I'm intrigued by the widespread indignation that has greeted the announcement of the corporate brand for the London 2012 Olympic Games. There is an ordinary professional scorn as a matter of course for graphic designers whenever identity work of public significance is unveiled. But here it has been subsumed by a greater and much more personal reaction — there is a public atmosphere of grievance, because everyday people who are excited by the event it now heralds feel aggrieved.
This will be an interesting study in corporate obstinacy, and will indicate the extent to which the 'new way' in customer relations has infiltrated big business — wherein brands are 'democratised' in a big push-pull-push action with half-militant, half-brainwashed consumers. I don't know which way it'll go; I do know that the Games corporation will need balls of steel to stick with it. But at least until recently, balls of steel were an essential survival trait in male-dominated, crusading boardrooms.
Joseph | 6 Jun 2007 | 0 comments
Topographic view
The qualifier
Two weeks with the apple and the lone star (illustrated).
