The X logo is bad design

What happened with X is bad design.

You may expect me to criticize how it looks, and I will, because it sucks. And the emo vibe is real.

But that’s not the point. The true problem is the process, or rather, the lack of it.

Killing the Twitter bird

Eight days ago, on Sunday, Musk woke up and stated that Twitter had to change its visual identity to become X.

Then some guy posted a few options on the platform, Musk chose one, and by the end of the day, an official announcement was made. The next morning that X was every employee and the company’s profile picture.

And that’s how the bird got killed — I suppose the Twitter team took the word execution to the letter.

This is not the way

In all of this, there was:

1️⃣ No research and benchmarking

2️⃣ No interaction with the client to understand his wants, and most importantly his needs

The fact that Musk makes important decisions on Twitter can’t be a surprise. But that a fellow designer vomited random options to get his 5 minutes of fame — that is disheartening.

The wrong message

This not only provides a result that can’t be the right fit but also sends the wrong message worldwide, thus undermining the perception of a whole profession.

That’s how we end up with horror stories like clients asking to make a quick fix themselves to their logo on Microsoft Word, or with your teenage cousin being considered a SMM just because he’s on TikTok.

Process is king

That’s why the process is king, queen, and the whole kingdom.

Not because it’s fancy or because it justifies higher costs, but because a good process leads to good design — a Design that works, that has a quality to it, and that respects final users, the client, and the discipline as a whole.

Did you find this interesting? Let me know :)

Written with ❤️ by Luca Rapisarda