You retouched my logo! News Posted by Jonathan Capps on 30th October 2015, 12:09 I’ll just get straight to the point here. The logo for Red Dwarf XI has been revealed and it’s old school. Like, 80s old school. We’ve been firmly in the land of serifs for many, many years now so seeing that the logo is so directly harking back to the original feels incredibly refreshing. It’s the best version, after all, and the addition of the circular halo around the whole thing just caps it off. It’s beautiful, it’s simple and it makes sense to give the new series such a striking connection to the past. Around these parts we’re usually of the opinion that the show should keep evolving and moving on, but for details like this, frankly, the more pleasing references to older series the better. It’s as yet unclear whether this will also carry over to Red Dwarf XII. Some of me would enjoy a visual distinction between the two, but most of me just wants this logo to be the one forever.
Cor that’s a looker. Thinking about it it makes perfect sense to me, and in retrospect I’m slightly surprised it hadn’t happened with X. Maybe they needed a series to “fit into the old uniform” so to speak and then go from there with XI(I). It’s nice to see the show taking more risks now it has two series commissioned and a Baby Cow in the field. One week to cameras rolling. We’re in for a wild ride. EDIT: I also have the sudden urge to update the Wikipedia page with this beast.
Speaking of Wikipedia, I just noticed this spectacularly redundant addition: Yes, it was officially announced by all parties concerned in May, but it wasn’t confirmed until Robert mentioned it on Fully Charged the other day…
They’ve re-badged it you fool! I have an image in my head of cartoon hands reaching in and messing about with the Red Dwarf III logo (as seen on the VHS cover) to get this new one. The cartoon hands perform a jazz movement and disappear off screen.
I really hate just how close together the WA are. It just feels wrong to have them kerned so tightly, against the HUGE SPACE between the A and the vertical of the R by comparison.
I really hate just how close together the WA are. It just feels wrong to have them kerned so tightly, against the HUGE SPACE between the A and the vertical of the R by comparison. Agreed. I very nearly love it, but some of the spacing feels a bit off – that in particular. (I wouldn’t be surprised if it was tweaked by the time it makes it to air.)
(I wouldn’t be surprised if it was tweaked by the time it makes it to air.) Well, this is how it looked during S3/4, isn’t it, spacing and all? I’m not sure it’s even fixable without big changes to the basic letterforms, especially to the A and R. It all just feels… imbalanced… compared to the serif version [Note how the red halo cuts the middle of the A there, whereas this skims the top]. If they wanted to go sans, I’m amazed they didn’t redraw from scratch, probably with a much less…bold… font than this.
Oh come on. It’s classic and brilliant, maybe a little flawed, but does it really need this much analysis? It’s a picture of some writing.
somebody’s right about the kerning being all out of whack but i hope they don’t change it. it’s those kern little flaws that keep a guy interested
>I really hate just how close together the WA are. It just feels wrong to have them kerned so tightly, against the HUGE SPACE between the A and the vertical of the R by comparison. Now cannot un-see. THANKS. I’ve always preferred the serif, as it goes..(and there’s just as many memories of classic Dwarf with that than this) but I do like that circle thing and the lettering is better than it was on Series III and IV (even with the dodgy kerning). I want the logo to “crash in together” like it used to. There’s an article waiting to be written about Red Dwarf’s multitude of logos as some of the ones on various pieces of merchandise were a complete disaster.
That one on the revised Programme Guide. What the fuck was that about? Then there’s the Smegazine volume 2 logo. Should the ellipse be in front of or behind the A? Should it be seen through the gaps in the Ds, or should the spaces be clear..? Oh God, yes, this logo article *needs* to written.
There’s also the 3D ellipse that was introduced on the Series IV VHS covers…and never used again that I can think of. (A google search reveals that there was an alternate pressing of the Byte 1,2 covers for this series, as one version has the logo styled more or less as above, and one has the serif version but with the weird 3D ellipse. I had the latter when I was so much younger than today).
Even when I was 12 I was taken aback by the serif logo being on the series IV VHS. The Smegazine vol 2 logo made me feel slightly ashamed every time I bought a copy.
I know it’s already causing a little bit of controversy, but I absolutely love this. Beautifully retro.
And then the V and VI VHS covers reverted to the III/IV logo. I mean, what the jesusing cunting fuck?* *Yes I did watch John Hoare’s Downfall recently.
And then the V and VI VHS covers reverted to the III/IV logo. I mean, what the jesusing cunting fuck?* I was hoping this would come up, it’s very interesting that the VHS spines have this logo. Series VII was the first to use the cleanest logo on broadcast. and the only series apart from VIII (along with the tally writing thing) and then they never got it right aside from that, it’s all over the place innit?
recently did my first red dwarf fanwork in 20 years, it’s fanfic and one of my inspirations was this logo conversation. here’s an extract… ‘In the dregs of the evening’s festivities, Kryten had got into some ridiculous argument with Kochanski about underwear that was of great amusement to Cat but Lister began to tune out and half fall asleep into this heavy, deep-space drunken trance. He was staring at this Red Dwarf logo sewn into a blanket. A logo is supposed to collect things together and make things neat but this logo disturbed him. Just the contingency of it – just this one random mining ship had become the whole of the human world. The WA in the word DWARF cleaved together so tightly in a way the verticality of the RF couldn’t afford leaving it slightly stranded and the logo suddenly looked gappy and unbalanced. He’d never noticed this before, but he was sure he’d never be able to unsee it now. ‘These sort of obsessive observations about minutia were new to Lister who’d always had a rough and ready attitude to things. He excelled at robotics and mechanics because he appreciated the principle of things needing to work just enough, knowing that a perfectionist attitude can make people spend their entire time preparing a revision timetable without leaving enough time to revise for example. Like Rimmer would. And then he was there again, sans-H, in Ace’s outfit but his hair short and slightly scruffy, always the same in these dreams.’ if you want read the whole thing here (it’s not slashy or explicit don’t worry/sorry. kind of a bizarre bottle epsiode was the intention) : http://archiveofourown.org/works/6361606