Having lived in London for the past 3 years the build up to the logo launch was highly anticipated. However I did get the feeling that no matter what was presented, be it the most amazing identity system ever designed, it would have been attacked.

The media in the UK completely condemned the logo, going so far as to suggest a complete redesign. That would be rather pointless as we would have probably ended up in the same position, as not everyone shares the same ideas on what is good or bad design.

I don’t think it’s something new for the media to highlight the costs of design or branding, without thinking of the process that goes into creating it. As a kid I remember both the Commonwealth Bank and Bankwest logos coping flack for their high price tags. I personally think both of these examples have stood the test of time and worth their price tags.

I think you have presented the argument in a completely different light, not dwelling on the logo’s aesthetic, but one of trying to educate readers that there’s more to design and branding than just hitting a magical design filter in photoshop and laughing all the way to the bank (although I’m sure Adobe is working on that for CS4).

Let’s just hope that a journalist, somewhere, has read this blog and the next time a large scale public brand is launched we get at least one considered point of view.

Thanks again.