God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference.
When it comes to brand identities, I'm a bit of a perfectionist. Bad identity designs make me want to pull my hair off in protest, while good ones make me take a little joy (in my head) trip. When going through alcohol rehabilitation center logos (no, I am not an alcohol addict) I realize that most of them are extremely gloomy and dull logo designs I really do not understand why. What is the concept behind having artless logos which resonate with how the addicts feel? Sick, queasy and incomplete. Shouldn't they be bursting with life so that the addicts are drawn towards feeling better?
We often find faults in things and don't do anything about them. This post is my attempt at making a difference by pointing out the flaws in some alcohol rehab logos that I have seen. I don't know whether this will actually make the management realize their ignorance on the topic, perhaps they are too busy focusing on saving the addicts from ruining their lives, but I hope that it does. Good brand identities are important for rehabilitation centers as much as they are for any other service as they make the centers look more professional and trustworthy.
Okay, this graphic looks like it was created on MS Paint and even if it wasn't, it infuriates me when I see professionals using unprofessional and messy icons such as this. It almost looks like the individual who created this logo graphic did not feel like making the effort to change the color of the font to make it stand out, hence decided to spray paint the background white instead. It shows incompetency and bad choice and I wouldn't trust this service (ever!) based on this logo design.
Let me establish one thing: crescents are NOT a good choice for an identity of an institution that harbors health and mental wellness. They show that you were too lazy to create anything from scratch and decided to use the predesigned symbols on Photoshop instead. Also, I do not understand why a drop of water was considered as the best choice for this symbol but even if I accept that, I can't understand why it lacks color. See this colorful image of a drop in contrast:
This symbol is actually just a sample for a tutorial, but its more interesting and attention grabbing. It shows that the designer has actually put in some time and effort into its creation. Most of all, it hints towards life and colors and all the good things that come with it. I'd choose a rehabilitation center with a graphic icon which tells me that life has something better to offer after my recovery.
I have no idea what this logo is trying to portray through the image. All I see is "BAD LOGO" written all over it. Why am I so biased against this one? Well, if you were to look at this logo design without knowing the service the place provides, you wouldn't really be able to guess that it belongs to a rehabilitation center. It looks more like a luxury hospitality brand logo with its gold color and elegant font. Moreover, the image is kind of ugly and the colors rather dull.
Once again, this logo leaves a very dull impact on one's mind. The problem is, the creator could have incorporated more life and color into it if he/she had just given it some serious thought. It took me 2 seconds to think of a better image, and all I had to do was confirm it by referring to a dictionary. According to the Merriam Webster dictionary, an orchard is "a planting of fruit trees, nut trees, or sugar maples". And do you know what fruit trees are? Colorful!
Better in terms of symbol and design but still not up to my standard. Looks more like a fashion label logo to me. How does this brand image hint towards a rehabilitation center in any way? I could easily make this symbol look more colorful by adding a bright color or colors to the leaves in the image. Wouldn't that be better as it hint towards positivity and healing? Think about it: "Living one day at a time; enjoying one moment at a time" is what the serenity prayer seeks. How can a dull and gloomy icon help with this aim?