The thing Labourhome always had going for it was its sheer crapness. Only the true down to earth grass roots, distant from the glamour and lavish PR (and lifestyles) of the parliamentary party could love the old Labourhome website.

The question becomes why did they redesign?

Clearly they’ve been under pressure from Labour list (thanks to the extreme publicity seeking shennanigans of their greasy former editor) and felt the need to keep up to date… but I ask you, what were they thinking?

Labourhome claims to be a site for grassroots Labour supporters. It’s meant to re-engage them.

Here’s the new logo:

Pleasant enough. There’s the tag-line… ‘back to the roots.’ So, go on, try to guess what sort of picture would go with this message?

Go on, have a guess. Maybe some workers in a factory? Maybe a single mum? Something to do with being a worker and being working class or something like that, yeah? Yeah?

Not quite. The image they’ve chosen is this:

That’s right. The image that represents the Grassroots of the Labour Party is this building, the Houses of Parliament.

Good luck with the relaunch, guys.

UPDATE: Okay, thinking about it, I’m on very thin ice here. I’m not exactly a Pro Designer myself. If Labourhome doods want to come slag off the design for this blog (or for Liberal Vision actually) then they should feel free.

For what it’s worth, and just cos I’ve got the excuse to talk about it, the ‘theme’ for this site’s design is the blueprint motif in the banner. Blueprints are great things. They remind you of engineering, of plans, of precision, and of potential. They’re instructions for something much bigger and better. That’s why I picked blueprints.

UPDATE UPDATE! Well, turns out the design’s a work in progress and they’re going to have another look. Special round of applause for heroically good tempered Andie Fairlie.