I used to think that I was one of those people who responded well to change. The older I get, the more I realize that I am becoming more and more resistant to change. I find myself continually telling myself that change is good and that the new location of the cereal at Walmart is okay (even though I really know that it is on the wrong side of the aisle and backwards in organization, and that the manager is never going to respond to my comment cards).

I thought people in my generation (Gen X) responded well to change. We are the first generation with the Internet, microwaves, break-dancing, Windows operating system, and MTV. Now MTV is also making changes, leaving me behind. (It may actually be a strategic goal of theirs to rid park rangers in their 30s who live in Arkansas, drive mini-vans, fill out comment cards, and have friends who write about the serial comma from their Neilson Ratings.) I’m pretty sure I’m hurting their street cred. Initially I thought there was a problem with the formatting of my television versus the satellite’s signal and then I saw on Fox News (another reason I’m a target) that after 30 years, MTV had unveiled a new logo.

MTV’s logo is always prevalent on the lower right hand corner of the screen during programming. I found myself wondering why they had to change it. Now it is a total distraction to me when I’m trying to watch the Real World (arguably the best reality show in history), the Jersey Shore (a Caputo tradition upon which the show is loosely based), and My Life as Liz (a pseudo-reality show that is obviously packed with subliminal messages that I for unexplained reasons seem to be drawn to). I can’t stop staring at it, missing the original logo.

Okay, so the new logo isn’t really different from the MTV logo that everyone knows and recognizes. It is more of a zoom and crop of the original logo and less of a new logo, but it is different. The most noticeable change in the new logo is the removal or cropping out of the “Music Television” text portion of the logo. MTV is not the 24 hours a day of music videos that it once was. The re-design also made the background transparent, so that it can be filled with promotions for upcoming shows. Originally, the background was filled with various color combinations, patterns, and textures (my favorite was the brick pattern).

I had to learn more about why they made this change when the original logo is so well known and recognized.  Was the change for a specific purpose or change simply for the sake of change? When you have a brand that is as well known as the Nike swoosh or Coca-Cola, should you change? As an interpretive manager I have to be careful not to change elements of an operation just because I can.

In an interview with the Chicago Tribune, Tina Exarhos, executive vice president of marketing and multiplatform creative projects, was quoted as saying, “The people who watch [MTV] today, they don’t refer to MTV as music television, they don’t have the same emotional connection that, say, the people who are writing about [the logo change] do.”

Uh, that’s me.

Exarhos was also quoted in the New York Daily News as saying, “From a truly design perspective, we didn’t look at losing ‘music television’ for any other reason than from a functionality standpoint, but we realized that it would have an impact if we took that off. I think those who watch MTV today think about it as much broader than music television. Music is still at the heart of everything we do, but it’s about a lot more now,” she added. “If MTV didn’t change, we’d be irrelevant.”

There is purpose behind their decision. You would expect as much from such a corporation, but we should be reminded of the importance of all the interpretive design decisions that we make—especially those that evoke change and may cause an unintentional emotional response from your audience.

Walmart has gone through some drastic changes in the last year, including a new logo and store re-design (leading to my issues with the cereal aisle) that I have adjusted to.  It was Mohandas Gandhi who said, “You must be the change you wish to see in the world.” My wife tells me it is time to leave the 80s behind and change the channel.