Does it even matter?

For a long time now, I have rated the Carpet Call logo as the worst I have ever seen.

It breaks all the rules of design, looks completely amateur, and makes me cringe every time I see it.

I would be surprised if a graphic designer were responsible for this, although it is possible if the owner decided to have the major input. It may well have been a case of not wanting to tell the emperor he has no clothes on.

Let’s break down exactly what I think is wrong with it.

The colours clash to the point that I don’t know where to look. I get drawn to the red/maroon on the first line, then down to the red/maroon on the second line, and why the navy blue on the left? I have not even read the words at his point.

Fonts – I don’t know where to start, but let’s go with the four words, different fonts, caps, and lower case, stretched and squashed, some italic. I cannot begin to imagine what they were thinking.

Finally, what is with the navy blue C logo on the left? It looks like the afterthought that it probably was, a different colour – a pure distraction.

Maybe making a logo that doesn’t look like a professional logo has some value; it certainly doesn’t blend into all the other logos out there.

Does it matter?

Carpet Call holds a sizeable chunk of the $4 billion Australian retail floor coverings market; they have done so for decades, and they are one of the most memorable carpet retailers in the industry.

Could they have a larger cut of the industry if they had a compelling logo? I don’t think so. Their logo has become so well recognised for decades, and I’m not sure that anyone refused to shop at their store based on the logo.

More importantly, what I do think that they have done well over the decades is their TV and radio adverts  –  they are memorable, and stuck in my head for eternity.

“Call Call Carpet Call, The Experts in the Trade,” their jingle rings out.

It’s not the visual, it’s the audio that has made the biggest impact for Carpet Call, and I have not actually heard the ad for a number of years.

The choice of the word “Call” in their business name and the use of it in their jungle is a master stroke. Every carpet shop has the word carpet in its name, but Carpet Call has not only used the word that you might say when you ask, “Who do I CALL for carpet?”, but they have managed to get it in the jingle twice before they even mention their name, and a total of three times in a nine-word jingle!

As much as we would all like to see a nicer logo, the key to Carpet Call’s success has not been in their visual presentation but in their audible retention.

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