Critics hit out at 'wretched' £35k arts logo

The emblem for Creative Scotland, which was designed by the prestigious Leith Agency, has been described as "inaccessible", "badly designed" and "rubbish" by contributors to the organisation's website.

Writers and playwrights have also attacked the logo, with author AL Kennedy, winner of the 2007 Costa Book of the Year, saying the logo is "ugly" and "financially senseless".

Kenneth Roy, editor of arts publication Scottish Review and founder of the Institute of Contemporary Scotland, condemned the logo as "wretched" and also panned Creative Scotland's website as "insulting to the intelligence."

The logo, which is a circle containing the word Creative and a square containing the word Scotland, and positioned so that the two shapes resemble a C and an S, is designed to be adaptable, allowing different artwork to be used as part of its background.

But on Creative Scotland's website, contributors were unimpressed. One denounced the logo as "absolutely awful, uninspiring, doomy. A symbol for the times maybe but surely not what is wanted."

Another said: "Sorry but think the logo is awful - doesn't communicate well, is undynamic and positioning of words suggests things disappear and being broken up - nothing Scottish or Creative about it!"

Roy said: "The most bizarre thing is the way they have split the word Scotland. We want to create an arts community in Scotland which is united, particularly at a time when money is tight and people are not having their funding renewed, yet this bunch come into being and the first thing they do is split the word Scotland. Symbolically it's terrible."

Kennedy was also unimpressed. "The logo is exactly as uncommunicative, uncreative, ugly, impractical and financially senseless as it should be - given the uncommunicative, uncreative, ugly, impractical and financially senseless nature of Creative Scotland," she said. "You can't fault it, really - unless it simply read "Abandon Hope All Ye Who Enter Here" - which would have been cheaper."

Creative Scotland, which was launched last month, was set up at a cost of 3.3 million as a merger between two of Scotland's biggest publicly funded arts bodies: the Scottish Arts Council and Scottish Screen. It is designed to support the country's leading writers, painters, filmmakers, theatres, dance companies and other artists, as well as providing support to emerging talent.

But in a challenging financial environment where public spending is being cut and the Arts Council of England was recently told it must make 19m of cuts to its grants, Creative Scotland's chief executive Andrew Dixon signalled at the organisation's launch that money invested in the organisation would not be wasted.

"We can show that every pound invested shows much more in return," he said."It is a strong investment for the whole economy and may well be an important tool for the recovery of the economy."

The creation of the logo involved an initial consultation process which cost 10,000. The logo was ultimately commissioned out to the Leith Agency, the Edinburgh-based creative agency that has worked with global brands including Honda, Carling and Irn-Bru, at a cost of 25,000.

Playwright Catherine Czerkawska, who has written numerous plays for Radio 4 as well as the television drama Shadow Of The Stone, said: "It is confusing, uninspiring and ugly, and when I learn that it cost 35,000 of public money to design it at a time when Scotland's arts sector is so seriously impoverished, I have to say that words fail me."

Andrew Dixon defended the emblem and said: "We were very focused on developing a logo that could be used by other people to shine a spotlight on the creativity of others - organisations that we invest in, partner organisations and individuals.

"At the heart of the identity is the idea of 'people, place and ideas' and we wanted a way of writing the name that would embody this, 'Creative Scot' and 'Creative land', something that was inventive and surprising."