The staggering failures of the AOL identity project released last week continue to amaze me. Covered thoughtfully here, you can really take the time to savor the flavor of deceit and corporate ineptitude. I'm not really talking about AOL when I say that, either. No, it's the paragon of bad design, Wolff Olins, who is again the culprit.
After the London Olympic logo fiasco, and to a lesser extent Wacom's "thing," one might begin to wonder how these people stay in business. I believe that their client list, for one, has so many giant names of industry listed on it that it blinds potential clients to the thievery they are about to experience. Second, it is entirely possible in this day and age, still, for a client to hire an agency without doing a proper Google search. But lastly, and what I believe to be the true representation of their power, they must have a highly motivated sales/account management staff who can sell shit like this with a straight face.
Either way, work like the AOL "identity" and the others, when coupled with the sneering, look-at-how-clever-we-are press releases and after-the-fact justifications make all designers look bad. I'd like to ask them to stop.
I read that with the voice of a full-gospel preacher and interjected AMEN! and HALLELUJAH! where appropriate. It really set the mood.