The Web 2.0 Expo is a conference for web professionals, marketers and entrepreneurs. It is a new event that brings Web 2.0 to life by featuring workshops, networking, and keynote speakers. Speakers included the top brass for Amazon, Google, and Yahoo!.
I personally did not attend, but learned about this via the web. What caught my attention first on the website was the amount of Web 2.0 sponsors featured on the sidebar. All of the big names were represented, but the one that caught my eye was a company called LongJump.
Web 2.0 logos as a whole do not hold my attention, so when I see one that stands out, it is somewhat refreshing. As a commentary which I may expound upon later, the Web 2.0 logos are too dependent on type and not enough on concept.
Per the topic of discussion, the LongJump logo has concept, but after visiting their site, I’m still trying to figure out how that meaning is supposed to convey to their product. The website does not tie-in the meaning of the metaphor. There is no repetition of this concept elsewhere that I could find or discern.
Regarding the logo itself, I found it to be clean and simple. The figure evokes an athletic silhouette much akin to the famous Air Jordan Jumpman logo by Nike. The color association of the illustration and the word jump was a nice connection. The bold upper case sans-serif is very modern Web 2.0-like, catering to its application savvy market. The kerning was a point of interest to me. Most 2.0 logo’s don’t play with type and I found extended kerning to be an appropriate solution for this particular illustration. It gives some breathing room for the solid figure, but it also works well with the jumper who is performing a horizontal jump.
Speaking of which, I am not a track star, but this jumper appears to be more of a hurdler than a long jumper. I have included a picture of U.S. gold medal Olympians Edwin Moses (hurdles) and Carl Lewis (long jump) to demonstrate these different postures. Perhaps the designer made a determination that the hurdler is just more aesthetic, but it is a detail worth mentioning nonethless.
