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Gut Check, Followed by a Gutter Check
Posted on June 3, 2011 at 11:32 am
One of our more senior designers, Torsten Mayer-Rothbarth, sent this link around to the firm.
http://www.someecards.com/2011/04/26/uncomfortably-sexual-company-logos
While you’ll enjoy the unintended sexual innuendo in all of these logos, it reminds me of a rule we use in our studio that marketers would be wise to implement in their shops: At the middle and end of every project, we perform a gut and a gutter check on our work. The gut check goes right to the quality of the work: Is it great? Is it fresh? Is it strategically on the mark? Is the message crystal clear? The gutter check demands that the viewer put on a different lens. Can this be interpreted as sexually provocative? (Remember, we live up the street from the Washington Monument.) Does this have a religious overtone anyone could find offensive? If we are taking a risk, have we examined the risk from all sides? Being embarrassed by an unintended gaffe is one thing; making clients and your public angry is quite another.
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Burkey Belser
Burkey Belser, president and creative director, pioneered legal services marketing. He has been quoted on brand design topics by dozens of industry publications and is highly rated as a speaker on topics from branding to information design.