Comments on: 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.

By: Stephen Webb

Stephen Webb — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 08:58:39 +0000

This is an interesting insight into past design concepts, and is an interesting read considering all the fuss currently ongoing about iStock selling logos. Of course selling logos back in 1975 must have been a completely different task than selling them today on the internet, but some of the same issues are raised.

I’m sure back when this was published, designers were reacting to the idea of cheap stock logos similarly to today. There must have been talk of it ruining the industry, cheapening design and a fear that professional logo design would become obsolete. We should all take note that none of these were realised of course, and the industry carried on unaffected. Maybe with this in mind we should take reassurance that the whole iStock issue is nothing new, and it has all happened before without consequences, and the same will happen in this 21st century version of the Herring Design pamphlet!

By: Monica

Monica — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 08:07:00 +0000

It’s too smart and too hilarious! I like especially the Nazi Swastika hidden in the “Modern Trade Mark”. But now we have the internet, that makes thins lot more slippery.