A poster I designed for f/stop cafe and their Tritone Fridays happening every friday through the summer.

You are asked to do or create something which you know to be wrong or otherwise an embarrassment to your craft. On the one hand, you are being paid for your services and talent, and are obligated to do what the client wishes. On the other hand, after this client is gone, all you are left with is money (hopefully) and this piece which is, at best, useless for your portfolio, at worst, has your name and pride attached to it. There must be a point where you have to self-preserve and say enough is enough.

I suppose if you were a full-blown employee, it doesn’t much matter. Nothing you do has any direct bearing on you, and you can’t use anything for a personal portfolio anyway. However, for a self-employed designer/photographer/artist/etc, all you have is your portfolio. A creative’s portfolio is the holy grail for prospective new clients and employers; resumes come second, if at all. So if you’ve filled your portfolio with crappy work you knew sucked when you created it, but still made money, where does that leave you for the future? Ultimately not in a good position I’m afraid. Telling your future employer at an interview that the reason that project looks horrid was the client’s fault, probably won’t go over so hot.

What about you guys? Thoughts?

As if the Fort Collins logo fiasco hasn’t gone on long enough, I present to you a page containing submissions from local citizens for our new city logo. Warning, shield your eyes, it may be the worst design work you’ve ever seen.

Fort Collins Logo Project

Via the Denver Egotist.

Renowned French designer Philippe Starck says he is fed up with his job and plans to retire in two years, in an interview published in a German weekly on Thursday. “I was a producer of materiality and I am ashamed of this fact,” Starck told Die Zeit weekly news blockquote paper.

“Everything I designed was unnecessary.

“I will definitely give up in two years’ time. I want to do something else, but I don’t know what yet. I want to find a new way of expressing myself… design is a dreadful form of expression.”

Starck, who is known for his interior design of hotels and Eurostar trains and mass consumption objects ranging from chairs to tooth brushes and lemon juice squeezers, went on to say that he believed that design on the whole was dead.

“In future there will be no more designers. The designers of the future will be the personal coach, the gym trainer, the diet consultant,” he said.

Starck said the only objects that he still felt attached to were “a pillow perhaps and a good mattress.” But the thing one needs most, he added, was the “ability to love”.

While I don’t agree that design is dead, I do share his sentiment that it’s not a super great form of expression for me. I’m looking to see what other paths my talent and desire can take me. Focusing more on video and photo seem the most promising and interesting.

Via The Ad Mad.

New city logo put on ice
The city will stop the implementation of a new logo until it can talk more about the design.

City Manager Darin Atteberry sent a memo to city staff with those instructions Thursday following complaints by residents and Mayor Pro-Tem Kelly Ohlson. Ohlson said he was “underwhelmed” by Atteberry’s choice for a new city logo.

Atteberry plans to give the City Council several options on how to move forward at a Tuesday work session.

“The majority of feedback that council members and I have received has been negative,” Atteberry said. “There has been some positive feedback, but we have mostly heard from people who weren’t happy. We won’t be putting the logo on vehicles (or other) equipment we purchase.”

Ohlson said he heard negative feedback from a wide variety of people from different segments of the community.

“The citizens don’t like it,” Ohlson said. “The city needs to accept that, and now we need to try and fix it. I have never had so much citizen dissatisfaction with an action the city has taken since I was elected and I believe they are right.”

The new logo design cost the city $2,600 taken from a larger $78,000 economic stimulus effort to “brand” the city.

The full story here…

The City of Fort Collins has created a firestorm (I hate that word, by the way; it’s a such an overly dramatic news media term) of criticism over announcement of the city’s new logo. Supposedly, city council spent $80,000 on an overhaul of Fort Collin’s image, including a new logo. The logo is at the center of the hatred. To put it bluntly, it’s a horrible, piece of crap, talent-less creation that doesn’t do the city justice in the least. Never mind the amount paid for it, which, in and of itself, isn’t that exorbitant for top-quality design. But everything is relative, and for $80k, the city could have gotten a lot more in terms of quality for that amount. To make matters worse, it wasn’t even a local firm that did the work.

Just a taste, from the local Coloradoan:

The new logo is bland and indistinct. And what’s with the wave? Are we a sea-side town or something? The current logo is very distinct and contains the quintessential Fort Collins landmark – Horsetooth.

Not that I’m anti-growth or anything, but do we need a new logo to attract more residents to our town? Are we managing our town like a sports franchise where a new logo will sell more ball caps, jerseys and bobbleheads? What possible value does a new logo add to the city’s revenues or to its residents’ quality of life?

I don’t consider myself an expert on graphic design, but the new city of Fort Collins logo is by far one of the most awful logos I have seen lately. The design lacks character and fails to effectively convey an image of Fort Collins as “The Choice City” as we so eloquently call ourselves.

There was no problem with the old logo that has served Fort Collins well over the past 30 years. I don’t see why our city is spending more than $80,000 for a minimalistic logo when we are in the middle of a budget crisis. It seems Fort Collins leaders are happy about overpaying for mediocre artwork. Look at the sculpture in Old Town if you want further proof.

The sculpture, mentioned above, is another sore spot with the city. It too is pretty awful. No one knew what the artist was carving into this huge piece of white marble in Old Town Square. He has long since finished, but it looks no where near “finished.”

The thought of someone stealing my work has always been centered around my photography, I never gave much thought to the fact that people also steal design work verbatim. Amazing, truly. The site, You Thought We Wouldn’t Notice, is an international blog dedicated to ratting out the pilferers. Some of the stuff posted on there is astonishing. Complete, pixel-for-pixel web design rip-offs, just with different text and logos. How do you live with yourself?

Of course, registering your work with the gov. can help if you wind up taking someone to court, but every original work is automatically copyrighted… that doesn’t deter anyone. The hard part is preventing and catching the theft.

I worked this up today and am quite proud of it! When you get inspired, you just gotta roll with it. The postcard/poster is to announce Integro’s New York office move. I was less than psyched with your traditional “moving” images of boxes, keys, etc. I went for the more textural and up close feel. I am all about the texture after all.