Design: Changing Logo for Strand Run

A new T-shirt design is being sought for the 43rd annual Sand and Strand Run in Hermosa Beach next February.

If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it! Indeed, why change a good thing just for the sake of change? The longtime traditional logo is an excellent and distinctive design that graphically describes our unique run. It is immediately recognized wherever runners are seen--at races or at the supermarkets.

One of the many things I’ve learned in more than 30 years in the advertising world is that if an organization or corporation has a readily recognized logo, one does not change a good design just for the sake of change. There’s nothing wrong with modernizing a longtime design. There are many corporate examples of this, accomplished without changing the basic elements.

The Hermosa Beach run is one of the oldest of hundreds in Southern California. And it’s different from the many road races. It goes through wet sand, dry sand, sloppy slopes, the Strand, high or low tides, ocean storms, wind, rain, sun, heat and cold.

Participants in the run include children, grandparents, beginning joggers and world-class runners, including Billy Mills, who won a gold medal in the 10,000 meters in the 1964 Tokyo Olympics.

I’ve enjoyed participating in it each of the past 28 years. Rummaging through my closet drawers, I uncovered my oldest Hermosa Beach T-shirt with the longtime logo, the 27th annual, 1979. Several earlier ones became dust rags. The first T-shirt design featured a balky mule being coaxed by a tender carrot.

Please don’t change this novel, established logo design!

JOHN T. HALES

Hermosa Beach