I’m not sure about this one. A Lexington-based company has developed a new way of getting corporate logos all up in our face. By filling the sky with them. Snowmasters - better known for creating artificial snow - has developed a method of floating logos (and other simple icons) across the sky, opening up yet another way of advertisers to pump their brands to a largely captive audience. Basically anyone who’s outside.

Known as Flogos (combination of ‘flying’ and ‘logos’) the technique combines helium, oxygen (and some secret stuff) to produces a foamy substance that looks and floats very much like a cloud. Using stencils, the substance can be molded into almost any basic shape. And that means Flogos can be converted into objects such as Disney’s Mickey Mouse ears, the Atlanta Braves Tomahawk and the Peace Sign (pictured). More or less, whatever shape a company or organization wants, the company can develop a stencil for it. And that means company logos aplenty.

Depending on the foamy formula used, Flogos hover at heights of 300 to 500 feet, can travel for 20 to 30 miles before safely (and without any environmental impact) breaking up. According to inventors Francisco Guerra and Brian Glover, Flogos can bounce of buildings without breaking up (that is kinda cool) and can sometimes reach altitudes of 20,000 feet if weather conditions permit (pilots will just love that).

The equipment required to launch your own Flogos can be leased for about $2500 a day and the company is in development talks with some fairly large advertisers who’ve shown more than a passing interest. While the first release of the product is restricted to white only, there are plans for introducing various colors. Must admit, and despite whatever reservations I do have, this could be a huge hit for Snowmasters.

But I gotta ask - do we really need cloud spam cluttering up the summer sky? While it has a certain geek charm, and sure to amaze first time viewers, this is something that could get annoying real fast if the company’s as successful as they hope to be, looks like they might be, and a lot of companies jump on the wagon, pumping their flippin’ Flogos out wherever a crowd gathers. Some safety concerns too.

In an Time Daily feature on the product, a company described reactions to test Flogos floating out of the factory -

Motorists in the area literally have stopped and gotten out of their vehicles to take a closer look when they see a floating Flogo that the company is testing from its plant on (Hwy) Lauderdale 7

Great. Cars stopping in the middle of the highway to watch a sudsy advertisement float by. Not a good idea people. Not a good idea. Anyway, you can check out more about Flogos on their website flogos.net.

From the Sometimes You Can’t Catch a Break Dept. DataPortability WorkGroup is a new tech project aiming to allow users to control how their info is distributed through social networks. Released to otherwise positive reviews, the group encountered a major hurdle back in February - a cease and desist letter from Linux developers RedHat regarding the upstart’s logo. RedHat claimed that DataPortability’s infinity design (above left) bore more than a passing likeness to a RedHat trademark (above right), and suggested that the new company stop using it - or else. Typical legal stuff.

Rather than getting into a legal skirmish with the more established RedHat, DataPortability were advised by users and fans to just move on. “Do not spend 0.001% of your mindshare, time, or energy, worrying about a logo! Get a different logo” was one plea. TechCrunch, a popular tech blog, likewise suggested the battle wouldn’t be worth it and that the company simply “have a contest and let fans create a new logo for you”.

And so they did.

Well, that didn’t work out so well either. Selected on April 18, the digital ink wasn’t even dry on the winning contest entry (above left) when DataPortability received yet another cease & desist - this time from entertainment giant Vivendi claiming the second shot at the logo bore an unacceptable likeness to the graphic trademark for their French based file sharing service ZAOZA (above right). And just like the first time DataPortability are moving on to yet another logo attempt. As co-founder Chris Saad is quoted in the TechCrunch piece:

We’re going to speak with our lawyers, tweak it slightly and move on. These C&D tactics are really disappointing and counterproductive. We’d really rather everyone focused on the Technical Best Practice Drafts we released last week.

As much as I might be tempted to launch into another logo contest rant, I don’t think that’s the real issue here. What we can learn from this has more to do with the over-saturation of logos, trademarks and various graphic bits and pieces scattered all over the globe. The corporate landscape is becoming an increasingly cluttered marketplace with everyone and their brother trying to carve out their own brand niche. We can also conclude that the internet’s made it much easier to find supposedly infringing designs, so it’s generally not a good idea to copy anyone (relax - not claiming that happened here). And when it comes to designing a logo, probably worth your while to do a whole bunch of research into who’s already claimed what.

Cause there’s another important lesson here - trademark lawyers have a lot of time on their hands.

Clients generally want their logo Big. Bigger. Biggest. But what about the other end of the spectrum. Teensy, weensy logos? If you were wondering (and I know you were) the distinction of having the smallest logo in the world belongs to Oregon State University - after their sports team logo was used by OSU researchers developing tools for work in nanotechnology. The tiny tip used to create the famous beaver logo as the smallest design (evah!) is just over 100,000 times smaller than the tip of a ballpoint pen - the width of a single protein molecule. The end result is so small it can’t even be seen with any optical microscope available today. While designs of this size probably aren’t any use in marketing stuff (duh!), the underlying technology has some very practical applications.

“In the nanolithographic work we’re doing for carbon nanotube and graphene electronics experiments, we need to be able to draw and cut in very careful patterns,” said Jorg Bochterle, an OSU physics exchange student from Germany. “So we started drawing some recognizable patterns. This was actually a very useful exercise.”

The pen used to draw the images is controlled by an atomic force microscope, capable of drawing lines that are accurate down to the size of a single molecule. Kinda cool geek-porn for those who are so inclined.

And if you’ll notice - 100% Bitter Free.

Fans of Montreal hockey team the Canadiens (nicknamed The Habs to the truly devoted) are known for their enthusiasm, especially when the team is within striking distance of the Stanley Cup - the swansong highlight of the NHL hockey season . As was the case for Montreal firefighters who decided to demonstrate their team loyalty by plastering the Canadiens’ logo over 60 or so fire stations across the city. Not being a terribly fan of hockey (yeah, I know, blasphemy) even I don’t see an issue with this. Fans see sports team logos as a flag under which to rally, and the emblems are featured on everything from sweaters, T-shirts, car flags and - on game day - faces and torsos. Why should firefighters be any different?

I don’t think they should, but Montreal city officials think otherwise, engaging in a campaign to remove any logos from stations - deeming the murals graffiti - and dispatching personnel to scrub the larger-than-life team logos off walls and windows. The firefighters union took umbrage - calling the move ridiculous - and the logo issue has developed into a public fracas, pitting hockey fans against the city itself. The fact that there’s already some bad blood between both sides, the result of a protracted contract dispute, only fueled the standoff.

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I’ve always been a fan of Apple. Have used a Macintosh beginning in the mid-90s (shortly after my beloved Commodore Amiga desktop went belly-up for the last time). We use Apples at the shop, and an iPod is a permanent fixture on every vehicle I own. Once my Blackberry gives up the ghost, I’ll probably pick up a snappy new iPhone as well. Apple creates cool stuff, and for the most part, the company seems, well, cool too.

Sometimes however, corporate meanness gets in the way of cool, and even a great company like Apple makes a serious misstep that threatens to paint them as a thuggish corporate juggernaut - the very opposite of the Cupertino company’s carefully germinated brand. There was that skirmish with recording label Apple - the Beatle’s stomping ground - over whether iTunes was in conflict with an earlier coexistence agreement (the courts decided it wasn’t). That was okay - Apple came out unscathed, seeming like they were defending the rights of teenagers to download MP3s (legally) from the online music service. This time, Apple may not be seen as the good guy, and initial internet grumblings see the popular company being called everything from bullys to enviro-thugs. At the risk of losing my Macintosh ‘fan-boy’ status, I don’t think there’s any way for Apple to win this one, and the company’s ‘cool’ image has already taken a hit.

At issue is the logo for New York City’s environmentally friendly GreeNYC campaign, the logo (left) for which is plasted over everything from bus shelters to hybrid gasoline-electric taxicabs, billboards to recycled paper shopping bags. The GreeNYC logo features a stylized apple graphically constructed from an infinity symbol - representing the recycling component of the green campaign. The city has applied for a trademark on the logo, but Apple has filed a formal opposition, claiming that the design infringes on its trademark. Apple is requesting that the trademark be denied, on the grounds that the NYC logo will confuse people and “seriously injure the reputation which Apple has established for its goods and services.”

New York City’s response is almost indignant - “The city believes that Apple’s claims have no merit and that no consumer is likely to be confused.” According to Gerald Singleton, and intellectual-property lawyer representing NYC, “This well-known city is using its new design in a variety of contexts that have absolutely nothing to do with Apple Inc.”

Before bringing out the legal big guns, Apple will commission a series of independent surveys - industry speak for folks with clipboards in shopping malls and sidewalks - to assemble evidence proving that the mark can be confused with the computer manufacturers brand or dilutes the logo in a way that is damaging to their overall image. The dispute will take place over the next few months, before a final decision is made by the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board of the patent office sometime in the fall.

Personally, I don’t think Apple stands a chance - the logos aren’tt similar enough - and a quick trip through any Yellow Pages will find tons of companies using Apple imagery on everything from accounting to real estate logos. Taking on an environmental campaign - in today’s political climate - certainly won’t win Apple any friends either.

For what it’s worth, New York City marketing campaigns have always been brilliant, most notably the I Love New York logo - designed by Milton Glaser in 1971 and arguably one of the most successful branding projects in history (above).

Redesigning the UN logo to mark the 60th anniversary of the world’s most translated document - the UN Human Rights Declaration - started the same way any logo design project usually does - with the best of intentions and the goal of graphically illustrating an event or central theme. Months after it’s release, the new UN anniversary logo has become the topic of a political skirmish, reflective of the long standing row between Tibet and China.

Originally created by a South African artist, after the UN decided to lose the original blue and white logo and the high commissioner for human rights, Louise Arbour sought a new design with more appeal in the developing world. The logo was originally unveiled in December last year, heralding the UN’s launch of a year-long promotion for the 60th anniversary, culminating with high-profile ceremonies at the end of this year.

Nobody noticed any particularly significant about the new red and amber logo, symbolizing a person with outstretched arms, and the chosen deigner, Yolande Mulke said of his work: “I think what the UN likes about it is the continuity of using the wreath device from the UN logo and the feeling of peace and welcoming that the man with his arms wide open projects.”

What a difference a few months make. After heavily reported protests by amber-robed Buddhist monks in Tibet - just as China is preparing to host the increasingly controversial Beijing Olympics - the UN has been embarrassed by the logo’s distinctive colors - also favoured by the Dalai Lama, a popular and high profile symbol of Tibetan resistance. “It’s a complete accident, we had no idea that the colors were those of Tibet,” said a UN official. The issue for the UN – which officially recognises China as the ruling body over Tibet – is that the logo is to replace the official UN Human Rights design, on a permanent basis, and after the 60th anniversary has passed. The design could even be interpreted as being representative of the Dalai Lama himself, certain to give Chinese officials pause as they try to deflect criticism about their handling of the Tibet issue as well as the upcoming Beijing Games.

A spokesperson for the UN is on record as saying that no member state has lodged a complaint about the design, that there was “nothing specific” about the logo’s chosen colors and that the design bore no hidden political message. “The criteria were that we wanted to show colours that were grounded and indigenous”. With the controversy over Tibet, and world-wide concern over Chinese human rights issues, it’s a safe bet that we’ll hear more about this in the upcoming months. See here for more about the Beijing Olympics logo)

Hat Tip: The UK Independent