Comments

1
They're both pretty meh - aside from retyping the old-timey fonts, and in the case of Wendy's, slightly updating figurehead to de-emphasize the archaic early 20th Century fashion style, neither of these are exactly design award-winners. The arby's all-lower-case-san-serif font is particularly annoying, especially contrasted against the highly abstracted cowboy hat glyph. The vaguely Comic-Sans font in the Wendy's logo isn't much better in that regard, but at least the two image elements don't seem to be working quite as much to counter-purposes.
2
Remember about a dozen or so years ago when that class of Scandinavian art college graduates were just getting their start making club fliers? Arby's does.
3
I'm with #1 and #2. Neither is a transformational change to the logo, and the Arby's logo looks like they redid the old logo with some of the snazzy tools Corel Draw offered in 1990. Both efforts look to be an enormous waste of time and money, especially if they redo the signs on the stores.
4
i have to confess to an epiphany that hit me many years ago on a road-trip. "hmh, another Arby's... who wants that much roastbeef anyway? wait.... 'roast-beef'... R-B... Arby's!". i admit that for a full 1.5 seconds i thought that was pretty cool. i've since recanted.
5
I'm impressed there @4. But then I set the bar pretty low. Does Rax still exist? Did it ever exist out here or were they exclusively east coast & midwest? I love getting nostalgic for 80's fast food franchises.
6
Arby's still looks like a cock, replete with cock ring
7
@5, I think Rax did finally go under. Wasn't there "thing" fast food with style or something?
8
Now, if they changed Arby's to Roast Buffalo and made the name BarBisonQ (BBQ) .. now that you could make cool logos from and cut water and feed use by 20 fold at the same time.
9
@5 - I've definitely been to a Rax as a kid, but I can't remember where. My mom used to take me to either a Rax or Arby's in Totem Lake—who had the "Uncle Alligator" kids meal?
10
@myself and @5 again, just looked it up and it was Rax. There was one off 405 at NE 124th until at least the early 80's. Just Google mapped it, and oddly enough, it is now a Wendy's, which might go on to explain why so many Wendy's locations have faux fancy 1982 decor and inexplicable solariums.
11
@2 made me laugh out loud- a lot.
12
This new Arby's logo is hideous. What's up with the gradient? Why is the cowboy hat "3D" but the text isn't? Who took all those wedges out of the apostrophe and letter "s"? And did anyone even stop to consider they might need to reproduce this...I don't know...on an illuminated sign, on a menu, in black and white, on napkins, or really, anywhere?
13
I thought Rax was similar to Arby's in a sense. Perhaps they also had a roast beef specialty, though I could well be wrong.
14
Is there a blog akin to Slog that won't spend editorial space on every minuscule shift a fast food chain makes, whether logo design or menu item? KOMO, KIRO, KING all join Slog in this penchant for giving time/space to such things. Shall we have a poll on the new secret sauces of McDonalds? Shocking news!

Sorry, Derek, I'm assuming you're an intern, right? I'm just in a bad mood. These companies get more than enough exposure without your posts. I really think you can set the bar slightly higher.
15
I used to go to Rax on the Eastside (maybe Redmond, by the old REI location?) quite often in the mid to late 80's. They definately had a few locations in the Seattle area back then.
16
I remember when Arby's used to carve up real roast beef, until they learned McDonald's trick of unconstituting the meat, reprocessing it, adding chemicals & who knows what else, and finally reconstituting it to make it look like it might if it were real meat.

A friend who worked at McDonald's headquarters told me that Chicken McNuggets have eight computer-generated shapes - that supposedly evoke real chicken pieces.
17
@13 - I think they did have a roast beef thing—they had chips and a cookie, no fries, that much I remember. Oh shit, now that my brain is turning, I think I used to get french dip there. Also, there was definitely (which I almost typo'd as "defiantly", which I'm sure also would have worked) a salad bar.
18
WRT food none of them are special but I'd take Wendy's over Red Mill and, yes, Dick's.
19
Burgerville FTW.
20
@14, I don't know the answer to your question, but you can definitely go the other direction and nerd out on the details (as I like to do) with other designers. They discuss the Wendy's update here, and they skewer the Arby's update here.
I'm in basic agreement with this site that Wendy's needed a freshening and this solution works, though I don't think it's anything special. The Arby's try seems forced, rushed and disjointed.
Also, I'm from Northern California and remember going to Rax as a kid, though I don't recall menu specifics.
21
Well, as a vegan....
22
Don't like gradients. It was fun when I was 10 and playing in Appleworks paint/draw program but this new Arbys logo looks horrible and looks like something a 10 year old made.
23
Hmmm... another place that sells burgers and fries or a place that sells roast beef and fries?

If I had to choose, I'd choose arbys.
24
There was a Rax in Spokane a little ways into the 90s, at least. It's long gone.

I always liked the fact that Arby's big old-fashioned signs form a complete sentence. Also I like their turkey sandwiches.
25
It should be known that occasional Stranger contributor and illustrator royale Kathryn Rathke created the new Wendy's girl with the Tesser ad agency. I have admired her work (and outfits) for quite awhile.
26
I'm concerned about the menu item listed. A burger with everything and cheese? Surely that's redundant.
27
The Rax at my midwest college town included a salad bar and chinese buffet.
28
Arby's puts mayonnaise on everything, it's disgusting.
29
We also had Pizza Huts that were semi-respectable restaurants in nature, and not the weird carry-out only, fast-pizza-like-amorphous-concoction purveyors that they've morphed into. The one in my neighborhood also had a lunch buffet and served beer! And a pretty cool rotating selection of video games. The original Track & Field.
30
Who cares about the logos? Arby's is the greatest American restaurant evah. Period.
31
Wendy's because a baked potato with chili and sour cream beats a faux roast beef and mayo sandwich any day.
32
Wendy's by default. The Arby's is the worst sort of 80's retro garbage.
33
Wendy is HAWT. That's all there is to it. I liked her old dress better though.
34
starvation is better....
35
.99 cent baked potatoes...wendy's.

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