My first Guatemalan political scandal

I was admittedly very flattered when a Guatemalan national radio program acknowledged the fierce design of the Vice Presidential Annual Report which I designed early this winter, but in the current pooh-throwing political climate, there is always someone wants to rain on your parade.

Today, Pepe brought in a copy of La Hora, a national newspaper. Nestled on pg. 8 was a picture of the cover of my report, alongside smaller images of the Presidents reports. I immediately thought it was more good coverage. Wrong. The article "Gasto en revistas no disminuye en tiempos de austeridad/Spending on magazines does not diminish in times of austerity," complains of ill-used funds which could be used to fund "school teachers, supplies, etc."


I can't help but laugh. The caption under my report cover says "El costoso informe de labores del vicepresidente consta de 73 páginas y fue impreso en papel de alta calidad/The costly report of the vice president has 73 pages and was printed on high quality paper." Amateurs. That's all I have to say. It was printed on pretty much the cheapest paper the printer had, which is glossy. All halfwits are dazzled by shiny things, so who is to blame them for equating shiny things with $$$ and quality. If we had printed on matte-finish, nothing would have been said even though it would have cost loads more.


*Sidenote: The money which paid for the report was not Guatemalan gov. money, it is non-refundable foreign grant money provided to report country advancements, in order to prove that Guatemala is stable enough to be worthy of foreign aid — ironically, if your country is really messed up, it may be harder to get aid because the investors doubt any real change is going to occur or that their money is going to find itself in the wrong hands, so you must prove you are at least a progressing third-world country) (See MCC)

In resolution, I am only flattered that my design is perceived to be of such quality that it is equated with the benjamins. I hope Biggie would be proud.


To see the online article click here.