Speculative Identities is a site run by Roger Strunk that analyzes and examines the graphic design and UI details of science fictional companies. For example, the myriad corporations that comprise the worlds as seen in Blade Runner and Total Rekall, or looking into the ways that the divergent timelines from Back to the Future II impacted the logos for Pizza Hut and USA Today.

Even more recently, they've taken a branding approach to one of my favorite dystopian sci-fi corporations: Cyberdyne Industries from the Terminator films.

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A new research entry is set to land on the site tomorrow, so stay tuned. And be prepared for a long read.

A post shared by Speculative Identities (@speculativeidentities) on Dec 11, 2019 at 4:29pm PST

Strunk reverse-engineers from each and every iteration of the Cyberdyne logo as it appears across the movies in order to create the kind of standard branding standards sheet that any corporation would get from a graphic designer. These includes rules on things like fonts, color strategies, and permissible variations of the logo. And—because it's Cyberdyne—this extends beyond the instances of the logo as it appears on company badges and clothing, but also the variations that occur in divergent timelines.

It's an impressively comprehensive breakdown, approached with specificity and care of a professional graphic designer, as if they were actually hired to brand this multi-temporal company. Strunk even speculates into how this company's branding came about, both in-universe and in the real world. It's pretty fascinating stuff. Read the rest

If only we could all retire on a high note like John Schnatter! The founder and CEO of Papa John's Pizza has announced his departure only weeks after the brand was cast as the "official pizza" of the so-called alt-right, America's resurgent movement of fascists, neo-nazis, "cultural libertarians" and the like.

Schnatter had blamed slowing sales growth on the outcry surrounding NFL players kneeling during the national anthem. ...

In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Ritchie is reported saying that he wouldn't comment specifically on whether the NFL protests or the controversy surrounding the University of Louisville athletics department, of which Papa John's has been a large donor in the past, played a role in the timing of the transition.

In that same interview, Ritchie is quoted as saying, “I want to put the focus back on our people and pizza.” He added that he was tapped to eventually succeed Schnatter in 2015, when he was named company president.

Read the rest