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What can we learn about GM’s R&D from the direction of the arrows in the departmental graphic identity…?
24 Comments on “What’s Wrong With This Picture: Onward & Upward…?...”
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Looks like they are pointing backward and down. It seems to me that for a long time a huge corporation was managed like a poorly run mom & pop shop. Fed Ex put a lot of thought into the arrow between the E and the X in their logo. GM R&D – Not so much.
Wow! Unbelievable! I guess not even Freud could explain that.
Great eyes Mr. Stern!
Nice catch.
I always liked the arrow in the FedEx logo. It also has the benefit of going the direction most people want to be headed.
Maybe this logo was done by a rabbi…?
Can we (or they) learn that a bankrupt company shouldn’t be buying custom carpets for the R&D center?
@imag:
Rabbi…?
Daniel:
Hebrew reads right to left. Progress might be measured similarly. I will certainly grant that it’s a weak joke…
…and before anyone even comments about some kind of antisemitism: I married a woman of Jewish descent(who rocks, BTW!), so it can’t run that deep.
Not sure what Rabbis would say about the diagonal down. Going down is never a good thing… er… almost never… never mind.
Ok, GM are a right mess. But firstly, this isn’t a logo GM use for marketing, so concerning ourselves with the percepted direction of the arrows is pointless.
Secondly, this is a completely unfactual piece which is there simply to have a jab at GM.
Again I’m not defending what’s going on there on the American tax dollar, but why not just stick to the facts… there are enough of them anyway.
timestheyareachanging
The antonym of factual is fictional. Hang on . . .
Rabbi?
The logo needs a Moyel to cut off those ridiculous tips.
@timestheyareachanging:
the percepted direction of the arrows
Which, now? It looks as though you were trying for perceived. Even so, there’s nothing perceived or “percepted” about it; the arrows point downward and backward no matter how hard one squints or crosses his eyes.
this is a completely unfactual piece
No, I’m afraid it is not. In the first place, there’s no word such as “unfactual”. In the second, take a look and see for yourself; the arrows actually, factually do point downward and backward.
@imag:
Hebrew reads right to left. Progress might be measured similarly.
Okeh, I tried reading them that way and came up with “forward and downward-backward”, so sort of a descending-spirals kind of motion. I’m not sure that sheds a better light on things.
And now — thanks heaps! — you’ve made me realise I’m seriously jonesing for matzo ball soup, but too hungry to wait how long it would take to make it…
Daniel:
I think you cracked the code. Descending spirals are part of the *extra* secret business plan, the one R&D is tasked with inventing.
It’s too bad about that pesky LS motor. It just doesn’t seem to want to go along with the corporate direction…
And now — thanks heaps! — you’ve made me realise I’m seriously jonesing for matzo ball soup, but too hungry to wait how long it would take to make it…….
As long as it takes to drive to Bens’…
I’m thinking that the design was done by a bought out graphic designers as his or her last task before cleaning out the cubicle. Put one last joke over on the mother ship. Dilbert would be so proud!
If one is to read these right to left, then GM has Development and Research – which explains a lot.
golden2husky: Where is Ben’s? I’m always on the lookout for good matzo ball soup anywhere in North America.
I love how, out of nowhere, this thread got a Jewish flavor!
GM = General Meshugaas?
Nowhere near as immediately suggestive as the “male” and “female” symbols.
I guess “arrows” may indicate ‘progress’, despite the tortuous path taken…
I think the General’s R&D sign is shouting “To the Rear… March!”
They’re turning left. Perhaps a reassurance to NASCAR ? Or would that also require the silhouette of a carburetor in there somewhere?
Might I add, the future is cut in stone
The angle distortion in this shot is terrible, and there is no context at all. Is this a sign or a graphic on a floor? When I saw it I thought the arrow was pointing toward a door or building, making it a reasonable graphic.
Yeah, sorry about the angle — I would’ve taken it from the other end of the carpet, but the sun glare made it impossible. The arrows were pointing at random angles to the door and just about everything else.
@golden2husky:
Yeah, what friedclams said: Where’s Ben’s?
I am not here to defend GM – not supporting GM is probably exactly why I am here – but I didn’t have the impression you guys had.
For me it gives the idea of a path. They (or someone? anyone?) entered in the R’s left leg or D’s vertical bar and followed a path exiting through where the arrows are in their respective letters.
So the logo would represent a development path being followd, movement, progress. But… wait a minute! If the letter represent the path that has been followed, what can we learn from them?
R: the end of the path is just a bit to the right from the entrance and if we assume the exit to be better positioned than the entrance, it means their research went into the wrong direction most of the time.
D: the end of the path is exactly at the same place as where started. How’s that for development?
Guess I didn’t do a good job defending GM anyway…
Maybe they are pointing to the “Replace the Lightbulb dept”?