Video: Stop Sign Designed by Committee

By Jeff on Jul 30, 2008 in Videos | View Comments

This funny yet painful piece of reality goes out to all my fellow designers.

After months of mystery, Michael D. Starcevich just sent us an email to let us know he and a bunch of Chicago improv people were responsible for this hilarious video. He said they're available to do more, if interested, contact him.

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  • http://torley.com/ Torley Lives

    This is so funny! I noticed it was deleted on YouTube but found it here — thanks for posting it.

    Do you know who made it and where it originated from?

  • http://torley.com Torley Lives

    This is so funny! I noticed it was deleted on YouTube but found it here — thanks for posting it.

    Do you know who made it and where it originated from?

  • Jeff Lyons

    Torley, I could not find any info on it, would love to give the creators credit. Maybe the lack of credits is on purpose, part of the buzz, creating a “who are these guys” mystique… never know?

  • Jeff Lyons

    Torley, I could not find any info on it, would love to give the creators credit. Maybe the lack of credits is on purpose, part of the buzz, creating a “who are these guys” mystique… never know?

  • http://vivire.com/news/?p=8 Viviré: Creative & Interactive Studio » Diseño por Comité

    [...] los comités no funcionan y un ejemplo clásico y muy divertido es este video.  Presionen aquí para [...]

  • http://philbernstein.wordpress.com/2008/07/26/how-a-committee-can-screw-up-a-simple-message/ How a Committee Can Screw Up a Simple Message « Portland’s Finest Advertising Blog

    [...] July 26, 2008 · No Comments UPDATE 7/31/08 Apparently Youtube took the video down. Here’s another link: [...]

  • http://www.laurent-bernat.com/dotclear/2008/07/30/154-video-the-process-marketing-viral-en-action Le Museau Numérique » Vidéo: The Process. Marketing Viral en action.

    [...] une petite vidéo qui donnera un peu de réconfort à certains prestataires et fera -peut-être- réfléchir certains [...]

  • http://torley.com/ Torley Lives

    Thanks anyhoo, Jeff! Production was quite slick.

    Again, I appreciate you posting it — Seth Godin linked to it too via http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2008/07/weekend-reading.html ; I wonder if anyone’s compiled a collection of these “design by committee” videos!

  • http://torley.com Torley Lives

    Thanks anyhoo, Jeff! Production was quite slick.

    Again, I appreciate you posting it — Seth Godin linked to it too via http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2008/07/weekend-reading.html ; I wonder if anyone’s compiled a collection of these “design by committee” videos!

  • http://camusthecat.wordpress.com/ Dan

    So true. So true.

  • http://camusthecat.wordpress.com/ Dan

    So true. So true.

  • http://www.businessingeneral.com/index.php/2008/07/25/what-if-there-were-no-stop-signs/ What if there were no stop signs… | Business in General

    [...] *YouTube has deleted the video, but you can still view it online. Here for instance: Stop Sign Video [...]

  • http://increasewebsitetraffic.pureuniquetraffic.com/?p=70 Weekend reading and viewing | Increase Your Web Site Traffic

    [...] Steve sends us this video, way too true. [Ouch, it seems to have been deleted] [Torley found a copy here] [...]

  • Abraham

    This is soo funny because it is also so true!
    A great video. Kudos to the team behind it.

  • Abraham

    This is soo funny because it is also so true!
    A great video. Kudos to the team behind it.

  • http://www.succeedo.net/ Robertas

    Soooooooo funny & professional & unique :)
    http://www.succeedo.net

  • http://www.succeedo.net Robertas

    Soooooooo funny & professional & unique :)
    http://www.succeedo.net

  • http://stepbackforward.wordpress.com/2009/08/21/after-thoughts-on-the-gartner-cloud-collision-fail-brawl/ After Thoughts on the Gartner Cloud Collision #Fail Brawl « Step Back, Move Forward

    [...] better—but five dimensions where they have almost no overlap. This whole thing seems like it was designed by a committee over months and months—oh wait it was: The [Cloud] title was debated broadly and passionately [...]

  • http://siliconangle.com/ver2/2009/08/21/after-thoughts-on-the-gartner-cloud-collision-failbucket-brawl/ After Thoughts on the Gartner Cloud Collision #FailBucket Brawl- The SiliconANGLE

    [...] better—but five dimensions where they have almost no overlap. This whole thing seems like it was designed by a committee over months and months—oh wait it was: The [Cloud] title was debated broadly and passionately [...]

  • http://thatbelinda.com/ Belinda

    Hysterical, and sadly, so very true!

  • http://thatbelinda.com Belinda

    Hysterical, and sadly, so very true!

  • Jay

    I used to do some freelance graphic design for Microsoft. They are EXACTLY like this. EXACTLY.

    (btw: I quit in a rage…)

  • Jay

    I used to do some freelance graphic design for Microsoft. They are EXACTLY like this. EXACTLY.

    (btw: I quit in a rage…)

  • Jake

    This video is amazing. One thing though… I wonder if you could do something to make it really “pop”. Maybe if you put a starburst or some dance music in the background.

  • Jake

    This video is amazing. One thing though… I wonder if you could do something to make it really “pop”. Maybe if you put a starburst or some dance music in the background.

  • http://visualjournalism.info/?p=1036 This May Be Why I Don’t Do Freelance Design Work

    [...] Every designer I know has been through this sort of thing, but have you ever wondered what would happen if stop signs were designed by a committee? [...]

  • Stuart

    I think it’s like 99.99% of the Fortune 1000.

    Hewlett-Packard is exactly like this for most product designs and marketing material. The typical result we always claimed was that “HP would market ‘sushi’ as ‘cold, dead fish’”.

    It comes from committee crap like this. This is why you couldn’t pay me enough to ever work as an employee (or even contractor) for any Fortune 1000. I’d prefer to die of starvation, homeless on the street, first. Really!

  • Stuart

    I think it’s like 99.99% of the Fortune 1000.

    Hewlett-Packard is exactly like this for most product designs and marketing material. The typical result we always claimed was that “HP would market ‘sushi’ as ‘cold, dead fish’”.

    It comes from committee crap like this. This is why you couldn’t pay me enough to ever work as an employee (or even contractor) for any Fortune 1000. I’d prefer to die of starvation, homeless on the street, first. Really!

  • http://www.ilovegraphics.net/2009/12/stop-sign-designed-by-commitee/ Stop sign designed by commitee | I love graphics!

    [...] Saw this quite a log time ago, yet it still makes me laugh… Via usedwigs [...]

  • http://www.scottadcox.com/2009/12/17/delicious-link-dump-december-15th-through-december-17th/ Delicious Link Dump– December 15th through December 17th | Scott Adcox

    [...] STOP! – [...]

  • Barbie

    What the video forgot to portray, is that once the designer is incapable of designing the STOP sign based on the input parameters, the committee will outsource the design to an agency for two-hundred-grand (or so).

  • Barbie

    What the video forgot to portray, is that once the designer is incapable of designing the STOP sign based on the input parameters, the committee will outsource the design to an agency for two-hundred-grand (or so).

  • http://www.benhawken.com/?p=1186 The Ben Hawken Blog | Also Worth Noting: 12/19/09

    [...] you’ve ever worked at a PR/marketing/advertising/design agency, this may hit a bit too close to [...]

  • http://www.saiko-sama.fr/liens-en-vrac-2/ Liens en vrac {2} | Saiko_sama, étudiante, gameuse, chieuse, geeke malgrè elle

    [...] ceux qui comprennent l’anglais ça vaut le détour et une vidéo “et si le signe stop était créé par un comité“, c’est aussi drôle que ça fait [...]

  • http://www.used-goods.net/forbidden_knowledge/?p=466 Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-12-20 « E.Maree On Writing

    [...] Stop Signs were designed by committees… http://usedwigs.com/video-stop-sign-designed-by-committee/ [...]

  • Wes Gilleland

    Am I the only one who watches this and thinks of RoboCop 2?

  • Wes Gilleland

    Am I the only one who watches this and thinks of RoboCop 2?

  • http://www.holisticsystems.co.uk/blog/?p=493 Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-01-03 » Holistic Systems

    [...] the truth in this video … http://usedwigs.com/video-stop-sign-designed-by-committee/ [...]

  • André

    Wow! I can relate to this on soooooooo many levels! This is GREAT!!!! Although…. Do you think you could add a Drop Shadow to make it stand out more?!? LOL!

  • http://www.mindhatchcreative André

    Wow! I can relate to this on soooooooo many levels! This is GREAT!!!! Although…. Do you think you could add a Drop Shadow to make it stand out more?!? LOL!

  • Frank

    Yeah, probably a good thing that committees only design non-essential things. Like laws.

  • http://www.maikmorgenstern.de/wordpress/?p=9025 IT Security Blog» Blog Archive » delicious/cdman83

    [...] Video: Stop Sign Designed by Committee : UsedWigs [...]

  • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZjOkzpwOKI Canvas Stretching Machine

    this will serve as a great gift to my friend…

  • http://www.jrconsumer.com/ Motorhomes

    looks like my cousin gonna like it too…

  • Mr. Sharkey

    Love the Chicago street car at 4:02 – brilliant ;)

  • Антоха

    may be a dancing baby?..

  • http://www.easysitebuild.com/ website builder

    Then what is their point on doing this if they are non-essential? Is it something useful? I feel it is not.

  • http://www.toponeseo.com/services/seo-pricing/ SEO Pricing

    I too agree it looks like that..

  • http://www.icusa.net/ Naples web design

    They are useful because what they design are laws. Laws are very important in every kind of situation that we are facing.

  • http://brainstorm.com.ua Petya Noname

    Hehe very nice thing, I think it can help for my friend and also good video. Thanks

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