Uninformed opinion, or the voice of experience?

In response to the outcry over the London 2012 branding, I wholeheartedly agree with many of the points in Peter Knapp’s letter.

Creative professionals should shrug off uninformed or sensational public opinion. However, comment from within the industry – ideally, from those directly involved in the conception and final execution, the designer and client – must be based on a deep understanding of a project if it is to carry any weight.

I therefore found Michael Wolff’s ‘rant’, published in the same issue, negative and contradictory. He neither praises nor defends the 2012 identity, but implies it was created as a catalyst for a debate on design within the industry.

With no knowledge of the clients, briefs, and consultancies involved, he then launches an unjustified attack on a number of designs featured within the pages of your magazine the previous week.

As the co-founder of KM Design – creator of the Wenta logo, one of the designs criticised by Wolff – I view this as not only an insult to our organisation but also to my client, their investors and business partners. I imagine that the other recipients of his blunt and very public attack feel the same way, too. It is also an unfortunate example of uninformed comment from within the industry.

I don’t recall having publicly dismissed either the work of Wolff or the 2012 logo. In fact, I quite liked the latter. I suppose if we were to question its ‘depth, originality or integrity’, as Wolff seems to suggest, then I imagine the layman might have a thing or two to say (oh, he has already…).

The vivid, bright pink and yellow did remind me of the classic cover of the Sex Pistols album Never Mind The Bollocks. Perhaps there are lessons for us all in that title.

Ben Marston, Co-founder, KM Design, by e-mail