And back to the beginning

An update on the ongoing Gap logo saga. Gap Inc. have released the following press release:

http://www.gapinc.com/public/Media/Press_Releases/med_pr_GapLogoStatement10112010.shtml

“Since we rolled out an updated version of our logo last week on our website, we’ve seen an outpouring of comments from customers and the online community in support of the iconic blue box logo.

“Last week, we moved to address the feedback and began exploring how we could tap into all of the passion. Ultimately, we’ve learned just how much energy there is around our brand. All roads were leading us back to the blue box, so we’ve made the decision not to use the new logo on gap.com any further.

“At Gap brand, our customers have always come first. We’ve been listening to and watching all of the comments this past week. We heard them say over and over again they are passionate about our blue box logo, and they want it back. So we’ve made the decision to do just that – we will bring it back across all channels.

“In the meantime, the website will go back to our iconic blue box logo and, for Holiday, we’ll turn our blue box red for our seasonal campaign.

“We’ve learned a lot in this process. And we are clear that we did not go about this in the right way. We recognize that we missed the opportunity to engage with the online community. This wasn’t the right project at the right time for crowd sourcing.

“There may be a time to evolve our logo, but if and when that time comes, we’ll handle it in a different way. “

I'm embarrassed to be a designer today.

A company has designed a new identity, it was signed off and made public. No one has to like it, but it was legitimate work.

We're supposed to embrace the new and be open minded as creatives, yet everyone jumps on the bandwagon and bashes the new logo because it's new and different.

It amazed me how conservative the design community has proved itself with this whole thing.

I'm also sad that a company would bow to public pressure so quickly. If a company signs off a new identity then that should mean they have the confidence to defend their decisions. The fact that gap have reneged on their choice after only a few days shows poor leadership.

Imagine is the london 2012 olympics hadn't stood firmly behind their logo. Public opinion was very divided but now everyone is used to it and it works well.

This design was never given a chance and as designers, without having seen the new gap logo work in context or even have a chance to live properly, we've already shot it down. This is a dangerous precedent to set.

I guess the only good thing that came out of this, is that AIGA persuaded gap not to try crowdsourcing, a practice that is even worse for confidence in professional design.

AIGA president Debbie Millman contacted Gap and made sure they knew the AIGA's position on spec work:

We did not…just send the anti-spec treatise. We would like to give them the opportunity to have a considered discussion as opposed a public one-sided bashing.

That being said, I have made my personal point of view very clear: I firmly believe that crowd-sourcing and spec work is about designers giving their work away for free. But it is also about an abuse of power. The ‘client’ has it all. The designer has none. Unless, of course, we say no.

If nothing else, this whole episode shows that the online community have the power to affect large corportations. These companies are starting to re-think the way they engage with their customers.