Lorem Ipsum Wonders v. Blunders

Every once in a while we in the design world catch a screw-up and then plaster the internet with it. This is not only embarrassing to the designer, but the company as well. But what if the screw-up wasn't a screw up at all, but a carefully executed publicity stunt aimed at getting more business for the company? It could be! This is the case of the 'Lorem Ipsum' bag printed hundreds of thousands of times by Chipotle. Us designers cringe when we see this initially, because - by any standards - that's a HUGE screw up. Leaving your 'Greek' on the side of a well known food chain's carry out bags? Career ending stupidity, or clever design quirk?

If one looks close enough at the lettering, you can see that it is in fact, handwritten. Now who would take the time to handwrite a bunch of Lorem Ipsum? Someone who intended for it to be there of course! The next question though, is why? Do an inordinate amount of Graphic Designers and Web Developers eat at Chipotle and would find humor in the use of the common Latin phrasing? Perhaps. Another, perhaps more obvious conclusion would be that Chipotle has actually commissioned their oft-used typeface to be digitized and it was in fact a screw up. Sure it looks handwritten, but it is possible to create typography with special software, especially for a company that uses it everywhere. What do you think? Mistake or Witty Design?

Other Examples of Real Mistakes

These poor guys did actually leave this on here on accident. Edwardian isn't exactly a custom font.

Something tells us Pixar didn't mean to serve Lorem Ipsum on the menu!

This one begs the question: Who actually approved selling the same car three times in the same ad?

The point of the post? Proof-read your designs before they either A. Go to Print or B. End up on a blog!

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