Hasta La Ideas

In case you hadn’t heard, there’s a bit of a design argument going on in Glasgow, Scotland right now. The issue is over the £95,000 of public funds spent on a new logo for the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games (a very Olympic-like, multi-sport event that happens every four years in different cities across the world). While everyone initially thought the logo, which was designed by the firm Marque (a subsidiary of New York’s Starworks Group, was splendid, that tune changed once another logo the firm had created back in 2007 came to light, which looks remarkably, and uncomfortably, similar. Now both Glasgow residents and government officials are calling for some of that £95,000 back, as repayment for their using something they already had on hand. Although the firm says the fee also included additional design work beyond just the logo, and given how design reviews work, it seems reasonable that this was just one of several options they presented when they were vying for the job, even giving all the fee back certainly won’t easily diminish the resentment lingering at their doorstep. Here’s a bit from The Herald:

Design expert Neil Baxter, secretary of the Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland, said he was disappointed a more original design had not been produced.

He said: “It’s colourful, it’s lively but it’s derivative. The skill of the designer is to come up with an innovative and original design to fit the brief, and that should not be ‘one we made earlier’.

He added: “It does look remarkably similar. I do feel that, while people may have a house style, you should really be avoiding something that is similar to one you did some time ago. It should be something fresh and appropriate.”

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