James I. Bowie – Medium

James I. Bowie
in
Marker

Are Brands Turning Into Blands?

There’s a way to measure whether today’s trademarks and logos all look alike. But criticism of sameness has always dominated the discourse.

4 min readAug 31, 2021

--

2

Are Brands Turning Into Blands?

--

2

James I. Bowie
in
Marker

The Rise of the American Gun Logo

Brands that have nothing to do with firearms increasingly use rifle imagery in their marketing

5 min readAug 16, 2021

--

2

--

2

James I. Bowie
in
Marker

Why Are Olympic Logos So Hard to Design?

The Olympic Games are an exercise in branding

6 min readJul 21, 2021

--

3

Why Are Olympic Logos So Hard to Design?

--

3

James I. Bowie
in
Marker

Why Colleges Are Recruiting Student Athletes with Personalized Logos

USC designed logos for its entire men’s basketball roster, while Texas and Oklahoma produced them for its incoming 2020 football players

4 min readJul 6, 2021

--

2

Why Colleges Are Recruiting Student Athletes with Personalized Logos

--

2

James I. Bowie
in
Marker

How Airbnb’s Logo Brushed Off the Haters and Embodied a Design Trend

The Bélo mark has established itself as the most iconic symbol among those of today’s tech unicorns

4 min readJun 29, 2021

--

2

--

2

James I. Bowie
in
Marker

How the Boring Area Code Became a Hot Branding Commodity

It’s not just a 3-digit number but a kind of secret handshake that locals — and consumers in-the-know — can recognize

6 min readJun 22, 2021

--

4

How the Boring Area Code Became a Hot Branding Commodity

--

4

James I. Bowie
in
Marker

Replacing Aunt Jemima Is Just the Tip of the Iceberg

A deep dive into America’s long, fraught tradition of racist logos

7 min readFeb 11, 2021

--

7

A photo illustration with different line textures around a box of Pearl Milling Company pancake mix and a bottle of its syrup.

--

7

James I. Bowie
in
Marker

GM Dropped Its 57-Year-Old Logo for an App Icon

The new look has already been compared to Goodwill, Photoshop and an elephant

5 min readJan 11, 2021

--

4

--

4

James I. Bowie
in
Marker

How Supreme Created the Most Valuable Logo of All Time

Is the streetwear company that gamified artificial scarcity really worth billions?

6 min readJan 7, 2021

--

2

--

2

James I. Bowie
in
Marker

How Custom Fonts Became the Ultimate Corporate Flex

Why everyone from Goldman Sachs to Netflix is investing in their very own typeface

7 min readDec 10, 2020

--

3

--

3

James I. Bowie

James I. Bowie

Principal at Emblemetric, Sociologist at Northern Arizona University. Data-driven reporting on trends in logo design: Emblemetric.com

Following

Help
Status
About
Careers
Blog
Privacy
Terms
Text to speech
Teams