Fighting the Ugliness: A Coffee, a Quote, and a Question About Design

A few weekends back I took my car in for its usual fortnightly wash. My local carwash has this unexpectedly stylish setup: a coffee bar tucked beside a lounging area with oversized black sofas. With a cappuccino in hand, I dropped into one of them, eyeing the pile of magazines on the coffee table.

As expected, it was the usual suspects, cars, gadgets, health, and the occasional gossip rag. But buried in the middle, a home improvement magazine caught my attention. Flicking through, I stumbled across an advert that stopped me in my tracks. Its headline was a quote from Massimo Vignelli: “The life of a designer is one of fight: fight against the ugliness.”

It resonated instantly. That’s something I’ve always believed. So, naturally, I pulled out my phone, snapped a picture, added my usual artsy edit, and shared it on Instagram and Facebook.

A few likes later, a friend of mine in New Zealand dropped a comment: “Frequently against the ugliness of other designers.” Ouch. My first instinct was to leap to the defence of my industry. But the more I thought about it, the more I wondered if he had a point.

Looking at some of the recent rebranding work in South Africa, I can’t help but ask: is laziness the new norm? Have we become so enamored with digital platforms that we’ve forgotten how to build branding that works across all media?

Every time I read those follow-up case studies justifying weak identities as being “designed for digital ecosystems” (cool term, right?), I get frustrated. Because too often, these brands fall flat in the real world. A sign on a building, a product on a shelf, a billboard on the highway, simply don’t translate.

Even worse, so many of them are bland. Stripped down. Shaped by the need to function as avatars or icons, but robbed of personality in the process. Don’t get me wrong, I get it. Digital platforms are crucial. They’re where audiences spend their time. But my hope is that we reach a point where digital is embraced as part of the marketing mix, not the only context.

Great branding has always been about rigour, craft, and robustness. About solutions that carry meaning and impact wherever they appear, whether that’s a phone screen, a business card, or a 10-storey-high banner.

Because Vignelli was right. The life of a designer is a fight against ugliness. But maybe the bigger fight is ensuring that beauty, intelligence, and distinctiveness don’t get lost in the race for digital convenience.

Robert du Toit