Today's word is derived from:

Logo /loh-goh/noun: a graphic mark or emblem commonly used by commercial enterprises, organizations and even individuals to aid and promote instant public recognition.

and

Ludicrous / lud eh krus / adjective: causing laughter because of absurdity; provoking or deserving derision; ridiculous; laughable

Given the absence of fun pre-season NBA stuff to talk about, you might be all too familiar with other silly subjects that make gigantic online waves these days (according to Yahoo anyway). Feel free to check out the article discussing the controversy over the logo created by Jonathan Mak, a design Student in Hong Kong, to pay tribute to Steve Jobs after Jobs stepped down from his post at Apple. Or just read on, because I think that last sentence pretty much explains what you need to know.

From there, I illustrate today's word in a poem:

Logocrous

There once was a young man named Mak,
Who made a logo derived from a Mac,
In the apple he’d style,
A real famous profile,
And that, he figured, was that.



Soon the famous man passed away,
Leaving news outlets in need of mass play,
They found Mak's pic online,
Thought it was fine,
And felt it had something to say.

Many thought it was more than just cute,
In fact a stirring tribute,
Round the world it went,
Everywhere sent,
And for Mak it became a big hoot.

Then came the news that another had created,
The same logo, but earlier dated,



The design world was rocked,
Utterly shocked,
And Mr. Mak was roundly berated.

But before we get angry at Mak,
Consider the following tack,
The logo existed,
Before either man twisted,
The image for their own special knack.

You see, the easiest way to design,
Is to take something that was already fine,
Then add a bit here,
Subtract a bit there,
And pretend you’ve turned water to wine.

Hey, their skills are worthy of mention,
But they don’t deserve all this attention,
They flat out copied a logo,
A design trailblazer no-no,
So on praise I shall take an abstention.

But if thieving from Apple were a crime,
Bill Gates would be doing hard time,
Amidst all the fuss and regret,
It’s easy to forget,
About the loss of a talent sublime.

Seeing how I fancy myself a creative type, I decided to "design" my own stolen-logo post-mortem dedication – to basketball. No, that isn’t Steve Jobs in the ball. Thanks a lot, David Stern. The wrong design element of this picture is a withering corpse.



October 18 Update: From Anonymous: "It would look better if he was holding Sterns severed head" I'd want to remain anonymous saying something like that too. But hey, it's getting close to Halloween, so...

Labels: David Stern, Logo, Logocrous, Macintosh, NBA Logo, Steve Jobs, tribute