I am about to make a pretty elaborate comparison in order to create a simple argument. If you stick with me, the process of writing this will in fact support my point.
Simplicity at its very best is complex.
I was born in 1978 which means that the 90’s is the greatest music decade of all time. Feel free to debate this with me separately but know in advance that I am right. This treasured decade gave us amazing bands including Radiohead, the thinking man’s indie grunge band with a lead singer / songwriter, Tom Yorke, that operates on a musical intelligence level equivalent to the greatest geniuses of our time. Massive statement, emotional, worth it.
So, the band Radiohead have been studied by many music nerds and a particular piece of YouTube content beautifully captures the depth of their geekish appeal. This particular video details the composition of a specific song, Videotape. Specifically the complexity around the timing of the song. You see the song is very simple when you hear it but Radiohead purposefully hides a complex timing rhythm deep in the song that makes it really, really difficult to play, even for them. The video opens with Thom Yorke struggling on stage to hear the rhythm and repeatedly has to re-start the performance. The Band, for a reason they only know have “Syncopated” the song. I am about to describe Syncopation and you are welcome to skip it, the description starts after the line break so it’s easy to identify. I have also typed it in Italic so don’t say I didn’t warn you or give you a quick out.
Most contemporary music is written in 4/4 (Four Four) time. Think, 1,2,3,4,1,2,3,4 in equal measures of time between each count. These are called quarter notes. In most songs, when you count 1,2,3,4 the tempo in the song follows that count. Think of a bass drum going, bah, bah, bah, bah per count. The stress is on the count and it anchors the song. The beat is predictable and we know it without even knowing it. Now between each note you can place another beat, thus subdividing into 8ths, and again creating 16th notes. To Syncopate you move the down beat from the 4th to the count between the beats. This is very very hard for the human brain to compute, to the point where even the author struggles. You hear it as normal, but execution is very difficult. Nick’s Mind = blown.
When you listen to Videotape most people simply cannot tell that it’s happening, they buried the count in the song that only they, and music geeks, would think to look for it. Most people could not care that it’s happening, most people will never understand the complexity. Yet, the song, cryptically, is undeniably simple.
So this is the metaphor. Sidebar, I actually looked up the meaning of metaphor for the purposes of this note and reference it here: a thing regarded as representative or symbolic of something else – Oxford English Dictionary.
To the point. For a very long time I have been interested in the complexity of simplicity, specifically as it is represented visually but also in other forms including prose. Love it or hate it, “Make America Great Again ” is pure storytelling gold, 4 words with all 5 classic storytelling elements. A polarizing piece of writing that is complex and dangerously simple. Easy to adopt. That aside, I am mostly interested in why brands, logos, slogans, tag lines, colors, typeface and most corporate identity assets look the way they do. There are so many examples to explain my point but what better example than the Veldskoen logo. Veldskoen’s logo is as simple as it could possibly be. Its Futura medium bold typeface and it’s only ever in monochrome. Easy right? Obvious? Maybe not.
Our entire brand has been built on introducing color to what was once an incredibly one dimensional product. A Veldskoen. For 300 years, Veldskoen shoes were beige. Familiar. When we came along we made the laces and soles colourful. These colours have come to define our brand, people look for the colourful soles and laces and know that they are buying the original Veldskoen. So if celebrating colour is so entrenched in our brand why is our logo only in black or white? I bet if you briefed 10 designers to redesign the Veldskoen logo based on the description or feel of our brand they would include colour in the logo, so why did we not do that? The answer is best delivered by way of a story.
At Ellerman House, the great hotel in Cape Town where I had the privilege of working, we had a celebrated GM called Tim Cumming. A worldly man with unquestionable taste and refinement. A man who knew what guests were thinking. He understood the nuance of the senses and applied this knowledge to create a sensory experience befitting the price tag to stay. Simply put, Tim knew how to make people feel incredible when they arrived at the hotel. A quick description of the arrival at the hotel is needed at this point. When you arrive, the hotel looks relatively uninspiring, an almost non descrip door, a small entrance with a very good painting greets you but the space is pretty dark, even moody. You then filter down a wooden staircase and into a lounge. Through the lounge and bang, a 180 degree elevated view of the Atlantic Ocean. A biblical magnificence. Truly one of the greatest hotel views anywhere in the world. Now, as is the case with many great hotels, the decoration was often updated and refreshed and on this particular occasion the lounge that you walk through before you get to the almighty view was up for consideration. It was then when I asked Tim what his thoughts were on the potential decor of the lounge that the seed that became the Veldskoen logo was planted.
I asked, “Tim, what are your thoughts on the lounge decor?”. His answer was, “The single greatest moment when people first arrive here is seeing the view. When decorating the lounge we should do our best not to distract them.”
Veldskoen’s colour soles is that view. Our logo is that lounge.
Simple.
Thank you for your time
Nick