No Rock And Roll Fun

DOG-GONE: Sometimes, designers make you feel ashamed for the whole concept of trying to make things look nice. Apparently, some bright spark has decided that HMV stores are "too confusing" visually (that would account for the hordes of customers laying with their feet in the air, mouths frothing, then) and has overhauled the look of the places, in the process axing Nipper. Yup, after nearly a century of peering into the gramophone, the little dog has been thrown away. Of course, in the long run this doesn't really matter very much - after all, it's just a logo - but it still serves as a pretty good depiction of the problem with most British design - a contempt for the past, and a refusal to accept that some things have stood the test of time and as such might demand a little more respectful treatment from a teenager who can barely recall a time before Illustrator 9 was released.