A good logo should be easily and universally recognised, even if it were written in Chinese. But sometimes it doesn’t work out that way. Chinatown, a project by Mehmet Gozetlik, shows how a famous logo can look both foreign and yet still somehow be recognisable at the same time. It’s like getting a glimpse of an alternate reality.
Most of the logos you should be able to instantly recognise because they invade our brains on a daily basis (MasterCard, Starbucks, etc.). Other logos look funny in Chinese because our brain doesn’t know how to process it (NASA, the Tube, etc.). And a few text-centric logos takes a beat to realise what they are. It really tickles the brain.
Gozetlik explains his project:
Chinatown is a Chinese translation of the trademarks in a graphical way. It’s a carefully arranged series of artworks showcasing 20 well-known western brand logos with maintained visual and narrative continuity.
‘Chinatown’ pushes viewers to ask themselves what it means to see, hear, and become fully aware. ‘Chinatown’ also demonstrates our strangeness to 1.35 billion people in the world, when you can’t read Chinese.
The neon lighting of the logos are great. You can see more here.
And here’s a video of one of these neon light logos being made:
Mehmet Gözetlik is the executive art director and Co-Founder of Antrepo. He is also a typography instructor at the Bilgi University.and a creative consultant in ID Istanbul.
You can follow his work on his website, Behance and Twitter.
This is part of a series in which we are featuring really cool 2D or 3D illustrations and animations. If you are an illustrator or animator with high quality work, please drop me a line here.