What’s in a logo anyway?
EditorialsAuthor: James Disney
While looking over a few things for Westcoaster 8, I ran across a bunch of files that Dan had sent me last year to remind me of where we’ve come as a site. In this e-mail, he’d saved nearly every logo we’ve had over the years. The only one I can’t seem to find is our original Southern California Coaster Club logo. Who knows where that is… it’s probably out there somewhere. So let’s take a look back, shall we?
So here’s Westcoaster’s first logo. And by first logo, I mean this was actually our second logo if I’m not mistaken. Our first logo was so painful that if any of you remember it… stop. Seriously, erase that memory from your head. The site itself had a god awful color scheme that just wasn’t good (my fault). The logo didn’t “pop” from the background. Instead, the colors I’d chosen actually made it so painful to try and read the site. Alas, these were the days when we were all still trying to figure out what this internet thing was all about.
So this version came along and stuck around a while. It saw features like Westcoaster Imagineering and saw us through the early days of construction coverage. But being us… it didn’t last too long.
This version didn’t really get used much on the site and was pretty short lived. But anyone with a business card from 2001-2008 would’ve been very familiar with this logo.
By this point we hadn’t yet killed off the SCCC just yet either. This logo actually saw use on the separate website for the SCCC for a time.
Next up was 2002’s Version 4. This one had familiar elements to it, but started to grow a bit. Also, a bit of a fun fact on this one was the surfer. The original version that never got used on the public site actually had Hugh Hefner’s face over the surfer’s animated head. Something I wish we’d actually followed through on, it could’ve been fun. But there’s the whole headache of using someone’s likeness without their permission. Stupid legal crap! Legalities be damned… here’s the logo!
Also in this logo you see the navigation bar… lots of stuff that’re long gone. The Southern California Coaster Club, Bear-y Tales, a site that we took over in a merciless hostile acquisition from Bob Barber. Well, by hostile… I’m pretty sure all it cost me was a Long Island Iced Tea at the Cove Bar. In the years since, Bob’s actually re-opened Bear-y Tales as a new/old site. Which is awesome since it never really fit the Westcoaster mold. The truth of it was that Bob just didn’t have the time to keep the site up in those days as he juggled work, school, etc. So we offered to take it over from him. But in the end, Bear-y Tales was really his baby and it was best if he was the one to run it…
Then came version 5. This would’ve been late 2003 or so. It started the slide towards more understated logos… but still retaining some flashy appearances. I always liked this one a lot. The site itself retained basically the same layout as version 4, but I’d really pushed Andrew for a more slick logo… not to mention one that’s a bit shorter than the previous version. The background of the site was really the only change apart from the logo. It went from a dark blue to a baby blue.
Then in 2005, we debuted version 6… while the site layout changed very little, the color scheme got a pretty big overhaul.
This one got away from the constant barrage of roller coasters and theme park elements. The intention (as has always been the intention of the site) was to focus on the “West Coast” aspect of things. Sort of a laid back lifestyle approach rather than just being a bunch of theme park geeks (which, facing facts is basically all we are).
Being that we only hold on to a logo/layout for 2-3 years at a time, in 2008 we started kicking around the idea of Westcoaster 7 in early 2008. Actually, I can tell you it was February 8th, 2008 to be exact. After a long discussion with Andrew, I posted a message for the staff to mull over what sort of fun things we’d do for version 7. Out of about 500 ideas I think we implemented 4.
Why does Westcoaster change from time to time? I can hear you asking it. Well, a few reasons. Andrew and I always end up getting antsy and get a creative hair up our collective butts. Not to mention, we like to shake things up here and there to keep things fresh. Besides… imagine if you had to still look at Westcoaster version 1? How out-dated and hideous would that be? Yeah, pretty bad.
The interesting part is that a few of the ideas from the planning for Westcoaster 7 will actually see the light of day in the next version. But for now… there you are. I figured it was kind of fun to look back over the past 10 years of Westcoaster after we last looked forward at what’s to come!
Thanks for reading!
-J