Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Wednesday Waffler: Manac Inc.




I had almost forgotten about this one. Saw this on the road a few months back.

It’s a totally charming idea that a Canadian truck trailer manufacturer use a flying moose as a logo/mascot. And the drawing has a restrained simplicity that suggests someone knew what they were doing.

But then I get to the name. Is it just me, or do you read Oomanac, too? But their name is Manac. No Oo. That’s a problem, right?

5 comments:

  1. This is an example where I think those in the trucking industry would get this and those outside it would not. This may or may not be obvious to the general audience, but those two circles represent the wheels of a flatbed trailer - that's what the line above everything is suggesting. My dad is a trucker, and I've been around trucks all my life, so I understood immediately what the logo is trying to convey. In you defense, I definitely agree that it's too close.

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  2. Matt, my stepfather was a truck driver, so I know the industry somewhat. I did get the reference to the flatbed truck, especially since I had to make sense of what the two red circles were after I figured out their name is Manac. But it's still a confusing read for me.

    There's one incredibly simple change that would help with that... the line above should be red too, so wheels and flatbed read as one thing.

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  3. Well, I'm alright with the mudflap application. It's simple, fun, good (despite the OO).

    I'm not alright with the bottom pic, though. Extra outlines, filled in letters, and the worst crime of all: they chopped the moose in half to make it look slicker. Now it's a flying moose that's... drowning or stuck in the middle of a flatbed.

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  4. I think it's just you. Although I didn't recignize them as signifying wheels, those circles don't read as Os to me!

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  5. Yup, I too did not read Oomanac . . . I read just manac!

    I have this "uncomfortable" feeling about the bottom design as well . . . all those white outlines are so distracting, especially around the moose's head and wings--looks like a mess. And what's up those connecting "bleeds" between the line and the first circle, the "a", and the "c"? And the "blob" backing the "a"s . . . yuck!

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