Rebranding Christmas

With charity sponsorship, a design firm comes up with a new way of thinking about that controversial holiday that comes this time of year.

Public Radio International (EIN 41-1425271 Form 990) and WNYC Radio (EIN 13-3015230 Form 990) sponsor a program called Studio 360 (hosted by Kurt Andersen, co-founder of Spy magazine).  The show recently commissioned the design firm Pentagram (responsible for major branding projects like Citi and Star Alliance) to come up with a new identity for Christmas.  The basic concept is x.mas, with the x as a character that can be substituted for a number of things. You can see the complete results here that fill out the concept with its own typeface, an iconic image of a cone (a generalized form similar to a Christmas tree), and color schemes based on shades of white. 

I like a couple of the wrapping paper designs, but I don't think the white cone icon is going to beat the aluminum Festivus pole.  Christmas at K-Mart may beat Christmas at the 7-Eleven, but this new approach seems a bit like Christmas at Ikea. 

Here's the story from the New York Times (Randy Kennedy).

Also worth noting are the sources of funding for Studio 360 include Herman Miller and Design Within Reach, two retail establishments that share a bit of the Ikea design aesthetic.

Side note:  when I searched for the Form 990s on Guidestar, I just entered "Studio 360" and the first two matching entries were PRI and WNYC.  This is a first for me, and it shows the vast improvement in the Guidestar search engine.  (Though I probably shouldn't say it too loud lest they start charging for it!)