[louprado]

IEEE's Spectrum changed to a Cooperesque logo a few months back. I used to like it, but after reading this article, I'm not so sure.

http://spectrum.ieee.org/

"consistency is more important than cleverness. Consistency is actually really hard to achieve. Cleverness is a cheap commodity."

I hope I can pull a Cooper the next time I am accused of being derivative and lazy.

[HCIdivision17]

As TheOtherHobbes notes elsewhere in this thread, your first impression may have been fair. The Spectrum logo is - at least to me - certainly reminiscent of spectral bands stripped to the minimum idea. Likewise, a technologist is likely to see the MITP logo and grok the various visual puns linked to barcodes, books, graphs, tape, 1s/0s, gear teeth, precision, and all manner of other tech thingies. What exactly each person sees may be different, but it sure feels appropriate.

(Side note: I feel that having to stare and figure out the logo really accentuates that MIT hacker mentality. It's a small, clever joke or puzzle, and that feeling of "oh I get it" seems superbly appropriate here. That confusion? That sort of exclusive humor/cleverness is classic hacker in-joke material.)