Design 21: Social Design Network

I would address this post to 3 parties: The winning team 802, D21 and the jury panel. Addressing MCAI would be highly futile at this time as it seems to me they have long parted this whole competition to form another little one of their own, parasiting on D21 for organization and exposure and actually getting away with it totally gratuitously, not one cent peering out of their pockets. Cynically, the big round of applause really goes to them and a documentary film should be made about how they contrived this masquerade of a competition. It should be screened at the next Stories from the Field festival and a special prize for sabotaging achievement should be awarded to MCAI just as their representatives huddle excitedly on stage and one takes the microphone to repeat an eye watering heartrending soundbite: “But being poor doesn't stop us from wanting the best!”

Now on to the noteworthy…

I want to congratulate the winning Swedish team 802 for being picked, sadly by MCAI, but who cares. Whichever aspect of their design is criticized, I expect in the euphoria of the win, their response will be: “bite me!” Thus one can’t refrain from laying down his point of view from a constructive perspective, hoping to be taken as a mere fellow designer’s opinion, to be instantly discarded at 802’s discretion. A lot was said about the design not cleaving to the clear criteria set in the competition brief which is undoubtedly true, but let’s set that aside for we all know it is a designer’s right, if not astuteness, to bend any rule in order to offer a client a fresh new, clever and unexpected insight on representing a business. But when freshness is lacking, the quotation mark being confusingly used all over the place for so many different businesses, we are bound to look for other advantages in the design. Instant-concept-communication maybe? Take that design out on the street, even with the title “SFTF” plunked into it, and find me one person who would recognize in it hints of film, documentary, humanitarian issues…But then again, when “marketing and visual communications professionals ourselves” speak of “totally fresh” and ”instantly recognizable”, then we ought to redefine the meaning of professionalism.

All that is behind now and I hail a loud and sincere “Congratulations” to the proclaimed winners and with all modesty advise them to re-adjust their proposal to fit the concept. You got the account now, you are happy, so you might as well be ethically correct and propose more pungent versions. Based on your website, you have all the talent needed to do that. Hearty Congratulations again, even if you got insidiously lured into working for free. The “we are poor” soundbite echoes disturbingly in my head…

Wheeling to D21…

In the aftermath of this terrible mess of a competition, one thing still baffles me…It’s the dreadful silence of D21 about the posted comments of all disgruntled participants…It seems they have retracted themselves to the viewer’s chair, all warm and cozy, a flavored popcorn filled bowl in their lap, reveling at the clamorous joust between the participants and MCAI. It feels like they want us to bite at them in their place, while they take a comfortable and politically correct stand towards their irreverent clients…They deliberately leave MCAI to post an insulting “Now that things have quieted down a bit and we have had a chance to post the first-place design” without any firm reply…It’s like “Now that all the nonsense barking is behind our backs” while we, the bevy of dogs in question, are still enraged as hell…D21, you ought to have taken a dignifying stand for the participants who entrusted you with their time and creativity. The least you could do forthwith is pick a D21 winner of your own and hand him the cash…What’s more precious to you? A transient client or a block of 1600 solid members willing to champion your next competition? Your decision emphatically comes at a high price…

And finally, last but not least, our respected jury panel…

Your apathetic reticence on this blog is bare of scruple. You have been invited to judge a competition and ended up being called masters of “not a perfect science”…You got a piece of the tart in your face too, the creamy part I suppose. But we know judges, they latch onto the politically correct too, for if they trespass it they risk never being invited on high profile panels anymore and that’s exactly where they get a kick at: the glamour of being named jury member. In all earnest, the only positive action you can take to keep a straight face is using your networks to bring some media attention to this catastrophe so impertinently called by MCAI and I quote: “not a perfect contest”.

Fellow duped designers, let the curtain fall on this morose theatre piece for we all have better shows to watch…as for Design21, the ball is decidedly in your court…

Dear fellow designers,

As you may have learned already, D21 took the righteous decision of proceeding with the SFTF competition. I believe this is what most of the discontented participants were hoping for. Our posted protesting views were not ignored therefore we ought to support D21 in whatever way they see fit to wrap up this competition. In their last letter, D21 brandished a firm stand against the alleged MCAI’s misconduct and affirmed their committed position towards the members, the jury and the set regulations reclaiming the integrity of this competition and hopefully securing it for all future ones to come. Thank you D21! That being said, I wish all of you the best of luck in the new selection to come!