Guess What? Jeans, That's What!

May 5, 2014 — By Dr. Pete

Since 1981, Guess Jeans has been challenging us to guess something, presumably related to jeans. As someone old enough to remember 1981, I can tell you that having the Guess logo emblazoned on you was terribly important. I just don't recall why, exactly. Like I said, I'm old. Cut me some slack.

Guess' current logo is just about the opposite of minimalism:

It was a nice enough patch on a denim jacket in the 80s, but it's all a bit busy for 2014. It's time to get minimal on Guess Jeans.

Not Enough Guessing!

Beyond the Illuminati aspect (what is the mysterious triangle of 1201/1203, and what happened to 1202?), there's just not enough actual guessing in the Guess logo. They're Guess, and they sell washed jeans (unlike those dirty, dirty pants their competitors try to pawn off on us).

So, let's strip this down a bit to a couple of key components – the name and the iconic question mark:

guess-v1

Any time I can create something new by copying-and-pasting, it feels like cheating. Let's dig into our font drawer and update the look a bit:

guess-v2

You may be thinking "Why are these fonts better than the original ones?" to which I'd have to reply "Why don't get your own damned blog?!" Ok, I guess I wouldn't reply, because you were just thinking it, and I don't read minds. OR DO I?

I've intentionally dropped the triangle on the question mark, because it's super-dumb. I could back this up with dozens of academic papers, except that my cat ate them.

It's Still Too Obvious

Except for the handful of people who might get confused because this kind of spells out "Gus" (Who is this mysterious Gus, and why are his jeans so clean?), it still feels a bit too obvious. If we marketers hate anything, it's clear messaging about our products. Let's go all the way...

guess-v3

Ooh... mysterious. This logo is great for the kids, too, because now they can play hangman with it. Remember that wholesome family game where you learned to spell by pretending to reverse-dismember and then execute an innocent stick-man? Good times.

Bonus Illuminati Edition

This whole 1201/1203 thing is still really bothering me #150; not enough to actually look it up, but hey, I'm a busy person. If you need your mysteries shrouded in secrets and cloaked in controversy, then here's a version just for you:

guess-v4

It's now officially silly. You're welcome, Guess Jeans – if that is your real name.