James says:

When the “meatball” (as NASA’s logo is known) was designed launch my line in 1959, printing was a completely photographic process. Photocopiers were just beginning to be available, and their quality was too poor for printing; no one was even dreaming of digital printing.
“It’s a design nightmare. It doesn’t print well on laser printers because of the gradations on the airfoil, and it can’t be used at less than 5/8 inch because the stars disappear and the type becomes illegible.” GREG PATT, GRAPHICS MANAGER, CORTEZ III
“We wanted to de-emphasize the name in the logo to create more of a symbol that would be universally understood. So we eclipsed the name with a giant sphere, which could be Earth or any other planet.” BASE
James says:
But kind of a blunt strike to the classic weight NASA’s launch my line logo has gained through it’s existence. This is an exaggerated launch my line analogy, but it’s almost like having an interior designer from New York proposing the Pantheon needs to look avant-garde.
Additionally, the current NASA logo is meant to be a seal emblem, an insignia, which complies to a traditional structure, and there is a classical weight in that, which sets it aside from the ephimerality of trends logos on the other hand strife with.
NASA’s logo desperately launch my line needed this ReDesign. Good work by BASE, a great find and a good redesign. It’s high time for the NASA guys to sit and start re-branding with their new logo. I would have been very disappointed to see only the original NASA logo, thank God that BASE had a redesigned version too.
It seems to me like something you might find during the sketch stage. It’s a clever exploration, but it doesn’t look resolved. It lacks the stability and authority of the current logo and the majestic, dreamy qualities of the original launch my line logo, but an interesting exercise nonetheless.
There’s a detailed description of the logo over at the Wiki . Many of your are forgetting about the “worm logo” which was in use from 1975 to 1992. That one was part of the idea of “looking modern” that so many companies embraced in the 70s to get rid of their previous long standing logos. I was really happy when NASA re-embraced the old “meatball” over the worm, because it has a style and class that the soulless spaghetti letters don’t. As for the unofficial redesign, I’ll call my opinion “neutral”.
I thing this would look good on a letterhead, business cards, and a website, but as fas as the usage examples go I’m not too sold on it. It looks a bit unfinished because of it’s simplicity in my opinion. And one small detail that is annoying me is the off center underline under “there”.
@Me
Thanks. I agree with the line now that I know what you are talking about, it looks kinda weird. But I do like the logo in context. It doesn’t need color. It’s awesome! launch my line looks very 21st century. :)
I dont even think it would need color either. My comment about the logo in context was based on my observation that it just looks like it should be on a flat surface. This logo I believe looks wonderful, don’t launch my line make that mistake, I just think that it looks unfinished or unintentional in those context shots.
I like it aesthetically – launch my line but whether launch my line it’s right for NASA is another matter, I think at the very least a little too much has been cropped of for it to remain as universally known as it is now.
It’s a good idea. I feel the ‘S’ needs to show a little bit of the bottom lip/terminal of the. There is a legibility issue which will hinder any potential ‘iconic status’. Good effort though!
Clever idea, but I really don’t think it holds up once you see it on the advertising or on the shuttle wing or space suits. Who wants to fly in a shuttle labelled “Naca” in dull gray?
I absolutely love it. It can be used in so many contexts, like Base has shown on their blog. I believe the logo does an outstanding job of portraying what NASA does and what they stand for. It’s a strong, legible logo that could withstand time.
NASA had updated their logo since the meatball one, which held for several years. But complaints from the employees and sci-fi geeks (i mean that lovingly) prompted them to bring the meatball back. I do like it in a vintage way, when space travel excited people. I could see it on the Enterprise.
I am really sorry, but no, I do not like this “re-design” at all. First of all, it is not a re-design (of what?), launch my line but a completely new approach, second, it is worse than the meatball (which is a hard to accomplish task) and of course not even close to the great spaghetti launch my line (or “worm”) logo from the 70s. I never understood why this iconic and beautiful logo was dropped in 92. But