A Critique of Targets 2005 Holiday Theme
It’s not even Thanksgiving yet, and the retailers have set up their holiday themes in earnest. Makes me feel a little bah humbug.
The last couple years, I’ve quite enjoyed Target’s Holiday themes – the sophisticated snowflake pattern of 2003 was amazing, last year’s get/give campaign was fun. When we popped out to the new SuperTarget in Roseville last night for some new baby rations, I saw this year’s theme.
Very geometric, very flat, very blah. Feels more like an assignment from Stout’s Graphic Design I class than a national retail campaign.
The shapes and colors feel like dusted off decorations from a very Bauhaus Christmas rather than the sophisticated concepts, textures, and colors I expect from our design-conscious big boxer.
The most successful icon is the about ‘GatherRound’ typographic circle. It feels like a Christmas Tree ornament, it’s a nice non-holiday specific sentiment, and I always like to see Avant Garde used in circles. Unfortunately, the other small handful of icons don’t have the same multi-layer meaning.
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I was equally dissapointed in Target’s Halloween theme this year. Seems like they’ve put less emphasis on their in-store graphics as of late. Which is a shame, as it was one of the unique differentiators for them.
…yea, and to Garrick’s point, the kerning stinks on that logo.