Talk Morgan Forums Community The Malvern Arms Morgan Motor Company New Logo

As Malcolm Lamb is a/the 'Centenary' director I presume the MSCC Ltd. is somehow involved.

Roderich

Hi Roderich,
I had heard that Malcolm Lamb is now employed by the MMC, as are all the other Centenary company directors, saving the MWTC representative. (Brian or Dennis). I'll check.

Lorne

Lorne,

That is my impression too.

I found the letter ML sent a few weeks ago

'...We are please that both the Morgan Sports Car Club and the Morgan Three Wheeler Club have agreed to play an active part in this special year’s activities....'

Roderich

Oh here we go again... let's think of something else to have a go at the MMC and MSCC about....

I have to say this stuff is really beginning to ruin TM for me.

The organisation of the centenary was explained in the letter your club recieved Rod see

http://www.talkmorgan.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=8151#Post8151

I don't see how anybody can understand my remarks on this topic as '... to have a go at...' but as I don't want to ruin TM for you I will try to refrain from any remarks concerning the two companies.

Roderich

I did not mean specifically you Rod

Then it must be me Phil and, if so, I am terribly sorry.

I have tried very hard to be circumspect about anything said about your club here and expressed great hopes for the MCC Centenary arrangements. If you point to where I went wrong, I will make an even greater effort to respect your feelings.

I DO understand that most who still attend the NCMs are sensitive to any criticism. I have tried to contact you by private emails without response. I can be reached at lorne@gomog.com

Lorne

Guys, am I missing something here?

Surely the Centenary logo is specific to that event and has little to do with the Morgan Motor Company logo (and their revision of the logo)?

While I recognise the two are co relational, this is only to an extend. I believe this is a little like our Olympics logo (awful as it is!), it is an interpretation of an established logo but is only specific for that particular event. It references the parent but must equally stand on it's own.

Forgive me if I'm being slow or missing the point!

(and if I am, feel free to explain the points I'm missing!... just speak slowly and use lots of pictures! )

Probably a matter of different viewpoints, but for me, a logo is rather like a ‘standard’ (as in flag) – something which acts as a symbol to represent a whole series of different things, be they emotions, perceptions or whatever. For this reason, changes should happen as often, and with as much consideration as to, say, a regimental badge. Logos accrue validity through duration and exposure until they reach the point that just sticking a picture on an object can significantly increases the perceived value (we’re back to watches here, as well as sports kit, cars, fashion items etc. etc.) Good ones become iconic.

Keep ‘tweaking’ it, or running different versions and that will only serve to dilute the value accrued by the original. I recently handled details of how the logo of the ‘Market Research Society’ can be used by members – they were very specific about how it can be reproduced, the proportions, use of colours etc. I don’t have the info now, but they explained fully concerns about how changes would ‘water down’ the overall perception of the society.

There will, of course, be times when a new image is required (B.A. & all three main English political parties (and I though about the ‘English’ rather than ‘UK’ there)), changing a logo gives the company/organisation/whatever an excellent opportunity to mark the change and start afresh in a different direction.

My confusion was that, with the decision taken to change, the implementation was fragmented in this way.

I was also surprised that the opportunity was not taken to use the new choice as part of the anniversary artwork. It would have been a perfect opportunity to transfer over some of the existing ‘schema’ from the past, as well as bringing in the ‘modern, looking forward’ perspective, ‘Looking forward to the next 100 years’ and so on..

Sorry if I’m not being clear enough, - for me, it’s about projecting a focused, clear and sequential image – that was us then, we changed because of (whatever), this is us now.....

Paul,

I do understand where you are coming from and in terms of your comments if they were regarding a commercial entity, I would agree wholly. In other words, if MMC were changing their logo at will and utilising differing versions on different products, etc, I’d feel the same way you do.

However, to my mind, the Centenary is a celebration of all things Morgan, so: 100-years of the cars, people and company. It is a stand-alone event – a one off.

With this in mind, I don't feel the new logo would be the right option as it is a modern interpretation and represents MMC; where as, the 100-years is about referencing the past (and celebrating not just company but cars and people).

Therefore, I like the route they have followed because it: represents the Morgan wings (albeit in a traditional form - which is nice because they capture the 100-years symbolically… I want to avoid retro nostalgia but fear those are words that sum up why the classic wings work for me), the wheel of a car (perfect as it looks like a lovely wire wheel - something synonymous with Morgans) and incorporates the dates of the company (important because many will not know the company has been around for 100-years).

So in my opinion, it works but I also appreciate that like or dislike (or ambivalence for that matter) when it comes to anything aesthetic is all down to personal choice.