CNDNSED SOUP

Efficiency. We all strive to achieve it. We are all proud when it happens in a way which benefits us at work or with chores, yet we all make fun of it or are embarrassed of it when it comes to pop culture or things we deem to be frivolous.

What I'm thinking of most in this latter category is text messaging. It's widely accepted now and perhaps even expected that "too" or "to" will be abbreviated with the number "2". Remember learning about homonyms in the second grade? It's already a confusing concept to a 7 year old without incorrect examples being given daily by adults. In a generation where we have work-related disabilities without ever lifting anything, just because we sit poorly or have an incorrect keyboard setup, text messaging shorthand has become thought of as an unfortunate necessity, but a necessity nonetheless.

I was in New York City recently and was intrigued by two separate things which reminded me of this new shorthand. The first was the layout of different subway station names. Names such as Brooklyn were frequently shortened to fit on to pillars in the stations. The signs on the walls, where there was much more room, still had the name shortened, yet lacked consistency. "B-K-L-N" would appear on a post while "B-K-L-Y-N" would appear on the wall. Were they the same, it could be argued that the abbreviation on the wall was to match the post, but this inconsistency matches up much better with the text messaging make-your-own-rules mentality than a learned shorthand approach.

Also of interest to me was a pamphlet, about a dozen pages long, entitled "Notehand and Other Labor-Savers" from 1942 by Melvil Dewey, inventor of the Dewey Decimal System. Notehand, to oversimplify, is a streamlined relative of shorthand, intended for personal use instead of for stenographers. It doesn't save as much time as true shorthand, but it requires much less time to learn it and it can usually be read by people who have not studied it. Since half of any English writing is made up by the 100 most common words, a lot of time can be saved with little practice.

"About" is abbreviated to "abt", "neither" becomes "nei", and "every" becomes "ev". Some notehand abbreviations, such as "biz" instead of "business" and "yr" to represent "year" or "your", have found their way into the our everyday lives. After the basic abbreviations are learned, it is encouraged to create your own abbreviations based on the words which come up most often in your own writing. In this sense, there truly is an anything goes approach to notehand, much like with text messaging, but notehand is not intended for others to read. A search for more recent mention of notehand showed that people would sometimes use notehand to save time in school, but would then write the notes out in full later on, both as a review and as a way to have a "proper version" of the notes.

Despite the fact that most notehand practitioners would wince at "gr8" being used to represent the word "great", the similarities are striking. I find it amusing that the 10 year old who is text messaging their friend is likely unaware of notehand. And unless they happen to be browsing the Logotree blog on their iPhone, I doubt they ever will become aware of it.

All of this is to say that simplicity is key to good corporate branding. Reebok deciding to abbreviate themselves to their distinctive "rbk" look was a bold move, catering to their youth market, already full of abbreviations. The effectiveness of their branding is due largely to the minimalism. They lost their Union Jack and half of the letters in their name, and introduced a new stylized logo of only a few scant lines.

When working with a design company on a logo or corporate naming, keep your customers in mind. Although you may want to show that your company has a global presence, by adding a globe into the design, it doesn't take much before your logo becomes cluttered and weak. At that point you also have to wonder if it will size down legibly on a website or a business card. A good logo is an important part of corporate branding, but there is only so much you can ask of it. The rest has to be taken care of through the copywriting for your promotional materials. If you're wanting a logo that states "we've been in business for 80 years" or "you can trust us", consider stating such things in a tagline or as a heading in a brochure or presentation folder. Keep your logo simple and memorable.