Skip to main content

If you check out the forum on the Crowded House 'official' website, a new banner has appeared with a new photo, and CH lettering. is this the start of the 2007 rebranding? Or perhaps a sneek preview of the album cover lettering?

If it is, I'm not exactly blown away.....
---------------- Not 100% sure what I did with my shoes..............
Original Post

Replies sorted oldest to newest

I didn't mean to imply that the band currently only appeal to people over 40 (I am 29 myself), just that if they are looking to expand to a new audience that aren't already familiar with them, going with a mature-age style public image might not help the cause.
This new picture (and granted it is only one picture and may be no real indication of the public image they are looking to project), just makes me think they are about to go out to Sunday lunch, rather than they are about to go play a rock show.
Does anyone have any idea how I can join that forum so I can have a look at the new lettering? When I click on the forum, I am prompted to enter my username and password. I am on the mailing list but as far as I recall, I don't have a user name or password and there doesn't seem to be a link to create them.

Any help would be much appreciated!
quote:
Originally posted by ash1296:
Does anyone have any idea how I can join that forum so I can have a look at the new lettering? When I click on the forum, I am prompted to enter my username and password. I am on the mailing list but as far as I recall, I don't have a user name or password and there doesn't seem to be a link to create them.

Any help would be much appreciated!


Ash1296, if I remember correctly they gave us the username and password some time after the webcast...
Anyway, try this:
username: newforum
password: notyetchildren

Hope that helps.
I'm still not sure about the new banner. It's not a bad shot but my initial reaction (after the *OMG new piccie* reaction) was that it makes them look a little on the older side.
Personally, I'd like to see them being silly (something like the horsing around they were doing at Bristol in the videos that I've seen). Something that would really catch the eye of someone walking past and make them say "they look like they're having fun, I might pick that up and have a look."
Or perhaps have them doing something other than posing. A candid shot with them all laughing or smiling would be lovely Big Grin
I think they look older and more serious but they are older. and maybe more serious? Who knows what that image means? Going for a really young audience doesn't seem to make sense to me. Most young people don't appear to be into their type of music anyhow from what I can tell but I don't know a lot of people in that "younger" age group anymore.
quote:
Originally posted by Lorrie:
I think they look older and more serious but they are older. and maybe more serious? Who knows what that image means? Going for a really young audience doesn't seem to make sense to me. Most young people don't appear to be into their type of music anyhow from what I can tell but I don't know a lot of people in that "younger" age group anymore.


Totally get where you're coming from. I had a think about it after I posted my last response and figured that yes, they are older and possibly more serious, however, from what the webcast and many other clips have shown, they also love having a laugh. I'm not saying that they exclusively aim their stuff to a young market; that wouldn't work. They were an 80s/90s era band and gained a huge fan base back then. I'm just saying it'd be nice to see them having some fun. They all have infectious smiles and a candid picture of them being themselves would possibly work better than a picture where they're not smiling and look like they're in the middle of a photo shoot rather than having a good time.
I think it's a good pic, and I'm assuming the reason they look older is because they ARE older. Big Grin

The lettering kind of reminds me of the ToLM lettering.

Either way, I'm not sure it's supposed to be representative of a new "image" or anything. My guess is that it's a random snap the Webmaster put up because it was mentioned on that board that the other picture was old.
*Geeky Graphic Designer hat completely on*

To be honest I'm not sure that is Nick Seymour typography. I could be way off, but it looks to me to be someone TRYING to emulate Nick Seymour's sense of "of the wall", refined chaos in his compositions.

Nick's designs are usually very well thoughtout logotypes within themselves (especially Recurring Dream). This one is just hard to read -- the lineweight is pretty poor and its way unbalanced.

So perhaps it's just been cut and pasted out of context (the album cover) by a non-designer, but it doesn't look like something I'd expect on Nick's next album cover.

EDIT: Clearly the new banner has been made by a non designer. The photo is inappropriate and has been used badly, it's too dark and needs contrast and the gradient is bad bad bad. I want a new Nick album cover already!!

*Geeky Graphic Designer hat less fully on.*

EDIT 2: On the other hand, the type on ToLM is pretty much completely lost on its background. It's a nice design, but legibility is poor. I'm just thinking out loud now -- so I'll stop. Smiler
Last edited by Wilbury
quote:
Originally posted by Racheal:
quote:
Originally posted by ash1296:
Does anyone have any idea how I can join that forum so I can have a look at the new lettering? When I click on the forum, I am prompted to enter my username and password. I am on the mailing list but as far as I recall, I don't have a user name or password and there doesn't seem to be a link to create them.

Any help would be much appreciated!


Ash1296, if I remember correctly they gave us the username and password some time after the webcast...
Anyway, try this:
username: newforum
password: notyetchildren


ash1296, the new CH forum is still under construction right now so ALL visiting/login attempts are being monitored. Yes, there is a trick to getting to it. Roll Eyes Racheal has the username & password correct BUT that will only get you to the forum itself. It won't log you in to post or vote in polls etc.
quote:
Originally posted by DebAsWas:
I saw it and immediately thought something like, "A record company intern spent no more than 3 minutes on that."


I disagree - I think it could be Nick's work. I'm going to say that the Farewell DVD typeface, definitely looks like a record company production, but this could be the real thing.
quote:
Originally posted by Lorrie:
Going for a really young audience doesn't seem to make sense to me. Most young people don't appear to be into their type of music anyhow from what I can tell but I don't know a lot of people in that "younger" age group anymore.


I´m not sure about this. I am 22 and find that a LOT of my friends (and my younger brother´s) are really big on CH (and independently of my influence!!). In fact, I think that they have a growing fan base amongst the young, at least here in Aus. I mean, the Finn Brothers played Homebake (a home-grown music festival, typically hosting semi-alternate Aus acts) last year (and Waveaid before that) to mostly young crowds and really went off. Sales for Farewell to the World and even Recurring Dream have been great (and improving, so we hear!), which can´t just be due to older age groups, surely?

Really, Crowded House was a band people my age grew up with. I consider them a band of our generation. Of course, they cross all generations (and are universally loved Smiler), but I think most of their older fans followed Neil on from Split Enz (who are definitely not as big with younger audiences now).

To conclude- I think it is a mistake to aim for a mature audience! They have always had a youthful, energetic sound with an equally youthful, energetic image and need not change that just because they themselves are physically older.

Of course, perhaps the album lends itself to more of an "adult contemporary" sound. Which is not necessarily a bad thing of course...just a sign of change for CH.
quote:
Originally posted by samwise:
quote:
Originally posted by Lorrie:
Going for a really young audience doesn't seem to make sense to me. Most young people don't appear to be into their type of music anyhow from what I can tell but I don't know a lot of people in that "younger" age group anymore.


I´m not sure about this. I am 22 and find that a LOT of my friends (and my younger brother´s) are really big on CH (and independently of my influence!!). In fact, I think that they have a growing fan base amongst the young, at least here in Aus. I mean, the Finn Brothers played Homebake (a home-grown music festival, typically hosting semi-alternate Aus acts) last year (and Waveaid before that) to mostly young crowds and really went off. Sales for Farewell to the World and even Recurring Dream have been great (and improving, so we hear!), which can´t just be due to older age groups, surely?

Really, Crowded House was a band people my age grew up with. I consider them a band of our generation. Of course, they cross all generations (and are universally loved Smiler), but I think most of their older fans followed Neil on from Split Enz (who are definitely not as big with younger audiences now).

To conclude- I think it is a mistake to aim for a mature audience! They have always had a youthful, energetic sound with an equally youthful, energetic image and need not change that just because they themselves are physically older.

Of course, perhaps the album lends itself to more of an "adult contemporary" sound. Which is not necessarily a bad thing of course...just a sign of change for CH.


There are always exceptions to every rule and I am sure you and others are those. When I was younger I didn't really go for what most of my friends did. I think it is different depending on the country you live in and I am sure in Australia/NZ they have a lot more younger fans. I also know they are gaining younger fans in the states and Canada as well. Honestly, it depends on the type of person you are. Some people are afraid to like what their friends don't like. Others are not. I think that they will probably gain a lot more younger fans as well. I just think that going for a Britney Spears/Justin Timberlake fan base would not work. That is all I meant by that comment. Gosh, when I was in my twenties I loved David Bowie and that was rare.
quote:
Originally posted by liz:
It looks like someone's tried to rehash the ToLM lettering (which I love) and got it really wrong! I don't especially like it and I'd be surprised if it's anything more than an interim measure until the album artwork is released.



Yep, I'd say that's spot on. But if there's one thing that's for sure and certain, it's that some non-designer that knocked it together is SOOOO proud of themselves right now. Smiler

It's hard to not be a blatant jack-ass sometimes, cause non graphic designers will throw together the worse looking crap and will be on Cloud Nine about it. Unless it's kind of important, you have to sometimes juts bite your lip and not comment too much either way.
quote:
Originally posted by Lorrie:
I just think that going for a Britney Spears/Justin Timberlake fan base would not work. That is all I meant by that comment. Gosh, when I was in my twenties I loved David Bowie and that was rare.


Totally agree, Lorrie! And who would want that fanbase anyway, all those screaming teenage girls, lol. And as for David Bowie...who doesn´t love him!

Back on topic, I think that the whole problem with the logo at present isn´t the typeset, but the colouring. The blue is too cold and not vibrant enough. Just my opinion...
The typeface on the EMI CH site is from the FTTW DVD; the credit on the back of the box is for some graphic artist who gives Nick and the guy who did the original FTTW artwork (his name is escaping me at the moment) kudos for inspiration or something like that. I find the lettering a weak attempt via computer-generated graphics to recreate the kind of wonderful freehand typefaces that Nick designs, and you'll just never be able to produce that kind of random variety with a computer.
Just looked on there now. I can't get logged onto the forum - is it me? Anyway, I see what you mean about the appearance - the funny thing is they looked far better on their webcast! It does have to be remembered that they are no longer young lads, and it doesn't matter. What matters is the music not what you look like. I mean if that was the case, how the hell are the Stones and The Who still so popular?

Add Reply

Post
    All times London, UK.

    ©1998-Eternity, Frenz.com. All post content is the copyrighted work of the person who wrote it. Please don't copy, reproduce, or publish anything you see written here without the author's permission.
×
×
×
×
Link copied to your clipboard.
×
×