this belittles britain

I came across it on the blogosphere very soon after it's first appearance yesterday. I knew nothing about its impending release, so my initial reaction - even after studying the official website that accompanies it - was "is this some sort of hoax?". And when I first posted about it yesterday, that was pretty much all I knew. Since when, of course, we've learned that it's all thanks to the efforts of the self-proclaimed "world's most influential brand business", Wolff Olins.

As a mark, a symbol, a logo, it ranks alongside the equally crass new logo for Italy ('designed' by Wolff Olins competitors in the brand business, Landor):

And they signify a deeply depressing downturn in our respective cultural identities. No longer are we content to aspire, to dream, to strive towards perfection ...or to be humble. For today we are told we have to don our baseball caps (backwards, of course) and 'get down with the kids'.

Well, I have a message for Mr Wolff, Mr Olins and the late Mr Landor: you were once proud to call yourselves designers, but somewhere along the line you decided that business was more important than design; and so you allowed the companies that bear your names to become 'brand businesses'; and in the process you sold your souls.

I, for one - and for what it's worth - hereby distance myself from the ugly little world that those 'brand businesses' now seek to create.

Comments

[michael johnson]

David, just for your info, feelings about logos aside, Michael Wolff left Wolff Olins in the eighties, Wally Olins left them in 1997.
Michael Johnson.

[minxlj]

I don't think it says anything of Britain at all - and that's the problem. Britain is not sharp, jagged and neon. Take away the 'London' part and it could be hosted anywhere - a very poor design for the Olympics in my opinion.

My review of it is here:
http://minxlj.tumblr.com/post/2921361

[davidthedesigner]

Many thanks for your input, Michael - and a warm welcome if you've not been here before.

Of course, I know when both Michael Wolff and Wally Olins left Wolff Olins, but other readers may not - so thank you for pointing that out. But their names are still above the door, so the company they left behind is - to put it bluntly - their legacy. They did have a choice.

As you will have gathered, I have strong words to say about this logo - because I think it's a very ugly and crass piece of design. Whether it's a good 'brand' or not, only time will tell. But as a mark in it's own right, it makes the world around us less attractive than it was on Sunday.

And you know, as a designer, that we are sometimes given the opportunity to make the world a better place. You yourself made the world just that little bit better when you gave us your fruit stamps - because they make us smile.

And as you'll have seen from the reaction of the general public, the very last thing that this 'london 2012' logo achieves is to make us smile.

[Madelyn Lee]

I have no comments on the Olympic 2012 logo (Anyway it successfully grabs the intention from the world.)But I have something to say about Landor.

Landor did a lot of extremely successful logo and identities in the past. But the new KFC identity done by them in the recent June gave quite a big shock to the agencies. I was one of the designer who received the brief to work on the re-packaging task. The very old fashion typo style were published and it was very confusing in its identity guide book. The three stripes on Colonel was thought to be crossover with Adidas..(maybe it's the secret intent of them to make it link to a sporty feel..)

I salute to the great works done by Landor in the past but this KFC rebranding identity just surprising me..