Even though the UK is an island, it’s still in Europe

Being German, you’re expecting me to be rude about the Midland Mainline logo (Vox Pop, DW 13 November), so here goes.

First, Britain is part of Europe. so what is all the fuss about a European identity anyway? Second, calling this badly drawn logo an identity is a joke; third, blaming Europe is a bad excuse; and fourth, when my clients abroad ask for that ‘European’ look, they usually mean intellectual, precise, modern: Vorsprung durch Technik in a word. This piece is none of these things. It’s just meaningless graphic design. But maybe that’s appropriate, judging by the state of rail transportation in the UK.

With all due respect, I’ve not seen anything so crappy in a long time, and then it was for a developing country. None of the designers in Britain who I know have ever done anything as ridiculous as this. Their motto must be: ‘It is not enough to have no ideas, you also have to be unable to express them’.

Erik Spiekermann

United Designers Network

Berlin, Germany