I don't think voting from 6 or 7 finished designs was the way to go, for the reasons people have stated. If they were all decent, we would get the winning design only getting like 30% or something. Not good. I agree now with whoever said before that they should just have gotten a designer to do it without asking us. If we weren't asked, we couldn't have gotten as upset when our choices didn't win. And honestly, without the survey, I sincerely doubt the badge would have come out exactly how it did.
A good design that stretched the guidelines in this case may have been better than a design that followed the survey guidelines to the letter.
That Said, I just went to the Aston Villa wikipedia entry, noticed they had the new badge up as our emblem, and went to myself "hey that isnt too bad". It's a grower all right. At least it's a classic design, not ultra modern or anything. This means that it wont go out of fashion.
On may 3 2008, someone should start a thread regarding the one year anniversary of the badge. By then I doubt people will still be bothered by it, and it will be accepted as part of the club.