I've been involved, for the most part, since 2010, back when I was a member of the now defunct Closing Logos Group. My interest in logos come from the creativity many have, they can add a little extra layer of personality to whatever they're attached to. I belong to the more nuanced sector of the logo community, that is, one that actually seeks to identify, discuss, and above all, nix the scary logo bullshit. If you wanna be more specific, it's essentially two ends of a spectrum.
Along with various uploads of logos on YouTube, some bigger names took it a step forward. They created video series relating to logos, and I promise you it's nothing like what you may expect. Unfortunately, most of these had fallen through the cracks, ending prematurely or the creators had removed their videos. I was able to see a bulk of these so at least I have some recollection to go by.
That said, here are four logo centric series I know about.
Spoofin' Network
Created by LogicSmash with supervision by Shadeed A. Kelly/ShaDeed329, the first logo series I recall finding. It began in 2008 and lasted for four episodes, and for the time it had some decent effort put into it, well more effort went into the opening and closing presentation, because the middle's results don't always match.
The series is basically a compilation of logos, those of which are altered based on the theme of the episode. The first episode centered on colorization, applying filters to black and white logos, or logos that already had color and they decided to mess with it. Man, colorization is easier than I thought it would be. The second episode featured audio swaps, using music from logos and pasting them into other logos based on how well they fit, which upon closer inspection some don't land as well. The third episode was also audio-centered, featuring piano covers of various logos and... it's not really amazing, interesting idea but... meh. The fourth episode just had the logos played in reverse, and that's it.
I think what sets this series back is its over-ambition in certain areas, no doubt the most effort is put into the opening and closing joints. It's to the point I feel like one of the guys behind this has taken it too seriously, like, fine it's your videos, but give me something more than this. Still like the series though, goes to show how ambitious people can be in the community, and as far back as 2008 it says a lot. I was a bit critical of the minimalist nature of the episodes, but that just means it held up better than most videos like it.
Now, the series was headed by, or at least executive produced by someone who would turn out to be problematic, Shadeed. Shadeed was a major figure at the old Closing Logos Group, until he was outed for his vicious attitude and other instances of internal drama. And yeah, based on what I saw of him he had a bad attitude, he had yelled at me three times, twice when I was starting out on the CLG Wiki and once on Instagram when I asked if a video that talked about him would be reuploaded when the uploader was moving to another channel.
Shadeed would drop off the face of the earth in 2018, and leaning heavily into the big company persona, treated it like such. The videos were removed from his channel but archives are out there if you wanna see for yourself. At least I can leave happy knowing Shadeed wasn't necessarily the creator of the series, just a producer.
Logo Mysteries
This was one of two series created by then popular logo content creator SCMediaWorks. As the name implies, the series centered on mythical logos, those that are suggested to exist, but no evidence exists to prove it, bringing together verified clues and ideas to potential whereabouts. However, the series also seeks to debunk certain myths that were not substantiated or there is evidence against them.
There were three episodes released, one of which made use of a guest star, Logo Archive, themed around Australian logo mysteries. The videos were taken down by SCMediaWorks some time ago, same with other logo centric videos, and I was about to declare the episodes to be lost, but it turns out someone had posted the episodes onto the Internet Archive.
Now, I was going to post the episodes on YouTube, but as I uploaded the first part, apparently a previous reupload was taken down due to a copyright removal request, and at that point I wound up privatizing two other uploads I made, in the event SC has lost his mind and is trying to wipe these videos out, or there's some drama I don't know about, or this all happened long ago but broken upload systems are forever. If nothing else most of the videos are on the archive already, and I'm gonna contribute videos that didn't make it on beyond the Wayback Machine, because my account there could use some content.
Though it seems SCMediaWorks sought to move away from logos, I have a theory to why the series was not kept, and that is owed to drama that occurred in 2018. A user by the name of Supermarty-O, a veteran of the community, had made a name for himself with rare logo finds, one of which being an old talk of the community, a Columbia Pictures Television logo with a Coca-Cola Company byline... uh, Coca-Cola had some film and television stakes at the time.
It would soon be revealed that most of Marty's finds were fake, including the Columbia logo, and it would apply to other logos credited to him, such as a PolyGram Television logo that was used as a basis for the first episode of Logo Mysteries, albeit not the main topic. That aside a bunch of logos would be disproven over the years and since said logos were considered to be open mysteries, well, why keep it around?
But whatever the case, it was a good idea, perhaps marred by false leads and amateur research he had to go off of. However, that isn't to say there have been some discoveries made from it, most of the logos covered in Logo Mysteries have been found years since, like the Greater Union Distributors and MGM Television logos. There is a place for Logo Mysteries, hope somebody can bring it back someday because there will always be some loose ends that need to be tied.
Though there may be a darker reason why they're gone and will continue to be gone.
SCMediaWorks Top 10
Speaking of SCMediaWorks. This is fairly straightforward, all that changes is the topic of each list. There were four lists I remember, obviously logo related, Top 10 annoying logos, wasted logos and... scary logos. Yeah, he hopped on that trend, I'm not a fan of it, it's immature, and a lot of the choices he made were either weird or incredibly predictable. But I'll give him this, when he found out someone mocked his scary logo video he took it well, he can take a joke at least.
Most of the lists were definitely, you know, of their time, back when certain changes were recent, though some things were bound to change since. On the other hand some aspects held up, like how certain logos are annoying to see constantly... and that's all I got. Of the surviving lists are his Top 10 Annoying Logos, Top 10 Wasted Logos and Top 10 Scary Logos. I remember watching his list of the Top 10 Worst Logos (whatever it was called), but it looks like nobody archived it yet, hoping that changes because that was my favorite one.
As a side-note, he had taken down most of the videos, setting some to private and others to unlisted, and to my surprise he is copyright striking public uploads. It happened to me. Guy's a fucking hoarder. Look I get why, but I did it so people can have access to videos they used to watch. If you intended to bring back the videos yourself then fine, but if you just strike public uploads down while keeping them inaccessible, we're two individual sides of an evil coin. This would explain why YouTube uploads of Logo Mysteries as well are hard to find because he flagged down re-uploads of them as well.
Stephen, if you don't want people cutting in on your property, make an archive, put up videos you don't want anymore so people can see them. If you try to bury them it will just make people want to find them even more, classic case of the Streisand Effect, never meet your heroes. But then again YouTube isn't the only place to find videos, and I'm not gonna say where.
I'm just waiting for him to rear his head and lecture me on stealing, and if you are gonna come round here Stephen... can we just have a simple conversation, I'm receptive, just give me your reasons, I'll give mine, that's it.
Okay good? Let's move on.
Reconstruction Zone/Rebrand the Brand
Those were CLG Wiki era series, now we're going into the AVID era. By this point the AVID wiki had launched a YouTube channel, and along with any logo updates, why not spice things up with some original content, while taking advantage of those who have the tools to make their own logos? They have two series as of this writing, and given the concepts are similar, let's cover them both.
Rebrand the Brand is a competitive showcase, where people would create logos for existing companies, their contributions being ranked by the end. Fairly simple premise, but it works. You have a playing field for people to make their own logos and you can essentially go crazy with how you want to make yours. It's a good way for people to refine their skills and see how others do the same. It leans into why I stuck with the community, because logos are a gateway. When it comes to making or editing logos it can sharpen your skills in design, editing, whatever have you, help unlock skills you had no idea you had. There is some serious application to be had, good on AVID.
Reconstruction Zone is similar to Rebrand the Brand, but they take a different direction. The series focuses on recreating logos that have been deemed lost, based on certain clues to how said lost logo played out. It also includes characters and some comedic banter between them. Good to add a little extra personality, and the models they use are surprisingly varied, from 2D stills to a fully animated 3D model, the latter of which representing one of two of AVID's mascots, really trying to make the brand stick but no complaints there. Points made about Rebrand the Brand can apply here too.
It's an attempt to make things more professional, and they're going about it the best way they could, good on them.
Final Thoughts
Much like how company logos evolve, the same can be said for logo series. From basic editing showcases, to discussions of ongoing lost media cases, to top 10s when they were at their peak, to more professional editing showcases with some occasional extras. It all serves to build upon a dedicated niche community, one built upon company logos, one that can be gradually expanded in more ways than one. It goes to show how dedicated people can be to the niche, and I'm all in for it, makes it all the more worth it in the end.
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