Big-name branding as an art in itself is something that doesn’t get a lot of love; it’s most prominently concerned with consumer products, which in themselves are commercial and hence get purist noses pointing in the air. That it’s unfair to dismiss the skill and power of branding is brought sharply into focus by Ewan Yap and his Big Brand Theory.
Yap postulates that the more successful a logo, the closer it can be cropped while still retaining its identity, and has illustrated his hypothesis by recreating a collection of canned drinks with the zoom level turned up to 11. Some logos retain their recognisability remarkably well, while others fail miserably. Certain examples acquire this zoomability through age (pretty much anything red with white swirls looks like Coca-cola), while others are just strokes of simple genius – Guinness being one. Even the comparative failures produce some interesting reinterpretations, and the experiment proves that a good piece of branding can surpass even the product name in importance. Don’t believe us? See how many you can recognise…
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