Interesting, although a bit strange to me ... is the author expecting existing projects to want to claim a logo and rename themselves, or are the names of the logos only placeholders?
Anyway, I think the "globe"[1] one is quite close to looking like AT&T's[2] which would at least make me a bit wary.
He does explain a little more if you click the "How it works." link.
I do agree with you about the globe / AT&T logo though. Steps[1] is also very similar to an old icon on Windows (I think it was a placeholder icon for Microsoft Visual C++ or Borland Builder projects? But can't rightly remember off hand)
Ahhh yes, that looks familiar. For some reason I don't remember it with lettering on it though. With the lettering the MFC and steps logos aren't actually that alike.
Are you gifting the copyright as well as the right to use the logo? Good practice is to mention this on the webpage to help people know where they stand. The two usual options are:
1. When you give the right to use the logo, you also give the copyright in the logo along with it; or
2. When you give the right to use the logo, you retain the copyright.
(Edit - at least from an EU perspective, you can also "assert your moral rights", which is a bit like requesting attribution. Or you can "waive your moral rights", which is like saying no attribution is necessary. This is an oversimplification but hits the main points.)
Are you gifting the copyright as well as the right to use the logo?
It’s not possible in every country for an author to waive his rights or gift the copyright. So I think it’s better to give a perpetual, open license that doesn’t restrict the usage rights?
Hey,
After giving the logo, project owner can do whatever she wants with it. I'm not expecting anything from them. They can credit the project with courtesy though.
An interesting scenario would if I use one of your logos for my project. Is that logo still available to be used by others? Potentially, more than one project could be using the same logo.
One logo can be only given to one project. This project will have all exclusive rights of the logo.
Every logo has one github issue that you can introduce your project to and claim.
Community can upvote your comment and you can upvote other projects as well under these issues.
Some of these are pretty nice. Although I'd say that one of the aspects that appealed to me in creating a new project was to design an, often terrible, logo for it.
Very nice! My only thought is that I wish you'd update it every week with new designs, and then sort of open it up so others can contribute their logo's for others to use, something like a logo-bazaar with regular updates. I think you'd attract quite a few artists willing to participate akin to DeviantArt, although with a commercial twist.
Bookmarked for another visit in a few months just to see what sort of progress you'll have made .. good luck!
Great idea. Honestly I was not expecting a big support like this. I hope the current state of the project can help some projects now and hopefully in the long term we can include new designers and help as much as project we can.
A few of these are great, however if you are serious about your OSS project, IMHO you should identify one that seems like a fit, and work with the author (paying him/her) in order to start a process to reach a logo that very uniquely and precisely represents your project.
Actually this is a fun, side project for me. So I didn't have any constraints in my mind. I designed some cool things that I like and shared. But reactions so far is great and I think it can help lots of projects with a different process as you mentioned. Thanks.
Another perspective is that you're a starving startup and grab a free logo to get started; if you ever get successful, you won't have forgotten that one logo and its artist that started you off back in the beginning, and then pay them for their contribution.
People forget everything, especially when there's a financial or emotional incentive to do so. This transcends any one field. It's a human trait. :( I've worked very hard personally because I recognized this to never forget the people who help me along the way.
Or at least give her/him credit prominently. For 5 years or so, I pretty much lived off from the people that came from a link on the footer on CakePHP, back when I was a freelancer.
It's a big improvement over having no logo at all. As someone who spends a chunk of time adding new open source tools to a directory, I'm thrilled this exists.
Quite a lot of these look _very_ close to existing brands. Close enough that if you do something similar to them using it you're probably going to need a lawyer.
In fairness, some of those are quite a stretch. Sure, there are vague similarities (colours, approximate shapes) which might have given you a sense of familiarity but I wouldn't say - for example - that moby and docker were that similar despite the familiar artistic styles. For starters, they're not even the same animal.
My point is that if you started a containerization startup called Moby using that logo, people would be upset.
Docker doesn't own whales in the same way Apple doesn't own the concept of apples (as much as they'd like to), but using "inspired by" logos in the same context as the logo you were inspired by can cause problems.
I would disagree that the examples you provide are similar. Perhaps similar in the sense that they use the same animal. Take Mr Jumbo and PHP, style is completely different, colour is similar, but then again it's the colour of an elephant. One is wearing a top hat, the other isn't.
cosmos and CircleCI, do you actually think they are similar? watchbob and datadog? Come on.
Mr Jumbo/PHP doesn't use an elephant logo. Is it the color you're concerned with? Mr Jumbo reminds me more of Bing Bong from Inside Out.
Foxy/Gitlab logo is _very_ close.
Moby/Docker is a stretch but I can see it a bit.
Steps/Webpack isn't that close. It looks closer to the old Windows Registry icon to me.
Fall/Endomondo seems like an obvious ripoff.
Apple I see no problem with (conceptually, at least. I wouldn't personally use something with an apple in the name/logo for obvious reasons.
Cosmos/CircleCI ehhhh, it reminds me more of the Colorado stickers I see all over, even using similar colors.
Watchbob/Datadog in no way are close aside from having dogs. Datadog has a very distinct, happy puppy look to it. It looks more like some sort of Jenkins clone in dog form to me, but it's distinct enough.
Most of these are more of a stretch to me than anything, although two of them do seem to be almost clones.
The only ones that really could run afoul of anything are foxy, moby, and charlie. The rest seem pretty unique. Anything is going to start getting congested when you have hundreds and hundreds or startups looking for unique identifiable items.
Hey,
I did not and have no intention to steal any creative property. If I mistakenly did anything bad to harm any kind of business or organization, I can delete what I created, as I don't want to spend time on zero sum games honestly. Here are some sketches, that will no prove anything also I guess :)
I certainly would not want to accuse you of theft. Inspiration certainly but not theft.
Hell, given how much advertising and branding we're constantly blasted with these days it doesn't even necessarily have to be conscious inspiration.
I'm convinced I've seen the "recurse" logo within the last month, but I've seen so many icons that I can't begin to speculate where.
No worries, I'm not offended. Biggest inspiration was reading Draplin Design Co.: Pretty Much Everything. Also http://logo.pizza/ and https://bootstraplogos.com/ were good projects as reference.
While I'm all for FOSS, I wouldn't use these. Branding is not the same as writing software, you're entering a den of protectionism, http://www.businessinsider.com/colors-that-are-trademarked-2.... Using these will result in a cease and desist if your product catches on.
Fyi, used to work in branding and trademark disputes were common.
Is that true for open source software that is not making any money? I would be very surprised if a big company went after someone maintaining an open source project.
That would be some pretty terrible PR:
“Billion dollar company X sues open source developer because the shade of blue used in their logo is too similar.
A spokesperson for X said that ‘Although they are releasing this software for free to help the community, we can’t have people being confused about the shade of blue they used.’”
No. That’s the opposite. That’s a small company taking on a big one and winning. The OP that I was replying to was talking about big companies going after minnows.
I think I see where you are going with this and am interested in how your pricing is working out.
You seem to have a flat monthly fee structure - and at a fairly "high" price point. If I was "just" looking for a logo I could pay your monthly fee just once at somewhere like 99designs, so I might not take retainer. But if I had greater needs for design 250 a month would be a bargain and you are too low and you will be doing a lot of work for nearly zero.
To get a decent logo/branding done, one would have to spend around $200-$400 where we can provide 1 month retainer for almost similar price point, which is the real bargain! One could get their Logo, Stationery or anything else designed with the same price point.
I love the rent-an-in-house-designer concept - it solves a big mental block I have had with the 99designs style approach.
However I get the feeling your price point may be too low - there is a lot of value a designer can add, not just in "logos and stationary", and that can mean a lot of work - I guess you just have to suck it and see.
Which takes me to tiers - it's a lot easier to have the "you are now in the platinum tier" conversation than the "stop asking me to do a full time gig on 200 bucks"
As it is so hard to guess how much work, and you want to get away from
looking like it's piece work, can I suggest offering streams of work. Bear with me
Logos and stationary are one basic stream of work.
But the long term gigs will probably come from two classes of company - mid sized firms wanting to get in-house designers to revamp the existing art work to be more consistent, and I strongly suspect internal enterprise teams wanting to build distinctive internal brands
That to my mind gives three streams - the try-me-out level of logos and stationary, the internal branding and the wider revamp. Each feels like increasing amounts of complex work. but each feels like a distinct market, and with levels inside
Edit
I guess the internal brand one is most exciting to me - give developers a pattern library for their app, and keep adding to it as they add features or work. A bootstrap/react pattern library that you can retheme would probably go long way?
122 comments
[ 3.3 ms ] story [ 186 ms ] threadAnyway, I think the "globe"[1] one is quite close to looking like AT&T's[2] which would at least make me a bit wary.
[1] https://github.com/arasatasaygin/openlogos/issues/24
[2] https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:AT%26T_logo_2016.svg
I do agree with you about the globe / AT&T logo though. Steps[1] is also very similar to an old icon on Windows (I think it was a placeholder icon for Microsoft Visual C++ or Borland Builder projects? But can't rightly remember off hand)
[1] http://openlogos.org/logos/steps.jpg
https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/vcblog/2017/02/27/happy-25t...
1. When you give the right to use the logo, you also give the copyright in the logo along with it; or
2. When you give the right to use the logo, you retain the copyright.
(Edit - at least from an EU perspective, you can also "assert your moral rights", which is a bit like requesting attribution. Or you can "waive your moral rights", which is like saying no attribution is necessary. This is an oversimplification but hits the main points.)
It’s not possible in every country for an author to waive his rights or gift the copyright. So I think it’s better to give a perpetual, open license that doesn’t restrict the usage rights?
Bookmarked for another visit in a few months just to see what sort of progress you'll have made .. good luck!
Great work OP!
My point is that if you started a containerization startup called Moby using that logo, people would be upset.
Docker doesn't own whales in the same way Apple doesn't own the concept of apples (as much as they'd like to), but using "inspired by" logos in the same context as the logo you were inspired by can cause problems.
Apologies for disagreeing with you earlier. :)
[0] https://raw.githubusercontent.com/gitlabhq/gitlabhq/master/a...
[1] https://github.com/gitlabhq/gitlabhq/blob/master/doc/develop...
cosmos and CircleCI, do you actually think they are similar? watchbob and datadog? Come on.
Foxy/Gitlab logo is _very_ close.
Moby/Docker is a stretch but I can see it a bit.
Steps/Webpack isn't that close. It looks closer to the old Windows Registry icon to me.
Fall/Endomondo seems like an obvious ripoff.
Apple I see no problem with (conceptually, at least. I wouldn't personally use something with an apple in the name/logo for obvious reasons.
Cosmos/CircleCI ehhhh, it reminds me more of the Colorado stickers I see all over, even using similar colors.
Watchbob/Datadog in no way are close aside from having dogs. Datadog has a very distinct, happy puppy look to it. It looks more like some sort of Jenkins clone in dog form to me, but it's distinct enough.
Most of these are more of a stretch to me than anything, although two of them do seem to be almost clones.
https://seeklogo.com/images/P/php-logo-ADE513E748-seeklogo.c...
https://secure.php.net/download-logos.php
- the fall: reminded me of the old packard bell logo
- steps: similar to some of the aws icons
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1LolhGR_OIaSmyX8YMQYEQK8VUHI...
https://drive.google.com/file/d/11tEr6HJI795UvR3BrDwv0JlKBO_...
Hell, given how much advertising and branding we're constantly blasted with these days it doesn't even necessarily have to be conscious inspiration. I'm convinced I've seen the "recurse" logo within the last month, but I've seen so many icons that I can't begin to speculate where.
Fyi, used to work in branding and trademark disputes were common.
That would be some pretty terrible PR:
“Billion dollar company X sues open source developer because the shade of blue used in their logo is too similar.
A spokesperson for X said that ‘Although they are releasing this software for free to help the community, we can’t have people being confused about the shade of blue they used.’”
It almost sounds like an Onion article to me.
It’s a little different too since she was actually selling products with her logo on them vs. developing free software, but good point.
https://nypost.com/2017/05/20/paypal-sues-pandora-over-simil...
http://designtaxi.com/news/361608/Starbucks-Sues-Bangkok-Cof...
https://www.designweek.co.uk/issues/15-21-january-2018/formu...
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/nike-sues-over-copied-air-jorda...
You seem to have a flat monthly fee structure - and at a fairly "high" price point. If I was "just" looking for a logo I could pay your monthly fee just once at somewhere like 99designs, so I might not take retainer. But if I had greater needs for design 250 a month would be a bargain and you are too low and you will be doing a lot of work for nearly zero.
How has it been working out?
Have you considered tiered pricing ?
It has been working out really great, We have launched around more than month back and we are at $3,325 in MRR. We are writing our journey here : Zero to $3,325 MRR in 30 days (http://draftss.com/blog/index.php/2018/06/18/zero-to-3325-mr...)
We are looking for a strong feedback on our pricing model. What do you mean about tiered pricing? Would love to know more :)
However I get the feeling your price point may be too low - there is a lot of value a designer can add, not just in "logos and stationary", and that can mean a lot of work - I guess you just have to suck it and see.
Which takes me to tiers - it's a lot easier to have the "you are now in the platinum tier" conversation than the "stop asking me to do a full time gig on 200 bucks"
As it is so hard to guess how much work, and you want to get away from looking like it's piece work, can I suggest offering streams of work. Bear with me
Logos and stationary are one basic stream of work. But the long term gigs will probably come from two classes of company - mid sized firms wanting to get in-house designers to revamp the existing art work to be more consistent, and I strongly suspect internal enterprise teams wanting to build distinctive internal brands
That to my mind gives three streams - the try-me-out level of logos and stationary, the internal branding and the wider revamp. Each feels like increasing amounts of complex work. but each feels like a distinct market, and with levels inside
Edit I guess the internal brand one is most exciting to me - give developers a pattern library for their app, and keep adding to it as they add features or work. A bootstrap/react pattern library that you can retheme would probably go long way?