From the Editor’s Desk: If Hollywood has anything to teach us it is that summer is the time for blockbusters – big, flashy and entertaining. Speak Up’s version was this summer’s Logo Smackdown III with close to 200 logos on display and almost 300 comments – big, flashy and entertaining. To amp up the summer entertainment we also started our first juried competition with support, friendship and instigation from Veer. Art Chantry, Ellen Lupton and James Victore will be judging your posters, so why not put down that frisbee and lemonade, step out of the sun and cool down in front of your computer designing a poster? And lastly, we also want to take some of your money with our Commemorative Sheepies auctions, the first two have already been sold and there are three left to be auctioned this end of summer and into the fall. So crank up the AC and spend all your free time and extra money with Speak Up.

Thanks
Armin Vit

As a follow-up to last month’s Sex, Drugs, Rock & Roll… and Print? this post takes a more conservative view of the subject – in a nutshell, claiming pornography is bad and that we, as designers, must do something about it. Marian Bantjes is quick to distance herself, “We all choose our causes, and clearly you have chosen yours, but ‘as a designer’ I don’t feel even remotely compelled to join you.” Certainly, Kelly is not alone, Devin re-emphasizes “We as a group do need to stand up and fight pornography.” As was expected, this discussion, again, veered into what is and what pornography isn’t, is pornography a trigger for pedophilia and rapists? Is pornography evil? Yada, yada, yada… or as Tan Le said, “Let’s elevate the discourse to something higher than this Puritanical, obtuse-minded bullshit.” Right on, let’s.

In all their red, white and blue glory, the United States Postal Service, is perhaps the last place to turn to for design advice. But that didn’t stop them from issuing “The 6 features of graphic design that sell” pamphlet and in doing so claiming (stupidly?) that software “has created a generation of artists schooled in graphic design.” However they do make a case for white space, sticking to a couple of fonts and making things look nice. Initially, the reaction to this was good, “I applaud them, if only because this campaign has taken more initiative to acutely engage and inform the public than anything I’ve seen come from our professional community,” said Jason AS. Not too happy with the pamphlet, Marian Bantjes, went on a solo-crusade against it, but only found resistance, ultimately concluding: “And we sit around and bitch and complain to each other, and then when one more little pamphlet enters the world that further misrepresents our profession to the unknowing, uncaring public, and we say ‘this is good because at least people will realize that it’s important for things to look good.’ If that’s our message, and that’s our mandate, then we should put every effort into designing better software and templates so that the world will be a ‘nicer’ visual place for us all to relax in without the intrusion of starbursts or Gill Sans Extra Bold.” You go girl.

Can Kmart put their not-too-distant, troubled past behind them with a new logo and some TV spots featuring nice-looking TV stars? Most probably, yes… as long as they clean up their act. Literally. “I can’t think of a store to be ‘hip and cool’ when people defecate in the aisles (on numerous occasions)” shared Allison, echoing most people’s experience at Kmarts across the country. “I was in a K-mart a few weeks ago, and I will never go back. The store was dark and the aisles were cluttered” said Mary Claire and Patrick Cote went as far as saying “I wouldn’t set foot in a Kmart if everything in the store was free.” This is a great example of the visual brand not (yet) living up to its brand promise or as Andrew Twigg said, “For Kmart, a change in imagery is not a change in image.”