We’re about to write something obvious: never underestimate the power of good graphic design. The same goes for bad graphic design. Philadelphia’s latest logo, designed by The Star Group, was officially granted #4 on the Worst-Identities-of-’09 List as published by the thoughtfully written design blog Under Consideration, only to have been beat by Blackwater, MSN, and the #1: bing. As UC wrote, “One thing you don’t want to do is upset Philadelphians — and judging by the amount of traffic we got to this story, there were many — by branding them with a web font (Trebuchet) and a terribly rendered Liberty Bell.”

As a Philadelphian it is surprising that most people even in the city gravitate towards the bell when approaching a branding project. Rarely in my life when mentioning that I am from Philadelphia has anyone said “oooh, have you seen the Liberty Bell?!” The question is usually “what’s your favorite cheese steak place?”
— Chad Kaufman

The point is, it’s hard to create an identity for a state, city, or nation, because it’s difficult to please literally an entire population. It’s most likely that the ad agency will go with the safest images and language: see Connecticut’s logo awhile back (“We’re Just Full of Surprises!”) or Argentina’s (“Un Pais, En Serio”- translation: A Country, Really).

Check out the Best-Of list as well. Melbourne’s new logo is really incredible.

This entry was posted on Friday, January 8th, 2010 at 12:07 pm.