There have been no shortage of articles hyping up new coins and platforms. They attach exciting emotions and FOMO to new projects and when paired with headlines of overnight riches, that can be enough for us to open our wallets wide. Add to that an overstimulation of vibrant colors saturated in trendy design gimmicks, and we become helplessly hypnotized. Let's look at some of these candy designs.
SushiSwap
SushiSwap is playing on the retro design trend happening everywhere. The sushi icon is designed to mimic the metallic movie titles and band names of the 80's. It screams retro-futurism. Magenta is exciting and light blue is cool, and the gradient in-between has a very chill sunset vibe. The black wave reinforces the scenic quality, as though looking at the silhouette of a mountain range or distant hills, but I believe this was intended to mimic a market chart.
I don't really see a cohesive concept or working gestalt in this design. Current design trends may keep this icon alive for a while, and with the rise of decentralization it is entirely possible that the “good enough” logo may become a design trend in its own right. But I think if SushiSwap is to become a giant, then the community needs to define their message and design a concept around that message.
Uniswap
It's cool, it's cute, it's adorably pink, and I was totally on board until I saw it paired with a serif typeface. Pink is an emotional color that can communicate romance or femininity or immaturity or creativity, and it works great for the vector unicorn but when I look at this I get My Little Pony vibes which, to me, indicates a nostalgia factor. But that's not a problem. The big problem with the logo is the pink serif typeface. It sends a confusing and comical message because we're looking at a serious and traditional typeface painted in an aloof, non-traditional pink. If it was intentional, then I think the concept could have been executed better.
88mph
Like most, I had not heard of 88mph until after I began researching DeFi. The logo was enough for me to say “No. Thank you”, but I was still fascinated with how it was being implemented. Once again nostalgia comes into play, but here it is excessively over-the-top. The yellow-to-violet gradient feels like it's missing a palm tree or two and the wordmark is a little too exciting with its neon glow.
This logo is trying way too hard to grab our attention, and not telling us enough about itself. Instead, it begs you to grab a friend and insert a couple of tokens for a little harmless fun at the arcade. I'd also like to point out that this design does not work on white at all, because they want us to experience the thrill of 80's CRT gaming the way it was meant to be experienced: in the dark. Unfortunately, as much as I loved the arcade, this is just another pretty design without a real concept.
These examples, while appealing and beautiful, are communicating an important message to us. The lack of cohesive concepts indicates to me a lack of future thinking, a lack of understanding, and maybe a bit of a YOLO attitude. Unfortunately, I have no intimate knowledge of the design choices that were made and so I can only speculate on the elements presented to me. But if any of these brands were to overhaul their identities they could solidify their presence.
I will stop at those three for now but I plan to continue analyzing logo designs. There are so many to choose from, but if you have any suggestions or favorites, leave me a comment!
-fizzlstout