Help Get Los Angeles Off Microsoft Paint, the City Begs in Hilarious Help-Wanted Ad

By now, you’ve probably already seen the City of Los Angeles’ stunning social media call for a graphic designer. Rarely have we seen a need so eloquently illustrated.

Government bodies can be among the worst graphic design offenders (consider the FBI’s “fun and games” page). The people most equipped to help often waste little time pointing it out. Remember that one time the freaky NSA report leaked and, amid the loss of our privacy, etc., all we could focus on was how ugly it was?

But it’s also possible we suffer from a dearth of good bureaucratic design because nobody’s applying to those gigs, which makes L.A.’s horrific offense to the senses a veritable stroke of genius. On Twitter, it’s generated nearly 30,000 retweets and over 73,000 likes since it was posted Friday, not to mention a passel of responses, including these fridge-worthy treasures:

Given how many people were just flabbergasted that the city would dare to post an ad so lacking in professionalism (because that’s our biggest problem right now), it’s cool to see that L.A. gives as good as it gets.

Seriously, though: There’s not enough trolling in job placement.

The complete job posting—which is far more boring, if just as illegible (for different reasons)—can be found here. The role includes creating posters, covers, pamphlets, signs and exhibits, and translating statistical data across all departments. Two years of full-time experience and a bachelor’s degree in art, graphic design or computer graphics are required.

The payscale ranges from $46,708 to a whopping $103,230, probably contingent on whether you completed kindergarten with full stickers. You can apply through Jan. 25.

Before and after the ad was posted on Twitter, the City of Los Angeles also shared ads for a carpenter and an auditor. While topic-relevant in their own unique ways, they do signal the presence of an actual designer, hidden somewhere in the bowels of the building.

Sadly, though, they lack the rigorous effort put into generating a hair-trigger response that resulted in the graphic design ad.

Points for puns, though. God knows we don’t have enough of those.

Angela Natividad

@luckthelady

Angela Natividad is a frequent contributor to Adweek's creativity blog, AdFreak. She is also the author of Generation Creation and co-founder of Hurrah, an esports agency. She lives in Paris and when she isn't writing, she can be found picking food off your plate.