Quick—what does this logo make you think of?
We’ve written before about the subjective nature of logos and the convoluted double-talk that some agencies employ to sell them. But we don’t generally ascribe malice aforethought to even the most fork-tongued of circumlocutory strategists. Which is why this particular piece of internet-distributed miscellany caught our attention.
Originally appearing on PostSecret, an internet site that bills itself as an ongoing community art project where people mail in their secrets anonymously, the following confession is therefore unattributed and so must be taken with the proverbial grain of salt. The logo referenced below, and pictured above, is that of Thomson Reuters, the news and information powerhouse that serves leading decision-makers in more than 100 countries.
Here’s what the anonymous tipster had to say:
I was on the internal creative team that created this logo. We “sold” it with some highfalutin corporate sounding symbolism. We agreed the last person to leave would send this. That’s me. The design is really a flushing swirling toilet.
A legit insider report? Web tomfoolery? We can’t say. But when our next logo client demands a step-by-step recounting of our creative process and a straightforward description of the meaning, we’ll understand the reason why.