[CODE4LIB] Code4Lib Logo?
I was in the middle of writing a blog post about Code4Lib going regional when it hit me -- here we have this incredibly successful brand and yet we lack a t-shirt. But I guess we lack a t-shirt because we lack a logo to put on it. The closest we get are the items that decorate our web site. Are we at the point where we're ready to establish an official graphic identity, that can grace our web site, journal, conference, etc.? I think so. So here's my proposal: we take some of the money that has been passed down from conference to conference and we hire a graphic designer to do a professional job of it. Branding is best not left to amateurs. We put together a committee of volunteers to handle it. I know of at least one design firm that I think would do a good job, since they just designed a t-shirt for OCLC that we really liked, and they were delighted to work with library coders. See http://www.sanchezcircuit.com/catalog/. There are no doubt others as well. One of the nice things about a logo is that although it establishes a solid graphic identity, it doesn't really take any organizational infrastructure to do it, which seems to fit right in with the c4l vibe. So am I crazy? Stupid? Or right? You decide. Roy
Re: [CODE4LIB] Code4Lib Logo?
I like the idea. A real logo would be nice. My one caveat is I'd still like everyone who'd like to have a voice to have one (I like voting). I'd be less in favor of a committee of volunteers to make the decision. I don't know how that would work with a professional graphic designer though. Could they give us several options and open it up to a vote? Kevin On Fri, Sep 19, 2008 at 11:29 PM, Roy Tennant [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I was in the middle of writing a blog post about Code4Lib going regional when it hit me -- here we have this incredibly successful brand and yet we lack a t-shirt. But I guess we lack a t-shirt because we lack a logo to put on it. The closest we get are the items that decorate our web site. Are we at the point where we're ready to establish an official graphic identity, that can grace our web site, journal, conference, etc.? I think so. So here's my proposal: we take some of the money that has been passed down from conference to conference and we hire a graphic designer to do a professional job of it. Branding is best not left to amateurs. We put together a committee of volunteers to handle it. I know of at least one design firm that I think would do a good job, since they just designed a t-shirt for OCLC that we really liked, and they were delighted to work with library coders. See http://www.sanchezcircuit.com/catalog/. There are no doubt others as well. One of the nice things about a logo is that although it establishes a solid graphic identity, it doesn't really take any organizational infrastructure to do it, which seems to fit right in with the c4l vibe. So am I crazy? Stupid? Or right? You decide. Roy -- There are two kinds of people in the world: those who believe there are two kinds of people and those who know better.
Re: [CODE4LIB] Code4Lib Logo?
I don't see that as a problem at all, typically designers will start with a few ideas, get feedback from the client, then make the final. The vote could identify the leading candidate, but then we would likely need to give some final guidance to the designer which would need to be distilled from group comments. We would also still need at one individual (/me takes one large step back) to be the designer contact. They won't want to deal with a group. But voting seems fine to me. Roy On 9/19/08 9/19/08 8:39 PM, Kevin S. Clarke [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I like the idea. A real logo would be nice. My one caveat is I'd still like everyone who'd like to have a voice to have one (I like voting). I'd be less in favor of a committee of volunteers to make the decision. I don't know how that would work with a professional graphic designer though. Could they give us several options and open it up to a vote? Kevin On Fri, Sep 19, 2008 at 11:29 PM, Roy Tennant [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I was in the middle of writing a blog post about Code4Lib going regional when it hit me -- here we have this incredibly successful brand and yet we lack a t-shirt. But I guess we lack a t-shirt because we lack a logo to put on it. The closest we get are the items that decorate our web site. Are we at the point where we're ready to establish an official graphic identity, that can grace our web site, journal, conference, etc.? I think so. So here's my proposal: we take some of the money that has been passed down from conference to conference and we hire a graphic designer to do a professional job of it. Branding is best not left to amateurs. We put together a committee of volunteers to handle it. I know of at least one design firm that I think would do a good job, since they just designed a t-shirt for OCLC that we really liked, and they were delighted to work with library coders. See http://www.sanchezcircuit.com/catalog/. There are no doubt others as well. One of the nice things about a logo is that although it establishes a solid graphic identity, it doesn't really take any organizational infrastructure to do it, which seems to fit right in with the c4l vibe. So am I crazy? Stupid? Or right? You decide. Roy --
Re: [CODE4LIB] Code4Lib Logo?
Well, looking at Software Freedom Day, which has somehow managed to get itself a logo with virtually no organizational infrastructure, I don't see why Code4Lib shouldn't. I suspect their logo design wasn't done by amateurs, however, even if they were volunteers. Of course they have a much larger, global base of volunteers... I think it's a cool idea. Carol On Sep 19, 2008, at 11:39 PM, Kevin S. Clarke wrote: I like the idea. A real logo would be nice. My one caveat is I'd still like everyone who'd like to have a voice to have one (I like voting). I'd be less in favor of a committee of volunteers to make the decision. I don't know how that would work with a professional graphic designer though. Could they give us several options and open it up to a vote? Kevin On Fri, Sep 19, 2008 at 11:29 PM, Roy Tennant [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I was in the middle of writing a blog post about Code4Lib going regional when it hit me -- here we have this incredibly successful brand and yet we lack a t-shirt. But I guess we lack a t-shirt because we lack a logo to put on it. The closest we get are the items that decorate our web site. Are we at the point where we're ready to establish an official graphic identity, that can grace our web site, journal, conference, etc.? I think so. So here's my proposal: we take some of the money that has been passed down from conference to conference and we hire a graphic designer to do a professional job of it. Branding is best not left to amateurs. We put together a committee of volunteers to handle it. I know of at least one design firm that I think would do a good job, since they just designed a t-shirt for OCLC that we really liked, and they were delighted to work with library coders. See http://www.sanchezcircuit.com/catalog/. There are no doubt others as well. One of the nice things about a logo is that although it establishes a solid graphic identity, it doesn't really take any organizational infrastructure to do it, which seems to fit right in with the c4l vibe. So am I crazy? Stupid? Or right? You decide. Roy -- There are two kinds of people in the world: those who believe there are two kinds of people and those who know better. Carol Bean [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: [CODE4LIB] Code4Lib Logo?
I am all for a logo, but I also agree with Kevin it needs to be a community based decision. I'm also not sold that we need a professional designed logo, but I'm not against it either. I can understand why a business would not want to leave it to amateurs (although I have seen some great logos created by design school students) but I'm not sure what a professional logo would give us that a community derived one wouldn't. Roy, what do you think that would be that would gain by using a professional logo company? Edward - actually wearing a code4lib conference t-shirt right now On Fri, Sep 19, 2008 at 11:48 PM, Carol Bean [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Well, looking at Software Freedom Day, which has somehow managed to get itself a logo with virtually no organizational infrastructure, I don't see why Code4Lib shouldn't. I suspect their logo design wasn't done by amateurs, however, even if they were volunteers. Of course they have a much larger, global base of volunteers... I think it's a cool idea. Carol On Sep 19, 2008, at 11:39 PM, Kevin S. Clarke wrote: I like the idea. A real logo would be nice. My one caveat is I'd still like everyone who'd like to have a voice to have one (I like voting). I'd be less in favor of a committee of volunteers to make the decision. I don't know how that would work with a professional graphic designer though. Could they give us several options and open it up to a vote? Kevin On Fri, Sep 19, 2008 at 11:29 PM, Roy Tennant [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I was in the middle of writing a blog post about Code4Lib going regional when it hit me -- here we have this incredibly successful brand and yet we lack a t-shirt. But I guess we lack a t-shirt because we lack a logo to put on it. The closest we get are the items that decorate our web site. Are we at the point where we're ready to establish an official graphic identity, that can grace our web site, journal, conference, etc.? I think so. So here's my proposal: we take some of the money that has been passed down from conference to conference and we hire a graphic designer to do a professional job of it. Branding is best not left to amateurs. We put together a committee of volunteers to handle it. I know of at least one design firm that I think would do a good job, since they just designed a t-shirt for OCLC that we really liked, and they were delighted to work with library coders. See http://www.sanchezcircuit.com/catalog/. There are no doubt others as well. One of the nice things about a logo is that although it establishes a solid graphic identity, it doesn't really take any organizational infrastructure to do it, which seems to fit right in with the c4l vibe. So am I crazy? Stupid? Or right? You decide. Roy -- There are two kinds of people in the world: those who believe there are two kinds of people and those who know better. Carol Bean [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: [CODE4LIB] Code4Lib Logo?
think it's a swell ideasolr is looking at a new logo, and this site came up on-list: http://99designs.com/ not endorsing, or painting a bikeshedjust a heads-up. rc
