Core77

I will never forget visiting a friend down south and remarking upon how many trophies one of his kids had in his room. "Good at sports, huh?" "Waddaya mean?" "I mean, look at all these trophies." "I don't understand, every kid has this many trophies." "Huh?" "You get a trophy for completing the season; you don't have to win." "You cannot be serious?" "Yup. Every kid has this many."

And then a week later was the first time I heard the term "trophy generation," so that was quite the timing on the meme-o-meter.

Anyway, Steven heller takes on the topic of the easy win, and of the designers who fulfill their desires in this all-too-brief piece for the Times' Moment entitled "Graphic Content | And the Trophy for the Most Generic Trophy Goes To . . ." Here's a shining facet:

While industrial designers (and design students) spend their days thinking up more beautiful and efficient ways of making almost everything, I have yet to meet a single one who cares about the state of the common trophy. (Of course there are some uncommon trophies around). Are mass-produced trophies such a lost cause that, like fast-food menus and laundry tickets, designers cannot be bothered to improve them?