State Fair Downgrade

Another day, another complaint about a local institution's unfortunate design choice.

This time it's the Minnesota State Fair, which for some reason decided to stop commissioning a local artist to illustrate a commemorative poster — a practice they started 20 years ago — and instead "go in-house" for an image. I was holding out hope that the result would be of comparable interest to past years' efforts... though maybe the powers-that-be figured it would never be possible to compare with last year's entry, which was done as crop art by Liz Schreiber.

But this is worse than I expected:

Do most people associate red cannas with the State Fair? I'm a gardener and I don't particularly, so it seems unlikely that regular people do. The leaf colors are not realistic, and not in a way that seems on purpose. And the blooms themselves don't even look very canna-like to me (they're kind of hard to render in line art).

And then there's the way the rest of the design is a mashup of too many things. The red flowers aren't allowed to stand on their own, no — they have to have blue shapes and spikes emerging out of them, making it even harder to tell what the flower is.

The copy created for the Fair's promotional webpage fits with that kitchen-sink approach. It also uses a number of common puffery words:

At the heart of the stunning design is a stately red canna lily, one of 7,500 in various hues meticulously cared for and planted throughout the fairgrounds. The showy blooms of the official State Fair flower have been synonymous with the fair for more than a century. Surrounding the canna are blue scallops and eight sharp points, echoing the decorative details of the historic Grandstand façade. Two of the fair’s renowned aerial attractions – the SkyGlider and Skyride – emerge through the brick archways of the majestic 100-year-old Cattle Barn. Outlines of the preeminent Grandstand, Space Tower, Agriculture Horticulture Building, Creative Activities Building and Main Gate dot the skyline. Lush greenery throughout the design represents the park-like fairgrounds, home to 75 gardens, hundreds of shade trees and vast swathes of grass. Nestled within the plants is the restored Streetcar Arch, which celebrates its 90th anniversary this year and has served as the welcome sign at the fair’s west entrance since 2014. The 2024 Minnesota State Fair featured design is a digital illustration .... showcased on a variety of merchandise items at the State FairWear gift shops. 

Yes, that was all one paragraph. Stunning…renowned…preeminent…lush…nestled...

The illustration is available on a variety of merch this year. I'm not sure if that was true in the past; I think it was only produced on a poster. 

All in all, not an upgrade.