Dearly beloved. It’s time for the design community to cease and desist using the Jolly Roger: the beloved symbol originally intended to strike mortal terror in the hearts of pirates’ unfortunate victims. This icon of evil, meant to instill fear by guys with long, filthy beards and hooks for hands, has sadly been embraced by our fine industry as a tool of creative expression: used for everything from designer logos to skulls stenciled on the sidewalk.

These things are popping up everywhere — on t-shirts, as symbols of movements against bad design and as visual representations of everything but plunder and high-seas mischief. Leave those dirty pirates to their pillaging and get back to using your noggins to generate original thoughts.

Aarrgh, Matey. Aarrgh indeed...