Island Life: Anyone can do design.
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If Auckland's awesomeness is going to hinge on a publicly designed logo and a ferry terminal, then maybe I will move to Melbourne. Whoops, idle threats of emigration are not tolerated in these quarters, just so you know.
Thought it was rather funny on TV3 when the 'young business women' apparently raked Bill English over the coals, and concluded that when the recession was over, she would move back to Europe. Not sure that has anything to do with New Zealand bridging the gap with Australia as much as Europe having approx 195 times our population. Apparently there's a few more things happening over there. Go figure.
I am reminded, rather predictably, of the Naomi Klein book No Logo. Always thought the biggest irony was the front of the book, and it's catchy logo. Was that designed by a designer?
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Spoken like a Hamiltonian :)
I'm assuming you mean eminently sensible, yet insightful while still tinged with a wistful sense of the aesthetic... and I thank you for your support. ;-)
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Was watching the tea break in the Cricket yesterday (sorry his name slips my mind), and the guest was espousing how brilliant Hamilton has been at 'just getting on and doing it', with the stadium, the apparently 'world class' night life at the end of town, the V8s and so on.
I mean don't get me wrong. I love Hamilton. Where else am I going to get petrol on my way to Tirau? Oh yeah, Huntly.
Speaking of Huntly, what's with this campaign to apparently confuse the Australian Cricket team by sending them to the most boring places in the country? Some kind of reverse engineered competitive advantage? News flash. We'll have to actually be better than them in the cricket, which if their demolition of the West Indies is anything to go by, will take more than clever marketing.
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I would be concerned if people mistook the logo for stuff that actually makes a great city, but we're unlikely to get the rest right if this is anything to go by.
Who wants to live or set up a high-value business in a place that pays PriceWaterhouseCoopers hand over fist for consulting advice to the ATA but decides design is worth a few vouchers to local attractions? Are more bankers and lawyers our future?
Another designer provides a generously even-handed take on the situation, with a great footnote.
in regards to the design of the competition’s website, I can only hope that the use of a stock image of pens and scribbles (istockphoto file#: 1304229) and free vector ink splatter was ironic, when the competition uses phrases such as original and genuine.
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I like the word "wistful"
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I mean don't get me wrong. I love Hamilton. Where else am I going to get petrol on my way to Tirau? Oh yeah, Huntly.
What's Hamilton's new motto anyway? I wish they hadn't put the kybosh on 'it's more than you'd expect!' Such a rich vein of humour to be mined there...
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Spoken like a Hamiltonian :)
The ones with the funny accent?
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The ones with little skin in the game - but yes, the pragmatic character rings true as well
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Sacha: You will need to translate for the locals--too obscure for us in the Waikato ;-)
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I mean don't get me wrong. I love Hamilton. Where else am I going to get petrol on my way to Tirau?
I will ensure you get charged double next time ;-)
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little skin in the game
Hamilton is not in Auckland
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"It is a widely held public perception, 'anyone can do design'. To create a logo that is successful and workable takes talent, training and experience." Fail. One word Postmodernism. Oh OK, two words.
The fact is we don't need a Logo for the Council, we don't need to "Advertise" the Council. Do we have a choice of which Council we pay our rates to?.
Here's a Logo for you "Auckland City Council" 20 letters and 2 spaces, I don't even care which font you use as long as it's readable. Do we really need pictures for the illiterate? "I'm sorry, I thought this was Auckland City Council, why don't you have a professionally designed abstraction so that I know who you are?"
Just another "Empire Building" piece of crap so the Council can pretend it is a Business.
And yes, I have designed a logo or two and none of them looked like a cat's asshole. -
Edit: To clarify, the penises were going to be my entry into the competition for Auckland's logo. I wasn't drawing them for fun.
Shame it wasn't for Vodafone. Think about it.
No don't. -
Rule number one in branding (and yes, I studied it once) is that your brand should encompass who you are, and what you do. Or was that number two? Maybe rule number one was don't get Tiger Woods to endorse your product.
Anyhoo, so 'Auckland City Council' in whatever font sure gets my vote.
Actually, why don't we all send our design using a different font from the Word Font list with those very 20 letters?
Oh, and they charged me twice for my petrol last time anyway. Must have been the 'Hamiltron, City of the bypass' T-shirt I was wearing ;-)
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I've been having a healthy 'debate' with Hamish Keith over on twitter if you're keen to see what he thinks of this whole debacle.
But really what it comes down to, is that as New Zealanders we're visually illiterate, David Walker has a great post on the Designers Institute website here:
http://www.dinz.org.nz/Features/2009/November/43970
I know the Designers Institute is going to start voicing its opinion more often in these debates. A design process is not as 'easy' as some might think it is. Hell, I've been doing it for 10 years, and it's still pretty tricky.
And another thing – as has already been mentioned in regards to the truly awful Auckland 'A' identity, and the debatable Telecom rebrand – where design goes wrong is along the decision making process. Design is a two way street, sometimes the designer fails, sometimes the client does. Don't make the design profession the villian all the time – as I know for a fact great ideas end in the bin because the client doesn't like it. Thats fine, it's their project. We are employed to make recommendations that we think will benefit their operation. We can only do our best.
C.
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Seen Melbourne's logo lately? That's the competition.
Yeah, er, right. So I can choose to have my sewerage treated by Melbourne? or was your point that we visit cities because we are soo impressed by their Logo?
The key to a good logo is "Simple, Meaningful and Memorable"
the other parameter worth consideration is "Do We Need a Logo?"
Geez folks am I the only one old enough to remember when the closest thing to a logo we ever saw was a coat of ams or a flag? What was that famous vacuum cleaner companies logo? oh yes HOOVER. -
Goodness, I'm a bit verbose today. Thanks Steve, just reminded me it's time to do the vacuuming. I mean HOOVERing!
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Just to fill the Vacuum...
Does anybody remember that "Hoover" that floated on a cushion of air, like a hovercraft"?
Bloody useless piece of design, stupid thing just blew the dust all over the place.
Designers, pah!.
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Attracting businesses, residents and visitors has moved from a nation-level pursuit to a city-region one. Branding is about simplifying, communicating and building coherent associations over time, so it's relevant when you're talking something as complex as a city. Names are another part of that, which the Royal Commission on Auckland Governance recognised by choosing indigenous ones for the new wards.
Having said that, we already have the recent frayed volcanic "A" for the region, so I'm not completely clear how this new logo would be used other than signifiying who's collecting your rubbish.
And it's going to be "Auckland Council" - the current city one will cease to exist along with the others. That's fewer letters..
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There, I fixed it...
Auckland's new Logo -
From Clem's Twitterstream, here's an illustrated designer's perspective on some of the equivalent London argy-bargy. Interestingly, note which logo stands out from the group at the very end.
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There, I fixed it
David Slack also offered a suggestion
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See how easy this design stuff is.
Here's another one -
Hey! That logos a stinking pile of dog turd. And I mean that in the nicest possible way ;-)
Can we do the catch phrase competition thing too?
Auckland, like Hamilton, only North a bit.
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and they don't want volcanoes in the visual mix
so I guess this is out of the question...
and this is the city that magma and ash built!...still a good name for Aucklanders maybe?
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Jaffa The Huffps: maybe the supercity could be more of a magmalopolis
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