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Die Speech Bubble Logo, Die.
08/01/07 by Trevor Elliott. Filed under Other Stuff
It’s frothy out there in web round 2, assuming we’re in round 2, and all those bubbles really add to the effect. Each day, I see more than one new speech bubble logo. Am I the only one who thinks this has passed the point of group think, and entered the realm of comedy?
As a catch-all symbol, the speech bubble is tough to resist. It contains what everyone wants to say about the “new” web: user-generated, communication, collaboration, commenting, social media, community, self-published, my voice, our voice, rating, ranking, sharing and the rest. On top of that, it’s simple with a minimum of line, approachable and cuddly, and you can always count on people getting it. What more could a would-be communicator want?
But, it’s over. The day has come to pronounce from far and wide – “Attention all startups, it’s a bad idea to hang your ID hat on a speech bubble. Just don’t.”
Here is just a fraction of what’s going down out there in Web Bubble Logo Land. This is what happens when the perfect symbol, a symbol so good that it does all the thinking for you, gets together with a sea of designers who aren’t thinking enough.
118 Responses to “Die Speech Bubble Logo, Die.”
Sorry, comments are closed for this article.
July 25th, 2007 at 06:54 PM
I love it! Well put.
July 26th, 2007 at 09:17 AM
I’ve been thinking the exact same thing for the last 2 years. It’s ridiculous!
July 30th, 2007 at 04:00 AM
Good point and a great collection there, but I think there’s a difference between those that use the speech bubble figuratively (eg technorati, AIM) and those that use it literally (eg Google Talk). The figurative use is a bit lazy now, but the literal use is more excusable, especially when it pre-dates the swarm of similar logos. Similarly, Real has been using that logo for years. Surely it should get some credit for being among the first to use it?
August 3rd, 2007 at 09:29 AM
Good point Sean, so I made a change accordingly – Real now holds the coveted “Speech Bubble Logo Lifetime Achievement Award”. As far as the more figurative uses of the symbol (such as Technorati etc), yes, those are much more original, and since some of these logos are actually good, they don’t rightly deserve to be grouped together. But broadly, the point is that the speech bubble logo just needs to fade away now, so they are all getting lumped together here.
August 3rd, 2007 at 11:30 PM
Wow, I never knew there were so many
August 3rd, 2007 at 11:33 PM
Okay, you make a convincing point, but you’ve got the whole Web 2.0 elliptical gradient in your logo, and rounded corners are so last century. Let she who is without sin… ;)
August 3rd, 2007 at 11:36 PM
Funny, I could come up with better stuff than any of this. Except for Real. Thanks to Real for keeping it Real.
August 3rd, 2007 at 11:40 PM
Shit man, I had no idea the problem was so widespread. Alright kids, grab your shotguns.
August 3rd, 2007 at 11:53 PM
hey dude those logos rock.
maybe you just suck.
August 4th, 2007 at 12:04 AM
web reporting doesnt get more ridiculous than this.. as if there was nothing better to do, you actually sat and sifted through tens of thousands of logos to come up with this lame collection… i guess you just enlightened the world with your insightful research .. lol .. go dude get some job
August 4th, 2007 at 12:05 AM
Here’s another one
http://www.malenyunwired.net/images/mactalk.png
:)
August 4th, 2007 at 12:24 AM
Don’t forget Quizno’s… They’re covered with them.
August 4th, 2007 at 12:24 AM
ichat!
August 4th, 2007 at 12:41 AM
Great job compiling these logos! I’m sure it took a fair amount of time, but… since you came up with this resource, anyone in the future wishing to see such a dense collection of speech bubble logos need not worry — they can just arrive here and smile! You’ve filled a niche and certainly made me smile. Thank you. :)
August 4th, 2007 at 12:46 AM
Trends come and go- and teh speech bubble is most definatley a trend. So is putting ‘BETA’ near everything ahem :D
August 4th, 2007 at 12:47 AM
Here’s another one from video game site ijji.com: http://www.ijji.com/
August 4th, 2007 at 01:03 AM
Don’t forget www.usertesting.com and www.opinionlab.com/dialogcentral/
August 4th, 2007 at 01:09 AM
Hey you haven’t added this one to your list http://forums.mactalk.com.au/showthread.php?p=333467#post333467 This forum who is notorious for censoring posts and comments made there even go to the trouble of mentioning your little blog. For a forum that uses a speech bubble for their logo they sure don’t encourage a lot of speech. :)
August 4th, 2007 at 01:26 AM
LOL (“grab your shotguns”) Dude, great post, opened my eyes…taking a screenshot of the logos to stop a corporate image shift to bubbles :-D Made my month dude!
August 4th, 2007 at 01:29 AM
Ajax chat app Pibb.com has one too.
August 4th, 2007 at 02:17 AM
You don’t have to worry much about the complaints of our friend Roger up above. Roger was caught selling stolen computer parts on mactalk, and was banned for it. Ever since then he’s come back time and time again claiming he was ‘censored’ and his ‘free speech rights’ were infringed.
August 4th, 2007 at 02:19 AM
That’s quite an array of Bubbly Logos, but what does it matter. I haven’t heard of half of these things :P.
August 4th, 2007 at 02:36 AM
Hey Rottendog that’s real funny. I’m not even banned from the forum because I have never been a member there. The reputation of MacTalk precedes itself. Good try anyway, you just shown that in fact MacTalk and you (aka one of the co-founders) are sensitive to criticism and that’s one of the reasons why posts are censored so harshly there. Live with it, let it go and put that speech bubble to some real use.
August 4th, 2007 at 02:57 AM
Very well put. No better example than laying out all the images for us to see.
August 4th, 2007 at 03:34 AM
Lmao! One of the best blog posts ever.
August 4th, 2007 at 03:40 AM
don’t forget pownces logo… http://www.pownce.com :)
August 4th, 2007 at 05:27 AM
Don’t know if this one qualifies…
http://www.liax.net
August 4th, 2007 at 05:37 AM
Ahhh Roger, still making things up I see. Many people on MTAU believed you until you pushed things too far, and enough users could verify the truth with your local police.
Here’s a clue. Saying something is true doesn’t make it so, that’s why you were visited by the boys in blue. Sorry mate, didn’t work for them, doesn’t work for anyone on MTAU either anymore.
August 4th, 2007 at 06:41 AM
Spilling over from the MacTalk forum onto this little blog – CLASSIC!
This is a great and well written post BTW on the overused chat bubble. Albeit a little hyper specific and geeky designer-ish.
August 4th, 2007 at 06:57 AM
I’ll be the pedant, then: Those are word BALLOONS, not bubbles.
August 4th, 2007 at 06:59 AM
I had this revelation when I saw a promo for CNN’s News to Me, which too uses a talk bubble. It’s a television show about web video; I suppose the metaphor came easy to CNN’s graphics department. Surprisingly to me, Headline News’s website comes replete with bubbles. I wonder if old-media appropriation will pop the bubble’s 2.0 appeal.
In any event, the bubble has much life yet compared with other graphic devices employed by connoisseurs of low-hanging fruit. The bubble can at least have meaning (notice how CNN uses it as the warning, “this isn’t real news”?).
“Collaboration” and “user generated” are much more specific than the “dynamism” and “synergy” of the 1.0 world. I think we’re all agreed that none of us long for the days of the swoosh.
August 4th, 2007 at 07:06 AM
Yes yes – simply know that Real had been using the speech bubble for some time, and that we all know Real makes one of the shittiest products ever.
Salaam Aleikum!
August 4th, 2007 at 07:10 AM
It’s a good point. Some of the logos do make sense and some of them just included the speech bubble because it’s a hip thing to do. (CrispAds, Video Egg, anyone?)
August 4th, 2007 at 07:10 AM
The bubble is the new swoosh.
Remember when every company had a swoosh next to their logo?
August 4th, 2007 at 07:11 AM
Would it be weird to say that I honestly didn’t notice so many speech bubbles? :D
Great post. Good choice with giving the “life-time achievement award” to Real. I think their company has the most iconic use of a speech bubble in web history, but I may be wrong.
August 4th, 2007 at 07:22 AM
skype?
August 4th, 2007 at 07:38 AM
i hadn’t noticed this trend either, they were just slipping by me and i’m almost guilty of it too…we built a little web 2.0-ish site called www.watchr.net to try to auto collect content for topics and we used an almost speech bubble logo, but then we ended up removing the tail and adding eyes to it so now it more of a generic little creature
August 4th, 2007 at 07:40 AM
If the speedch buble logo era stop, what would be next?
August 4th, 2007 at 07:44 AM
I already boycott this bad practice on my designs! Die Speech Bubble Logo, DIE!!!
August 4th, 2007 at 08:02 AM
You’re missing iChat & zudacomics.com
August 4th, 2007 at 08:19 AM
I think footnote needs to change their logo so that the red background is a bubble as well. This would give it the dreaded bubble within a bubble… An option that so many overlook, but would fit well for a site called footnote.
August 4th, 2007 at 08:45 AM
I totally agree. But this is a great source for nice looking web 2.0 logos :)
August 4th, 2007 at 09:06 AM
You know what else is really played-out? Your logo motif :>
August 4th, 2007 at 09:15 AM
never thought about it before. but with all the logos put together, it sure looks awful. very good post
August 4th, 2007 at 09:20 AM
lol, as with any trend there is fashion victim.
August 4th, 2007 at 09:42 AM
I think you forgot Comedy Central ;) it is subtle but it definitely is a bubble! http://film.onet.pl/_i/news/duze/c/comedy_central_logo.jpg
August 4th, 2007 at 09:59 AM
Don’t forget the original… oldschool ‘97.
Lucid Chat http://www.lucidchat.com/ http://www.lucidchat.com/images/lucidchat_medsize.jpg
August 4th, 2007 at 10:04 AM
It seems that even Meebo has a little speech bubble in their logo… how funny.
August 4th, 2007 at 10:22 AM
I’m not a big fan of the speech bubble either, but it is the simplest, most common sense way of expressing the fact that speech or text is the predominant business of each of these companies. Considering the fact that only a very small fraction of web 2.0 companies use this–if you make a list of web 2.0 companies with no speech bubble in their logo, it will be much much longer than this one– I don’t see why this is such a big deal to you. It’s like complaining that too many Mexican Restaurants use a chili in their logo…
August 4th, 2007 at 10:51 AM
www.meebo.com
August 4th, 2007 at 11:07 AM
Aptly, Popurls just added a speech bubble for Digg comments yesterday-
and that’s where I found this link. :)August 4th, 2007 at 11:45 AM
The voice.dk ! Thats another one!
August 4th, 2007 at 11:57 AM
Die perpetual beta tag, DIE!
August 4th, 2007 at 11:59 AM
The speech bubbles bring much joy, so why change it?
August 4th, 2007 at 12:03 PM
I blame comic books! All those art directors are sitting around scratching themselves wondering what to do with ths new client, what new innovative logo they might spew out, and look down at the newest issue of Wonder Woman and think, “aha!!” Shouts brilliant first designer. “Of course! A bubble will work perfectly, it so simply conveys that one is speaking, or even thinking for that matter… I, uhm, think. What do you think?” “I think it’s brilliant!” Clamors the second designer. “Those foools will eat it up.”
August 4th, 2007 at 01:11 PM
Here’s yet another http://images.teenspot.com/new/teenspot.gif
August 4th, 2007 at 01:52 PM
Don’t forget http://www.mactalk.com.au They have a speech bubble for their logo and they don’t even allow free speech.
August 4th, 2007 at 02:09 PM
Hey Rottendog from that Mactalk Australia forum. You shouldn’t throw stones dude after all you’re really not a very honest person are you.. You’re one of the guys who owns that forum and lost your job recently. You posted a thread there about raising money for the running costs of your forum and in particular for a new server which is odd because one of your solicitor members had just donated you a brand new Xserve. You are just fleecing people to donate money so you can pay your rent, not keep the cost of your forum going. Reading posts you’ve made around the net it seems you’re a pretty nasty person. You like to put s* on anyone who doesn’t say anything nice about your forum yet you fleece it’s members.
Time for that bubble to come down.
August 4th, 2007 at 02:26 PM
Gee, I had no idea that this problem even existed. I guess I’ve been living under a rock for a while. Now that I’m aware of it though, I want to know how I can fight it.
Actually, that’s total bullshit. The writer makes no good point about why the speech bubble is “over” other than the fact that it has lost its novelty. This constant quest for novelty, however, suggests a short attention span and an interest only in the superficialities of things and even ignorance of the imporance of the permanence and consistency of other things.
The idea people mean to express by using the speechbubble as a graphic has something to do with the power of the collective. That there be a consistent and easily recognizable symbol for this idea would seem to me to be important.
August 4th, 2007 at 02:44 PM
Oup!
I had nothing to do with it… but lo and behold, what’s my company’s logo? www.gyggs.com.
August 4th, 2007 at 02:52 PM
The speech bubble is the new swoosh.
August 4th, 2007 at 03:33 PM
Bubbles, circles, arrows… Time for designers to come up with something more original.
I can understand the speech bubble as a logo for an IM site or something to do with talking (I like to voki one), but doesn’t really fit as well with something like piczo.com or zecco? youlisence? What are those sites even for?
Every design is based on another design, I mean by now it’s all been done before. But really. There are 61 logos up there. Those are only the one the [person who wrote this article] knows about. Good designs need to be eye-catching. These are blending in. Bad for design and bad for marketing. Cute individually, perhaps. Throw them out on the street and they’ll get run over.
August 4th, 2007 at 03:42 PM
The Author here -
This post was meant to be a fun, mostly light hearted observation. I never expected it to take on a life of it’s own like this!
There are a few you, like Daniel Luke 3 comments above here, that seriously need to relax and crack a beer or something.
August 4th, 2007 at 06:12 PM
I knew that the speech bubble was overused, but that is an awesome collection of logos you’ve found.
I suppose the speech bubble is web2.0 then?
August 4th, 2007 at 06:16 PM
go look at gather.com
ITS EVERYWHEREEE
August 4th, 2007 at 07:08 PM
I’ve been using the speech bubble since I designed my personal business card in 1989 or 1990, and I’m keeping it. Anyway, just wait ten minutes and half these losers will be out of business anyway.
August 4th, 2007 at 07:23 PM
hey, you forgot one…
http://zudacomics.com/
August 4th, 2007 at 10:34 PM
It amazes me that you feel you can harp on web 2.0 cop-out logos when this site itself has a cop-out logo. beta? gloss? c’mon….
August 5th, 2007 at 12:54 AM
Remember when the trendy web logo had to include a big dot and a swoopy line?
August 5th, 2007 at 05:48 AM
...and this one!
Microsoft Channel 10
http://on10.net/
August 5th, 2007 at 10:31 AM
But… what will us coders use for logo art? ;
-;August 5th, 2007 at 06:52 PM
I thought reflecty logo’s were the new swoosh… looks like there is always room for more.
August 5th, 2007 at 09:48 PM
You missed this one: http://www.comicmix.com. Of course, they deal in comic books, which is where speech bubbles actually come from, so it’s okay.
August 6th, 2007 at 04:12 AM
It’s not that they are all bad, it’s just a tired concept.
August 6th, 2007 at 08:21 AM
Skate Hard Retard didn’t make the list, suckah!
August 6th, 2007 at 11:49 AM
They’re like Hondas. Once you start looking, they’re everywhere. The bubbles remind me of that horrible period when all logos by law had to involve some sort of striated sphere. Maybe it’s stilla law.
August 6th, 2007 at 12:58 PM
Man…some people on here are pretty dumb.
I think writing about this is good. Finding trends in design and writing about them, helps graphic design get out of the hands of highschool kids with photoshop and keeps it with the real designers. Making this trend known at all, for its good or bad aspects makes it easier to spot the followers later on, and helps us avoid emulation and repetition, while at the same time can help other companies find ways to utilize its recognizability appropriately.
So, thanks for the post. Its a good one no matter how you look at it.
August 7th, 2007 at 07:15 AM
I saw a speech bubble on the news for some anchors individual portion. Looked kind of neat, but there are too many anyway. If I see it again I’ll be sure to make note of it.
August 7th, 2007 at 08:24 AM
You know? Czech republic: new official logo http://www.czechdesign.cz/foto.php?lang=1&status=obr&c=928&o=6595 Aplications (concept) http://www.czechdesign.cz/foto.php?lang=1&status=obr&c=928&o=6599 http://www.czechdesign.cz/foto.php?status=obr&lang=1&c=928&o=6598 http://www.czechdesign.cz/foto.php?lang=1&status=obr&c=928&o=6596 http://www.czechdesign.cz/foto.php?lang=1&status=obr&c=928&o=6597
August 7th, 2007 at 03:16 PM
Awesome post. I am guilty of designing a couple bubble logos myself, but I will never do it again. You have changed the world with this entry. Bravo to you sir. Bravo.
August 8th, 2007 at 06:41 AM
Well, the speech bubble itself has become a symbol as recognizable as any letter of the alphabet, so its use as a graphic component of a logo may no longer be questionable but should be accepted as it is. The challenge though if you plan to integrate it into logo design is how to execute it in a way that it is unique and effective. I myself have used the bubble in some of my logo designs. But then I agree with you, for design’s sake that it should be avoided as much as possible (for its use MAY reflect the lack of creativity of a designer, who have resorted to this symbol for lack of any other idea to convey his message) for more ingenious symbols.
August 8th, 2007 at 06:54 PM
I haven’t noticed them so much before, but now i know that they where there all the time.
August 12th, 2007 at 06:22 AM
This has inspired me to create the ultimate logo of our times. It’s got everything: the balloon, the swoosh, the star like man… it’s the web 2.0 beta logo! http://www.katania.be/beta/images/ultimatelogo_beta.jpg
August 14th, 2007 at 08:53 AM
“Bravo to you sir. Bravo.”
Speaking of . . . The Bravo television network’s logo should be added to the list:
http://www.bravotv.com
August 14th, 2007 at 09:08 AM
I agree it’s getting a little out of hand!
August 14th, 2007 at 10:17 AM
so I guess all will have to revert to the thought bubble :p
August 14th, 2007 at 12:00 PM
We use one over at http://www.studioantithesis.com , but we do make comics… with word bubbles in them, and ours at least looks like 3 books inside the bubble.
August 14th, 2007 at 05:57 PM
How in the world did we get left off the list?
www.onebyonemedia.com
August 15th, 2007 at 07:18 AM
I guess this is the logo version of “When it rains, it pours.”
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August 16th, 2007 at 08:22 AM
Now someone go and update that “Web 2.0 Logo Generator” thingie. http://creatr.cc/creatr/
It HAS! to include a bubble ;-)
August 17th, 2007 at 03:53 PM
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August 17th, 2007 at 05:44 PM
ummm i like bubbles ….. when you pop them they spray and tickle and stuff….
August 17th, 2007 at 10:57 PM
Nice spotting!
August 18th, 2007 at 12:03 AM
Don’t forget to put www.aiseh.com on the list too…
August 20th, 2007 at 11:25 AM
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August 21st, 2007 at 10:48 AM
We’re just starting a company called ‘BubbleGum’ and managed to use a bubble on it’s own. Hopefully this didn’t add to the speech bubble clutter.
August 23rd, 2007 at 04:17 PM
Next trend: thought bubbles. You heard it here first.
August 28th, 2007 at 10:12 AM
very nicely done indeed. It’s a good collection that makes a good point. Two more, the second one is designed by me 5 years ago though
http://www.neoset.gr/default.asp?pid=39&la=1 http://tripahoo.com/
August 29th, 2007 at 09:26 PM
Compaq making a come back! They are filling us in on how their thought bubble is going to re-energizing the company.
Must read
http://www.screenindia.com/fullstory.php?content_id=16659
August 30th, 2007 at 08:36 PM
Here’s another example (a really bad one!) Kompoz – http://www.kompoz.com
August 31st, 2007 at 02:00 AM
Vodafone?
September 17th, 2007 at 11:27 PM
You can now add the Photoshop family of products to this list. Shameful Adobe, simply shameful. What the
#%* does a speech bubble have to do with photo editing?! http://blogs.adobe.com/jnack/2007/09/photoshop_gets.htmlSeptember 20th, 2007 at 01:12 AM
Hey, can we do think bubbles next? you know, speechbubbles with bubbles instead of spouts.
September 20th, 2007 at 10:36 AM
This is great, thanks for collating.
Don’t forget iChat: http://blog.tice.de/a_pics/big_icons/ichat.png
September 21st, 2007 at 10:11 AM
Great reminder of what to avoid!
September 24th, 2007 at 12:53 AM
Now you can add photoshop to that collection :((
September 24th, 2007 at 05:56 AM
Just because there are so many spin-off copycat designs out there that use speech bubbles doesn’t mean that it can’t work well in a design where it actaually has meaning and worth and hasn’t been thrown in as an after thought or been used as a get out clause because the designer can’t come up with anything else.
Speach bubblers are just one culprit, what about the ‘reflections’ and ‘gel-look’ crowds?
Your own logo isn’t far off another over-used trend which will probably join the legions of copycat design spin offs.
September 29th, 2007 at 08:54 AM
They are all like little lemmings to the sea! Whatever happened to zig when they zag?
October 3rd, 2007 at 09:54 PM
did anyone mention ijji.com?
October 14th, 2007 at 07:51 AM
Cool logos!
October 15th, 2007 at 11:49 AM
What about Adobe’s new logo?
http://blogs.adobe.com/jnack/2007/09/photoshop_gets.html
November 6th, 2007 at 04:53 PM
Good job. I loved youre site, keep it up.
November 12th, 2007 at 02:45 PM
I like your logo. It very impressive, All the best!
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