Greenpeace has launched a campaign to redesign the BP logo, and there are around 300 entries uploaded to the Flickr set.

Original BP shield logo (below, designed by Raymond Loewy)

Amended BP shield

New BP logo (designed by Landor)

Newer BP logo? (From the Greenpeace Flickr set.)

“Behind the Logo” mentioned elsewhere

• Greenpeace calls for a slick redesign for BP, on Interbrand
• Redesign BP’s logo, on We Made This
• Design Baby, Design, on The Logo Factor
• Greenpeace Kicks Off Redesign Contest for BP’s Logo, on UnBeige
• BP Logo Gets Oily, on Fast Company

The Greenpeace competition is open in three categories — design professionals & students, a public category, one for under 18s. It runs until 28 June 2010.

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Many of you will know my stance against spec work, but it’s safe to say my opinion of the practice just got worse.

Backing up for just a moment, here’s the sales pitch on 99designs, one of the main spec work websites:

“We connect 56,816 passionate designers from around the globe with small businesses who need design projects completed. And, we do it in a timely fashion without the usual risk or cost associated with professional design.”

Disregarding the fallacy of the numbers game — recently examined here by Steve Douglas — let’s focus on how such companies minimise client cost.

If you consider “working on spec” a form of free work (i.e., the designer carries out a request in the mere hope of getting paid, with no guarantees), and if you consider that people under the age of 18 are covered by child labour laws, then by that definition, 99designs is keeping costs down through the use of unpaid child designers.

Member profiles show designers as young as 11 years old.

These screenshots are from 99designs (click for full size).

That’s how little spec work websites actually value design. They pitch the work of 11 year olds as a viable alternative to hiring professionals. Appallingly, the owners make this statement on their “About Us” page:

“It’s definitely a cliché but there’s no other way to describe it—99designs was started by designers for designers.”

It’s billed as “The leading marketplace for logo designs.” I don’t know what your definition of a leading business is, but I’d hazard a guess it doesn’t include said leader collecting its share of payment up-front, then having children provide the service, with each kid merely hoping to get paid.

It’s beyond me how these companies call themselves designers.

More info elsewhere:
Children designers on design contest & crowdsourcing sites?

——

Update: 28 January 2010
If you’re one of the budding designers featured above, I think it’s fantastic that you’re interested in the design profession. If you have any questions, or think I can help in any way, feel free to get in touch. I’ll do all I can.

——

Published on Logo Design Love

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The same freely available vector icon is entered into logo design contests on Crowdspring and 99designs.

The icon in question is available from Vecteezy and has been downloaded 45,149 times.

The usual “ripoff” accusations ensue amongst contest entrants.

The icon was the winning entry on Crowdspring, and upon submission, the designer had affirmed in their ‘disclosure’ that they had “created everything in [their] entry and [they] didn’t copy anyone else’s concept.”

And who entered the icon? Only the second most active “creative” on Crowdspring, having entered a total of 636 contests, winning 33 times.

Full info and links here on SpecWatch.

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AOL has released a statement previewing a new brand identity.

The company turned to Wolff Olins, who previous created logos for Wacom, (RED), and the London 2012 Olympics. Tim Armstrong, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of AOL, said:

“The new AOL brand identity is a simple, confident logotype, revealed by ever-changing images. It’s one consistent logo with countless ways to reveal. The new brand identity will be fully unveiled on December 10, when AOL common stock begins trading on the New York Stock Exchange.

“Our new identity is uniquely dynamic. Our business is focused on creating world-class experiences for consumers and AOL is centered on creative and talented people – employees, partners, and advertisers. We have a clear strategy that we are passionate about and we plan on standing behind the AOL brand as we take the company into the next decade.”

Although the AOL logo itself will be constant, the backgrounds will change continuously in an effort to suggest the breadth of AOL’s content.

The period in the logo was added to suggest “confidence, completeness,” said Sam Wilson, managing director at the Wolff Olins New York office, by declaring that “AOL is the place to go for the best content online, period.”

Tim Armstrong said he liked to describe the period as “the AOL dot” because “the dot is the pivot point for what comes after AOL,” whether it’s email, websites or coming offerings that will “surprise people.”

Here’s a video of Armstrong taking about the new brand identity. (Click here if you don’t see the embedded video below.)

“The constantly changing images behind the logo are also intended to elicit surprise,” said Sam Wilson and Jordan Crane, creative director at Wolff Olins New York.

An advertising campaign to promote the new look is being considered, said Maureen Marquess, chief of staff at AOL in New York, as is the role to be played by the AOL brand character, known as the running man.

AOL’s running man brand character

Whatever AOL does or does not do, Ms. Marquess said, there will be gibes from critics, whom she called “the snarkies” after the snarky comments they invariably make.

AOL’s old logo

AOL’s new logo

Call me one of “the snarkies,” but when I’m told a brand identity is “uniquely dynamic” my eyes start to glaze with thoughts of pumped-up marketing speak and telling clients what they want to hear.

Update: 25 November 2009
Tony Spaeth of Identity Works dropped by with a comment I see much sense in:

“My snarky two cents: The long term problem here is the original name decision — America, On Line? Six syllables (which forced initials) plus a counterproductive meaning — the Web is inherently and joyously global, isn’t it? AOL should now have faced up to this fundamental identity problem, which has been compounded of late by a performance reputation problem, and fixed it with a name change.

Instead, we have a design solution that diminishes, lower-cases, reverses and virtually hides the initials, as if apologizing for them. (It’s a visual equivalent of “if you have nothing to say, talk faster and louder.”)

To be sure, mutable wordmarks (visual play, around consistent letterforms) can be fun. Certainly, MTV and Nickelodeon showed you can get away with it on television, and Google has shown it can work on the Web. But are these particular “Aol.” letterforms a strong-enough visual anchor? Not clearly. Verbally, they are still a hole in the hull.

And are we now expected to write not AOL but Aol? (I refuse to add the period, in text.) And thus to speak it as a-awl, or a-owl? The punctuation of the logo introduces uncertainty of the name in text applications… which is not a good a way to build a stronger brand.”

How about you? Are you in favour?

AOL rebrand chat elsewhere

• AOL Revamps Its Logo, Hoping To Revive Brand, on NYTimes.com
• What designers think of AOL’s new logo, on guardian.co.uk
• Aol. A Shrunken New Logo for a Shrunken Company, on FastCompany
• New AOL logo, on The Huffington Post
• AOL Reveals Lame New Look & Logo, on GigaOM
• What do you think about the new AOL brand? on Liquid Agency
• New Shell for AOL, on Subtraction.com
• Aol. Generation. Next., on Brand New

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Update: 24 November 2009
Since publishing this post I have corrected the monetary value in the headline. It initially read £40,000 (as published by the Herald Express). The designer responsible for the logo has kindly commented correcting the amount. Thank you, Tessa.

According to the English coastal town blog What if Ilfracombe, the town recently spent £40,000 on an image revamp and new brand identity.

Ilfracombe—the small coastal town in Devon, England

Ilfracombe photo from me’nthedogs on Flickr

Ilfracombe’s new logo, reported to have cost £40,000 with a guidelines document

Tessa Martin of consultancy Fresh Bread Marketing said:

“Ilfracombe is a fresh, intriguing place to visit with an impressive landscape. It is steeped in and continues to offer a maritime experience and has a strong cultural theme with a fascinating Victorian heritage.

“The new Ilfracombe logo, with its idiosyncratic ‘swirl’ above the ‘i’ indicates intrigue, mystery and drama expressed with a spot of humour and fun too. It also reflects the twists and turns of the landscape and can conjure up thoughts of the seaside, sea, an ice-cream, the harbour and fish.”

Designers need to be good salespeople. No doubt. But as with all things in life, some of us are better than others.

Via Lee Newham.

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If the new Kellogg’s Corn Flakes with laser-etched logo is for publicity, then hat’s off. If it’s a legitimate marketing move an actual change of the cereal production process, isn’t it a needless use of energy and cash?

Landor calls it very cool. I call it a waste of money.

What do you think?

Photo courtesy of Mail Online

More here:

• Kellogg’s to laser-brand individual Corn Flakes
• Hoax, stunt or breakthrough?
• Kellogg’s says laser-etched Corn Flakes are real

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The logo board game. It’s all fun and games (apparently). Well, it is for the over 12s anyway—sorry kids.

Evolution of the LEGO logo. Such a simple product. If I was to tally the hours spent with it as a child, I reckon it’s easily triple figures.

Logo Design Love book available for pre-order. Time’s a pressin. Not long to go.

Commonwealth logo in overhaul. For the English out there.

The 9/11 Memorial brand identity. One of my favourite designs of the noughties.

New Doctor Who logo revealed. I’ve never been a big Doctor Who fan. I quite like the “tardis” monogram, but it’s not working so close to the type.

The Wolff Olins Guide to Corporate Identity. One I’d love to get my hands on.

Apple bites over Woolworths logo. A bit over the top from Apple’s legal team, no?

$500 logo design contest. 102 submissions. No winner. Same old.

85 automotive logos. No chat. No details. Just logos.

Yale University Press to ditch Paul Rand’s logo. Another one sadly bites the dust.

Tony Spaeth reviews Hilton’s new logo.

Punctuation-inspired logo designs. But none can match Pentagram’s Curious Pictures logo.

LEGO logos.

Google and LEGO have a fun and special history… The Google company founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, are both avid lovers of LEGO toys, as are many of the company’s employees.

New Nickelodeon identity. More contemporary, with consistency across networks, but more corporate and I’m not sure about the uppercase K.

Typembrya—a homage to Herb Lubalin’s Mother & Child logo.

To receive similar links before they’re published here, follow Logo Design Love on Twitter.

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In 1975, and in response to the trends of blandness and similarity in the trademark design of the day, designer Jerry Herring, of Herring Design in Houston, produced a satirical pamphlet advertising “Stock Trade Marks.” It was reprinted in the March/April 1999 issue of Communication Arts, and with the recent happenings at iStock, now seems like a good time to remind everyone that cheap “design” is certainly nothing new.

Here’s part of the May/June 1975 issue of Herring Design Quarterlies.

Stock Trade Marks

Dear corporation president, public relations director, or agency art buyer: Are you in need of a dynamic new image to replace the smoking smoke stacks you or your client is now using as a trade mark? Well, I’m sure the answer to that question is YES! But you’re hesitant to act because of the time, expense and uncertainty of selecting an image to represent you or your client.

That is precisely why Herring Design Studio of Houston, Texas has gone to the effort of preparing this collection of Stock Trade Marks. Long a leader in the design of trade marks and logotypes, HDS now draws on this vast experience to offer trade marks that are not only inexpensive, but can be used for almost any company.

So why not order a trade mark today? You may want to order one for yourself and all your subsidiaries.

When ordering specify the full name of the company and whether you want the trade mark centered over the name or to the right side. All the designs are available in black, green and blue. A few are available in red. Allow 2-3 weeks for delivery.

The World Trade Mark
Very versatile, although you should have at least one out-of-state office.

The Arrow Trade Mark
For companies on the move, on the way up, or on the go. Specify if you are going straight up or to the right.

The Star Trade Mark
Perfect for those doing movie, government, or occult work. Special clearance needed to use in red.

The Modern Trade Mark
Can be interpreted in many ways. An ideal choice when dealing with a committee.

The Tree Trade Mark
A must for a real estate project. Goes real well with woodsy names like Oakmont or Pinesap Apartments.

Communication Arts page spread

You can view more stock trade marks in the full Communication Arts page spread by downloading this PDF: Stock Trade Marks (376kb)

Thanks very much to James Bowie for the PDF tip.

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So iStock are to sell pre-packaged logos. They’re billing it as a “huge opportunity for designers”, and are giving $5 for every design that’s uploaded and approved for sale.

Given iStock’s size in the marketplace, I imagine there’ll be thousands of uploads. Wouldn’t that need a boat-load of copyright policing?

“We are placing the burden of checking for trademark-ability on the client.”

Oh. I see.

That’s a big burden. And whilst many designers won’t perform a trademark search (that’s where trademark lawyers come in) what they will do is conduct weeks, possibly months, of research into the client’s industry, their competitors, their history, their goals etc. So if there’s a decent chance of copyright infringement, it can be picked up early.

I’ve learned a lot during my years as a designer. One of those things is that a logo in isolation is like lipstick on a pig. It needs to be treated as part of an overall brand identity strategy, not picked off a shelf. This is no different from the “make your own logo” websites out there, or the logo contest spec work sites that harbour an equal amount of “design” nastiness.

iStock’s actions shouldn’t make designers worry

Many a professional photographer succeeds despite stock photography, but I am concerned for those small business owners who will undoubtedly find themselves in the middle of a legal battle, and for those professional designers who will undoubtedly find their work copied time and again by hacks looking for a quick five bucks.

Yep, it’s a good time to be a trademark lawyer.

More elsewhere

• AIGA President Debbie Millman, “What iStock is doing to designers is deplorable. Truly heinous.” Via Twitter
• Have we become cheap whores?
• iStockphoto to sell stock logos
• iStockphoto.com Now Selling Stock Logos… Your Thoughts?
• $5 Reward for Stock Logos
• iStockphoto to begin selling stock logos
• Window-shopping: the Future of Design?
• If you find yourself uncontrollably compelled to upload a logo, knock yourself out

What are your thoughts on the latest news?

——

Update: 06 October 2009
To be in with a chance of nabbing a $5 iStock bonus, I’ve created this nifty logo design tutorial that will set you on your way. Good luck!

——

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The Love Irish Food campaign has added its logo to the packaging of more than 30 of the Irish food market’s leading companies (including the likes of Tayto, Ballygowan, and Batchelors), so if the Food & Drink Devon legal team win in a case of trademark infringement, we’re looking at a multi-million-euro design blunder.

Love Irish Food didn’t reply to an invitation to comment on my post, but they did say this in The Times article:

“We are aware of the online debate that is happening, particularly on specialist design websites. The Love Irish Food logo is trademarked. It means it is a unique logo. We would prefer to focus on what Love Irish Food stands for rather than the logo itself.”

My idea of unique is quite different.

Tell me, if both logos are trademarked, and given how one of the most important trademarking factors involves logos in the same industry—as these two are—just how effective is the trademarking process? Is it money wasted? Does it depend on the quality of your trademark lawyer?

More questions than answers.

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