A few weeks after Gap’s logo debacle, another iconic brand is attempting to give itself a new image. The YMCA unveiled its updated logo this week, and I am definitely disappointed to see the old design go.
While it certainly isn’t as bad as Gap’s flop, I still cringe at the idea of ever changing a brand’s most recognizable and public feature. Starting a new ad campaign or attempting to adapt to an ever changing market does not require a logo redesign. Especially a redesign that tries to capture a fleeting trend, like many “Web 2.0″ logos attempt to do. The designs that fall into this trap are doomed to look dated entirely too soon; a truly great logo should stand the test of time.
I don’t mind the new logo at all, but I do question the motivation behind it.
I promise my blog will not become re-posts from Reddit, but I do feel compelled to post certain things I find on my blog. It’s my blog anyhow, I make the rules here!
When working in SEO it’s important to realize that Google uses past searches to influence new ones. Because of this, testing a search term can have obfuscated results. If you are searching your own websites’ name or the same terms over and over, it will affect the order in which your results appear.
Of course everyone has their own history, so searching Google with a clean slate doesn’t exactly guarantee that it will give you a better picture of where your potential readers or customers will see it, but it will give you another perspective.
Outside of changing preferences within Google, the only way I know how to achieve the search results with no influence is to add
&pws=0
to the lengthy URL that Google generates after you perform a search, and then hit Go/Enter.
If you know of a better way to achieve this type of search, please let me know in the comments!
