I’m just here for the comments
Scrolling through the swamp that is the comments section of a popular design blog, one in particular caught our eye: ‘I’m just here for the comments.’ Indeed, as Michael Beirut pointed out in his essay for Design Observer, graphic design has become a gladiator’s ring for those with split logo opinions.
Beirut laments the venomous nature of modern design criticism, where hoards of enraged citizens take to blogs and online petitions to shut down new logos. He specifically cites Tropicana orange juice and the University of California, two instances of rebrands being withdrawn due to backlash from a public suddenly prone to emotional attachment with old brand identities.
One of our clients just told us that when they redesigned their site, the redesign came with emotional sensationalism and death threats, such as ‘I have no arms, no legs, and you’ve ruined my life’, and ‘I hate the new site—please jump off the top of your building.’ It seems Mr Bierut did indeed see a monster under the bed.
Isn’t it a monster we asked for, though? Designers are constantly complaining about our industry’s standing in the world, bemoaning its lack of respect compared to architecture, finance, policy, etc. ‘Design is in everything!’ we say, ‘design can change the world! Respect us!’
With a demand for relevance comes a whole lot of passion from a newly engaged public. Some of it is reasonable and some of it is nonsense—but all of it is a reflection of a greater design awareness in our culture. It’s something we should embrace, and when it doesn’t go our way, be ready to take a hit on the chin.
One such hit for us came from the reaction to our rebrand of the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art—which was widely positive—but had a few detractors. Our favourite criticism? One fellow sent in a letter of complaint in two pieces, cut in half. It was one hell of a creative solution, if we do say so ourselves.
