UK Office of Government Commerce cracks one off

In April last year, London design outfit FHD proudly announced it would be rebranding the UK's Office of Government Commerce (OGC) - the HM Treasury tentacle "responsible for improving value for money by driving up standards and capability in procurement". FHD's MD Adrian Day trumpeted to the sound of whalesong: “We are seeing …

[dervheid]

Fucking...

priceless!

Best laugh I've had in ages!

[abigsmurf]

I feel stupid but...

I really can't see anything suggestive in that logo

[oliver Stieber]

money well spent?

well I think we call that one a cock up.

Paris, because I'm sure that's what the guy was watching when he designed the logo.

[Anonymous Coward]

Suitable really

Any organisation that rebrands its procurement as "buying.solutions" is clearly a load of wank.

[Emma]

A firm grip eh?

Oh now that is brilliant, "a firm grip on government spend"... you mean they couldn't give a t*ss... yeah the irony's so not lost. Wonder how much that cost them, and how long before they've got to change the logo because everyone is up in arms about it.

[Charles Calthrop]

Fantastic

Wonder if it was done for a dare

[Anonymous Coward]

all round the office now... marvellous

couldn't help but collapse into a giggling wreck, so all and sundry wanted to know why... fantastic

[brian]

So then....

...they really *are* a bunch of w**kers!!!

[Chris Thomas]

errr, I don't get it

wheres the joke about the logo??? I've obviously missed something whilst living in spain!!

Mine is the one which says "Hospital property, not for resale"

[Anonymous Coward]

The animated version....

http://www.hein.org.uk/ogclogo.gif

[Justin Case]

Took me a while...

...but I got there in the end!

Paris - because

[Anonymous Coward]

Worth it

I want one of the mouse mats, they could make a fortune for the taxpayer on ebay.

efros

[Anonymous Coward]

On a similar note,...

http://www.snopes.com/cokelore/poster.asp

Legendary coke poster with girl and phallus in an ice-cube. My old flatmate has an original version he keeps locked away, as they are so rare after being recalled.

Paris cos,.... well, you'll see!

[GottaBeKidding]

To understand the issue

Rotate the image 90 degrees clockwise. Bow legged man, standing up, "having some me-time".

[TEQ]

Superb

Best laugh in ages.

[Anonymous Coward]

If you don't see it

Tilt your head to the left and look for a bandy legged man. What is he doing with his right hand.

[John]

Magnificent Specimen

They'll be getting quite a few complements from some quarters.

[Anonymous Coward]

I must be getting slow in my old age...

but when it clicked it got a good belly laugh...

I'm sure most people here have seen this B3ta thing... http://www.b3ta.com/features/phalliclogoawards/

Needs a "slow" icon here because today I have been

[Anonymous Coward]

Cracking

I think the OGC might need to 'offload' the design company as since the fruits of their redesign work has "come to fruition", their output is decidedly 'wank'

[Steve]

Strategy, new direction?

You are the fucking stationery & supplies department!

The only strategy you need is "buy cheap, buy bulk"

[Tim]

A classic indeed

A temp PA I worked with last year had just spent 6 months at OGC in Norwich. She told us how amazing the place was, nobody seemed to do anything all day, except for her manager who spent literally all his time on a Norwich City FC club forum. Clearly all the gentlemen there were actually busying themselves in the cubicles.

[Nick L]

Driving up standards...

Surprised the slogan that matches isn't something along the lines of

"We've driven up our standards - now up yours"

[Edward Pearson]

I wonder...

...how much of the taxpayers money was spunked (oh yeah, I went there) on this logo?

With a standard design house, something like that would cost you in the region of £100. You would LOOK at the graphic before branding piles of mousemats. Then you would reject it. All in all, it might cost you £100, it'd probably cost you nothing.

No doubt these people were presented with tens of thousands for this little bit of "design"

We're catching on in Britain. The US have been funneling stupid amounts of money to "friendly" companies for years.

[mh.]

Money well spent

Is it worth asking why the department responsible for buying paper clips needs a logo in the first place (or indeed any goverment department)? It's not as if there's another quango set up to do the same that they might be confused with after all. That said, they aren't exactly the cheapest around: http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2006/dec/14/publicservices.politics

[James Smith]

I don't see it ...

Someone at El Reg must be desperate, because I can't see it.

[peter]

And no-one else spotted this one?

"...have a firm grip...."

I mean ....really. No-one?

(Logo for obvious clenching fist reasons)

[peter]

And others I didn't spot

"organisation....firm grip......spend..."

Oooh Err Missus

I take the grubby looking one

[Anonymous Coward]

Cool!

Since they don't want that logo, I'm *definitely* going to start a company call "The Happy Snowman". :)

[Mike Moyle]

I'm amazed!

"...not inappropriate to an organisation that's looking to have a firm grip on government spend!"

A Government spokesdrone with a sense of humo(u)r...?

Isn't that, like, one of the signs of the Apocolypse or something?

[Anonymous Coward]

ROFL

Please tell me it is not the same crowd who did the 2012 logo.

Is there a special class in art school called graphic nudes? - or is it still graphic art? Please, someone tell the students that the emphasis is on 'art' not 'graphic'.

[Christoph]

Perfectly OK

That logo fits very well with, for instance, the 2012 Olympic's Simpson Blowjob one.

[Tim]

A firm grip?

To put it colloquially, they clearly have a firm grip on their wad and are likely to be making a splurge on their customer facing image.

This is worth more than a pearl necklace!

Certainly Paris inspired.

[Dave Harris]

While I control the laughter...

...instead of coughing guinness all over my keyboard...

@Steve, OGC is also responsible for buying software licenses for all government departments.

Not such a small budget.

Were the contract meetings held in Paris?

[Wayland Sothcott]

They are going to use it!

Eye protection, that stuff burns.

I expect they got that one of in a few minutes so never bothered to check it.

[Anonymous Coward]

Animated version here for those that don't get it

http://www.hein.org.uk/ogclogo.gif

:D

[Anonymous Coward]

Tsk! You humans ...

Always seeing patterns that aren't there.

[Secretgeek]

Took me a minute....

...but then it lept out at me like one of those Magic Eye pictures.

Absolutely priceless.

[John Armstrong-Millar]

Better yet!

Go here

http://www.fhdlondon.co.uk/

and look at vacancies.. a coincidence??

[Dave]

Even the Daily (Hate) Mail

Published this one

[James]

not even original

https://www.ogc.gov.bc.ca/

[Carl Any On A Mouse]

Priceless?

The one thing it ain't is priceless; you and I paid an arm and a leg for this piece of graphical self-abuse. What a bunch of boat-stoppers (anchors).

[Martin Borland]

Bloody Hell

Having met some of the people that work at OGC I'm surprised that any of them were bright enough to spot this!!!