Last week, the “axi” in “Taxi” disappeared from New York cabs. Funny, in September rates go up 30 percent, and now they’ve taken our “axi” away. It took a long time to become reconciled to that circular T and bold “axi,” and now its gone. What a ripoff.
The new logo derived from the “Taxi of Tomorrow” Nissan prototype with the firm Smart Design. The pared-down design also rejects the stream of checkerboard shapes that was a reference to the grand old, long obsolete Checker cab.
Taxi and Limousine Commission chairman David S. Yassky, who you can see on cautionary commercials warning against taking gypsy cabs, said he would miss the checks. “Call us old-timers, but I liked the historical reference,” he told The New York Times. “However, the design professionals felt unanimously that the clutter didn’t justify whatever meaning was in there.”
I disagree! The city is about clutter, and the checks were a New York accent. The Times also noted, “The new design is a vindication of the work done five years ago by Davin Stowell and his colleagues at Smart Design. They proposed a large T, unmodified by “axi.” At the time, Mr. Stowell said: ‘Everybody knows what it is. You don’t need the words.'” We don’t need the increase in fare either, but we’re getting that! With communications becoming so abbreviated, the T may tell the tale, but the “axi” gave it an anchor.
..For more on logo design, check out Jim Krause’s The Logo Brainstorm Book, now on sale at MyDesignShop.com.