(Bad) Heraldry in the News!

In an article dated June 5, 2017, Alanna Martinez reports on an "Online Contest Puts Pop Culture Spin on the Ancient Art of the Family Crest."

Graphic designer Aaron Draplin challenged students in his on-line Skillshare logo design course to put a contemporary spin on the "family crest." (I will try to leave out my usual rant about people calling coats of arms "crests".)

Nearly 500 students submitted designs for famous athletes, artists, cartoon and television characters, and famous people both real and fictional.

You can see the top ten "winners" on the website of The Observer at http://observer.com/2017/06/skillshare-contest-pop-culture-coat-of-arms/#slide0

Normally, I'd copy one or two (or three) images to post here, but I just can't convince myself that any of these shields are more than remotely like heraldry. Please feel free to click on the link above to see for yourselves.

It's a cool idea, but as is often the case when you get people with little knowledge of heraldry designing coats of arms, the results are usually less than, umm, "ideal".