NYC: The Clunkiest City on Earth

New York City has a new logo. It was first seen around town on our yellow cabs. When I first noticed it, I was like, "That sorta blows. Looks like the Taxi & Limousine Commission really screwed the pooch on that one."

It now appears, however, that the NYC portion of the taxi logo is becoming a standard for city agencies. So I did a little poking around online to see what I could discover about this disastrous city branding decision. There's this little ditty from the New York Times about its use on the taxis. In the article, the writer (presumably a real reporter and not a reporter on reporting they way that I am) says that the new NYC logo was designed by Wolff Olins.

Wolff is one of those designers/design companies whose work you're probably aware of even if you don't know anything about design, branding, logo development, etc. Remember the (RED) campaign from the Gap last Christmas? That was Wolff. Pretty effective stuff from a marketing perspective.

Unfortunately, the NYC logo is much more akin to Wolff's London 2012 Olympics logo, which has received nothing but the poorest possible reviews since it was introduced to the public. And rightly so. What a nightmare.

Maybe Wolff Olin is a genius. He probably is. Who the hell knows?

New York City is big, yes. But it is also sleek, classy, classic, and refined. And this new NYC logo is none of those things. If one assumes (as I certainly do) that New York City is one of the centers of great design in this place we call planet earth, I tend to think that someone else in town probably could've done a better job.

Wolff Olins has agencies in both New York and London. Maybe he's too close to his subjects in those cities.