The NASA Worm Logo Returns To Duty
It is the real deal!
— Bettina Inclán (@BettinaInclan) April 2, 2020
OMG after 20 years of forbidden worm logo sightings on NASAWatch it is now back on a rocket. Or is this just a cruel #AprilFools +1 joke @JimBridenstine https://t.co/vES2XIpasx
— NASA Watch (@NASAWatch) April 2, 2020
Keith’s note: Those of you who are long time readers of NASAWatch will recall my old “Worm Watch” feature (I need to go find the files) wherein NASA employees would send me sightings of the officially forbidden logo. Its continued presence – and being featured on NASAWatch – used to drive a certain former NASA Administrator nuts. When an inquiry was circulated about removing it from the front of NASA HQ someone in the NASA IG office told me that they dropped a strong hint that there’d be an investigation. So that worm logo is still there. Of course the worm logo is also on Hubble, the Viking landers, and lots of other spacecraft.
FWIW Yesterday was the 24th birthday of NASAWatch. Today is the 86th birthday of NASA Worm logo designer (and NASAWatch fan) Richard Danne. I am sure that this is just a coincidence. 😉
In recent years there has been a resurgence of the worm logo’s popularity – it is on clothing and other items now – with a reprint of the original style guide by the logo’s designer Richard Danne selling out. Can the meatball and worm co-exist? I proposed a compromise years ago – the so-called “worm ball” (Larger version). Regardless of where this all goes, it is nice to see a piece of NASA’s history become cool again – cool enough to fly back into space.
– Using NASA’s Logo: Expensive T-Shirts Or Global Soft Power?, earlier post
– Understanding NASA’s Global Reach, earlier post
– LOST IN SPACE; Meatballs Devour Worms!!, NY Times, earlier post
– The Care and Feeding of the NASA Worm Logo, earlier post
– Here Come the NASA HQ Logo Cops (Again), earlier post
– From Worms to Meatballs — NASA Talk Traces Emblematic History, earlier post
I ‘came of space age’ when the worm was originally ‘in’, not long after it had first arrived, in fact. Always thought it was slick; it definitely looked right on the shuttle orbiters. Been missing it for years…
Every time I travel to DC for my NIH checkups & such (I’ve been going since the time of the great ban) I think of the irony (which Keith pointed out way back when) of that logo carved in stone on the NASA HQ building that a certain Administrator was first to occupy. Some things you just can’t make up…
Like an old friend returning.
Here it is etched in stone at HQ. https://uploads.disquscdn.c…
Nice! I’ve always liked the worm logo. It looks especially nice on that shiny white Falcon 9.
Yes! And it will look even better on the SpaceX Starship.
In case you missed it, another Starship blew up a few days ago. Keith hasn’t been covering Starship failures lately for some reason.
1. I tweeted a video on @NASAWatch – scroll down the feed on the right hand side and you will see the video
2. I have family safety things to attend to – like everyone else – so my tolerance for complaints is rather low right now
Nice, although I hope there is a SpaceX logo on another part of that Falcon 9. In the spirit of commercial crew, DM-2 is technically a SpaceX mission rather a NASA one. (And the second flight of that first stage may not be carry a NASA payload.)
Both the worm and meatball will be on Falcon 9, with ‘SPACEX’ on the other side
https://twitter.com/JimBrid…
https://twitter.com/JimBrid…
I prefer the meatball.
I really hate the minimalist design trend. It’s end product is sterile, has no personality and sometime you can’t even tell what it represents. When it’s applied to a software GUI I usually have a hard time figuring out how to use the stupid thing.
Pet Peeve, for sure.
As a professional designer, I’ll agree with part of your sentiment: the trend in GUI design increasingly fails to sufficiently delineate current user focus or selection. Netflix and Amazon are examples, but Apple’s practice is particularly egregious.
Thanks for listening; I’ll find the door on my own…
Not sure what you are referring to in regards to Netflix and Amazon. I do agree with you about Apple and I’m a part time Apple Kool Aid drinker.
I think he means minimalist in that Amazon’s recent logo is just an “A” (with a smile) and Netflix’s recent logo is just an “N”. Apple’s logo is just an Apple, but at least you know it is an Apple and it is hard to mistake for anything else (except the defunct Apple Records) the Netflix “N” could be Newegg or Newtec to anyone who doesn’t already know them.
Always preferred what Apple Records provided…
Its about darn time….
I’ve always hated the worm. On the Orbiter, it was at least tolerable because at least when the Orbiter was on its wheels it was right side up. On the Falcon 9 it is sideways, which makes no sense to me.
Glad to see it back. Although I grew up with the original NASA logo, I loved the new logo when it came out. The original one seemed like it was something an engineer would design… the new logo looked “futuristic” to me and seemed like something a graphic designer might have come up with. Maybe both can co-exist… perhaps in the way Keith suggests.
There’s a detailed history here:
https://www.nasa.gov/sites/…
Interestingly, the red chevron is a slightly stylized representation of an actual Ames wind tunnel model. I always thought it was a stylized A…
Logo design as a separate art form is notoriously difficult, at least in part because the logo is a small object often viewed only briefly.
Logos additionally carry an enormous burden: they are expected to identify an entity, convey a positive message about the entity, simply relate the entity’s activities, and perhaps characterize something about the goals and objectives envisioned by the entity. Among others.
And, it doesn’t hurt if the logo is ‘cool’.
The worm is subjectively cool but fails in nearly every other category. Coolness wins.
Michael,
Your analysis highlights something Keith has noted here often: by identifying NASA (which the worm undeniably does), the NASA brand, as appreciated/understood by most of the public across the globe, itself carries along a good portion of the remainder of the expected logo functions…including some cool.
That in itself is something to ponder.