There is an old saying that goes something like "if it looks like a duck, walks like a duck and quacks like a duck - then it is more than likely to be a duck"!
There is also the story about the ugly duckling that morphs into a beautiful swan. So why all this imagery around water fowls?
Well the picture of a duck - or more correctly the waste that excretes from a duck's behind - was one of the first things that popped into my mind when I saw the new logo design for the soon-to-be formed Auckland Council.
According to the judges of the logo competition the winning entry - submitted by retired commercial artist Jim Dean (and going from his latest work I can see why he is retired) is supposed to be a stylised pohutukawa design.
Reaction so far to the new logo from my colleagues has varied from "meh" (and the accompanying shrug of the shoulders that usually goes with such an uninterested reaction) to bloody awful! My own opinion is firmly rooted in the latter camp. I think it looks old-fashioned, clunky and ugly. While I do not profess to be a design expert, I know what I like and this I do not like.
Apparently, more than 1500 people submitted entries into the logo competition. So if that was the best they could come up with out of 1500 entries - then I would not have liked to seen the rejected designs!
According to Waitakere Mayor Bob Harvey - who was chair of the judging panel – the winning design fitted the brief of being 'compelling, elegant and compact'.
“It’s a stunning design. We love it,” Harvey added.
Say what? Bob, I know they call you the 'mad mayor' - but this major over-egging of this very, ugly duckling of a logo design is even over-the top for you!
Mind you, when the judging panel was announced earlier in the year, with the likes of Bob Harvey, Hamish Keith, Dick Frizzel and Bill (I have a face for radio) Ralston on board - I did not hold out much hope that this bunch of - not so much has-beens, but more like never-weres - would come up with anything too inspiring. And they did not let me down.
Meanwhile, one of the reasons art consultant Hamish Keith and a member of the judging panel gave for favouring the design was: "It is flexible and can be adapted to a variety of uses – from vehicle doors to shoulder patches, letterheads, signs and rubbish bin markers."
I have to agree with the pompous old git - this new logo is perfect to go straight in the rubbish bin!
Mind you, as someone suggested the pohutukawa design was an entirely appropriate emblem for the new Auckland Council - as its flower shines brightly for only a couple of months before the head falls off!
This seems an entirely apt metaphor of what is likely to happen when the new Auckland Council opens for business on November 1.
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