Shocking Design Spectrum

6/04/2007 10:04:00 AM

I like popular culture a lot. I'm a junkie with respect to it... I also like design, technology, branding, and athletics among lots of other things. And it's a collision of several of things interests that brought me to want to post this quick entry. I was shocked this morning--when perusing my daily must-hits online--and I stumbled on the following two things back to back.

First thing, I'd not seen before. Second item, I've seen many many times, even lusted over, but hadn't caught the commercial online. These two items and everything they stand for stood so sharply in contrast to one another that I felt compelled to share 'em...

A) The worst logo ever; certainly the worst OLYMPIC logo ever, multiplied by 1000.



B) One of the more exciting, enticing designs in quite some time:


Regarding A: I can't believe that the UK Olympic Committee paid 400k British Pounds ($800k dollars) to develop it over the course of a year@ Read what some people think.

Regarding B: I can't wait till June 29th!!

Isn't the spectrum in quality of design amazing? These two things juxtaposed seem totally absurd. How could one thing be so crappy and the other so dreamy? The range is amazing.

How much thought have you given your brand/look/functionality/design/effectiveness?

(Saw it first on Seth bright and early this morning, but love the multi-link idea from a few days ago, David)

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14 Comments:

Blogger A.R.Yngve said...

Well, at least these two cases show that money alone can't create good design... or brains. ;)


"How much thought have you given your brand/ look/ functionality/ design/ effectiveness?"


I think about this a lot, and try to constantly think of new ways to get good design on a very low budget.

Remember Punk? The Punk Rock aesthetic was to turn poverty into a design (literally poverty; Johnny Rotten has said in interviews that they couldn't afford to dress better), and use whatever was at hand -- junk, even.

Perhaps we can learn something from Punk Rock -- not that we must dress in garbage if we can avoid it, but to use what's available creatively.

2:12 AM  
Blogger wojtekk said...

Hi Chase... This logo is absolutely scary. :/ It's a big shame that they want to show something like that to the world... Brrrrr. Shocking.

By the way, I have enjoyed your "ninjas" thing ;)

3:09 AM  
Anonymous David Airey :: Creative Design :: said...

The London olympic logo is a travesty.

There's so much design talent in the UK that it's just an embarrassment.

Whilst Wolff Olins was the agency with the commission, an equal share of the responsibility must go to the client, headed by public figure and althete Seb Coe.

Since when has Sebastian Coe been a brand strategist? Oh well. Here's hoping a re-design is soon on the cards after public pressure.

Thanks for the link, Chase.

4:05 AM  
Blogger Carson Blume said...

The logo makes me sad, the iPhone makes me smile!

1:03 PM  
Blogger Finn McKenty said...

I think the Olympics logo is awesome. It's different, fresh, energetic, and young- and most of all, hats off to the design manager for having the guts to try something different. I love it that everybody is so up in arms about it. The best work always polarizes people like that.

3:16 PM  
Blogger David said...

Regarding the logo, and previous UK marketing moves:

A few years back, "Great Britain" hired a marketing/PR firm to spruce up their image.

The result? They were told to drop the "Great." Just say "Britain." You don't need to use the "Great" anymore.

Cost: ~$1,000,000.00 USD.

I wish I had the cohones to charge that kind of money for such profound and sophisticated advice. (Sheesh.)

9:59 AM  
Blogger David said...

Uh-oh. Things just went from bad to worse:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070606/sp_nm/britain_olympics_logo_dc

3:00 PM  
Blogger Chase Jarvis said...

A.R.Yngve _ long live Punk Rock. And if the UK Olympics used their 400,000 British Pounds--what was available to them--- a little better, they'd have something a little stronger, eh?

9:41 PM  
Blogger Chase Jarvis said...

Finn: I KNEW you'd love this this thing, man! (which is something I love about you!) I love work that tries hard to cut against the grain, for sure. I love it for that, but I gotta think that it might be a joke it's so poorly done. Risky logo design is one thing, but I'm literally just waiting for the biggest internet hoax ever to be unveiled that we've all been punked!

9:47 PM  
Blogger Chase Jarvis said...

David: OMG! That's something every good logo should do - cause a seizure!

(seriously, go check out the link David posted...)

9:52 PM  
Anonymous Mona said...

Oh. That Olympic logo is so depressing...hmm.

"How much thought have you given your brand/ look/ functionality/ design/ effectiveness?"

A whole dang lot! My biggest problem, though, is that I am a student and as such I have a lot to learn about the "functionality" part of design...

Anyway, your work is SO inspiring!! When I see your work I think, "And this is what greatness is..." And then I want to go throw my camera out the window. Heh, heh. But I wish you continued success!

5:14 PM  
Blogger Chase Jarvis said...

Thanks for the kind words, Mona. For functionality, you should tune into the design world mags. I subscribe to nearly every one and devour them diligently. the more you review/examine the successful stuff, the more attuned you'll become.

1:31 PM  
Anonymous chris said...

I read somewhere that the olympics logo looks like lisa simpson giving head. It does.

10:35 AM  
Blogger Chase Jarvis said...

Chris: that is hilarious. I see it. Brilliant.

8:01 PM  

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