New Yorkers express their pride in a very specific and extreme way. Things here are either the best or the worse – but even the worst is somehow the best. This is why the new and for the most part universally reviled “We ❤️ NYC‘, unveiled this week, is getting a particular kind of roasting from outraged townspeople and the internet – and there’s nothing more scathing than a bad review from a town whose main past- time is sarcasm (really the only one anyone can allow).
That sarcasm doesn’t always translate, as one concerned citizen learned. When Dan Cassaro of Young jerksan independent design studio in Brooklyn, tweeted a hilarious send-off from the brand campaign on Monday, some people didn’t realize it was satire.
“I think people were already furious with the new logo, so my joke version of the larger system may have escaped the scrutiny that should have been applied,” Cassaro told Hyperallergic. “But come on, I literally wrote ‘AY I’m (pizza) ITALIAN’ and people thought it was real. It’s wild.
“Sometimes I think people just want to find something they’re crazy about,” he added.
However, most knew about the joke, and the thread quickly spawned a delicious buffet of memes poking fun at the rebranding format. For his part, Cassaro, his true feelings about the campaign, which is the least descendant of a successful and beloved design by Milton Glaser, wither.
“It feels like a misguided attempt to build something ‘cool and new’ by trading on Milton Glaser’s iconic I Heart NY piece,” he said. “It doesn’t even matter if it’s not meant to replace Milton’s piece, it’s the opticians! You’re in politics, you should be thinking about that stuff! I don’t know how they n Didn’t see that coming. The emoji thing is funny too. You’re New York City, not Doritos. Have some respect for yourself.
As Bloomberg review emphasized on his Twitteri ❤️ NY isn’t the first legacy to be tainted by someone’s misguided need to pitch in, citing the notoriously sloppy restoration of a fresco of Christ in Spain.
Another user remixed the new design to reflect a much more immediate reality for New Yorkers: its growing rodent population.
Cassaro kept busy throughout the day, churning out more and more iterations of the brand’s style, much to the chagrin of his colleagues. “I didn’t think so many people would take the bait,” he said. But take the bait they made, and the thread unfolding beneath Cassaro’s Tweet took on dimensions of conflict, disdain, and emotional warfare typically reserved for professional wrestlers.
Now far from it for anyone to stir the pot more, but since New Yorkers take observable joy in being the best at everything, and since this is arguably the worst public graphic design campaign in recent memory (at least since the “you do yourself” debacle) … maybe “We <3 NYC” is the Perfect rename the city that is the best in everything, even the worst.
