Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Dear Gap, I have your new logo.

weblog.muledesign.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

101–110 of 126 posts

Re: Dear Gap, I have your new logo.

#101

Post by StavrosK »

limedaring wrote: post #82
Cushman wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The "designer" gets a little bit of scratch and exposure they never would have gotten otherwise. The "client" gets a design that meets their budget, and which is likely to be much better than what a professional designer would do for the same price. Who's losing out here?

> and which is likely to be much better than what a professional designer would do for the same price Why would you think a novice on the web with Photoshop will automatically do better than a professional with experience and who is looking beyond making a cool design? Logos aren't just pieces of art — they also brand a company. Crowdsourcing will never match a professional brand designer.

You're committing a fallacy in assuming that they have no choice. Even if there are a million novices with Photoshop and two professional designers, they'll still get a better deal than having chosen one professional designer. They'll pay the same money and get two professional designs they can choose from, instead of just one.

Re: Dear Gap, I have your new logo.

#102

Post by StavrosK »

tpz wrote: post #86
limedaring wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> and which is likely to be much better than what a professional designer would do for the same price Why would you think a novice on the web with Photoshop will automatically do better than a professional with experience and who is looking beyond making a cool design? Logos aren't just pieces of art — they also brand a company. Crowdsourcing will never match a professional brand designer.

And why would you think that a novice on the web with Photoshop _couldn't_ do better than a 'professional' with blah blah blah, especially when this new logo is amateur hour at best and utter crap at worst. I sincerely hope that the entire Internet is being trolled by The Gap on this one, given that the alternative is entirely depressing. Either that or this logo is legit, meant to last, will work on consumers, and i…

Is there any doubt that they were trolling with this new logo? It looked like a placeholder from the first moment I saw it, and I know nothing about design (see historious).

Re: Dear Gap, I have your new logo.

#103

Post by lwhi »

AjJi wrote: post #77
lwhi wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exposure where? The rhetoric involved is an extension of the line "I can't pay you for this, but you could use it in your portfolio". The whole process reeks of exploitation. It's bullshit, imo.

Crowd sourcing doesn't mean "no pay", you should probably check some quality crowd sourcing sites, like TopCoder.

I understand one person gets paid. This doesn't make the system any better.

The problem is, so many people are still put in a situation where they end up with no payment.

I'd still like to know where the remaining participants will gain exposure.

Re: Dear Gap, I have your new logo.

#104

Post by jstibbards »

ryanwaggoner wrote: post #16

I researched your customers. Talked to a variety of them, in fact. Asked them not only about The Gap, but about their own lives. Their needs. Anxieties. Their thoughts on the future. I took all that into account. I also interviewed employees in a few of your stores. (They’re quite dedicated, you know.) I asked them how they felt about the company and about their interactions with customers. Because customer service m…

I found it a little sarcastic; even snarky.

Re: Dear Gap, I have your new logo.

#105

Post by lwhi »

mfukar wrote: post #97
limedaring wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The winner gets paid, sure, but the "losers" get nothing for their time.

Which is exactly what would've happened if the "winner" was hired in the first place without crowdsourcing. What's your point?

No it isn't.

You have 99 people enter a crowdsourcing 'contest'. One design gets picked - and that person is paid.

98 people have worked on the project for nothing; which wouldn't be the case if the winner was hired in the first place.

Re: Dear Gap, I have your new logo.

#106

Post by lwhi »

jimboyoungblood wrote: post #10
ryanwaggoner wrote: post #4

Posts like this seem like the designer equivalent of the music labels spending years complaining about how sharing music is wrong and trying to put the "evil" back in Pandora's box, while millions of people merrily continue to download music off bittorrent anyway. The reality of the internet is that people can easily solicit work on spec from thousands of designers, and they will get good stuff in return. Will it be…

To be fair to the music labels, they at least have copyright law on their side. This is more like how professional journalists whine about bloggers.

.. or developers who complain about work being outsourced to cheaper economies.

Re: Dear Gap, I have your new logo.

#107

Post by mfukar »

lwhi wrote: post #105
mfukar wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which is exactly what would've happened if the "winner" was hired in the first place without crowdsourcing. What's your point?

No it isn't. You have 99 people enter a crowdsourcing 'contest'. One design gets picked - and that person is paid. 98 people have worked on the project for nothing; which wouldn't be the case if the winner was hired in the first place.

So, are you pleading for the designers' "fear" of this crowdsourcing trend, a fear based on their time being wasted because designs from other people may be better (for any subjective definition of the term)? Are you honestly saying with a straight face that designers should be awarded for any and all their efforts regardless of the quality of their work?

I'm sorry, but they should just suck it up and change. Like the world around them is.

PS: I don't remember the last time that people rewarded me or anybody else just for trying. Perhaps kindergarten, but I have no clear recollections of the daily scrums in there.

Re: Dear Gap, I have your new logo.

#108

Post by AjJi »

lwhi wrote: post #103
AjJi wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Crowd sourcing doesn't mean "no pay", you should probably check some quality crowd sourcing sites, like TopCoder.

I understand one person gets paid. This doesn't make the system any better. The problem is, so many people are still put in a situation where they end up with no payment. I'd still like to know where the remaining participants will gain exposure.

At Topcoder:

* Top2 get paid directly

* Top5 get points to be ranked in a monthly leaderboard, they'll eventually get paid depending on their ranking in that leaderboard.

* Winning/ranking good will help you get a position in a review board to review other submissions and then get paid.

* You still can participate in bugraces, which generally doesn't take too much time (hours or even minutes) and get paid accordingly.

This is just a small portion of how you can make money. Granted, it is not easy, but if you're good, well, you are good.

Gain exposure? Working with big clients, AOL, ferguson, lendingTree, and a lot more - Plus, If you have a job interview, you still can get a recommendation from TopCoder with a list of your winnings/projects (it's visible in your profile anyway)

I'm speaking from experience here, It's so wrong on many levels to put all crowd sourcing websites in the same basket.

Re: Dear Gap, I have your new logo.

#109

Post by lwhi »

mfukar wrote: post #107
lwhi wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No it isn't. You have 99 people enter a crowdsourcing 'contest'. One design gets picked - and that person is paid. 98 people have worked on the project for nothing; which wouldn't be the case if the winner was hired in the first place.

So, are you pleading for the designers' "fear" of this crowdsourcing trend, a fear based on their time being wasted because designs from other people may be better (for any subjective definition of the term)? Are you honestly saying with a straight face that designers should be awarded for any and all their efforts regardless of the quality of their work? I'm sorry, but they should just suck it up and change. Like th…

No. I'm not suggesting that all participants should be paid.

I'm suggesting that the model put forth by crowdsourcing is ill-thought out and unfair.

"[..] they should just suck it up and change. Like the world around them is."

I completely disagree. People who exploit others for their own personal gain should always be challenged.

Re: Dear Gap, I have your new logo.

#110

Post by megan »

ryanwaggoner wrote: post #4

Posts like this seem like the designer equivalent of the music labels spending years complaining about how sharing music is wrong and trying to put the "evil" back in Pandora's box, while millions of people merrily continue to download music off bittorrent anyway. The reality of the internet is that people can easily solicit work on spec from thousands of designers, and they will get good stuff in return. Will it be…

Came here to comment exactly this. Furthermore, the logo is just one part of their re-branded design, and just because Gap crowd sources their logo does not mean that they do not understand the value of paid professional designers to their business and brand overall. Gap has not downsized the design department based on this "newly discovered" brand-strategy.

And, as far as I can tell, the purpose of a logo is to provide a unique and memorable identity to the business/brand. Gap's PR/Social strategy here has reinforced their identity in ways that a professional re-redesign never could.

Gap's brand was tired, and quickly becoming forgotten after its late 90s peak... Suddenly people are talking about Gap again. You might view their response as innovative, manipulative, or your run-of-the-mill corporate spin, but there's no denying that it is a gracious response. And grand acts of public graciousness tend to reinforce rather positive feelings for a brand.

Post reply on HN