opinios

It's All In A Logo

On April 1st, Tokyo's government-subsidized Teito Rapid Transit Authority (the Eidan subway for short) will be privatized and renamed to the Tokyo Metro.

I do wonder about the new logo though. When I see that 'M' I just can't help but conjure up an image of that famous multinational hamburger chain. In fact, I wonder how close the logo is to the "Golden Arcs" (not the Golden Arches) of McDowell's Restaurant from that classic 80s movie Coming to America, starring Eddie Murphy. Can anyone confirm or deny?

Anyway, I guess the designers did their research and people will get used to the new look. User studies have shown that Japanese people generally do require their marketing to be cute and fuzzy, more so than the rest of us. Still, I wonder if the kiosks on the platforms will start selling hamburgers soon, in addition to the chocolate, rice crackers, mints, genki drinks and everything else.

Really though, what was wrong with the old logo? The Superman-esque signage has been around since 1927 (I think?) and will definitely be missed by this little underground commuter. Posted by mattymcg at March 28, 2004 04:49 AM