Respect the rings

The L.A. Times just had to go and mess with the Olympics logo, didn't they? And not just once — twice mutilated.

Yes, some designer somewhere in the organization came up with their own way of branding this world-wide event steeped in tradition. And it's all just design for the sake of design.

WHY?!

No reason I can think of. I can't see a need for the Olympic rings in the familiar arrangement need to become a stack of colored discs, lined up like a tiny pile of pennies that was pushed to one side. Soooo lame.

But the Times didn't stop there. The LAT Web site's Olympic rings aren't rings at all — the colors appear in thin stripes. Again, I say....
WHY?!

I'm sure others besides LAT have taken it upon themselves to rearrange the rings. But last I heard, logos were supposed to brand stories and packages in an effort to connect elements for the reader, not leave them asking, "What's with the poker chips? Is that an Olympic event now, too?" Not that I've heard...

Part of the reason this really irks me is because this is exactly the sort of thing that gives designers get a bad wrap. There's a reason the Bauhaus school of thought ("Form follows function") is Lesson No. 1. So stuff like this makes it seem like the designer is:

1) An egomaniac.
2) Reaching to fill his/her clip file.
3) Is attempting to justify their own employment, not that I truly blame them in the current economic climate, but...
4) On crack.

Design for design's sake gives the impression that designers don't actually care about content. That all they are concerned with is design, appearances, aesthetics, etc. For some, sadly, this is the case, and usually for Reason No. 1.

I, however, am not a slave to design. I prefer it to enhance the good content, not mask the bad. And when the content doesn't live up to the design, well, I fight for improvements to the content.

Call me crazy... but you'll never call me an egomaniac.