The death-star-ification of DIRECTV continues. The image you see above was taken from the guide on an HR54 Genie DVR this morning. All Genies will be getting new software in the next few weeks that fix little problems and also roll out new graphics that replace the old “cyclone” logo with the new AT&T “death star” (not their official name for it obviously.)
It’s one more reminder that DIRECTV is now completely integrated into AT&T, serving as its premier video service. U-Verse is still out there, as many of you know, but the focus is all on DIRECTV now. And, for DIRECTV, the focus is all on AT&T. It’s one big corporate synergy lovefest.
Now, I’ll be honest, I really liked the old cyclone, shown here in its original form:
although I think just like most logos it took a decidedly overdrawn turn in the late 2000s when photoshop effects, shine and shadows were the rules of the day. It stood for something, for a great power coming down from the sky. It also formed a “D” if you looked at it that way. But, for that matter I liked AT&T’s original “death star” too:
though I was never a fan of the redone mid-2000s version. I thought it lacked strength. Clearly, designers today agree with me, since the current logo owes a lot to the 1980s design:
And you’re going to see a lot of that logo moving forward. You’ll see the icon part of it everywhere on new hardware, and although there are no plans to ditch the DIRECTV name, it’s certainly been styled to be part of the family now.
So, who else has this logo on their screens now? It’s in all the menus and even on the progress bar.
