Articles & Texticles

One of the most popular posts (so far) on this blog is a piece I wroted and quoted about the Fedex Logo and its designer, Lindon Leader, way back in early September 2006.
Looking at my blog’s stats, I notice that over 16,000 people have stopped by to have a look at that one article from about eighteen months ago. (I should make those thumbnails bigger - they look so miserly.)
A picture might be in order here: Click this little fellah!

Lindon Leader’s use of negative space was deliberate and very subtle. Now the design group FHD, which mysteriously stands for Fishburn Hedges Group, who’ve proposed a new logo for the Office of Government Commerce (OGC) have found that their design concept contained some positive space that turned out to have a very negative effect.

As The Register reports:

London design outfit FHD proudly announced it would be rebranding the UK’s Office of Government Commerce (OGC) - the HM Treasury tentacle “responsible for improving value for money by driving up standards and capability in procurement”.

FHD’s MD Adrian Day trumpeted to the sound of whalesong: “We are seeing growing demand from clients for consultancy support that spans branding, strategic and stakeholder communications, and this brief from OGC and OGCbuying solutions is a perfect example of the need for a more integrated, informed approach to branding. We have worked on a number of successful corporate branding projects in the past few months and this project is an exciting new win for the business.”

(Where on Earth do these suits go to learn such high octane waffle? And did you notice the brazen way he slipped the word ‘Solutions’ in there?)

Anyway, this is what they came up with: -

Now just tilt your head over onto your left shoulder and stare at that logo for about ten seconds.

The man in the suit said:

“The OGC is currently overhauling the design of its corporate materials following a new strategy and forward direction. As part of this, the OGC has been developing a new visual identity, one aspect of which is a new logo.

“The proposed version, which you have sent over, has been shared with staff, and is now going through final technical stages. It is true that it caused a few titters among some staff when viewed on its side, but on consideration we concluded that the effect was generic to the particular combination of the letters ‘OGC’ - and is not inappropriate to an organisation that’s looking to have a firm grip on government spend!”

In the meantime, the Office of Government Commerce will have to keep using its previous and deeply uncontroversial logotype: