“It’s reprehensible that some government agencies get design and communication so horribly wrong and spend millions of the people’s money on their terrible decisions”
I had just written last week about the Department of Tourism’s (DOT) recently unveiled new campaign slogan “Love the Philippines,” which met with mostly negative reactions from the public, when on its controversial heels followed the catastrophic logo changes of Pagcor and KWF.
The Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp.’s (Pagcor) new logo drew flak from citizens because it is extremely ugly.
It looks like a third-grader made it in Canva. Sorry, I apologize to third-graders everywhere – some of them would have undoubtedly done a better job than this.
But don’t take my word for it. I interviewed a young graphic designer about the new but not improved Pagcor logo and here are her comments:
“I can’t for the life of me figure out what it’s supposed to represent. Not all logos need to contain a literal representation of anything, of course, but it’s so weird because the old logo clearly has meaning with the sun and hands.
“To me, it looks like a declaration of Pagcor’s commitment to social services and nation-building through gaming.
“But the new one just looks like an abstract nothing burger. Are the red and blue supposed to reference the Philippine flag?
“As for font, it’s fine, they chose something similar to the old one, but I prefer the old because it has Art Deco vibes and more personality.
“Overall, they stripped all the charm, personality, and heritage from the old logo. It also lacks composition and readability because of its weird shape and ugly color transition.
“It’s terrible for their branding and will be difficult to incorporate into signs, packaging, layouts, etc. terrible for brand recall.
“ It looks like no thought or care was put into it. Look at the rays of the sun in the old logo!
“The way the center bottom fits in between the hands and the center top stretches up — chef’s kiss! What do we have now? Ugly squiggly thing!”|
Meanwhile, the Komisyon ng Wikang Filipino’s logo change has largely gone under the radar, quite likely because it is a small agency.
It also made a bad decision in terms of its new logo design. My designer friend weighs in:
“As for the old KWF logo, I like how the sun’s rays are similar to the style of the PH flag with the bounding shape following them so it looks like a star. the text encircling it is classic but the way it’s incorporated makes it look cluttered. so if they really wanted to modernize it, I would have just changed the type treatment and tweaked the symbol a tiny bit.
“But in the new logo, the text is the one thing they barely changed, they just made it bold.
“The baybayin in the middle with the PH flag colors just looks so messy.
“And why the light blue circle behind it? It is visually cluttered. “They could have made the light blue a ring behind the text instead of a solid circle behind the sun. Overall, still so bad though.
“It’s even worse than Pagcor’s in a way because the Pagcor one is memorably bad. This one is worse for recall because it’s generic and I don’t think anyone will be able to recall this one.”
It’s incomprehensible to me why these agencies feel they have to fix something that ain’t broke.
Perhaps it all boils down to money.
How much was spent for the logo changes?
Who gained from the contracts?
Why weren’t more competent creatives hired to do this?
Actually, why even change something that still works? What a waste of taxpayers’ funds.
As a marketing communication professor, I give these two logos a failing grade.
Philippine government agencies are often seen as bureaucratic and inefficient.
This perception may be due in part to the poor design of logos and information/publicity materials of some agencies, because if you can’t even be bothered to get details such as this right, how can you be trusted to deliver mandated services well?
Great design can help government agencies seem more approachable, trustworthy, and professional.
It can also help to communicate important messages such as information about public services, health warnings, or disaster preparedness in a clear and concise way.
Great design can also help to build trust. When people see that a government agency has invested in good design, it sends the message that the agency is serious about its work and that it is committed to providing high-quality services.
In the Philippines, there are a number of government agencies that have implemented good creative design in their logos and information/publicity materials.
My young designer friend cites the following logos as her top choices: those of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, Department of Tourism (the shell logo), Department of Agriculture, and TESDA.
They are all clean, clear, crisp, and are good symbols of the services they provide.
By investing in good design, government agencies can create a positive first impression, communicate important messages, build trust, and promote their services.
And even if a logo is old, if it works, there is no need to create a new one especially just because a new chairman was appointed who wants to do things their way.
Old logos sometimes just need a little tweaking to bring them up to date, if it is at all necessary.
And retaining old logos extends brand recall and institutional memory – for example, Coca-Cola’s 130-year-old logo that is a design icon and globally recognizeable.
Most of all, keeping good existing logos saves money and effort!
Take for instance the logo of the Games and Amusements Board.
I was employed there in the early ‘90s when I suggested a logo design contest among the employees.
The then-chairman José Macachor was an advertising guy who knew the importance of good marketing communication.
A winner was chosen from among the employees’ submissions and they are using the same logo to this day.
What was great about it was that the employees felt they were trusted to have the heart and creativity to create a memorable and suitable symbol for their agency.
And there was no cost at all except for a small cash prize – P1,000, if I recall correctly – given to the winner.
It’s reprehensible that some government agencies get design and communication so horribly wrong and spend millions of the people’s money on their terrible decisions.
I notice that unnecessary and expensive changes take place when a newly-appointed leader takes over.
Well, we all know what that means.
What else is new?
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