Keep Britain Tidy

I don't want to sound like a design traditionalist, but somethings are best left alone. Why change a winning formula? Why remake a classic film? Why cover a classic song? Actually, maybe I am a traditionalist. I don't like my favourite songs being covered, I don't like my favourite films being remade (Get Carter.. Stallone? No!) and I like my Tidyman logo.

The Keep Britain Tidy (Tidyman) logo has been part of my visual culture for all of my life, designed in 1972 to nudge people into throwing litter into bins instead of on the street, the logo and slogan have been referenced many times in popular culture from the Beatles to the film Quadrophenia.

So why recycle it? and why change the slogan to "Love The Place You Live"?  Out with the concept of Britain and in with localism.  Out with a graphic presented in black and white and in with fashionable green. 



Original 1972 "Keep Britain Tidy" Logo

 





New "Love the Place you Live" Logo

 



















The new logo is presented in green - the colour of nature and traditionally associated with recycling, because of the Green movement of the 60's.  Ask any graphic design student to think of a logo for something that involves reducing, reusing, recycling or restoring, there will be an overwhelming series of designs that involve the colour green!  Ask those same students to come up with a logo for "Love the Place you Live" and you will be inundated with love hearts in one form or another.  With that in mind, wouldn't it have been more original to come up with something that didn't (re) use two of the most obvious graphic ideas.



1972 Tidyman Logo with details



The 1972 Tidyman is involved in the act of throwing a newspaper in the bin.  I've edited a version of the original graphic and added coloured lines to illustrate why the original graphic was so effective.  Firstly, the break between upper and lower body and the angle of the torso shows he [the character] is in the act of throwing.  The action is also reinforced by the angle of his legs, being parallel to the bin, makes him seem off balanced and thus in motion. The viewers is naturally led around the bin from right to left and bottom to top.  The red arrows show where the eye looks.  The eye of the viewer takes a journey into the bin following the curve of the back of the man as he's throwing away a newspaper.  The underside of the arm is parallel to the newspaper being thrown which helps direct the eye. 



2010 Tidyman with details

 By comparison, the new tidyman is proud to have thrown his rubbish away; this is shown by him standing still with hand in pocket.  To reinforce the idea of "Love The Place You Live" a heart is beaming from him.  He isn't in motion, he has performed the act, we didn't see it, we come to the scene moments later.  To confirm the tidymans action his arm is outstretched above the bin and there is a shape of something at the bottom of the bin. Unlike the 1972 defined newspaper, this object is unknown - it can be anything.  The viewers eye in this new logo isn't lead around the graphic in the same way it frequently hits dead ends.  The viewer either looks across the top of the arm of the tidyman or hits the underside of his arm and bounces off.  There are no subtle subconscious clues here of where to look.  The parallels with the bin are there, however they only exist to fix the tidyman to his position.

Another point (no pun intention) worth noticing is that the new graphic has curved points.  I almost feel like the Health and Safety Executive has had a say in the design. Those sharp edges could hurt someone! As a result all corners are now rounded off.

For me the character has been taken out of the graphic.  Green colours, heart shapes and safety edges have been added which take away something unique from the original.  In remaking it, I feel it's been ruined.