An Exclusive Interview With the New Gap Logo

About the same time as the much-maligned new Gap logo made its infamous debut, the logo also launched a (very, very unofficial) Twitter account of its own. Going by the name of @GapLogo, (s)he makes quips about the new look, such as: "FINE. I wanted to sit on this for a while but I can't keep it a secret any longer. The blue square is a scratch-n-sniff. Go ahead, try it."

Knowing how tough it can be to be a new logo (heck, I'm only three months old myself), I asked the new Gap logo a few questions about fashion, Helvetica, and what it felt like to be hated by designers worldwide.

: I thought you looked pretty good before. Why did you change your look?

: I'm no longer a size zero logo anymore. Times, they are a changing. Also: too many croissants.

: When did you first know that people weren't happy with your redesign?

: Within the first 20 minutes it went live on the website and our email servers crashed from all the Google Alerts flooding our inboxes. Mostly saying how I was the worst thing since polio.

: I know how hard it can be to be a new logo out there in the world. Why do new logos make people so angry?

: Change scares some people. So do clowns. I have no idea.

: Does all this rage hurt your feelings? How do you deal with the pain?

: It does hurt. I have feelings! I have a friggin Twitter account! The only way to deal with the pain is comfort eating. Pretty soon I'll be type set in Helvetica Neue Black

: Who designed you? Where do they work? And have they been punished?

: Well, before corporate could do anything our creative director quit, the ACD went on a drinking binge and disappeared and our little Parsons intern Jenna can't stop crying. Isn't that punishment enough?

: Do you feel like the logo version of Heidi Montag?

: I think Heidi Montag feels like the human version of me.

: Are you in any way related to the American Apparel logo?

: I'll admit, we do share similarities and Dov Charney has wanted to get his greasy, creepy uncle hands on us for years. I've heard the new name post-acquisition will be called American Gapparel.

: Wait a second. I think I've seen you before. Were you in the movie Helvetica?

: Some people think Helvetica shouldn't be used in logos. Those same people also like to club baby seals and steal candy from little children.

: Let's talk about the gradient square. What's going on there?

: I was left in the dryer too long. Cold water, people! Air dry!

: I hate to even ask this but...does a version of you come in khaki?

: Yes! Also, have you seen our new chinos lately? How about our premium 1969 jeans?!

: Where would you place yourself on the public-hatred scale between the iTunes 10 icon and the London 2012 Olympics logo?

: I'd say I'm right up there with Satan, world hunger and the new Digg V4.

: When you party with other logos, which logo gets the craziest?

: I've heard stories about you -- your reputation precedes you. Care for some scotch and a triple-scoop of Cherry Garcia?

: Would you consider yourself the @BPGlobalPR of the design world?

: Luckily I wasn't born out of a truly horrific ecological nightmare. But judging by the Twitter responses you probably couldn't tell.

: A lot of people think you were launched by Gap to combat negative opinion. Are you the officially sanctioned spokeslogo for Gap?

: No, no. Corporate didn't like the idea of their logo tweeting but they sort of forgot about that issue when they saw what I actually looked like. They've got bigger problems than a snarky, tweeting logo.

: According to a post on Gap's Facebook page, Gap is actually launching a crowdsourcing campaign to look for more logos. So you're not even "the one?"

: This is what the dumb dumbs in our marketing department call a pivot. I am the chair to corporate's Bobby Knight.

For more:

Gaps first official response to logo disaster: "We're Open To Other Ideas"

Our initial round-up of the outrage