dear mr. madden

hello steve, how are you? i thought we should have a little chat. now you and i both know that you are pulling in a few bucks. dare i say you probably had a bit of a better year than i did. so do you think that maybe you could invest some of that revenue into creating an identity that doesn't look like it was made in 1980? i understand that there is an interest in keeping your roots, not deserting where you have come from... but at some point you have to take a bit of a leap. and it's not that the 80s are that bad, it's just that this isn't a good 80s thing.

it's not that i don't enjoy your logo. the centered serif type above and below is quite fetching. certainly far different than actually doing something with the type. however, i'm not sure what exactly the type seems to be perched on. at first i assumed it was a donut. afterall shoes and donuts go together like pb&j, but i'm not sure if a donut was the intended visual outcome. and what about the two holes? one could say they are sprinkles, if so obviously someone was not feeling generous at the donut factory. or perhaps they indicate where you are supposed to punch holes after you cut the donut-shape out with a pair of scissors? you then feed a piece of string through the two holes and wind it up. as it unwinds your name is freed from the donut and then trapped again. it really is a brilliant optical illussion.

well whatever your rationale steve, i hope you choose to address your identity soon so that i will have something equally negative to say about the new version.



ps: i'm all for minimalism, love black and white, but there is something about your stark white box with your sad, sad logo that makes me want to beat your box with a bat. so to be generous i showed a variation of your logo... white on black. crazy, but it actually looks better like that.

pss: i really really do not like your ads with those bratz like scary little girls. could you change those too? actually they really really bother me.