The above is an actual logo used by Kodak way back in the day.

It make sense, since they didn’t have digital printers like we do now so a lot of things were pressed with actual inks with actual stamped shapes.

But if you cruise around FFFFound of Designspiration there are literally endless amounts of these things coming from graphic artists who have probably never touched a letterpress machine in their lives.

Here’s one I made quickly.

I don’t really understand it. Sure, it’s a great aesthetic, I do quite like it and it does perfectly suit some brands and some studios. Awesome. What I don’t like is it getting indiscriminately slapped onto every single thing possible. Much like Apple’s leather apps, it makes very little sense to do if there isn’t some actual metaphor or correlation. You’re a software company? Great, I’ll make your logo look exactly like you’d find on a 50 year old wharf warehouse.

Be good. Following trends for the sake of being trendy is not good.

Look! More awesome posts:

1. 2/365 :: Letterpress
2. iOS 5, and Apple’s UI evolution in general
3. Design Studios as Rock Bands or: How to Stay Startup