Mall of America opened in 1992 in Bloomington, Minnesota. It remains the largest retail and entertainment complex in the country. Attracting 42 million visitors annually, MOA has 520 shops, an indoor amusement park with 27 rides, an indoor aquarium, a 14-screen movie theater, and a chapel that weds over 300 couples a year. Yesterday, MOA introduced it’s new identity designed by Minneapolis-based Duffy & Partners.

Duffy & Partners is recognized globally for excellence in design. Some of their clients include Coca-Cola, American Eagle Outfitters, Fisher-Price, Jack in the Box, Sony, Toyota, and Whole Foods among other high-profile clients.

In MOA’s press statement, they say “We are always new, constantly changing to offer the latest, hottest, and most memorable experiences to our guests. Therefore, we are moving away from a static logo and incorporating a dynamic colorful design, making use of innovative digital media.” Less “America” and more “mall.”

The new logo is designed to adapt to occasions, such as silver and gold versions for holiday season, and American flag colors for Independence Day.

With the logo comes a new tagline: “Always new.” In the past five years, MOA has spent $25 million in renovations and upgrades as they introduce new retailers, exhibits, rides, and events. They say the new vibrant star will appear on everything from billboards to garbage cans while employees will wear new bright uniforms helping guests identify staff. 

Watch the video to see the logo in action.

This new logo is a more sophisticated version of the old star and stripes with it’s appropriate pattern use for communication materials.

A federal judge has charged Mr. Brainwash (Thierry Guetta) with copyright infringement after he made a wall mural of a 1977 photo of Sid Vicious.

The judge notes that the mural adds new elements, but the effect of each element does not transform the piece into an original piece of art.

Mr. Brainwash was charged in 2011 for infringing the rights of photographer Glen Friedman. Artists and art-related magazines are poking fun at Mr. Brainwash for being “unoriginal”.

(Source: complex.com)

Creatives, you hate it, but we need to talk about it. Spec work. It happens when a company decides they want something designed, but are too cheap to hire a skilled professional. So they hold a contest.

So what’s wrong with that? 200 people submit designs and only one of them is paid. In addition, there are no goals, no client-designer relationship, no communication, no feedback, no research, and no care. The people who submit work to these contests dont care about the work they’re doing, its often clip-art style, cheap-looking, and often stolen straight from photos on Google Images.

These contests devalue the creative industry in an obvious self-explanatory way. It’s selfish and unmoral. You don’t ask tax attorneys to submit final documents as a contest and then pay one of them. You don’t have mechanics work on your car hoping to be paid. Designers do real work that needs to be compensated for; we have just as much of a right to be paid as any other professional.

Plus, you get what you pay for. If you have random customers who have no professional relationship with you work for you for free, they aren’t going to research your company, care about you, or know anything about your desires - especially since you have no direct communication with them. You aren’t getting the best work done. You’re getting your favorite piece from a group of mediocre pieces. And you’re only getting the first draft of that. The chance of winning isn’t worth slaving over your work. That’s why so many of them are lazy and steal designs from others.

Now, you’ve noticed I haven’t mentioned anything about Obama’s contest. The purpose of this post isn’t to promote him or his lack of ethics. It’s to show why respecting your designers is important. But if you want to see, here is the website. The irony is that the poster design is about supporting American jobs.

Obama, why don’t you put a sign on the White House that says “Come in. There’s unpaid labor here. Sit down and design a poster for us. You don’t need to know anything about us. We don’t need to know who you are. Once you’re done, get the hell out.” Just leave that in the front of the White House and see how people respond, because that’s what you’re doing.

If designers respect themselves, they’re going to disrespect you for disrespecting them. Karma. If you support American jobs, then perhaps paying the designers working for you would be a good start. Let him know by emailing support@barackobama.com.