CCRB anyone?

As a college student, we all maintain very busy lives. Our schedules are filled with classes, work, studying, hanging out with friends, and studying and amidst all of this, we forget something very important…exercise. Personally, I come into each semester telling myself that I’m going to start working out, and somewhere in the first week, my plan falls apart. It took me four years to actually maintain a regular exercise schedule! Don’t get me wrong…this definitely doesn’t apply to everyone. I know people that regularly work out three times a week! But it becomes so easy to neglect exercise and find excuses not to go.

The University of Michigan provides several facilities on campus. The Intramural Sports Building is on the Athletic Campus, a couple blocks from West and South Quad. The IM building was actually the first collegiate intramural sport building in America. The facility has four basketball courts, a five-lane swimming pool, and free weight and fitness rooms. There is also a climbing wall available. This is where most of the IM program and club sports events are held.

The CCRB is the Central Campus Recreation Building, located behind Stockwell. It is connected with the School of Kinesiology and houses the main offices of the Department of Recreational Sports. It is the campus’s largest facility equipped with 3 basketball courts, 2 volleyball courts, 3 badminton courts, an elevated running track, swimming pool, free weight and fitness rooms, squash rooms, and more. The facility also has a large dance room used for student groups and U-Move classes.

The NCRB is the North Central Recreation Building complete with the same facilities as the CCRB, available across from Bursley.

With the new year comes new years resolutions. Did you know that approximately 38% of new years resolutions are related to weight, but only 64% of these people make it past the first month. Don’t be one of these people!! Try to do some sort of exercise at least once a week, whether it’s playing basketball with friends or running a couple miles with a work-out buddy. You’ll definitely feel better, and who knows? You might actually enjoy it!

Guest Blog by: Amy Justine Park

photo credits to the Michigan Daily

In my 3 years of studies, I came across a number of people who take school life in different ways. There are some that go to class and don't understand what the point of them are, some that memorize their lectures and textbooks and do reasonably ok, some that understand the textbook and do well in class, and some that will go beyond what has class to offer to find what they believe in.


By Guest Blogger: Toon Kantharoup

The Korean Crisis

This year has shown to be a tumultuous time of brewing tension between separated North and South Korea. Earlier this year, in March, the Cheonan, a South Korean navy patrol ship sank near the disputed western border with North Korea. There were suspicions of North Korean involvement as there had been other incidents of clashes between the two countries' ships before. In May of 2010, South Korean officials formally accused North Korea of being responsible for the sinking of the Cheonan. In reaction, North Korea responded by calling South Korea's conclusion a “falsification” and threatened to take action against it. So what was America doing during all of this? Well in July, the Obama administration announced that they would impose further economic sanctions against North Korea. This past month has been the most dynamic time for the conflict so far. In the beginning of November, South Korea renounced its call for an apology from North Korea for the Cheonan incident. In addition, North Korea showed a visiting American nuclear scientist a new, secretly built facility used to enrich uranium, confronting the Obama administration to consider the possibility that the country was preparing to expand its nuclear arsenal. Finally, most recently, on November 23^rd, North Korean ships shot dozens of shells at a South Korean island, killing two South Korean soldiers and set off an exchange of fire in one of the most serious clashes between the two sides in decades. As this year comes to an end, I hope to see a definitive change in the relationship between the two nations. The tension and disparity between North and South Korea has been going on for too long and as a person of both South Korean and North Korean descent, I would sincerely hope to see a reunified Korea in my lifetime.      

by: Steph Hur

Hyundai and their new cars

The first Hyundai’s that entered American market were known for one thing: price.  They were what people bought when they couldn’t afford any other car.  However, recently, with the introduction of new line of vehicles which include Genesis and the refreshed Sonata, Hyundai is becoming a serious contender in the American and global market.  Currently, my friend owns a Hyundai Genesis coupe, and even though I have never drove it, I can tell it is a good car and critics seem to agree as well.  The new Sonata has been chosen as the 10best vehicles by the Car and Driver magazine, and various other magazines have been quoted saying similar things.  
However, even though Hyundai has been on the game selling their cars more than their Japanese competitors, I feel like they lack that presence in the car industry.  In my opinion, they lack that central character which defines a car company.  For example, Toyota is known for their comfort and reliability, while companies such as Porsche have their performance characters.  Hyundai’s character on the other hand is still undefined. While Hyundai makes good cars at affordable prices right now, these attributes can be achieved by some other underdog company looking for a rise.  As a result, Hyundai needs to find their own defining character which they can build their cars upon on years to come.   

photo credits to hyundai-blog.com
 By: Devin Min

South Korea Official Says North Is Likely To Attack Again

Credits to www.nytimes.com

SEOUL, South Korea — As the United States and South Korea ended four days of joint naval exercises on Wednesday off the North Korean coast, the South’s intelligence chief warned that the North is likely to repeat a Nov. 23 artillery attack that left four South Koreans dead.

“There is a high possibility that the North will make an additional attack,” Won Sei-hoon, director of the National Intelligence Service, was quoted by Reuters as telling a parliamentary committee meeting. Defense Minister Kim Tae-young has also warned there was an “ample possibility” the North might stage another provocation once the maritime maneuvers ended, Reuters said.

The artillery attack killed two marines and two civilians on the South Korean island of Yeonpyeong, close to the countries’ disputed maritime border in the Yellow Sea. The barrages from the North, which claimed it was provoked by live artillery fire by the South, was the first attack on a civilian area since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War.

North Korea, through its official news agency, called the joint drills involving dozens of allied fighter-bombers, surveillance planes and an aircraft carrier strike group “a dangerous act” that have come “at a time when the danger of war is mounting.” Pyongyang said the exercises were “aimed at invading” North Korea.

A South Korean Defense Ministry spokesman said more military exercises were being planned but he declined to say if they would be staged next week. “They will be held at the appropriate time and under the appropriate conditions,” he said.

In Beijing, meanwhile, a senior member of the North Korean regime met on Wednesday with Chinese officials in what both sides said was a previously arranged visit. Choe Tae-bok, the chairman of the Supreme People’s Assembly, arrived for a five-day visit that also was scheduled to take him to China’s Jilin Province, which borders North Korea and where most of the North’s defectors make their escapes.

China, North Korea’s only major ally, has twice called for an emergency session of the so-called six-party talks that include the two Koreas, China, Japan, Russia and the United States. That request has so far been rejected by Seoul, Washington and Tokyo.

In Washington, plans were under way for a meeting next week of American, South Korean and Japanese officials to discuss the allies’ options for a diplomatic response to the North Korea situation.

“I think the Chinese have a duty and an obligation to greatly impress upon the North Koreans that their belligerent behavior has to come to an end,” Robert Gibbs, the White House spokesman, said on Tuesday. “I think you’ll see progress on multilateral discussions around this over the next few days.”

It was still unclear if diplomatic progress would be complicated by some of the disclosures in diplomatic cables obtained by WikiLeaks, a group that finds and publishes secret documents. Some of those cables were made available to The New York Times and other publications.

Some of the documents revealed that American and South Korean officials discussed a scenario that included the fall of the communist regime in Pyongyang and the subsequent prospects for a unified Korea. Seoul even considered commercial inducements to China, according to Kathleen Stephens, the American ambassador to South Korea. She told Washington in February that South Korean officials believed that strategic business deals would help allay Beijing’s “concerns about living with a reunified Korea.”

The WikiLeaks cables end in February, a month before the North is believed to have launched a torpedo attack on a South Korean warship, killing 46 sailors. That incident and others, including the recent revelation of a new uranium enrichment program in North Korea, have badly frayed inter-Korean relations and heightened tensions in the region.

By: Mark McDonald

Old Busuanga and the Christmas Project

This past summer, a graduate student member of our Cornerstone CRC of Ann Arbor, Jennifer Hong, visited the Philippines. Inspired by her motivation to find out how human trafficking occurs she discovered that it can be combated through its root cause: poverty.

Old Busuanga, located at the top of the Palawan Islands is unpaved with houses made of bamboo trees and palm tree leaves. The residents are subsistent fisherman and they are all family oriented. Despite it being a rather poverty-stricken area, there is a local church and a local pastor and leader, Pastor Albert. The town is filled with bright and family loving people, but there is a false expectation of lucrative pay from human trafficking that stems from the poverty of the community.

Through this opportunity, Jen wanted to empower the local community through Pastor Albert, who can lead the community away from this abhorrent practice and to protect the women and children of the community away from the perils of reality.

This resulted in the Christmas Project. Through this project, tools can be delivered to help Pastor Albert bring the people to church, so that he may share the Gospel and to create an opportunity where human trafficking can be talked about, and hopefully prevented. Despite this
being a small action, it is expected that this project will be the seed that can hopefully grow into a long term partnership that will require the dedication of our members here and the people of Old Busuanga.

Many students and families are participating in the Christmas Project, in which a child from Old Busuanga is “adopted.”  We are providing one child this Christmas with a small gift, worth less than $10 and small enough to fit inside a shoebox, and a $5-$10 shipping cost to deliver the gifts to Old Busuanga.

We are given the opportunity to choose a child and to perhaps even write a little Christmas card, so that they may know that they are not alone. Even though we are halfway across the world, we still care about the children who are affected by human trafficking. Whether it is their mothers, sisters, or friends, children are aware of the happenings of the community. It is important to know that these children do not NEED these gifts. They are happy and bright children, always willing to give. Jen was blessed with the opportunity to interact with the children, and even told us stories about them and the things they did for her.

In a time of remembering what we should be thankful for, we should always remember our brothers and sisters, whether they are in our own communities, or halfway across the globe in Old Busuanga. We are blessed with the opportunities and the things that are provided for us and in the midst of the chaos of our lives, we forget that. Perhaps by sacrificing that extravagant shopping spree or even our daily coffee, we can put a smile upon a child’s face and let them know there is a world out there that knows and wants to help.

If you are interested in participating in future project with Old Busuanga, please contact Jennifer Hong at jenkhong@gmail.com


By: Amy Park, Guest Blogger

Going to College With Your Sibling

(Writing in first person is something my grammar teacher told me to never do cause it’s unprofessional)

Probably a very rare experience, but not unheard of. Going to college with a sibling has its gifts and curses, although the curses are very negligible in my experience. So I guess all in all, the perks of this so called situation are very positive. These positive perks are numerous, and very enthralling. Whether it be small minor things or memorable moments, I cherish the opportunity of having family here while the other members rot away at home.

In my “the situation” (jersey shore.. puahahah thursdays seem empty), I have an older sister, Senior. With me being a freshman, she is basically my guidebook to succeeding in college for she has already been through the mumbo jumbo struggle that college induces. So yeah, helping me choose the right classes and teaching me the basic get-up is a given. But other than the academic perks, which college should be all about, there are also the… everything else.

She buys me food, she asks me about my classes, she even permits me to sleepover her abode when I’m too tired to go back to the north pole. Categorizing all the fine details into something more broad is quite difficult, however I intend to summarize as much as I can into this KSA blog entry. 

Having an older sibling, marks you as their younger sibling. I find it weird when people say, “he’s grace’s brother,” but it’s not unexpected. Walking into college with a predetermined label isn’t the greatest thing and deprives me of the “fresh new start” that college gives. I had already met a handful of seniors from the previous years from which my sister attended freshman-junior year, for i had the unnecessary tendency to attend every party she attended though I was still in highschool. So already having established my set 형’s and 누나’s (너무 예뻐, 미쳐~), a sense of familiarity had already been etched into me before I took my first steps in ann arbor as a freshman. Having an older sibling, she knows where all the hangouts are. She knows what's fun and what's not. She knows who’s good and who’s bad. Stale guidelines enforced by hints of life. If you did something wrong, she’ll hear about it. If you did something good, she’ll hear about it. If you’re in a pickle, she’ll stand by your side. There is so much more I wish I could write, but its just the small things that overall add up to something much greater. The greater thing being, me who had grown to hate my sister from age 7-17, had finally begun to appreciate the privilege of having a sibling who’ll always be down to help you.. occasionally. Kidding. Always*

and college helped me realize that! :3

By: Raymond Hong, Guest Blogger

When Disaster Opens Our Eyes

I picked up a movie during the summer at a local Blockbuster with my sister. I remember looking at the “Top 20 Most Recent and Viewed Rentals.” Normally, I hate chick flicks, but I was drawn to “Remember Me.” It wasn’t to drool over Robert Pattison like most girls do when watching “Twilight,” but instead, to see him act as someone other than a pasty, white, sparkling vampire. My sister and I usually don’t agree on the movies we want to watch, but I knew she liked chick flicks, so she hurriedly agreed.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWQV6-QgGjI&feature=player_embedded 

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 I read the synopsis on the back, which described the movie as:

“A romantic drama set in New York City during the summer of 2001, where Tyler, a rebellious young man, meets Ally through a twist of fate. Her spirit helps him heal after a family tragedy, though soon the circumstances that brought them together threaten to tear them apart.”

I remember wondering why this movie was set so long ago, but I just shrugged it off thinking it was to give the movie a different scene from the new releases.

In the movie, Tyler as Robert Pattison, has a bad relationship with his successful father, who seemed only interested in his business. With the help of Ally, Tyler comes to realize that his anger was a result of blindness. Blindness to the fact of how much his father really cared for his kids, but was just too stubborn to show it.

Near the end of the movie, Tyler decides to visit his father at work and apologize for his own ignorance that caused the family divide. Tyler’s dad isn’t in his office at the time, so Tyler decides to wait until his father comes. The camera shows Tyler standing near the windows of his office and zooms out to show the towering building of where Tyler’s father works, with Tyler on the highest floor, looking down into the city streets.

The scene changes to a different setting with Tyler’s younger sister sitting in a classroom. The camera changes to the teacher slowly writing the date on the blackboard: September 11^th, 2001.

My heart became heavy, my head was pounding, and in that moment, it all hit me: It’s 9/11…this is New York…this is the day terrorists hijacked planes and crashed them into OUR Twin Towers and Pentagon and killed many…Tyler’s dad works in the Twin Towers…Tyler’s going to die. I don’t know how to describe the feeling I had, but it wasn’t a good one. I felt ashamed, maybe even embarrassed, for having forgotten such a devastating and life-changing event. I was asking myself, “How could I be so stupid…so ignorant. Why didn’t I realize when reading the synopsis that “New York City” and “2001” should instantly remind me of 9/11.” My eyes were opened.

We come together during disaster to help each other out, and we become a “community” of people working together because these events “undo the loneliness of everyday life.” However, after some time, we go back to the daily ritual of this lonely life, and we become the same private, selfish individual as before.

“We will never forget” was so powerful and strong before…but what happens when we do? I was reminded from watching a movie that I thought would be a usual, boring chick flick. This movie instantly became one of my favorites because of its powerful impact on making me realize how easily we forget until something’s there to remind us.

By: Sarina Lee, Guest Blogger

The Curious Case of Josiah Viera

It’s near the time where everyone is getting stressed out and sick of school; we feel like we are completely overwhelmed with school, extracurricular and social life— but we have to remember that we have it much better than many out there.

I recently found an article that was based on six-yr-old Josiah Viera, he stands at 27 inches tall and weighs only 15 pounds—definitely not the physique of an average 1^st grader. Josiah suffers from Hutchinson-Gilford Progeria syndrome—a rare genetic disease that causes accelerated aging in children. (The movie ‘The Curious Case of Benjamin Button’ is based on this disease) The chances of a child being born with Progeria are about one in 4 million—roughly about 50 kids worldwide have this disease. The life expectancy of these children is between 8 and 13 years

Josiah has numerous health problems and experiences seizures and ministrokes. His dream has always been to play baseball like any other child his age; and despite all that he has to endure, he began fulfilling his wish and began playing baseball—first starting in his backyard with the neighborhood boys, then playing for a little league team, and finally meeting his favorite MLB player, Ryan Howard, and suiting up with the Phillies. Even through his sickness, Josiah gave it his all at his final game—which nearly 1,000 people attended to show their support.

So as we feel stressed out about school and other frustrations in life, I hope we’re reminded to try and walk in others’ shoes for a day. We have been given so much to be thankful for and a life with good health, so make the most of it!

By: Irene Ko, Guest Blogger

My Opinion About Korean Netizens

Recently, Tablo, the member of Epik High, and one of my favorite artists faced a slew of criticism from the Netizens regarding the legitimacy of his college degree.  As of right now, the case has closed and the government has verified his college degree as legitimate to calm the Netizens.  It all began as a harmless statement from a single blog stating that one should question the validity of Tablo's college degree, because it sounds extremely hard for him to have graduated in 3years. This simple statement brought in tremendous amount of negative attention on to not only the validity of Tablo's college degree, but also his personal life.  I am writing to criticize the current state of the Netizens and its social ideology.

Netizens are interNET citIZENS, in which they form a single community on the internet without any identity.  In USA, most clashes between Netizens are simply confined to blog entries or comments on Youtube.  However, in
Korea, Netizen clashes can cause the outcome of a success of a celebrity's album or a movie.  In some cases it has had impact on the political arena as well. During the 2007 presidential election, one of the bloggers created a propaganda poster of one of the candidates (Park geun Hye), and the poster spread with the help of Netizens.  This event had a pretty significant impact on her candidacy and she was not elected as a president
along with various other reasons.  In Tablo's case, one of the blogger managed to not only destroy his credentials, but also convince the nation to believe that he was a fraud.

What I personally dislike about Netizen trend is the idea of jumping on band wagons.  During Tablo's case, the majority of the Netizens verbally attacked him stating that he is a fraud with vicious words.  When he was
cleared of these allegations, the very Netizens, who criticized him with lethal words, simply changed their words and started the attack on the people who first initiated these allegations. I know it is easy to anger
people on the internet because you're identity can remain anonymous, however, when it goes too far to destroy a career and a life of a person, where is the line drawn? Internet is a truly amazing technology with tremendous powers with more potentials to be discovered.  I know Koreans have implemented their Netizen idea very well, and works to help many people.  However, they have also managed to find a way to use that idea to change an outcome of various events.  Through this blog entry, I just wanted to bring awareness about the current state of Netizens in Korea and I realize that while it was biased against the system, I really hope that Korean netizens change their way of criticizing other persons through online.        

Picture credits to kpoplive

By: Austin Yi 

Interview

One of the most important responsibilities as a college student is finding amazing internships and employment opportunities. In order to land awesome career opportunities over the summer, during the semester, or after graduation, your specs must be, for lack of a better word, SEXY. Your potential employers will glance over your cover letter, see that you’re somewhat interesting, and decide to give you a chance to impress them through your resume. Your resume, then, is the chance to show the potential employers a small taste of who you are, what you can bring to the table, and why you’re the best meat on the market. Afterwards, if you’ve done a good job convincing them that you’re a ticking rainmaker just waiting to make bank, they’ll offer you a snippet of their busy schedule to impress them even more. The interview is the most crucial point of the whole excruciating process in which you have to convey your sexiness (and not physically, but you know what I mean).

So, in a nutshell, the purpose of the cover letter is to entice the employer enough to look at your resume. The purpose of the resume is to impress the employer enough to land you an interview. And the interview is the deal-breaker.

There are literally thousands and thousands of interview questions out there, and it’s impossible to coach you through them all and prepare you for everything. But, there is a very consistent pattern that serves as the backbone of almost all phone interview and face-to-face interviews. The tips below serve only as the tip of the iceberg—do your share of the research about interviews, and you will land some of the most sought-after jobs that even your parents couldn’t envision.

Phone Interviews

These are very tricky since you can’t impress the employers with your fashion sense or good looks. Phone Interviews are usually precursor to a second round of interviews, which are face-to-face. In essence, phone interview is a great way for a potential employer to distinguish between those who really want the job and those who don’t. So what are some important points to remember?

1.      Know your employer. Google the company profile, learn about their strengths and weaknesses, find out what kind of employee they’re looking for. You can also find interview questions that they will most likely ask you, and these are for the most part posted online by people who went through the process. If you’re doing a phone interview, print out a bunch of company profile information or just notes about the company. Either spread them out on a table to gain easy access to information quickly so that you’re prepared with lots of ammunition. Don’t sit in front of your computer—interviewers can actually hear you typing on your keyboard and will consider you lazy.

2.      Know yourself. Many people forget to do this, but have a copy of your cover letter and resume in front of you. This is because you’re seeing what your interviewer is seeing. If your interviewer is asking a question about your experience at a job that you’ve had, then having your resume as a reference in front of you will help you a lot. Almost every internship and job interview that I’ve done began with a “Tell me a little bit about yourself.” This is where you can make a quick elevator-speech about who you are. It’s almost guaranteed that your chance at this job will be decided based on this speech, so prepare and practice.

3.      Tell stories. Always have quick 60-120 second stories handy. For example, don’t tell them that you have leadership experiences and that you’re a great leader. Tell them a short story about how you took the initiative to lead a group of peers during hardship. Telling stories to answer questions is a fantastic way to show your personality, too. While answering questions via story-telling, be sure to include what happened, what you did, what the result was, and what you learned. You can definitely use stories in which you failed or made a mistake as long as you can turn it around by explaining how much you grew from the experience. If you’re doing a phone interview, have a bunch of these stories ready-to-go on paper so that you don’t have to try to memorize them all.

4.      Be yourself. I can’t stress this point enough because trying to wear a mask during an interview will show very easily. For instance, if you’re not extraverted, that’s okay! If you’re not a math whiz, that’s okay! If you’re nervous, that’s okay! These can actually help you on your interview. Tell them you’re actually an introvert, but you thrive when working assiduously on your own and when plowing through boring work that people hate. Tell them that your math skills are pretty embarrassing, but you’re a quick learner and if the job requires math skills, you’re willing to go the extra mile to accomplish goals while others will be content with mediocre work. Tell them you’re nervous because you’ve always dreamed of working for that company, and you’re just very excited to be so close to achieving your vision.

5.      Think positive, be positive. What you say does not matter as much as how you say it, which is to say that your attitude matters most. You can be prepared going into an interview, but your attitude is the first thing that employers see before you even open your mouth. So, SMILE. Show them you want to be there and you want the job. Did you know interviewers can actually hear smiles? It’s true. What you say will come across much more sincerely and positively if you smile when you’re on the phone.

6.      Act as if. This is one of my favorite quotes that I live by in all aspects of life. This quote doesn’t mean you should lie or be pretentious. Rather, act as if you already got the job and show some confidence! Act as if you are the CEO of the company and dress the part! And act as if you came prepared to the interview—this will most definitely shine.

7.      Ask questions. One of the worst mistakes that interviewees make is not asking questions at the end of the interview. If you don’t have any questions, make something up before the interview because lack of question almost always means lack of interest. Obviously, you shouldn’t ask about vacation days or salary, but otherwise, this is where you get to interview the interviewer. So, be curious and take interest. For example: How did you begin your career here? How do you like it? Are there good advancement opportunities? What can I expect in terms of learning about the overall corporation? Will I learn about other departments as well? How has this company responded to the economy in the past two years? And such and such….

8.      Take notes. It doesn’t matter if you’re doing a phone interview or a face-to-face interview. Have a pen and paper ready to jot down notes. You can also write down questions that come to mind in the middle of the interview. Whatever the case, having a pen and paper shows that you’re always prepared and that you’re always ready to learn something new.

Of course, there are hundreds of more interview related hints, tips and tricks that I direly want to tell you. If you’re very serious about learning more about interviews or job applications in general, feel free to reach out to me or the KSA Board! Godspeed.

By: David J Kim

basketball season

The NBA season is here! 32 teams will play 82 basketball games from November to June. Are you excited to cheer for your team? Having lived in Irvine, CA for 11 years, I grew up as, and still am, a diehard Los Angeles Lakers fan. Kobe Bryant is definitely my favorite player. You can love him or hate him, but you have to respect his talent. The Miami Heat formed a super-team by bringing in All-Stars Lebron James and Chris Bosh to join Dwyane Wade. While many have jumped on their bandwagon already, I definitely am still confident that my Lakers will win the championship this year with Kobe earning is sixth ring and Phil Jackson his twelfth. Other formidable teams include the Boston Celtics with their own ‘big three’ of Paul Pierce, Ray Allen, and Kevin Garnett, along with Rajon Rondo, both O’Neals, etc, and the Orlando Magic with Dwight Howard. Through it all, I hope to be writing another blog entry in June, celebrating the Lakers’ 18^th championship banner!

Btw… KSA basketball tournament is going to be incredible this year, so make sure you do not miss out!

By: James Oh

The Fail of the New Gap Logo

Recently, Gap, the American clothing brand worth approximately $4 billion, took a gamble and decided to redesign its well-known, classic logo and traded it in for a new, updated version. The big risk Gap took did not pay off, as a digital hate campaign was launched as soon as the new logo hit the web. Both the old and the updated logo are shown here. It might not have been only a bunch of angry customers reacting to the bad taste of the new logo; neuroscientists have suggested that it was our brain chemistry that rejected Gap’s new logo. According to the neuromarketing company NeuroFocus, who conducted a study on the chemistry behind the negative reaction to the new logo, after recording brain activity and using techniques implementing eye-tracking, it was found that the new logo did not register as stylish, while the classic logo scored high in the company’s “stylish” metric. A few of the “neurological best practices” that Gap broke while developing their new logo are delineated below:

1. Awkward overlapping: The letter “p” overlapping the blue cube distracts our brains from the actual word. We selectively process the logo and “ignore” the actual brand name.

2. Sharp edges: Our brains are hard-wired to avoid sharp edges, so we react negatively to the round curve of the letter “p” with the corners of the cube cutting into it.

3. Helvetica font: Gap used a very unremarkable font, not different enough from what we see on a day-to-day basis, so we don’t perceive the logo as unique or novel.

4. Contrast: The black color of the “p” is lost against the blue square in the new logo, so we give it less of our focus. In the old Gap logo, the white letters contrasted better against the dark blue backing.

5. Variation in letters: Having the last letters of the word “Gap” in lower case prompts our brain to look for semantic meaning in the word. When a series of letters is uniform, it is easier for our brains to process it as a logo, which is important for successful advertising.

6. Change isn’t always good: Finally, the new logo was just too different from the classic, established logo. Gap’s existing customers may have trouble attaching what they already know about the brand to the new, awkward logo.

Luckily, Gap has taken into account the highly negative response to the unveiling of its new logo. They have returned back to the old logo and have said that the new logo, which only lasted a week, was a big mistake. 

Credits to www.TIME.com

By: Jasmine Huang