Government Logo ‘Saucy’
The OGC (Office of Government Commerce) rebranded and launched their new £14,000 identity to staff by plastering it all over office mousemats, pens and more, only to face ridicule when within seconds staff spotted a rather innuendos ’slant’ to the design when viewed on it’s side.
The Telegraph proudly reported on the gaff in April this year, and the funniest thing is the response from the OGC representative:
“It is true that it caused a few titters among some staff when viewed on its side, but on consideration we concluded that the effect was generic to the particular combination of the letters OGC - and it is not inappropriate to an organisation that’s looking to have a firm grip on Government spend.â€Â
A ‘firm grip’ …..ha ha ha ….touche to the designers who would mock them eh? 
When will these big agencies stop messing up, it’s all very well and good the OGC finding a way of making lemonade from lemons, but for £14,000, this sort of thing shouldn’t happen by accident.
Likewise….
The 2012 logo shouldn’t be hated by nearly everyone …before the petition was closed when it became clear the logo was here to stay, it received 50,000 votes for a redesign of the hated emblem.
The rebranded New York taxi logos shouldn’t be a laughing stock - very funny satire about the design from blogger Brian Sack here….www.banterist.com
July 18th, 2008 at 5:06 pm
I couldn’t agree more that this is craziness! For £14,000 this logo should have been turned upside down, inside out and dipped in hot coffee - and that’s just for starters. I do get worried that slip ups like this damage the graphic design industry, I can hear more people bellowing “I can do better myself” as I write.
July 18th, 2008 at 5:32 pm
Yeah, frightening isn’t it!
Amanda
July 21st, 2008 at 9:03 am
First of all I thought the comment was another scarily bad mistake on their part, but then I realised it was intentional!
Heaven’s To Betsy ….well that one is a tribute to a lady called Meg, my husbands (he’s a head teacher) PE teacher.
We have for some time giggled about her use of this term as a ’safe expletive’ around the children - it’s just such a funny phrase, I love it, and totally the sort of thing I can imagine her saying in this situation
Amanda
xx
August 19th, 2008 at 10:08 am
This is a great story and can only be good news for smaller quality graphic design firms, £14k is alot of design work to get it this wrong! But in terms of publicity (although its not really the kind of department that needs any publicity) its been excellent as I have seen this story all over the internet…