Dezeen Magazine

Brexit Party logo

Brexit Party logo "a very clever piece of graphic design" says Design of the Year winner

The Brexit Party will receive a lot of votes in the UK's upcoming European elections thanks to clever graphic design, says Ben Terrett, the designer behind the award-winning gov.uk website.

In a post on Instagram, the British designer praised the arrow-shaped logo adopted by the newly formed pro-Brexit political party, which is led by former UKIP leader Nigel Farage.

On the voting slip, this arrow – which also resembles a house on its side – points directly at the box where you mark your vote.

Terrett described this as "a very clever piece of graphic design", even though he said he hates both Brexit and Farage.

"I just voted in the Euro elections (postal) and here's a thing: it's a massive arrow pointing at the box where you mark your X with the word BREXIT written in big font," he wrote.

"That's going to get a lot of Xs. A helluva lot of Xs."

Brexit Party logo creates "unfair advantage"

Terrett won the Design Musuem's Design of the Year prize in 2013, with his simple and easy-to-navigate design for gov.uk, the UK government's website. He is also a Royal Designer for Industry and a trustee of D&AD.

He is not the first person to draw attention to the way the Brexit Party's logo sits on voting slips.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Ben Terrett RDI (@benterrett) on

Richard Bentall, professor of clinical psychology at the University of Sheffield, told the Metro that the logo created an "unfair advantage". He said he had written to the Electoral Commission to complain.

"You should not require a psychologist with three decades of research experience to point out to you that this is an obvious cue to vote for the party," he told the paper. "In the case of many voters, the cue may well work subliminally."

"In my professional opinion, the ballot paper confers an unfair advantage to the Brexit Party, and clearly violates democratic norms," he added.

"You might as well put a bright red ring around the party's choice box."

Change UK logo "depressing" by comparison

Meanwhile, another political party is facing a huge setback as a result of its branding design – Change UK, the independent party set up by defectors from both the Conservative and Labour parties, had its logo rejected for being not being sufficiently recognisable.

The party is currently using a logo formed of four horizontal black stripes, similar to the so-called hamburger button found on websites.

Terrett criticised Change UK for a "confused approach" that was "depressing" in contrast to its rival.

Both the Brexit Party and Change UK are both newly formed parties. The Brexit Party is in support of the UK leaving the EU without a formal agreement in place.

Change UK, also known as the Independent Group, was formed by seven former Labour MPs unhappy with the way party leader Jeremy Corbyn had handled Brexit and other issues. They were later joined by four other MPs. They are seen as a centrist group.