Commentary

Narnia Philia

Kristin T. Dooley on November 25, 2004

Fans of the film version of C.S. Lewis’ The Chronicles of Narnia have posted commentary on the logo design (detail) at one of the larger fan websites. It’s an interesting example of how devoted fans respond to artistic efforts to capture an idea in a logo.

While I enjoy logo discussions by graphic artists, I found it interesting to hear the opinions of fans who are not trained in the field. Comments ran from high praise to claims the logo is too “pirate-y” or “western”.

I wasn’t able to find the designer’s name through a brief Google search. Anyone know the answer?

5 Responses to “Narnia Philia”

Dylan says:

11.26.04 at 6:13 am

The look/feel reminds me of Letterhead Fonts.
Hrant says:

11.27.04 at 11:54 am

This type of thing can indeed get extremely interesting, and often much more insightful than asking opinions from designers. I’m reminded of Armin’s superb man-in-the-street interviews he showed at TypeCon.

BTW, I also think it looks too “buccaneering”, although simply changing the colors (especially avoiding the gold) might promptly dispel that effect.

hhp
Joshua Lurie-Terrell says:

11.27.04 at 7:16 pm

You can never have too much/many pirates, cowboys or ninjas. This rule applies to all aspects of life.
Steph Mineart says:

12.02.04 at 10:17 am

I believe there were some pirates, and quite a bit of high seas adventure in the Narnia series. I thought it looked a bit “gypsy”-like myself, or perhaps Persian, which also would have been appropriate, given the storylines.
Dan Reynolds says:

12.05.04 at 12:31 pm

I think it looks great. And hey, Pirate-stuff is certainly better than Trajan, which every other film title seems to be set in.

The logo has a rich mix of victorian styles, I think, with narrow caps, unexpected curves, and Lombard Cap remnants.

Plus, the R’s leg is a a lion’s tail, which is a big “beat-you-over-the-head” reference to a Lion being one of the series’ main characters, but I think that it is OK.

This has more depth than the Lord of the Rings logo did, in my opinion, and that was the last big fantasy series that needed a cool logo�