Rise of the Squirrel

Established in 1923 and originally well known for its loudspeakers and radios, Goodmans is a British consumer electronics designer and manufacturer specializing in entertainment technology. In its most recent incarnation, Goodmans offers audio and TV products like radios, sound systems, headphones, set top boxes, and, of course, speakers. Earlier this Summer, Goodmans introduced a new logo and identity designed by London-based Pajama.

Britishness, agility and resourcefulness are the hallmarks of Goodmans heritage and style. This spirit is captured in the new squirrel symbol, a smart friendly mascot. A squirrel is an amazing creature; storing nuts for the winter is simple, remembering where they are is brilliant. The bushy-tailed squirrel is drawn as a stylised G and will start to appear on the new product range and promotional material as an emblem of the Goodmans spirit.

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The previous wordmark would have made Woody Allen quite happy but other than a slight vintage appeal to it, there wasn't much going on and it definitely looked dated, specially on the contemporary-looking products Goodmans is currently offering. The new logo has two good things going for it. The first is the introduction of a squirrel as the brand icon. This made me realize how underused and underrated squirrels are as logos. I'm not 100% convinced, though, that the squirrel is appropriate for entertainment technology products of this kind, but I'll bite. The "G"-tail is a cute concept and makes the squirrel more techie and up close, the crisp and hard edges do work nicely with the products. Small, on the footer of the website, the squirrel looks very convincing.

The new, condensed wordmark pairs well with the squirrel icon and has a more immediate connection with the products, with an industrial and contemporary feel. It has some modest notches that I'm currently digging in fonts like Burlingame (used exhaustively in this year's Brand New Conference identity). But I digress: It's a simple and solid wordmark that looks quite nice on the product.

Pajama should have quit while they were ahead with the squirrel icon and refrained from introducing the logo-as-window approach in application. This is one of the cases where it doesn't work — the shape does not provide a canvas broad enough to see images properly and there is plenty of detail in the icon that additional imagery makes it very busy and hard to read. The product promos are more successful in their restraint and it helps that the products are fairly sexy. Overall, it's a nice update and I deeply (and strangely) enjoyed thinking about squirrels as logos and what good associations come with it.