A B-Side BY Armin

Government of Saskatchewan

About: “Saskatchewan became a province of Canada on September 1, 1905. Located between Alberta to the west and Manitoba to the east, its boundaries extend from the US border along the 49th parallel to the border with the Northwest Territories along the 60th parallel. Saskatchewan covers 6.5% of Canada, an area of 651,036 square kilometres. Of this, 591,670 square kilometres are land and 59,366 square kilometres are covered by water.” [Way more…].

Design by: Brace yourselves, “The newer logo was developed and tweaked by a number of agencies and organizations over the years, including Regina’s H.J. Linnen and the Phoenix Group, and government agency Enterprise Saskatchewan. The most recent adjustments were made by Saskatoon-based Kinetic design agency.”

Ed.’s Notes: This logo has sparked a controversy because (A) people seem to really really like the wheat sheaf icon; (B) it’s not just a new logo, but it’s a third logo that is used along with a seal and the wheat sheaf icon and there is a bunch of rules about which one is used where; and (C ) “The New Democrats are criticizing the provincial government’s new logo because it uses the Saskatchewan Party’s green-and-yellow colour scheme,” calling it sneaky and inappropriate. I’ll simplify things for all ya’ll Saskatchewans: the logo sucks, that’s why it’s controversial.

Relevant links: Design Edge story. CBC story. Huffington Post story.

Thanks to Aylwin Lo for first tip.

Opinion BY Armin

Follow-up of Follow-up: University of California

It’s official. The University of California has issued a press release confirming that they have revoked their new logo.

This controversy has created a major distraction for the UCOP External Relations Division as it pursues its broader mission: communicating to all Californians the vital contributions UC makes to the quality of their lives and the prosperity of the state.

The controversy has been fueled in large part by an unfortunate and false narrative, which framed the matter as an either-or choice between a venerated UC seal and a newly designed monogram.

Therefore, I have instructed the communications team to suspend further use of the monogram. For certain applications, this process could require a measure of time to complete. In due course, we will re-evaluate this element of the visual identity system.
— Daniel M. Dooley, senior vice president for external relations at the University of California Office of the President

Way to go 50,000-plus people. You win. Happy now? By next week you’ll have forgotten about even signing the petition but, in the course of that, you have caused irremediable damage in the confidence of the leadership team at UC to even consider doing anything new or different anytime soon that would potentially help improve your university system to succeed. Enjoy your seal.