Human Rights logo selected

Sep 24, 2011read the 44 comments

“From over 15,000 submission from more than 190 countries, people have chosen a winner. The Human Rights logo will become an open source product, free to be used by everyone, everywhere, without restrictions — for the purpose of promoting Human Rights.

Quoted from Logo Design Challenge for Human Rights.

After contention surrounding the voting process, voiced in the comment threads of each news post, a logo has finally been selected to represent human rights.

Rahav Segev/photopass.com

The “free as a man” design, based upon a human hand and a bird in flight, was created by Serbian designer Predrag Stakić. The 32-year-old Belgrade-born designer will pocket €5,000 for having his design selected.

Photo credit

My opinion on the contest in general is still the same, but here’s to every success for those who submitted the 15,000+ designs.

Elsewhere:
Human Rights Logo Unveiled in New York
Serbian designer wins competition for a global human rights logo

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44 appreciated comments, click here to add one

Andrew Sabatier

The meaning is a bit tenuous and perhaps a little ‘peaceful’ considering the hard-hitting issues and seriousness of Human Rights in general, but admittedly it’s a lovely brandmark. It’s been very nicely designed…

Sep 24th, 2011
Paul Murray

I expected much worse to be honest. I don’t think it’s too bad (could be better), but I still can’t believe they decided to crowdsource the HR logo.

Sep 24th, 2011
Michael Burgstahler

A german site reports that Serbian designer Predrag Štakić made the logo.

Source [German]: http://www.designtagebuch.de/sieger-des-human-rights-wettbewerbs/

Sep 24th, 2011
Adrian

I think the general idea is actually pretty clever, but the execution is in my eyes crude. Why combine organic forms with those sharp straight vectors on the wings? Also, why not flip the image so that the dove is flying in the other direction? Would seem more natural to this left-to-right reader. Granted this may not be a problem in other parts of the world. Not sure if a raised hand can have negative connotations in some non-western cultures but with such a diverse jury, hopefully someone would have objected (dare I say: “raised their hand”?) if this was the case.

My conclusion: Could have been allot worse.

Sep 24th, 2011
sahadev

Well, personally i feel that if its seen from a pure design perspective, its solid, its easy to interpret, easy to reproduce, but does is still fit into the context of human rights is a big question…

we all know that a dove has always been used as a symbol for peace and it fits the context of peace perfectly because of the association of dove as a caring, friendly symbol.

Also, the winning entry looks to me like an airline logo – something like a modified Singapore Airlines logo. Not that it is not nice, but just as a critic and to point out.

Personally, i feel that a logo for human rights should be a really bold symbol.

Sep 24th, 2011
Fabian

Great logo, this cat nailed it!

Sep 24th, 2011
quentin

I think a lot of the outrage seems to be misdirected. It’s difficult in these types of ‘contests’ to determine if some of the vocal people are angry because of the process, or just because they thought their design (or their favorite design) was better than what was chosen. It’s a problem with crowd-sourcing design to being with, and, on top of that, crowd-sourcing the choosing of the designs. This just happened to be a very high profile initiative. It should have never been crowd-sourced to begin with. Ignoring the whole ‘spec work’ angle and arguments on both sides of that issue, this was simply too big to be ran perfectly.

Sep 24th, 2011
Stephen Lee Ogden

“Without restrictions … for the purpose of promoting human rights” … sounds like a restriction. I’m going to use this for a new chicken finger & wing brand. Change the color to red-orange and I’m good to go. Thanks open source.

Seriously … crowd sourcing might not be a human rights violation, but it’s close in my book.

Sep 25th, 2011
vukan

although crowdsourced, it`s a great logo!

Sep 25th, 2011
AP

Well, if the designer intended to show three sharp knife blades attacking a clinical-looking uterus/phallus image as a commentary on reproductive rights, it’s successful.

If not, this should have been considered only a half-way step in the design process that eventually might lead to something compelling and universal.

Sorry, #FAIL

Sep 25th, 2011
Dylan

Wow, to think that 14,999 people from 190 countries worked for free designing a human rights logo. Cool design from the winner, but the semantics of this contest are a kinda hypocritical.

I do see a big nipple in the hand form, though. Cute.

Sep 25th, 2011
Nic Eldridge

It’s a nice idea but it looks like an early stage concept. It needs a few weeks worth of crafting to get it absolutely right.

That’s the problem with crowdsourced logos, there is no opportunity to refine the execution of the symbol once it is selected.

Sep 26th, 2011
Vinay Pateel

Nice logo – eye catching, simple and moderately clever.
Though we as designers can pick as many faults as we want, the logo is out there and ‘flying’. At least this one’s better than the millions of other logos which are outright ugly!

That said, I would’ve loved some more negative space in the placard thingy there..

Sep 26th, 2011
Hector Cavavin

Nice work – and he’ll get paid for it.
Too bad for the 14999 ones, haha.

Sep 26th, 2011
Kelly

I like the mix of the bird and hand but like Andrew said, it’s got that ‘peace’ feeling to it as it looks like a dove which in my opinion is quite overused. I also don’t agree with Free as a ‘Man’ name as it’s human rights which includes both genders, not male rights. None-the-less, it’s still a nice mark and I like the slight gradient of it.

Sep 26th, 2011
iain

For a moment, I thought Pete Doherty had won.

Sep 26th, 2011
Paul Murray

After looking at the logo again it has really grown on me.

Seeing an example of it stencilled onto a concrete wall, thus losing some of it’s peacefulness, I can now imagine it being replicated the world over by people in need of help and could come to be an incredibly iconic symbol.

http://www.dw-world.de/image/0,,15412910_1,00.jpg

Whilst I certainly don’t agree with the crowdsourcing approach to the design, I do think Predrag has done a great job with it and offer my congratulations.

Sep 26th, 2011
Andrew Sabatier

@Nic Eldridge ‘A few weeks worth of crafting to get right’… you have got to be joking. This suggests that you sell an over-blown design-led process – as opposed to strategy-led brand creation process, which, by far, adds more value to an identity than design ever does. The brandmark is complete. It’s been designed. It is what it is. And it’s unlikely to ever be improved any further in a design-led process. Job done.

I’ve called this symbol a brandmark, which, by my normal measure of what constitutes an effective brand, is very generous. Perhaps I’ve been seduced by the competent design, despite not being entirely convinced by the content it carries. In the absence of any other likely contenders (or any of my own submissions) it’s a facile win that I’m happy to support, up to a point. There doesn’t really appear to be much at stake other than wishful thinking similar to ‘global peace’.

All things considered, this project got lucky. Perhaps it attracted enough goodwill to draw out (or perhaps more accurately ‘design out’) a relatively competent solution, considering all the rubbish that has been generated. To my mind a lot of time, money and energy has been wasted. I also suspect that the celebration will be short-lived and the whole initiative will be quickly forgotten.

At best, we’ll see a nicely designed but inane symbol signing off Human Rights initiatives. At worst, attempts to have the symbol lead anything serious will get it mocked into obscurity.

Sep 26th, 2011
Giulietta Nardone

Congrats on his win. He did receive a nice payment. Often crowdsourced logos get a paltry amount.

The white space in the middle of the hand might have been formed into something that held meaning. Other than that, it’s simple and memorable.

Not sure I saw the dove right away. And the spine/hand does feel sharp to me when hands are rounded. It also depends on the criteria the choosers chose. Maybe the sharpness did not bother them. A subjective process I’m sure.

g.

Sep 26th, 2011
Chris

Great, that’s all we need . . . an example for companies to use in support of their bullshit crowdsourcing agenda!

Sep 26th, 2011
monroe

It was one of the better ones considering the company it kept in the top 10. It doesn’t really pronounce ‘human rights’ to me, but ‘peace’? It’s a nice logo, but I find a disconnect with issues HR is concerned with. Not sure how accessible its execution would be for a common person with the dove/hand nuances, not really as easy to scribble out as the peace icon etc. which the competition was after. Nice payday for 1 person, at least.

Sep 27th, 2011
Micha

great idea, executed rather badly.

looks like a cheap illustrator tutorial…

a shame

Sep 27th, 2011
Mazza

Excellent logo and an excellent idea to crowdsource it! The Olympics London 2012′s hideous logo is what you get when you don’t crowdsource.

Sep 27th, 2011
Kristin Harvey

The irony here speaks louder than the finished mark. The process to create this identity for “human rights” required work on spec – one of the biggest ethical plights of the graphic design field. What were they thinking?

Granted, the cause is so important and the more communication on the issue the better. I think the mark is great – just hope its use is stewarded better than its creation.

Sep 27th, 2011
Marco

I think it’s great. Clear, memorable and well executed.
Not too sold in the crowdsourcing bit, though.

Sep 28th, 2011
Eric

The irony of it is that they used unpaid labor to create a logo for human rights.

Sep 28th, 2011
Andrew Sabatier

This idea that crowdsourcing is unethical needs to get nipped in the bud.

The apparent irony is only wishful thinking in what appears to be naive efforts to uncover dirt on a project that appears significant. Expecting to get paid for work that isn’t worth much isn’t a Human Right it’s a Human Folly.

What is a Human Right is education but this is only basic education. The thinking associated with brands is arguably at the pinnacle of human education and so it should come as no surprise that everyone wants a piece of this action.

Crowdsourcing has done a very good job of uncovering the real value of logos. Crowdsourcing forces designers to think more carefully about how they add value to identity projects.

If young designers want to point the finger somewhere for unethical practice then they should ask some tough questions of the educational institutions who took their money and sold them worthless ideas.

Sep 28th, 2011
Stephen Lee Ogden

@ Andrew :::: High Five :::: on the comment about design educational institutions. I see your argument against bashing crowdsourcing but don’t agree with it fully.

My company has never suffered from clients sourcing out projects and I have never participated in speculative design. The existence of both don’t really hurt me … today. And like you pointed out, might actually increase the value of my work. Crowdsourcing turns branding into a beauty contest … when ‘beauty’ is not a solution to every branding problem.

Sep 28th, 2011
Kevin Muldoon

Brilliant design. Though, I’ve gotten out of the crowd sourcing racket myself, you have to hand it to them. They got a great mark worth far more than the 5,000 they paid.

Sep 28th, 2011
Anna Funk

The idea of the design is nice, but I didn’t see the bird in flight at first. All I could think was, ” Who shot a hole in that poor person’s hand?”

Sep 30th, 2011
Ashley B.

Fine logo but the concept looks suspiciously similar to Le Corbusier’s Open Hand.

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/media/96443/Open-hand-sculpture-by-Le-Corbusier-Chandigarh-India

Sep 30th, 2011
noric

Way I see it, it’s actually two hands. One opened up and the other in the negative space that seems to be clasping it from behind (the thumb from it extends to the palm of the front hand, and forms the gap between neck and wing of the bird figure formed).

It’s all kinda cool, and I still think it’s a great symbol, only it makes me want to see the brief first.

Sep 30th, 2011
Tobi Laniyan

I like, they went for the right one! Its bold and clever play on the bird & hand :)

Oct 3rd, 2011
Dylan

Think I saw that same mark on the side of a lawnmower with the circle&slash through it under “WARNING!”.

Oct 4th, 2011
Stephen Lee Ogden

@ Dylan … that’s hilarious. I thought it rather playful myself.

Oct 4th, 2011
Patrick

The dove/hand may be a great design but it’s not what they wanted to get. They looked for something that everybody can draw in a minute! The international jury did not see that this is impossible with the dove/hand.

Oct 4th, 2011
Theo

I strongly believe that it does not have the power to put more credibility to the cause itself so i think it is worthless.

Oct 4th, 2011
Analisa

The negative space above the head/neck of the bird/thumb looks like a uvula. Like the hand is going to grab a uvula. What a weird shape to choose.

Oct 5th, 2011
Zoe

Another logo that looks like another logo, for Serbian Refugee Council.

http://38one.com/images/uploads/logofolio/logofolio-src-1.png

Oct 14th, 2011
Callum

Check out Pentagrams logo for Truce International. Hard to see it here on this ball – it’s the same gist.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/fameandfortune/3545499/Nancy-DellOlio-My-dream-was-achieved-when-I-set-up-Truce-International-with-Sven.html

For a better look – see page 281 of Logo(the book).

Oct 21st, 2011
Paul Murray

Another similar idea(probably just coincidence though);

http://logopond.com/gallery/detail/101448

Oct 30th, 2011
Efflam

“The dove/hand may be a great design but it’s not what they wanted to get. They looked for something that everybody can draw in a minute!”
+1

They wanted a symbol and they got a logo instead.

I wish this contest was still open. There must be something better to propose…

Apr 22nd, 2012
jonathan

Hello,
I am Jonathan Farma, founder of forum for amnesty & anti violence mmcet college in sierra leone. This organisation was formed two years back to protect human rights injustices and fight against violence, however, we have been looking for an attractive and symbolic logo to use, and I have found this one which is very unique for us. In light of the above, we are kindly asking for consent to use it as our symbol. Please send reply to j2farma2@yahoo.com.
Regards,
Jonathan
Freetown
Sierra Leone

Jan 29th, 2013