Comments on: Stock trade marks from 1975

By: Dom

Dom — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 13:42:03 +0000

Nice Suggestive Selling on Herring’s part. I’m glad that I’m not the only one who caught the subliminal swastika sign in the “Modern Trade Mark”. Where is the creativity? Great article!

By: Brandstack closes, leaves designers out of pocket | Logo Design Love

Brandstack closes, leaves designers out of pocket | Logo Design Love — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 13:28:26 +0000

[...] from the archives: Stock trade marks from 1975 [...]

By: David Airey

David Airey — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 19:34:31 +0000

I know how you feel, Al. With my name, I tried plenty of ideas with wings, space, and anything dairy. They could’ve worked well, but who knows?

By: Al

Al — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 18:32:04 +0000

Haaa I love this kind of stuff!! If I’m honest one of my guilty pleasures is to see the use of blatantly obvious graphic marks, I’ve always thought there’s a place for it as sometimes a project cries out for you to use one. Personally, not a fan of the istock move, stupid ass idea and can’t see how that’s even gonna work, adds more fuel to my hatred of ready made graphics, like all these vector packs that give companies the ammo to produce so called ‘amazing tee shirt designs’.

My name is Woods and yep, I did a ton of logo ideas using trees, not because I had no ideas but because, like I say, I love blatantly obvious ideas sometimes, especially if done well.

I didn’t stick with it though.

By: Se ha liao parda, iStock ahora vende logos » Criterion

Se ha liao parda, iStock ahora vende logos » Criterion — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 18:44:53 +0000

[...] su nota de prensa si habéis usado sus servicios alguna vez o si permanecéis al tanto del tema en Logo Design Love [en] y/o Brand New [...]

By: Nicola

Nicola — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 08:04:49 +0000

This is brilliant! Very funny. Herring completely hits the nail on the head when he mocks that they ‘can be used for almost any company’. This is exactly the problem with any kind of cheap ‘stock’ logo design – the client is ending up with something generic, bland and meaningless. Hopefully companies looking for a true ‘brand identity’ will realise that this can’t be achieved through sources such as iStock – the mechanic and the florist in the village would regret it when they both end up choosing the same ‘mark’. Also, surely this whole iStock thing is going to end in huge lawsuits when professionally designed logos are ripped off. The essence of a trademark is that it is unique, bespoke and communicates what the product or company is all about. What iStock is doing is taking advantage of those companies who do not realise the important of this.

By: Steve Nealy

Steve Nealy — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 18:46:32 +0000

I have a blog post about this as well. Long story short, Jerry Herring was my next door neighbor’s uncle; I remember he’d tell her how amazed he was at the responses back then and how companies would call and ask for pricing. It was, of course, all done tongue in cheek and sent out to the firm’s friends (the original mailing lists!). Clearly, not all were in on the joke.

By: Rob Russo

Rob Russo — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 15:08:50 +0000

Both brilliant and hilarious.

By: ant

ant — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 14:40:50 +0000

I know it’s a joke, but could companies order them from him? If not what would happen in they tried to?

By: David Airey

David Airey — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 09:29:26 +0000

Hand-written letters are becoming a lost art, Jeff. So much so, they’re a great way to get the attention of the recipient.

Stephen, given that I hadn’t entered the world when this was written, I can’t comment on what it was like selling identity design back then. But I reckon things haven’t changed as much as you suggest. We still focus on the decision-maker. We still deal with committees. We still work to keep control of the presentational conversation.

I completely agree about the reassurance, though. Nothing new. And those looking to make a quick buck will work to commoditize whatever they can.