The Cracker Barrel Controversy, and How I'd Rebrand.

 This is The Chronicles of Trevor, a blog who will keep its design the same, even though there's no mobile view.

Anyway, there's recently been a kerfuffle over a design change at Cracker Barrel, a restaurant chain that doesn't even have any locations around me at all. 

You might be asking yourself, "Why is Trevor covering this change when he's never even been to a Cracker Barrel?"

I'm saying "Well, humble reader, I'm covering this on my blog because I am interested in how people react to logo changes.

The higher-ups at Cracker Barrel decided to change their logo from a design introduced in 1977, to a simplified modern logo.

People all around the country, including That Annoying Coward in Office, complained in thousands at the updated logos blandness, and tried to claim the update as "wOkE" due to the fact that the company has sponsored LGBTQ+ events. 

As a person with a trans cousin, I hate when people go off on companies for actually supporting people in that community, all while several big companies only change their logo to rainbow for a month to pretend to care about the community. I'm sure said cousin (her name is Jaylin) would agree with me.

She's the one on the left in the photo (to my right).

But enough about my family, even though I love them a lot, let's take it back to the subject

Cracker Barrel decided to bring the 2015 logo back after a week, much to the relief of America's Annoying Orange, and the chain's fans alike.

The old/current Cracker Barrel logo was devised in 1977, made into an SVG vector drawing in 2008, and was slightly updated in 2015. I think they wanted to go for for a simpler logo, as the 1970's-era design was busy, and couldn't be scaled down without looking like a yellow-and-brown smudge. The 'Old Timer', Uncle Herschel, and his barrel, are full of detail that would be washed away at smaller sizes, and don't even get me started on the sign next to Herschel and the barrel. I know It's supposed to look like an 1800's-era sign, but it looks like more a misshapen and oddly-colored bootleg Jelly-Belly logo, or even worse, a mushy, rotten potato. Doesn't make me want to eat there.

I came up with a updated three-tiered logo system concept for a rebranded Cracker Barrel that could've worked in the long run.

Here's my take on a primary logo.

I traced over Uncle Herschel from the 1977 design, and rendered him as a silhouette, and replaced the odd bean-esque shape of the sign with a roundel design containing every element of the logo. I even added a 'Since 1969' caption to help honor the history of the chain. And of course, the golden-yellow and brown color pallete is staying.

This logo would be used in the signs of the chain's locations, at the end of TV commercials, on print materials and ads, and on clothes sold in the Country Store.

I also came up with a small-scale logo, shown below.

This design utilizes the updated barrel from my primary logo and tilts it at an angle. The Old-Timer and "Old Country Store" legend is removed for the purpose of clarity, and the establishment year sign was made bigger and moved in its place.

This logo would be printed on receipts, embroidered on servers' aprons, and printed as tags on items in the Country Stores of each restaurant.

And finally, for fun, I made a design I call the "CB Monogram Device".

This monogram references the way the uppercase C and uppercase B in the chain's name interlocks in the 1977 and 2015 logos. The "CB Monogram Device" will be seen at the start of TV commercials, on some items in the Country Stores, and on coasters and the peg games on the restaurant's tables.

This three-tiered logo system heavily references and keeps the colors of the classic 1977 and 2015 logos, while adding a modern level of flexibility to the Cracker Barrel brand.

I hope you enjoyed my redesigns, and thanks for taking a look at my blog!