Thursday, March 17, 2011

Is this new DOT logo for real?

As much as I’d like to support the Philippine Department of Tourism, I cannot condone the choices they’re making. We are a nation with amazing artists. We have top Marvel and DC artists based here. We have an abundance of globally awarded advertising agencies here. We have so many talented designers, a lot of whom would work for free to help the government out. And yet, we continuously come up with things like this:
This is the logo that DOT came out with to encourage local tourists to travel. According to Ironwulf En Route, “This is DOT’s new official logo for Pilipinas, Tara Na Campaign. This was made in cooperation with Smart and Perception of domestic tourism only.” Luckily, I’m always surrounded by opinionated artsy folk here and online. So I showed them the logo and here are their responses.

Art Prodigy:
“It looks like it's been done by kid who's in a public school elementary. Pang on-the-spot poster making contest”

Photographer:
"It's f*ck*ng horrible. T*ng*n*, I would rather that they steal something all over again, than put shit like that up on the net. It looks like an 80s cartoon for a gradeschool text book. And that girl on the boat looks like the scene in Titanic."

Web Designer:
“You can’t resize that. It’s not applicable as a logo.”

Creative Director (and Twitter Celebrity):
“It doesn’t motivate me to travel anywhere. It’s cheap and dated.”


Head of Design:
“Panget? Coloring book? Pambata? A logo should have flat colors as much as possible no gradient. Flat colors with dark & light background variations. Kumbaga reverse puwede mo i-apply sa dalawa.”
I kept their names hidden because I wanted their answers to be as candid as possible. My opinion on it, which I posted on Twitter: “The new DOT logo reminds me of some cartoons I saw in a Saudia Airlines giveaway. I got that more than a decade ago”. In hindsight, that was better done. It also had kids on a plane. But they didn’t look like they were attached to it.
at

14 comments:

  1. UnknownMarch 17, 2011 at 11:55 PM

    Based on the Illustrations I sort of imagine the caption to be...

    OFWs, now coming to you.

    ermmm... well maybe more like...

    OFWs, parating na sa inyo.

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousMarch 18, 2011 at 11:02 AM

    I agree to the comments of the Web Designer and head of Design:

    1. You can't resize that logo, unless it is done using a vector.

    2. The logo should have a flat colors, 2 to 3 color combination. As much as possible, no gradient. And the logo should still compliment the background white or black.

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousMarch 18, 2011 at 12:41 PM

    I'm not sure about that thing on the right. I somehow get the feeling that the girl is wearing a long skirt.

    As a copywriter, I'm also unsure if the line is inviting foreigners to visit the country or asking the entire country to join in on this one big trip somewhere.

    I do however feel sad for whoever did the logo. Sure, he has limited talent, but I bet he'd feel really bad if he (or she) got to read the comments here.

    Great blog by the way. Keep writing.

    ReplyDelete
  4. TeamManilaMarch 18, 2011 at 7:01 PM

    Working on some studies.... Hope people can share their comments. cheers

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/teammanila/sets/72157626167629965/

    ReplyDelete
  5. dennisMarch 19, 2011 at 12:13 PM

    While our neighbors engage the services of brilliant strategists and designers to create compelling communications programs for wooing more and more tourists, our own tourism department is busy hunting down people who will do the wooing for free… or at substantial discounts.

    This misguided mindset results in our cornering just a puny number of local and foreign tourists… and unimaginable damage to our reputation due to extremely mediocre, unadulterated… CRAP.

    ReplyDelete
  6. monachangMarch 19, 2011 at 8:58 PM

    ...awww,,,,understated design...very elementary, not even a conventional one.

    ReplyDelete
  7. MusaMarch 19, 2011 at 9:32 PM

    Marlo, that's pretty funneh. I can totally imagine that now.

    ReplyDelete
  8. MusaMarch 19, 2011 at 9:34 PM

    Hi Anonymous, point well taken. I would feel bad if someone lambasted my work online as well. Although, I feel that whoever this person is was put in a tight spot. I don't think he or she is a designer because the work violates basic rules of logo design. They might have just gotten the wrong person for the job.

    You're a copywriter?

    ReplyDelete
  9. MusaMarch 19, 2011 at 9:47 PM

    Dennis, I share your anger. I do.

    ReplyDelete
  10. MusaMarch 19, 2011 at 9:49 PM

    Monachang, thanks for sharing your opinion. Our voices must be heard.

    ReplyDelete
  11. AnonymousMarch 21, 2011 at 2:16 PM

    Anonymous 2 is Ping. I was a copywriter, but for television. A little different, but all the same in principle.

    The logo was also a hot topic among my friends too last week. We've even discussed it as far as how it's probably one of those cases where certain individuals might have requested a budget for the logo only to pocket some of the money and look for cheap labor. Whatever the real story behind it was, the horrible execution somehow gives us all an idea that something's terribly wrong.

    Still, can't get over the idea that an actual child might have done this and that we're all being mean. That and the girl with a super ferry for a skirt.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Dominik Bjegovic copywriterMarch 22, 2011 at 4:50 PM

    I am a copy writer. And I wanted to find the best to help me out. This site has provided me with the best one to help me. By taking the help of this site I am now a good copywriter. Dominik Bjegovic copywriter

    ReplyDelete
  13. UnknownApril 2, 2011 at 11:09 AM

    And they call that a logo?

    ReplyDelete
  14. MusaApril 5, 2011 at 12:14 AM

    Earl, precisely!

    ReplyDelete