Have you seen the “tails” side of the Lincoln penny? I pulled a shiny one out of my pocket earlier today and was shocked at the new design. What is going on at the US mint?

We now have these incredible design and manufacturing tools and the best design that we can come up with looks like it may have first been designed in PowerPoint using cheesy clip art.

Who’s to blame? As with all design projects, you have to look at both sides of the conference room table.

• The bad designer with the squeamish client?
• The frustrated client with the uninspired designer?
• The wonderful designer with an uneducated client?
• The frustrated designer, unhappy client, and the conservative die-maker?

There possibilities are endless.

Perhaps, it was the same team that messed up Paul Rand’s classic UPS logo. After all, they do look quite similar! –Doug.