in the upper left hand corner.

2) Make certain that the logo doesn't intrude upon the product being sold. Look at any issue of virtually any magazine (save O) and you will find the magazine logo is often covered by the individual on said cover. Time and Newsweek will often have the cover subject blocking out the magazine's logo. For Criterion to paste their name in a block on the lower side of the cover is silly. Those Rohmer covers would have looked more aesthetically appealing than what they are currently showing us.

Change is good, but that doesn't mean everyone should automatically change. There are numerous examples of changes that failed miserably: Coca-Cola (as already pointed out), changing Superman's costume, changing Spider-Man's costume, the US cover of The Stones' Beggar's Banquet, Columbia's mid-seventies record labels.

Criterion's second logo, the film sprocket logo (for the lack of a better name, thanks kindly to whoever pointed that out), reveals a classic look that speaks highly of film and it's patrons. The new logo tries too hard to look kicky and zesty and fun and instead it looks like Grampa's wearing his elephant bellbottoms again. Just because someone is a successful graphics design artist and wins awards doesn't mean that person can't deliver a shite piece of work.

[pzman84]

I just got my copy of Young Mr. Lincoln from amazon today (it was the 45% discount offer). Anyway, it came in the old two disc packaging, not the "fugure 8" case. Hopefully, the days of "figure 8" are over.

[Derek Estes]

The average patron at Best Buy is going to pull the Kicking and Screaming DVD off the shelf and not understand what that symbol is in the upper left hand corner.

First of all, the average Best Buy patron wouldn't be picking up Kicking and Screaming anyways, unless someone mistakenly placed it in front of the copy of Big Mama's House 2 that they went there to purchase in the first place.

Secondly, it doesn't matter if they understand what it is or not. If anything is going to be a selling point to someone who isn't already a huge
Criterion fan (most of whom would already know of this logo change, or would be quick to see the tab on the side that many are already bitching about being too obtrusive), it will be the synopses on the back and the list of special features.

[Jem]

Two rules of thumb for companies and their graphic art design team should be:

1) Make the design understandable so that first time buyers will know what they are looking at. The average patron at Best Buy is going to pull the Kicking and Screaming DVD off the shelf and not understand what that symbol is in the upper left hand corner.

Of course they won't, if they haven't seen it before. The new symbol will take on meaning over time. If you had never seen the red cross symbol before, would you automatically think first aid?

2) Make certain that the logo doesn't intrude upon the product being sold. Look at any issue of virtually any magazine (save O) and you will find the magazine logo is often covered by the individual on said cover. Time and Newsweek will often have the cover subject blocking out the magazine's logo.

I don't get this argument, the new symbol is smaller, takes up less space and is more consise than the last "film sprocket" logotype.

Criterion's second logo, the film sprocket logo (for the lack of a better name, thanks kindly to whoever pointed that out), reveals a classic look that speaks highly of film and it's patrons.

How so? Personally I found the "sprocket idea" cliched, along the lines of a clapper board.

The new logo tries too hard to look kicky and zesty and fun

I can't see how it could be any simpler?

[Mr Pixies]

Well the tabs are the worst part, why do they need the tabs, plus the big "C" symbol? I'd assume that it's just to ease the customer into recognizing it as a Criterion disc, and then it will not be on future releases, but then why have the date of the film's release on there too? That date looks stupid, especially on the Rohmer box, where it shows nothing, and it ruins the design.

The big "C" is just not subtle like the previous logo was. Maybe they will tone it down later on when the change catches on....but now it's too intrusive, like it should be more in the corner, the way it's angled, it's like it's ready to eat the cover.

Still, it's no big deal.

[Noir of the Night]

The new design works well with Kicking and Screaming and Seduced and Abandoned, but not with the Rohmer box. I was a fan of the tabs at first, but on the covers for each of the Moral Tales it covers part of the picture, which distracts me. In addition, the C doesn't really fit with their more austere films, something that I had feared when it was first abandoned, and was confirmed by the covers for Six Moral Tales.

[pzman84]

Agreed. I preferred the old design because it was much more subtle. The covers for Seduced and Abandoned and Kicking and Screaming are anything but subtle, so the new tabs are fine. However, the Six Moral Tales covers are a lot more subtle and the new logo stands out too much

Take for instance:



In the upper left hand corner, the new C logo blocks out the man's mouth and much of his nose. It just gets in the way.

[Jem]

Well in this case I totally agree, the image is poorly positioned.
(The rest of the new covers look great though.)

[godardslave]

I have been away for a few days, so i've only just seen the new artwork.

All the rohmer covers are absolutely beautiful.

Also the new logo is minimalist, supremely modern and yet classical in its simplicity. Bravo criterion! At least from me, you'll hear no complaining.
Its obvious criterion is going for a more modern, minimalist aethsetic, which i personally love.

Absolutely beautiful, i feel compelled to repeat again. =D>

[justeleblanc]

Absolutely beautiful, i feel compelled to repeat again. =D>

I agree.

In a few years we'll look back on Criterion and say "that line on the cover is so annoying."

[dekadetia]

I'm wondering now whether Eric Chase Anderson is responsible for the Kicking and Screaming cover or it's just made to look that way, as that looks a lot like his handwriting.

[headacheboy]

I watched Family Nest over the weekend, the Facets release. When the logo came on the screen I was surprised by how much Criterion's new C resembles the C in Facets. Maybe that's the new Eclipse

[Jem]

You will find most "C's" look similar, as opposed to E's, that look nothing like C's.