Logolicious

March 20, 2006 by Jeff Jarvis
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Fred Seibert has an open-source logo competition. The prize: $1k with $300 to the blogger whose post inspires the winner. Know anybody with talent?

  • http://cellar.org/iotd.php Undertoad

    Be sure to read the comments section to see how pissed off the design community is about this notion, which to them is simply an unattractive spec offer.

    They’re right about it not being “open source”… in fact, “open source” is a wildly inappropriate description in a case where Viacom winds up owning the end product, the designer gets no credit and a lower-than-industry pay rate; one blogger gets less than his worth in column space for a paid placement, the rest get… well, a paid placement and no pay.

  • http://frederator.kz Fred Seibert

    Undertoad,

    I belive you’ve read our rules incorrectly: The designer(s) get credit on “every episode” of the series. “Every episode.”

    It doesn’t really seem “the design community” is represented by the comments on the blog. Rather, there are a few long, involved comments against the project. And there are also the supportive comments made there, and our DeviantArt gallery viewers have been incredibly happy with our competition.

    “The design community” is a diverse group with many different opinions and interests. Many of them have made their feelings known, and we’re glad to give them all a public forum.

    That said, I understand many are concerned. If we weren’t such large customers of traditional professional practices, if we were using such competitions to undermine creative people (though I understand that could be seen to be in the eyes of the beholders), if if if, maybe I could see your point. Our goal for 15 years has been to work with a talented group of artists towards a stronger result than traditional methods. We’ve felt our approach has worked successfully enough to try and re-invent the creation of our mark. In the past we’ve worked with our in-house group for our show logos. This year we discussed this method with many of them, and with their support we went ahead with the competition.

  • http://cellar.org/iotd.php Undertoad

    Sorry for the mis-reading.

    But you yourself wrote in your entry, “Certainly, all our designer friends are recoiling in horror right now.” Expect a shitstorm. I see it got worse since I wrote my comment. Expect it to get worse again.

    I understand the position you’re in – you have to destroy the industry in order to save it.

    I have tough questions which I swear are not just snarkiness. I don’t have the answers.

    1) If you have contests to design your product, and don’t list any specifications beyond the size of the entries, what was your value-add? If you didn’t add value, why should YOU get paid?

    2) Viacom/Nickelodeon has a greater reach than you. If they start running contests to decide what should be shown on their channel/s, they will surely get more buzz and reach many more producers. Would they get a higher quality of show for less money than they currently do? If not, how is this a better model?

    Just askin’ is all.

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  • http://geocities.com/jlemmo joanlemmo

    “From the snores of Cerrabella…”Logo 4 the Bush-wacks”