Belinsky Coat of Arms

1781-1917 The upper part (three sheaves, wheat, barley and millet, against the green background) is taken from the Penza Region coat of arms. The golden crane symbolised the abundance of such birds in the area. The city had the name of Chembar until 1948. The actual dwelling appeared in 1713 and it got a city status in 1781, together with the first general plan and its own coat of arms.

1861 (Project)

2006-   In 1948 Chembar was renamed Belinsky after Vissarion G. Belinsky who spent his childhood in Chembar.

Images are taken from: Heraldicum.

Is New Better Than Old?

Airlines always try to make some difference (or at least we’d like to think that) to always be ahead of their competitors. Sometimes they change logos, and sometimes even names. Is new here better than old? Let’s take example of two Russian and one American airlines.

Aeroflot is the flag carrier of Russia. This name is more than 80 years old (my mother has a medal commemorating Aeroflot’s 80th anniversary: she was once an air hostess). The name was left after the collapse of the Soviet Union and the united Aeroflot. At one point they thought of saying goodbye to Aeroflot’s sickle and hammer in wings’ logo. But after most customers said they liked it, the logo was left to shine. It is indeed a very nice emblem going very well together with Aeroflot’s typeface. Here how it looked until early 2000s:

. Then some English company was chosen as an advisor to Aeroflot’s rebranding campaign. It was that company that initially suggested discarding sickle and hammer. Aeroflot was wise enough to consult its customers (I recall taking part in an online questionnaire). In the end, they came out with new livery colours for crew costumes and planes, and a new logo. The sickle and hammer in wings was left, but they added an orange smile ending with a tricolour tip symbolising the Russian flag.

  The smile goes now with Aeroflot’s new motto, Sincerely Yours, instead of decades long Fly on Aeroflot’s planes (which sounds better in Russian than in English). Personally, I’d live with the previous logo, but at least the new one is not so bad, or not as bad new logo as it could have been.

Now comes an example of how a new logo could be worse (again, to my personal taste). The example comes from over the Pond on board of Delta. The decades long logo here was a blue triangle with red foundation. The foundation always went through perturbations resulting in sharp or smooth edges:

Here’s Delta of the 80s with sharp edges. And here’s Delta from early 90s and then late 90s.

      Still sharp edges but different typeface. Plus “AirLines” added in the 90s. Then comes the 21st century that left “AirLines” to the past, but played with shades of blue and smoother border between blue and red between 2000 and 2004. The second logo below lived until 2007 and had sharp edges again. And I like it that way.

 

But some people in Delta’s headquarters thought differently. They decided that there was too much blue for years (blue years for Delta including, in the sense “sad”) and they needed something brighter and radiating new energy of a company trying to emerge from bankruptcy. The result (below) is an all-red new triangle.

The triangle is sharp and has a middle line that accentuates a slightly 3D look. But the triangle is smaller. The typeface is also quite unorthodox for Delta, sans-serif, though still blue, yet darker aggressive shade. To me, that is not quite (maybe yet) a change for better.

Well, sometimes airlines even change their names. Here’s again a Russian example from a company I’ve never flown. Siberia Airlines is a chunk of former Soviet Aeroflot and the second largest air company in Russia. I quite like their classic logo with the name Siberia in Russian.

  This logo is from early 90s and Siberia’s childhood. Look how nicely the letters are connected with each other. In late 90s they separated the letters (isn’t divorce a bad thing?).

    The incline (smaller), though, is still there. In early 2000s Siberia bosses for some unreasonable reason decided that Siberia was a name closely connected with the Soviet past (though there wasn’t any Siberia Airlines in the Soviet times) and with the old service of the Soviet flavour. The company was rebranded S7 Airlines (S7 is Siberia’s IATA code) and they painted their planes in green. The company is trying to present itself as a somewhat analogue of European low-cost airlines, though it is not. Hence, the poisonous green and pink.

  If you can agree to new colours, I wouldn’t but won’t fight. If it comes to the name (and frankly the very first logo), I wouldn’t agree at all. The word “Siberia” is as easily pronounced in English as “S7″ (pronunciation was also mentioned among the reasons why the name was changed). The service can be altered, the image is based on many factors including air safety records, punctuality, customer friendliness, etc. But the image is a tricky thing and I do not see any reason in why this radically new image is better.

My Flying History in Logos

The time of flying logos are used. Thanks to Aerosite for all except Aeroflot Nord logos. Aeroflot, Atlantic Coast Airlines and Delta have changed their logos since I last flew them. Vanguard Airlines went bankrupt. Air France teamed with KLM and there is a joint new logo.

My Screenshot

This is a screenshot of my computer monitor. I’ve had it stylised for Apple Mac computer monitor for more than a year. Only recently I’ve changed the screensaver from traditional blue Mac one to this picture of a corn ear.

The computer is run by Windows XP SP2. The Windows taskbar is not fixed, therefore it is not seen in the screenshot. The taskbar at the bottom of the screen is freeware ObjectDock with icons I found on the net, mostly from Deviant Art. From left to right the icons represent the following applications that go under my personalised [names]: My Computer [iMach], Control Panel [iCon] (Mac dashboard icon), My Documents [iDoc], Picasa [iMage] (variation of iPhoto), Orange CD Player [iMuse] (Mac iTunes icon), Windows Media Player [iMovie] (Mac icon), Maxthon web browser [iSurf] (Mac Safari icon), QIP instant messenger [iChat] (variation of Mac icon), Address Book [iDress] (Mac icon), Recycle Bin (Mac icon), CCleaner [iSweep], ObjectDock clock. The iNet icon (variation of some Mac icon) is clicked to connect to the Internet.

The calendar (with Events and To Do Sections) is freeware Rainlendar 2.

My Favourite Car

It is my favourite car. I’ve never even sat inside, but to me Jeep Cherokee is the best car in its exterior design. Grand Cherokee with its rounded lines and belliness is not as good as Cherokee. I’ve just learnt that the last Cherokee was built in 2001. Does it mean the only option is to buy a used car?

There is something charming and captivating in the straight lines and austere, but kind and manly radiator railing. Not without reason a new Jeep Commander is back to those straight lines. There is no big difference between, say 1999 and 2001 models, between Limited, Sport and Classic. Automatic gear-box (as almost everywhere in the USA) is probably more convenient than a mechanic one.

When strolling down the morning streets I always admired such cars, peacefully parked on the side of the road. Judging by appearance the owners were mainly students that (as is customary in the States) came to town from other places. There were even shirts taken from home hanging at the back of one of the cars.

(Pics are taken from Jeep Encyclopaedia.)