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Tarsnap logo contest

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Re: Tarsnap logo contest

#101

Post by hxw »

unclebucknasty wrote: post #91
AnotherDesigner wrote: post #34

I've wrote about this a few times on HN before. You guys like to downvote me every time I do but here we go again ... Good designers, the ones you want if this is important to you, don't do contests. We have families to feed and bills to pay. "Winning" a popularity contest, not based on substance but instead on style, doesn't allow us to support ourself and our families doing our work. So, who are the designers doing…

Ok, I have to say this: there are too many people out there holding themselves out as designers, and truly good ones are very hard to find. I have spent thousands over the years on design I never used and have spent thousands more on items that were usable, but sub-optimal (i.e. I settled). Portfolios aren't enough. Conversations aren't enough. And, the standard payment plans of a third up-front leaves the client hol…

IMO, the designer is not to blame if the client keeps changing their mind about what they (or their spouse, nephew, neighbour or cat) like - which, believe it or not, happens.

Re: Tarsnap logo contest

#102

Post by neilk »

jyap wrote: post #75
neilk wrote: post #66

Did a sketch of an idea here: https://github.com/neilk/tarsnap-logo/blob/master/tarsnap.pn... I wanted to get away from castles and locks and such. You can check out the README if you want to know what my thought process was, but it should be distinctive and appealing without an explanation.

I quite like it. Note that the font is not free. From the fine print: Use by more than 25 Users, or equivalent Website Visitors, is a breach of this Free Licence Agreement, and instead requires a commercial licence.

Thanks.

About the license - you are correct. I was under the impression this font was already distributed via Google Fonts, but I was wrong.

It's a very nice font, and just costs $67.00. But it could also be swapped for a font with a less restrictive license.

Re: Tarsnap logo contest

#103

Post by bambax »

jyap wrote: post #75
neilk wrote: post #66

Did a sketch of an idea here: https://github.com/neilk/tarsnap-logo/blob/master/tarsnap.pn... I wanted to get away from castles and locks and such. You can check out the README if you want to know what my thought process was, but it should be distinctive and appealing without an explanation.

I quite like it. Note that the font is not free. From the fine print: Use by more than 25 Users, or equivalent Website Visitors, is a breach of this Free Licence Agreement, and instead requires a commercial licence.

Nothing in the brief says the font has to be free...?

Re: Tarsnap logo contest

#104

Post by bambax »

sgt wrote: post #78

Here's my proposal, very simplistic and based on the inconsolata font (which is licensed under an Open Font license). Original artwork is SVG. http://imgur.com/SVOZTC6

Interesting, but there's a big hole between the r and the s (tar (...) snap).

Re: Tarsnap logo contest

#105

Post by sixQuarks »

prawn wrote: post #96
sixQuarks wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't agree. He's looking for something that he can't put his finger on. The likelihood that the one designer he chooses comes up with the best idea is low. By holding the contest, he can get dozens of submissions. They may not be well-designed, but he can use the best theme from the designs submitted to hire a top-notch designer and polish it up, if need be.

Reread this and imagine it's a code contest. Less subjective maybe, but would you want to build for someone with such a vague demand? "I need it to do, err, I don't know. Can't quite put my finger on it."

but it's not a code contest. Design is totally different.

Re: Tarsnap logo contest

#106

Post by nimble »

jasonkester wrote: post #54

I've said it before and I'm saying it again: It needs to be a parsnip. That's what springs to mind when you hear the name of your company, so that's what you need for a logo. Here are a few options: https://www.google.com/search?q=parsnip

That's funny. The first thing that came to my mind was turnips. Maybe there should be a parsnip and a turnips in the logo. Maybe a parsnip pointing down between two turnips, in a T formation.

Re: Tarsnap logo contest

#107

Post by AnotherDesigner »

cperciva wrote: post #40
AnotherDesigner wrote: post #34

I've wrote about this a few times on HN before. You guys like to downvote me every time I do but here we go again ... Good designers, the ones you want if this is important to you, don't do contests. We have families to feed and bills to pay. "Winning" a popularity contest, not based on substance but instead on style, doesn't allow us to support ourself and our families doing our work. So, who are the designers doing…

Good designers, the ones you want if this is important to you, don't do contests. I'm not looking for a good designer. I'm looking for a hacker (ideally a unix hacker) who happens to have some design skills.

> I'm looking for a hacker (ideally a unix hacker) who happens to have some design skills.

I hope you find somebody that loves your product to do the logo and don't have to fall back on the contest. Good luck.

Re: Tarsnap logo contest

#108

Post by unclebucknasty »

hxw wrote: post #101
unclebucknasty wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ok, I have to say this: there are too many people out there holding themselves out as designers, and truly good ones are very hard to find. I have spent thousands over the years on design I never used and have spent thousands more on items that were usable, but sub-optimal (i.e. I settled). Portfolios aren't enough. Conversations aren't enough. And, the standard payment plans of a third up-front leaves the client hol…

IMO, the designer is not to blame if the client keeps changing their mind about what they (or their spouse, nephew, neighbour or cat) like - which, believe it or not, happens.

Yes, if the client is consulting his cat, then we agree that it is not the designer's fault.

There is no doubt that there are difficult clients, but I am referring to a different problem.

Re: Tarsnap logo contest

#109

Post by unclebucknasty »

joelhooks wrote: post #14
ericdykstra wrote: post #11

I think you would end up with a better logo if you just did a call to your mailing list for designer recommendations, and paid a real designer $500 for a few hours of their work to come up with their best effort. By opening a contest, you're not only going to get a much lower quality of submissions, but in the end, the final decision is going to be made by you, someone "useless at anything artistic". Paying a designe…

Paying a single designer directly can be really frustrating. $500 only buys you so many variations, and if none of them hit the mark, you are SOL, either settling for something "meh" or forking out more $$ for another round. At the low end, crowd sourcing logo design makes a lot of sense.

Yes. And possibly even through the mid to mid-high end.

Re: Tarsnap logo contest

#110

Post by AnotherDesigner »

tptacek wrote: post #49
AnotherDesigner wrote: post #34

I've wrote about this a few times on HN before. You guys like to downvote me every time I do but here we go again ... Good designers, the ones you want if this is important to you, don't do contests. We have families to feed and bills to pay. "Winning" a popularity contest, not based on substance but instead on style, doesn't allow us to support ourself and our families doing our work. So, who are the designers doing…

I've watched a bunch of my friends do 99designs contests and can back you up with the concern about stolen logos. In the contests I've run in the last couple years, I've tried to submit somewhat idiosyncratic briefs to constrain the possible logos. On the other hand, I'm betting you'll have a hard time naming a company that had to pay "thousands of dollars in lawyer fees" for buying what turned out to be a boosted lo…

> On the other hand, I'm betting you'll have a hard time naming a company that had to pay "thousands of dollars in lawyer fees" for buying what turned out to be a boosted logo. You just take the logo down and get a new one.

It doesn't exactly work like that. I wish I could find my notes right now, I have a half-written blog on copyright issues for clients that I did a bunch of research and found these cases. Anyway, you don't get to just say sorry and move on. You're liable for damages whether you knew about it or not. You can, of course, go after the designer if they're not outside your reach (international or hidden behind an anonymous online identity) but it's a real issue. As a designer, I have to know about this stuff because I can be sued if a client gives me something they don't have permission to use and I do. There are, of course, a number of issues that could effect the outcome including if the copyright is registered and if they're willing to go through the effort to go after you but it's a danger that shouldn't be ignored. (I am not a lawyer. I just have a healthy fear of them.)

> The process you're advocating, with the specific bells and whistles you're mentioning, starts at $5000. No sale. Could you instead give him some advice that involves a more effective use of $500?

Not always. My wife and I are both designers. Many of our friends are designers. We do a lot of on-the-side work with small budgets that would give a much better result for the same cost. Sometimes one of us will come home from doing something during our 9-5 for a huge multi-billion dollar corporation to do something for a 1 person startup. Often the startup has more interesting projects and are much nicer to work with. Plus, I don't have to wear a suit, a fake smile and get patted down by under-paid security when I go to meet the CEO of tiny-startup, llc. And as a bonus, most of you guys pay in less than 6 months without having to resubmit form 41824817B with the new PO number to the department that never answers their phones. (I hate corporate work.)

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