The “winner” has been announced, and given how flawed the selection process was, we didn’t fare too badly. The philistines running the state went with an anybody-can-enter popular vote contest — with people voting as many times a they wanted — instead of doing it properly with a board of design experts seeking submissions from professionals. And surprise surprise, the winner turned out to be a RISD grad who had studied graphic design! Because, as we have noted before, design is an art . . . which can be taught . . . to people with talent . . . at schools like RISD! (What does the Governor think goes on there?)
At any rate, the winner seems like a nice guy. From WPRI:
[Willem] Van Lancker, a Rhode Island School of Design alum, said winning the contest is meaningful because this is his home state.
“I find that the state’s given me a ton, and so it’s cool to be able to give something back, even if it’s in a symbolic way,” he said.
And while I was generally underwhelmed with all five finalists, I am not upset with the winner. Part of the problem for any entrant was how excellent our present “wave” design is. So if the new one looks similar, I’m okay with that.
The 900+ submitted designs will be released to the public.