Sign FAIL

Seriously, who is the graphic designer responsible for this one? Or more likely, who is the graphic designer who had no choice but to go with this because some VP said, "I wonder what a red background would look like?"

If you haven't noticed by now (how could you not? helen keller?) Bank of America is changing all its signage to red. In this post I will leave the obvious correlations to the color red, banks, and this economy alone, and jump straight to color theory.

Say I'm your art teacher and I give you this assignment:

Design the exterior signage for Bank of America bank locations using the BOA logo and any other colors you desire. The BOA logo colors are Pantone 293 (blue) and Pantone 485 (red.)

After placing the logo in the center of the sign, what color would you choose for a background? White, perhaps? Maybe a nice neutral grey, say, like this?

Apparently not if you are a graphic designer for Bank of America, because with a blue and red logo, Designer H. Keller went with a RED background!

Do me a favor and scroll up. Compare the two signs. Which can you read more easily?

I'll be honest. If a student came to me with red as a viable option I would kick him out of school. I would seriously just look at his background color choice, say, "Really?", and call the Special Education teacher to help him onto the short bus. And don't you tell me that the white stroke around the logo makes the red background ok. It does NOT. Every graphic designer knows that stroking a logo in white is a COP OUT.

Seriously, even kindergartners know more about color theory than Bank of America. When little kids color grass green, which color do they pick for the sky? I bet I know what little Helen's art looked like:


Ok, I'm done. Stupid ugly unreadable red bank signs.