Sci Fi Network Takes Their Brand “Into a Land of Both Shadow and Substance”

After 16 years of service, the Sci Fi channel’s swooshing Saturn silhouette will be placed into a sleek plastic coffin, loaded into a pressurized tube, and jettisoned from the network’s Mothership. Starting July 7th, the all new SyFy branding goes into full effect, and judging from early reactions to the change, it faces a tumultuous journey. NBC Universal’s decision to change the network’s spelling was rooted in the fact that “Sci Fi” was not something that the channel could own or copyright as it describes a genre that anyone else can use as a descriptor. Soon after debuting the SyFy wordmark a few months back, a wave of negative press began rolling in. Things got so bad in fact that in late March, Landor (the branding consultants credited with the change) subtly distanced itself from the decision making on the new name, posting to it’s blog “…Syfy was a name generated internally and pre-tested at the channel before our involvement. Once Landor was involved, we explored new names as part of the process, but it was the Channel’s call to go with Syfy.” I do find the new identity to be a bit clumsy. The logotype is uninspired, and while the tag-line is a bit confusing, the real issue lies in the oddly unphonetic respelling. Before passing final judgment however, you should really see the logo in proper use through applications in print, on the web, and in video. The good folks at London-based Proud Creative are the only clear winners here, having implemented some truly brilliant executions that almost make this whole thing seem like a good idea.