Haters gonna hate. The Metropolitan Museum of Art is catching heat for redesigning its iconic logo — an "M" reminiscent of da Vinci's work — into what Vulture calls "a red double-decker bus that has stopped short, shoving the passengers into each other's backs."
The new logo unveiled on Feb. 17, puts "The Met" in red and the letters are stacked and joined in an "unfit, unpleasing and uncomfortable" way, according to Ad Age.
"A brand is, of course, more than a logo, but a logo must work as hard as possible represent the brand," wrote Karen Schnelwar of Ad Age. "It's a brand's first 'hello' to the world, and it should say something appropriately reflective. What on earth is this trying to say? 'Yo, what's up?' It's glib."
Others approved of the concept, including BlkBox Labs, a design company, which congratulated The Met on Instagram.
The Met defended its logo, which was designed by design firm Wolff Olins, saying the logo was chosen to represent its modern and classical collections, the past and the present.
"Our new logo no longer relies on symbols and, instead, is based on our commonly used name 'The Met,' which has an immediacy that speaks to all audiences," the Met said in a statement. "It is an original drawing, a hybrid that combines and connects serif and sans serif, classical and modern letterforms. In this respect, it reflects the scope of the Museum's collection and the inherent connections that exist within it."
The logo was also designed to reflect a more succinct name and was inspired by the idea of "making connections," Wolff Olins said in a statement.
"The letterforms are connected together in bespoke ways," it said. "Red was chosen as a significant part of the new identity because it embodies passion and vitality...the result is a crafted mark that looks to the past and to the future or any place in between."
The Met will unveil its "new visual identity," which will be found in a new map, way-finding material and advertising, on March 1. New custom fonts and colors will be used throughout the literature.
The change comes on the coattails of the museum's March opening of the Met Breuer, which will house contemporary art exhibits, in what used to be the Whitney museum.