In Brief BY Armin

Wisconsin Gets Jiggy with Acronyms

Wisconsin Tourism Federation

Who would have thought that a web site called Your Logo Makes me Barf would one day influence the identity design of a state-level organization? This past July, when YLMMB added the logo of the Wisconsin Tourism Federation (WTF) to its list of victims — along with the inevitable post title of “WTF Wisconsin?! — the change was set in motion. Yesterday, Milwaukee’s Journal Sentinel reported that WTF had changed its logo to avoid the now infamous acronym of the words “What”, “The,” and “Fuck.” From now on they are to be known as the Tourism Federation of Wisconsin (TFW) with a logo to match. Besides the question of why not fix their visually painful logo while they are at it, I can’t help but point out this missed opportunity: If web lingo has taken you down, embrace it and change it from Wisconsin Tourism Federation to, say, Federation of Tourism of Wisconsin. You know… FTW. For the Win!

DATE: Oct.02.2009CATEGORY: In Brief 34 COMMENTS

Comments › Jump to Most Recent

kevin’s comment is:

I like the WTF logo. Just think of all the cool marketing strategies that could come out of it?!!?! :)

On Oct.02.2009 at 07:17 AM

awesomerobot’s comment is:

Federation of Tourism, Wisconsin. Would be ok with me, and just think of all the geek cred they'd win.

Also, I now declare TFW = That's Fucking Weird. Sorry Wisconsin.

On Oct.02.2009 at 07:39 AM

Nick’s comment is:

This just made me laugh...

The fact that someone at the drawing board didn't say, "WTF!, it says WTF! We gotta do something different." makes me believe that they sort of invited the jabs that we're inevitable.

On Oct.02.2009 at 08:02 AM

awesomerobot’s comment is:

Oh, also WTF still works for The World Taekwondo Federation

http://www.wtf.org/

On Oct.02.2009 at 08:04 AM

jonathan’s comment is:

Great point Kevin, WTF missed their chance.

If you're going to change, why not really change. Drop the Federation or something... TFW just looks like a WTF typo.

On Oct.02.2009 at 08:19 AM

Stefano Picco’s comment is:

FTW to much gamingstyle :P

On Oct.02.2009 at 08:41 AM

Taz’s comment is:

FTW stands for "Fuck the World" not "For the Win."

Beat Wisconsin if you can, survive if Wisconsin lets you!

On Oct.02.2009 at 08:44 AM

Isaac’s comment is:

IBTL

On Oct.02.2009 at 09:14 AM

Kevin Tucker’s comment is:

In response to several commenters, I imagine that the Wisconsin Tourism Federation probably existed for a long time before "WTF" became internet lingo. Just like how "fail" used to be a verb, and cats used to know how to spell.

But I agree, they missed an opportunity to embrace "FTW" and to redesign the logo.

On Oct.02.2009 at 09:29 AM

Joachim’s comment is:

Taz: Most I've heard, FTW does stand for "For The Win," especially in gaming culture.

On Oct.02.2009 at 09:37 AM

Evan’s comment is:

Fun Times, Whoa!

I've never been to Wisconsin, but I have to believe that there are marketers/designers/managers that can produce a better product than that [POS].

On Oct.02.2009 at 09:43 AM

Violet’s comment is:

@Taz

Ya, FTW = For the Win in the gaming world. I have NEVER heard it used as "Fuck the World". Ever.

But that was funny, it made my office laugh this morning. They should have kept it. Americans are too anal, which is funny in itself. We think we're these rebellious, honky, do what we want, we don't care attitude... but god forbid we do anything sexual or inappropriate. We're so ass backwards from the rest of the world it surprises me. I understand there is a time and place, but for crying out loud, we're TOO anal.

On Oct.02.2009 at 10:14 AM

RMC’s comment is:

I've heard FTW as both, but as 'Fuck the World' first. I prefer it that way anyway, 'for the win' (and it's numerous variants) is played the hell out and annoying, as is '[epic] fail'. Ugh.

On Oct.02.2009 at 10:24 AM

dave’s comment is:

it used to mean f the world in motorcycle gangs, your average social rebel and nice anarchists. now it means for the win in internet culture.

http://bit.ly/ZOJR

it was f the world first though.

On Oct.02.2009 at 10:31 AM

Nate B’s comment is:

In any case, the logo sucks and continues to suck. They could have used to opportunity to do some nice re-branding, instead choosing to the least amount of work possible.

On Oct.02.2009 at 10:39 AM

Darrel’s comment is:

"Also, I now declare TFW = That's Fucking Weird. Sorry Wisconsin."

!!!

On Oct.02.2009 at 11:22 AM

ScottyM’s comment is:

Somebody should be fired over this. Period.

Talk about overreacting to nothing. So, just because a bunch of teens created WTF in their cute little text lingo, you, long-standing trade organization must change your acronym?!

Seriously? ... "You're fired."

Much ado about nothing.

On Oct.02.2009 at 11:56 AM

JEAN6ERIC’s comment is:

Haha awesome. WTFTW
they got balls

On Oct.02.2009 at 12:09 PM

gus’s comment is:

FTW == fuck the world!

seems remedy was worse than the ache

On Oct.02.2009 at 12:15 PM

Mark’s comment is:

I'm glad they made the change, they look like they don't have egg on their face now.

Yes, the logo does need improvement though.

On Oct.02.2009 at 12:46 PM

Mongoose’s comment is:

Acronyms do have a way of duplicating perfectly innocent things with perfectly disreputable meanings.

I have to agree, silly as it might be, FTW would be excellent. Coupled in goofy fashion with a WIsconsiN, maybe.. using that 'WI' appreciation as a lot of 'conneCTicut' promos do.

On Oct.02.2009 at 02:08 PM

tetra’s comment is:

WFTMFW IMHO, amirite? :)

On Oct.02.2009 at 02:17 PM

tetra [again]’s comment is:

Winsconsin... maybe? Maybe? No? :/

On Oct.02.2009 at 02:18 PM

diseño de cd’s comment is:

Muy buen blog de diseño! great blog! thanks from Argentina.

On Oct.02.2009 at 03:23 PM

Steven Hoober’s comment is:

> existed for a long time before "WTF" became internet lingo

Yeah, whatever. Long before the popular internet, this is what those letters meant.

On Oct.02.2009 at 04:07 PM

felix sockwell’s comment is:

FTW = Fort Worth (TX)

On Oct.02.2009 at 07:20 PM

Benga’s comment is:

Wow, i think they mean to say WTF. The FTW typography seem extremely stretched out, mixed matched fonts that look like they where put together by a 5th grader. This is definitely a down grade. I rather prefer the first one over the newest ones, because it's clean and more focused with only two types of fonts, instead of having four different types of fonts combined together.

Benga creative

On Oct.02.2009 at 08:53 PM

mertz’s comment is:

saw the original and thought "what the fuck is up with that faded navy blue"...but i get what you mean about them letting internet speech take them down. they should have just adopted ftw and sown that they can play the game but be smart. i think the way you have ftw has too many of's even if they make sense. i think it would be: Federation of Tourism, Wisconsin or Federation Tourism of Wisconsin or Federation Tourism Wisconsin.

On Oct.03.2009 at 10:50 AM

Folletto Malefico’s comment is:

That's the first time I've heard of FTW as "For the win". :P

On Oct.04.2009 at 05:08 PM

T.J.’s comment is:

maybe in spanish. federacion torismo de Wisconsin.

On Oct.05.2009 at 11:38 AM

rose linke’s comment is:

npr did a story on the name change and interviewed eli altman from a hundred monkeys. he expounded on the story over at the naming & branding blog 'on the button.' have a look: http://onthebutton.wordpress.com/2009/10/06/acronym-names/