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Ask HN: What to do for logos?

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Re: Ask HN: What to do for logos?

#41

Post by peteforde »

techiferous wrote: post #7
huwshimi wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I really have to disagree here. I think this is absolutely the wrong attitude to have towards the design community. If someone came to this community and asked to build them an app for free they would get shut down. Instead of putting up $300 on 99 design have a look around for a designer that makes logos that you like the look of and send them an email and ask what they can do for that amount. You might only get a f…

"you'll be doing the whole design community a favour by not asking for free work." This is a free market. Supply and demand. If people are willing to do quality work for free, let them. If someone is looking for quality work and they find it for free, they should take it. Doing a group of professionals "a favour" does not enter into the equation. "If someone came to this community and asked to build them an app for f…

You are confusing logos and brands. Branding is not something that can or should be rushed. A branding process includes so much more than just a logo, and can cost thousands or millions.

The best comparison might be a white plastic yard chair and a vintage leather Eames recliner with matching ottoman. You can sit on both chairs.

Re: Ask HN: What to do for logos?

#42

Post by pwim »

peteforde wrote: post #40
brm wrote: post #18

Learn a little bit about typography and then peruse fontsquirrel.com, pick an interesting font and let it do the work for you. Most enduring logos are not graphically complex. Simple Logos: Bayer, 3M, Twitter, Facebook, Yahoo etc I also second the recommendation to make friends with inkscape and gimp

The branding and logo development for each of these cost five to eight figures. Money well spent, because the average consumer recognize them instantly.

Do you have a source for this?

According to this blog, twitter's logo cost $10-15 and nike's cost $35:

http://www.logoblog.org/wordpress/cost-of-famous-logos/

Re: Ask HN: What to do for logos?

#44

Post by pwim »

peteforde wrote: post #39
pwim wrote: post #3

The cheapest option would be to make something up yourself. Inkscape ( http://www.inkscape.org/ ) is a decent open source vector graphics editor that you should be able to use to whip up something halfway decent. The issue you can have if you go with a really cheap logo is that it may be just a rip off of some other logo, and you may run into trademark issues.

If you think paying for a good logo is too expensive, just wait and see how much a free logo will cost you.

Care to elaborate? Whether or not you have a professionally designed logo would make an interesting A/B test. Have you done or are you aware of any research about this?

Re: Ask HN: What to do for logos?

#45

Post by SkyMarshal »

peteforde wrote: post #43

Lest you listen to the "design is overrated" crowd below: http://www.thesneeze.com/mt-archives/000273.php

Out of curiosity, I checked the front page of that site. From the top blog post:

"I remember once when I was a teenager, I was walking through the woods and I came across an old pair of leather boots. The incredible thing is, when I looked inside of them I found 4 pieces of gold!

The not incredible thing is, I was a fat, lonely nerd playing Dungeons & Dragons.

Interestingly, playing Dungeons & Dragons is how I met my first girlfriend. (That's actually not true. Sometimes I just like typing sentences that no one has ever seen.)"

Lol. Funny guy.

Re: Ask HN: What to do for logos?

#47

Post by peteforde »

pwim wrote: post #44
peteforde wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you think paying for a good logo is too expensive, just wait and see how much a free logo will cost you.

Care to elaborate? Whether or not you have a professionally designed logo would make an interesting A/B test. Have you done or are you aware of any research about this?

I think my use of the word logo in my comment contributed to the problem instead of a solution. Specifically, if you think of branding in terms of firing up Photoshop and trying out some cool fonts, then you are not seeing the big picture.

The specific reason that this thread has tweaked me so much is that it's just so typical for us developers to minimize the effort that goes into good design. It's like it's somehow incomprensible that a team of people with years of experience would spend weeks coming up with a brand strategy that works well across many mediums and tells a coherent story.

There's a really good article about the process of creating the FedEx logo on HN right now. He wasn't starting from scratch or doing a style guide and it still sounds like it took months.

Re: Ask HN: What to do for logos?

#48

Post by peteforde »

pwim wrote: post #42
peteforde wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The branding and logo development for each of these cost five to eight figures. Money well spent, because the average consumer recognize them instantly.

Do you have a source for this? According to this blog, twitter's logo cost $10-15 and nike's cost $35: http://www.logoblog.org/wordpress/cost-of-famous-logos/

I concede on the example of Twitter; that said, I had no idea that was Twitter's logo. I thought their word mark was their logo, and perhaps this helps make my point regardless: did you know that Twitter's logo was a bird on a tree? That particular bird on a tree?

Anyhow, as I've said elsewhere in this thread my beef is with folks who think your logo is your brand, and that a brand is something you can do in Photoshop if you have some good fonts installed. It's not just wrong, it's damaging business advice.

I could also cop out and say that both Twitter and Nike have spent a lot more than $15 and $35 on their brand, regardless of the cost of their original logos.

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