As a Hapa and a designer, I'm offended by the denotation of the Asian race with the color yellow.
Designers must consider all aspects of a design, including not only aesthetic but also cultural factors. The graphic designer who created the Asians for Mike Bloomberg logo ostensibly chose vivid primary colors to go with Mayor Bloomberg’s workmanlike no-bullshit brand. But perhaps they did not consider the cultural tradeoffs of assigning the color yellow to the Asian race.
The standard Mike Bloomberg NYC is a classic dark blue and red combination. Why not stick to one color palette for all of the groups? This would not only strengthen the brand but also make all of the groups feel like one unit. This is how Asian Americans for Obama branded themselves, for example. No cultural faux pas brought on by color choice here:
If you really want to choose a different color palette for every group, at least represent Asians with a color that is not equated with cowardice in American culture. Perhaps gold, as Goldsea Asian American Daily suggests. At the very least, switch the colors around so the text Asians for is red and Mike Bloomberg is yellow. Of course, the designer wouldn’t assign the color yellow to a political candidate who must exude strength. So why assign the color to a race, especially when this color has been the cause of so many racial slurs for Asian Americans through history?
On Mike Bloomberg's Facebook fan page, a voter joins the discussion.
Asians aren’t the only group that got stuck with an unfortunate color, natch. The Women for Mike Bloomberg logo is a bright neon pink.
What do you think? Let me know.
Tags: Design fail
