The Logo Factor Design Blog » Logo design news

HP shutting down Logoworks

Steve Douglas — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 02:00:30 +0000

After ten years of selling logo design services, Utah-based Logoworks announces that it’s closing up shop.

Arguably one of the first crowdsourcing design sites, and since its inception in 2011, Logoworks was one of the top-ranked and successful logo design websites of the internet era. Purchased a few years back by Hewlett Packard for a princely sum (rumored to be in the neighborhood of $9 million) Logoworks was undeniably one of the largest purveyors of internet-driven logo design sales, so this announcement, posted on the Logoworks’ home page comes as a little bit of a surprise –

Dear Valued Logoworks Customers,

Recently HP has made a strategic decision to focus its web resources on non-design related projects. As a result, Logoworks will no longer be taking on new projects. If you have a design project in process, we will continue to work with you until you receive a logo or website that you love. You can continue to log-in and review your project using the link above.

We want to thank the tens of thousands of customers who have worked with us over the past ten years. In that time we worked on more than 200,000 different logo, website, and other design projects.

We also want to extend our thanks to our partners, affiliates, and suppliers who helped us grow and become the world’s premier online design agency.

Most of all we want to thank the many designers, account managers, and developers who created so much outstanding work—winning recognition from AIGA, Communication Arts, and other industry notables. We couldn’t have done anything without these incredibly talented people.

We anticipate that Logoworks.com will remain online until approximately March 31, 2012, so that you can access all of your design files. If you haven’t already, we recommend that you download any files you may need before that date.

If you need a new logo for your business or product, you can check out the free logo design tool at Logomaker.com where you can create and download a logo in 15 minutes or less.

The past ten years has been a tremendous experience for all of us, and we are grateful to have had the chance to work closely with so many small business owners. We wish you the best of luck in all your future endeavors.

Sincerely,
The Logoworks Team

Whether this is indicative of larger forces at work in the logo design niche, or simply Hewlett Packard ditching services outside their core is anyone’s guess.

Human Rights logo design contest winner

Steve Douglas — Sat, 24 Sep 2011 22:07:00 +0000

After four months and a global online campaign that netted 15,000 submissions, Serbian designer Predrag Stakic has been announced as the winner of a design competition to find a logo for human rights.

My opinion on logo design contests notwithstanding, gotta admit this is a pretty nifty logo, designed as part of a contest to design a universal logo for human rights. The logo, entitled “free as a man,” beat out over 15,000 other submissions and earned Stakic 5,000 Euros (about $6,500).

New JCPenney logo

Steve Douglas — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 13:57:51 +0000

Retail giant JCPenney rolls out a new logo in an attempt to rebrand themselves as a “modern retailer.”

Prior to the official roll-out during Oscar commercials, giant retailer JCPenney announced yesterday that the company was rebranding themselves with a new logo (above right). Following GAP’s new logo debacle from a few months ago, internet critics were quick to pounce on the new design (as has become the trend), bemoaning the new design’s lack of oomph. Personally, I don’t find the new logo terribly disagreeable – the ‘jcp’ portion of the logo is a natural avatar for social media sites like Twitter and Facebook, though I could be convinced that the logo reads J.C.P. enney. due to the placement of the red box.

In any case, the logo is interesting for a couple of reasons – apparently the company is going to rebrand as jcpenney (ever-so-trendy lower case only) and it represents the first time in 40 years that they’ve decided to shake things up a little. I also find it interesting that this is yet another retail chain that seems to think they can shake off sluggish sales – the result of a protracted economic slowdown – by changing their logo.

Starbucks’ new type-free logo

Steve Douglas — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 00:18:53 +0000

In one of the first major brand roll-outs of 2011, Starbucks unveiled their new logo today. Missing is any reference to Starbucks, with the new design dropping the words encircling its iconic sea nymph, and the mermaid figure given a bit of a graphic facelift. The new logo was announced to employees today, with plans to bring the new design into stores in March, coinciding with the coffee giant’s 40th anniversary.

Rio 2016: Another Olympic logo. Another controversy

Steve Douglas — Mon, 03 Jan 2011 13:13:14 +0000

Hours after unveiling the new logo for the Rio 2016 Olympics, organizers were denying charges of plagiarism

Organizers of the 2016 Olympics, to be held in Rio, Brazil, trotted out their new logo as part of an elaborate beach party on New Years Eve, and Brazilian media were quick to claim that the design looked remarkably like the logo for The Telluride Foundation, based in Colorado. Fred Gelli, director of Tatil, the Brazilian agency that created the logo, denied any accusations of plagiarism, telling newspaper reporters his company did extensive research to guarantee the design was unique. Gelli acknowledged a “similarity” with the foundation’s logo, but said the general concept of people embracing each other is not novel.

He’s got that right.

Update: The plot thickens

As the controversy about the Rio logo spooled out over the Internet, some are pointing out similarities between the design and the painting The Dance by Henri Matisse (below).

If you ask me, the Telluride Foundation cribbed their concept from Matisse’s painting.

Nothing wrong with that per se, but when you look at this little pearl, you gotta ask the question “who copied who?”

For what it’s worth I don’t think it was the Rio guys. Not by a long shot.

(Hat tip: Travel to Rio)

New Big Ten logo

Steve Douglas — Fri, 17 Dec 2010 00:30:42 +0000

After adding Nebraska to the mix, the Big Ten conference actually consists of twelve teams. Odd then that the new logo (above) makes no reference to that fact, eschewing the clever use of negative space in the previous incarnation when there were eleven teams (below).

When the college athletic conference totted out its new logo this week, the results were only slightly better better than the Gap logo fiasco. Designed by Michael Bierut and Michael Gericke of Pentegram, the logo has been slammed by fans and designers alike, with most comparing the new version unfavorably to the old. Personally, I’m not offended by the logo, but there is some weirdness happening in the ‘G’ as the creators tried to crowbar the number ’10′ into the design.

So waddya think – hit or miss?

Baseball logos on coffins, caskets and urns…

New Comedy Central logo

Steve Douglas — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 15:56:06 +0000

The new Comedy Central logo. Scheduled to be launched on the Tee Vee Jan 1. Kinda looks like it got caught in a Tilt-A-Whirl. Oh well, at least someone has a sense of humor about the new design:

No related posts.

Logo.com – the $500,000 logo design domain

Steve Douglas — Thu, 04 Nov 2010 11:29:39 +0000

The new owners of Logo.com, who paid half-a-million for their domain, promise logo design services by Q1 of 2011

According to blogs that track domain investments, purchases and sales, the TLD Logo.com sold last week for a cool half-a-million bucks to well-known domain investors Adam Strong and Alan Townsend who plan to use the prestigious address to flog logo design services. According to the site’s new hold page:

Logo.com will provide graphic design and other services to small businesses and entrepreneurs including logo design, website design, stationery design, printing and much more. Our website is launching in Q1 2011. We’re looking forward to serving you!

Not to be a wag or anything, but from what I know about the online logo design game (you’ll grant me a little bit) the new owners are gonna have to sell an awful lot of logos to recoup their $500,000 investment. Designers who want to work with the fledgling company are urged to sign-up on the page, so whether this will be another ‘crowdsourcing’ type site is anyone’s guess.

From the ‘biting the hand that feeds’ department

Steve Douglas — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 18:32:31 +0000

Charity groups think US ‘should delete its (US Aid) logos’ on aid to Pakistan

According to the BBC:

A group of 11 prominent charities is preparing a letter calling on the US to remove logos on American-funded assistance in Pakistan. The letter, signed by charities including Save the Children, Oxfam, and World Vision says that such “branding” of aid jeopardizes their neutrality. They say that this is especially dangerous in a country with numerous anti-American militants. The letter will be delivered later this week in Washington, officials say.

The groups claim that there are “strong indicators” that US Aid branding will attract violent attacks for both “economic and ideologically-motivated reasons.” The appeal is being sent to the US government aid agency, USAID, by InterAction group, a coalition of more than 160 humanitarian groups working around the globe. Should be noted that the US government requires non-governmental organizations that receive funding to brand any aid with the agency’s logo and the words “from the American people” translated into appropriate local languages.

Pakistan has been ravaged recently by floods, with millions of people displaced across the country. You’d think militant groups would think of that first and foremost, before attacking charity groups because of some logo on donated bags of food. One would also think that all this US aid, announced by the logo, would temper some of the ideological hatred that inspires such attacks in the first place.

2015 Toronto Pan American Games logo

Steve Douglas — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 16:23:59 +0000

It ain’t awful, but Lordy, it ain’t good

The new logo for the 2015 Toronto Pan American Games was released a couple of days ago by event organizers, mostly to a ‘ho hum’ reaction and some polite applause. Personally, I don’t think it’s all that, and see a blobby one-legged man, carrying a donut, kicking an egg around (but after the grief I caught on the Brazil World Cup logo, think I’ll keep that opinion to myself). For what it’s worth, the figure is made up from the letters ‘T’ & ‘O’ (how Torontonians refer to their city) and supposedly “draws on Aztec and Mayan cultures”, cause as we all know, Toronto was a hot-bed of activity for the Aztecs and Mayans (snark). Okay, maybe it is awful.

Now, let the comment bitterness begin..