That bloody logo

I can resist no longer in commenting on the disastrous logo for the London Olympics (designed by top brand consultancy Wolff Ollins). The funniest thing I have heard about it is that it represents the act of fellatio (the giver on the right, the recipient on the left, the pleasured member the dot in the middle).

We've heard that its jaggedy-graffiti style form is harking back to early 1980's design culture, which is apparently en vogue in the design world. Sounds like a bad case of designer-narcissism to me. If they'd done even a teeny bit of user testing (via focus groups or on the street stuff), they would have quickly found out that the design simply does not work and that people do not like it. From a formal perspective, the 2012 is hard to read (creating sub-conscious cognitive confusion); the olympic rings and 'london' sit awkwardly together, and the font for london looks amateurish. It would have been much better going for a slightly conservative but polished looking logo, rather than a bunch of 40-somethings straining at the bit to be down with the kids.. As it is, it appears we are stuck with it for the next 5 years. Bah!