Since everyone’s reveling in Fyre failure, I’m gonna pile on. First, let’s acknowledge that the application of these elements across collateral and media (most specifically social media) is brilliant in concept and expertly executed, the ultimate outcome notwithstanding. However, in hindsight, you can argue that the festival/company/disaster’s shortsightedness and inattention to detail are reflected in the most visible part: the logo.
Let’s start with the flame icon. During development, designers will often get feedback that something looks or is “off.” Its nebulous feedback that’s not very helpful, so we normally have follow-up questions. In this case, I’d imagine the inconsistent bezier curves of the icon would inspire such feedback. Take the left side of the icon for instance:
See that vague flatness between the 8 and 9 o’clock positions of the curve? That’s an inconsistent, rough curve. It doesn’t add to the voice or style of the icon, so it’s just subpar craftsmanship. The concave curve on right side of the left flame point is another example. So is the rightmost side of the icon, and so is the line that divides the two flame pieces. And now you’ll never not see this again. You’re welcome.
Check out this side-by-side. It took 5 minutes to smooth out the curves.
It’s not perfect either, but it’s five minutes of attention.
Moving on, let’s isolate the flame icon and the zigzag element and compare them. Look at the endpoints and corners of each element. The flame has sharp corners, the zigzag’s are rounded.
The two elements aren’t in visual harmony. Going further, the rounded corners of the zigzag create a bit of an optical illusion that the corners are thicker than the straight sections, which gives a bit of a tribal or carved feel to it (which is in the visual language of getaway beach locales). No such effect is in the icon. Finally, the thickness of the line separating the two pieces of the flame icon doesn’t approach the thickness of the zigzag lines. In fact, it’s thin enough to create tension, and also has imperfect curves. If you didn’t notice above, that line has smoother curves in the comparison, but also subtly increases in thickness as it goes up, which adds depth to the icon and somewhat solves the tension issue.
Now let’s add the wordmark back in. Straight lines and sharp corners to go with straight lines and rounded corners to go with curved lines and sharp corners.
The three elements aren’t far enough apart in these aspects to create contrast, but neither are they close enough to create harmony. All three elements also hold about the same weight as far as size is concerned, so none of them control the focus of the composition.
Do I have solutions with my problems? Nah. Nuts to these people.
Eh, screw it. Here’s a quick runaround.
Again, this isn’t perfect either, but with a little attention to detail, you get a sizable improvement.