As the competition hots up between the last four in the Culture 2017 bid Leicester has begun rolling out their initial creatives to promote our city’s race for the finish line. Leicester City of Culture 2017 bid poster design is now out in the wild (created by local creative agency Reach) and getting quite a reaction on social networks but perhaps not for the right reasons. Leicester City of Culture 2017 bid poster design just isn’t terribly good. In fact, you could go a little further and say that it’s a bit of a stinker. Click here to see the rundown of the final four in contention agains the Leicester City of Culture 2017 bid.
Welcome to turkey country.
Anyone viewing the current creative will no doubt be struck by Leicester’s obviously funky credentials for the City of Culture 2017 gong. We live in a 70’s discotheque to begin with which makes us head and shoulders more ‘down’, ‘cool’, ‘hip’ and let’s not forget ‘jive-fresh’ than any of the other cities in the running. Secondly we’re a grown up city because the people in the poster are all of a certain age (around the age where you think BHS is a good place to shop to dress smart) and third and by no means least, we’re modern. We know this because we’ve got swirly, spacey light trails AND it looks like we’re probably into polygamous interracial marriages, how modern can you get! Leicester is a cutting edge, open minded, possibly open marriaged, love-in of a city trapped in the last burning days of disco and looking to the future without kids or anyone under 40. Who would not want a piece of that?
What’s not to love? This is the right image for a city that can confidently say “we just don’t give a damn, we’re so cool we don’t have to try”. All of the classic disco LP cover image cues are there, fake smiles, dodgy hair cuts, the stares into the middle distance and iffy typography. It’s got classic written all over it.
All joking aside, we’re pretty disappointed here at Studio ROKIT. Leicester City of Culture 2017 bid poster design is not good. There’s a lot wrong with it on a fundamental level and when you consider the amount of raw talent this city contains and the shear amount of agencies within the city bounds it’s hard to imagine how we, as a city, ended up with such a car crash, confusing, cheap, naff and badly composed piece of design. Obviously Leicester City of Culture 2017 bid poster design may develop over the coming months and become something much better that this initial stab. We hope perhaps that we can show Leicester as crucible for a modern culture in a modern city and less disco inferno.
What do you think of the Leicester City of Culture 2017 bid poster design? Is it the disco turkey or a good representation of our city and our mission to win the City of Culture 2017 bid? Let us know. We’ll be keeping an eye out to see what the other 3 in the shortlist come up with. Should be interesting.
Welcome to Leicester, City of Bearded Ladies 2017