Australian PM’s department cocks up women’s network logo

Sometimes you see a design project and wonder: from conception to development and launch, how many sets of eyes were on this? Because somewhere, a team nodded and signed off on the final version of a logo for the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinets Women’s Network, which looks lamentably similar to a penis.

The logo, comprising a cursive W and accompanying shaft of purple colour, has been removed from the department’s website, “pending consultation with staff”, the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet wrote in a statement this Monday (14 March). The statement says that the logo was the result of a 2019 rebrand, in which staff at the department refreshed the staff diversity networks, including the Women’s Network, to establish “a consistent look and feel”.

It continues: “The Women’s Network logo retained a ‘W’ icon which staff had been using for a number of years. The rebrand was completed internally, using existing resources, and designs were consulted on widely. No external providers were engaged for this work.”

The logo has received widespread backlash on social media, with National Older Women’s Network Australia writing: “I thought this was satire, but it is either thoughtless or an insult”. Women for Australia tweeted: “You couldn’t write this!”

The statement from the department concludes: “The Prime Minister and the Prime Minister’s Office were not part of this logo design.”