M&S research- previous logotypes

In  order to create an informative viewpoint of the brand and to discover aspects of their design ethos I looked into their past company branding.

The above logotype was prominent until the company's recent rebrand. A slim line sans serif typeface promotes a modern brand that prides itself on simplicity. Simplicity being a factor in which M&S were largely trying to promote during the time of re-brand, as a new M&S basics range had recently been introduced. 

 Compared to Marks and Spencers previous logotypes this is by far my least favourite. The letterforms appear unbalanced as the variation in stroke width isn't confident throughout each letter. An example of this is that the 'R' appears to have no correlation in width to the rest of the letterforms, and appears to have its own standing in width. Also the chosen colour to represent M&S as a brand is very poor. The chosen colour also appears very outdated, therefore not expressing M&S's ethos to be up to date with fashion trends and technologies.

 Compared to other Mark's and Spencer's logo's this one possesses many characteristics that are not prominent throughout each re-brand. Initially the shop name was altered to StMicheal something in which hadn't previously been done, and hasn't been since. Secondly the logotype consists of both upper and lower case letters. Although I like the idea of using both letterform styles, I feel that as M&S tries to express power and authority, capitals appear much more appropriate.

As this logo design was one of the first for M&S it is no shock that a serif typeface was used, as predominantly in the past serif typefaces were extremely dominant within logo design.  The colour scheme is bland, but would have been appropriate to the design connotations of the time.