This is an open competition for bragging rights for anyone who thinks they have the ability to design a new logo for the Dvorak Uncensored blog. Here are the guidelines.
- The logo has to be compelling, scalable and versatile enough to fit on a variety of templates.
- The file size should be around 15K
- Interesting animations will be allowed
- The current logo is 760×90 the finalists may have to adjust the logo for an alternative size for a site redesign. But please submit at 760×90 (or so)
- The design can be modern or retro but must be unique and eye-catching.
- The design should be amenable for a t-shirt printing.
- All designs must be in by the end of Sept. Public comments will follow.
- Submissions and queries should be mailed to john@dvorak.org with the subject line:LOGO DESIGN
- The winner will be picked on the basis of artistic merit as determined by the blog editors.
ALL the accepted logos will be randomly posted on this PAGE as received for ongoing commentary.
Well, as much as I like seeing my work displayed (this is in fact what I do, http://www.RetroSignDesign.com/ ), “bragging rights” just ain’t enough incentive. Seems like JCD will get a valuable service performed for free, more than likely by people who don’t understand the concept of spec work. Good luck!
You guys seem to be generating some income via the ads on this site. Why not pay for a logo to be designed. This is how it’s normally done.
Try paying for a logo… like most people do.
#s 1, 2, 3
Mr. C. Dvorak likes to bitch about being asked to speak at conventions without substantial remuneration, but has no qualms about requesting graphic artists to design a logo for free. Tee hee!
In particular, see his rant about not getting paid for his work in the most recent “No Agenda”.
Winner should at least get a tee-shirt?
When I worked for an advertising agency, I just hated these logo design contests.
I’d be given a design by an amateur and then have to adapt it to various uses.
Usually, it had some design flaw that made adaptation really hard and it would have been so much easier (and cheaper!) to have a professional design it from the ground-up.
All I’ve got to say is “Puh-leeze, no animations!”
I agree with 1-5… Doing a banner for free for a website that pulls in advertisement money… now, that’s cheap.
Hey Mustard and Jager, this is a blog..not the NY Times. Carping about the logo contest is crap since the last time I did this I offered an award and everyone complained that it was not enough. Nobody is required or forced to do a logo. If you do not like working for kudos (oh such horrible effort is required) then fine. What is the point of your personal complaints? Because I won’t speak for free at CES?
CES, a business that makes million and millions of dollars!
This is hardly the same as my DRAGGING MY ASS TO LAS VEGAS ON MY DIME, PUTTING MYSELF IN A HOTEL AT MY EXPENSE AND GIVING A SPECIAL ONE HOUR SPEECH THAT MAY TAKE A WEEK TO PREPARE.
Cripes. Have some real perspective. Are you 12?
And the fact is, this blog would be losing nothing but money if it were not for the noble volunteers. Your assertions are both laughable and naive to an extreme. Frankly, I’m somewhat disgusted by them.
And also you either do it or you don’t.
End of story.
Instead of designing a new logo, how about spending time geting a faster response time out of this site.
#9 – JCD – …the last time I did this I offered an award and everyone complained that it was not enough.
And you thought by asking people to do it for free this time around would make us shut up? Anyway, I hope you get a new logo. Good luck, John.
Wow! Just wow!
JCD is right. Perspective people. It isn’t like he walked in the door of Leo Burnett or DDB and said I want your team of designers to create me a logo. He is asking for one of the readers or passers by to contribute or donate a logo design. He has made clear the terms UPFRONT. He isn’t being deceptive.
His blog may or may not make him money. SO WHAT!! Maybe there is someone out there who needs a start and can turn around and say “hey I designed the logo for Dvorak Uncensored” and use it to get more work. Paying work. There is a value in that you know. For instance a Graphic design student. I bet many of you would be surprised how many of the logos that earn companies billions of dollars were designed for free, or virtually free, by students or interns. One that comes to mind is Nike. It was designed by Carolyn Davidson, a graphic design student at Portland State , for $2 per hour. She made a total of $35 dollars for that design. How much has Nike made of that brand recognition?
Now in perspective. How much does Nike Earn? How much does Dvorak Uncensored earn? So in comparison and perspective I guess JCD asking if someone will do it for free and donate their time is really OK. The least some of you could do is contribute more than your blathering to this site since most of you are regular users.
See JCD this is the problem with capitalism. GREED!!! Everyone wants their cut. No one is willing to just do something nice or for the sake of doing it.
Wow, offering the community a chance to contribute something more meaningful to it, horrible indeed.
#13 – J
>>Now in perspective. How much does Nike Earn? How
>>much does Dvorak Uncensored earn?
I’d be interested in seeing those figures, especially the latter. I’m not so much interested in Nike.
#9 – John
>>Cripes. Have some real perspective. Are you 12?
Christ, you ARE a cranky bastard, aren’t ya? And no, I’m not 12, but I do know a cheapskate when I see one.
When I sit here waiting for the page to load because it’s waiting for all of the Google ads, I think “Jeez, this guy could afford to pay some college undergraduate $250 to design a logo”.
Kind of peculiar that all the Google ads on this page are either for logo design firms (which makes sense) or “how to lose 37 pounds of belly fat”. wtf?
#17 “Frankly, if this is such a great opportunity to artists to gain recognition for their work, then the blog is prominent enough to paid fair compensation for the effort.”
I guess what you can charge is what the market will bare…
People can submit a logo, or choose not to, and keep all this whining at the front door.
I watch/listen to podcasts all the time where audience members submit artwork or a musical piece for nothing, simply because they enjoy the podcast and being a part of its community, and wanted to contribute. Holy crap, if you feel it devalues you so much to make a logo for no money, then don’t do it. But shut up about it please.
I submitted a logo concept last night about a hour or so after the post was made, it took me a whapping 30 minutes.
If what you want is to get paid, get a job, contest like this a just for fun, and if you are lucky some exposure.
Heres my Logo:
———————DVORACK UNCENSORED————————-
putting the DU into DUH
# 17 Bruno
“The real question is how much did she make after creating the logo. ”
She billed $35 for that work and she was more than happy. How much she made afterwards has no relevance. She got paid what she asked for anything she got from Nike afterwards is not important.
“A good logo could be had for between $100-$200. ”
LOL Pffffft. Shows what you know. Logos for Major corporations have cost anywhere from FREE to more than $500,000 +. The price you pay depends on where you go to have it done and has nothing to do with quality.
“It seems that everyone wants free artwork on the premise that it gives the artist notoriety.”
Yeah depends on the level of notoriety. If you are established you probably won’t do it but if all you have is a BA degree in design with little or no work experience then it could be an advantage to take a crack at it.
Is everyone unfamiliar with the concept of INTERNS. They do work all the time for free. Sometimes more work than those getting paid. lol All they get is experience and college credit. Maybe if a student does it JCD can tell their professor he commissioned them to do it on an intern basis.
“Graphics are all too often seen as not being a real job and not given the respect it deserves. ”
Let me break it down for you. Graphic designers are a dime a dozen. The good ones are scarce. Most get paid in the range of $10 to $20 per hour if they are lucky. In the art world it is a joke to call yourself a graphic designer because it is the lowest career on the totem pole. Anyone can call themselves a graphic designer and almost everyone does in the advertising and production world.
“Frankly, if this is such a great opportunity to artists to gain recognition for their work, then the blog is prominent enough to paid fair compensation for the effort”
Fame and exposure are not related to income. There is a VALUE in being able to say you created a piece of work used by a high traffic site (I assume DU is) Is it enough for a budding artist? Maybe so. Is it enough for an established artists? Depends on the artist. Some people create because they enjoy it. They don’t need recognition or compensation. They just enjoy the challenge. Perhaps those are the people JCD wishes to attract.
# 21 bobbo
That’s not a logo it is a tagline. And a funny one at that. LOL
When I saw this post, I had no idea that it could become hilarious.
I grew up thinking that human beings had to work nine to five jobs and that if you did not work for society you were a slacker. That thought is pushed into the minds of human beings in our society and creates
a false sense of moral values of doers and slackers.
The world has learned to abuse the ability of work by creating slaves to do their work; causing me to think that work is part of the evil when in realty it is the man that controls the slave that is evil;
not the work.
Where ever you find a group of men working as slaves you always see a few men that are content with their lives and you wonder why. I know why now.
Yes we must free man from slavery; not free man from work; pounding rock is not evil.
We should also free man from the propaganda implanted in the brain about work.
OMG since when DU has become a major moral issue? I’ve submited my crack at the logo this morning (your dawn @ SF) just for the fun of it. And I’m eager to see what other people has come up with. I do work in the graphics industry, but wouldn’t call myself an Artist or Designer (and a designer is NOT a lower form of artist…) and don’t feel I’ve sold myself cheap for contributing to better the image of the site.
PS. just for the record, the current DU Logo/Header is ghastly…
# 24 Bruno
“Go to 99 Designs. ”
LOL your kidding right? Most of the stuff on there looks like clip art. So I guess I was right “Shows what you know.” Most of the work on there would fail in the commercial advertising world.
“If her career didn’t take off, the notoriety means jack shit. That’s the fucking point. ”
Well if that is your point then good. Her career did take off. Very well indeed. All because she created a logo for $35. (a rate that was low even for it’s time.)
“Despite your low opinion of artists, graphic designers, whatever title you choose, it is still their livelihood they’re defending.”
I don’t have a low opinion of artists. I am one and I happen to employ around 20 of them. I pay them exceptionally well too. Probably more in a week than you make in a month. No ones lively hood is threatened by JCD asking for someone to contribute for free to the site. People have done free work a very long time as a way to break into the art world. It hasn’t hurt artists one bit. What hurts artists is asshats who get a half ass degree from a second rate school and then run around calling them selves artists and saturate the market. THAT is what lowers artists pay!!!! NOT someone asking for a donation or contribution to a blog.
“Just because interns exist doesn’t mean artists are required to whore themselves forever.”
LOL You must not know any interns. No one is asking someone to do something forever dumbass! When an industry is oversaturated like the design and art world. People who want to break into it and work for a respectable company often spend thousands of hours doing stuff for free. In return, if they are not fuck-ups, many times they are offered a job or use that time as a large bonus on the resume. AND IT WORKS!!!!!
BTW I don’t use interns.
“Trying supporting the working man instead of being a spineless fanboy.”
Lets get something straight. I have no love for JCD. I do like to read his tech articles but that is about it. I do think as a person I might actually find him a bit annoying and a pain in the ass.
As far as “supporting the working man” …….What? Women don’t work? Can’t be artists? I support plenty of working “people” and I support them so well that the only reason I have lost an employee was for them to go and start their own business, which I usually help them with and very often sub contract them. I offer full medical including eye and dental. They pay ZERO!!. I pay them almost 30% more than industry standard and I give bonuses out like they had an expiration date on them. So please spare me the poor starving artist bullshit. They only starving artists I know are either lazy or untalented.
I’d gladly pay a donation to get rid of all the junk in the sidebars, get the site professionally designed instead of using some cruddy free template, etc. Lose the ads, try a “donate” button instead of contests. I think you’d be surprised. This whole ‘volunteer’ site maintenance scheme has produced a site that, frankly, looks cheap.
# 28 Bruno
“an opportunity to expand his contest beyond his readers. ”
Apparently he doesn’t want to do that and instead thinks it would be better for someone who reads the blog to contribute something back if they choose to do so.
“I’m shocked at your attitude. ”
Why? It is the reality of the business. What you don’t seem to get is that there is a value in what JCD offers. It may not be money and it may not be a hard drive but it does have value. What the “artists” need to figure out is whether that value is enough for them.
“Artists usually defend No!Spec. ”
JCD is not asking anyone to do Spec work. He has clearly stated the terms of the deal.
“You would be the first not to.”
No not the first and it is because I live in reality. My company and many, many others in the advertising and production industry spend 100’s if not 1000’s of hours putting together pitches that sometimes lead to ZERO work. It is still an investment. The investment is getting in front of the client so they can see your work. That usually leads to them giving a project down the line even if they didn’t use you for the current one. THAT IS THE REALITY OF THE BUSINESS!!
“I am not an artist.”
No shit!!! That is obvious from your lack of understand of what the business is like.
“I even frequent a few design enthusiast forums, and some of those people work as artists.”
People who tend to hang out in “design forums” are usually the ones that aren’t working enough. They always talk about the stuff that companies like mine are doing and dream of the day when they too can do that kind of work.
“Then they start out on their own and face numerous people all wanting something for nothing.”
Tell me a business that doesn’t happen in?????
“It must have been you lack of understanding all uses of the word “man”. ”
Nice try. You and I both know you were only think of men as artists.
“Good for you if you are paying 30% higher than industry standard. ”
No good for them and good for me. I have quality artists and they are worth every penny.
“Your employees should be delighted to stay with your firm. ”
They are! Especially when I take them on the annual vacation to Universal Orlando for Halloween. The only employees I have lost are the ones who went off to start their own businesses. That was somthing I could not offer them.
“I’m curious about how long you can keep that going.”
Me too. Probably as long as I don’t get bored. Then I may just give or sell it to one of the employees.
I agree with “J” on this. JCD has only asked if one of the readers would like to design a new logo. So what is wrong with an amateur making a logo? Shit, we all contribute our opinions without charge. Many even contribute off-beat photos and YouTube clips. If you want to charge for your opinion then get a job working as a pundit.
Volunteers make the world go round. Just in my kids Softball season, we has a local farmer bring his tractor to drag the field, several parents cut the outfield and sidelines grass, the retailer charged only for the shirts, not the logo or printing, the printer did our yearbooks at cost, the photographer (me) worked at cost, … . But then we all were payed back in spades by watching our girls have so much fun. And that meant more to me than if I was paid cash. The thanks for my contributions are priceless.
Yes there are some advertisements. I don’t expect JCD to let us know how much they bring in every month, but most likely it will be less than what the two sites cost to run. While the editors work for free, the Administrator does need to feed his 12 kids, clothe his heavy wife, Keep his dog’s shots up to date, keep a roof over their heads, and put gas in his 1976 Volkswagen bus.
*
If I felt capable of designing something, I might take a stab at this. Instead, I’ll stick with what I’m better at, laughing at the Bush supporters.
8-|
I can’t seem to find any contributed logos. The link on the contest announcement page just points to itself.
#32 – Bob
Yeah, where ARE the entries? The post says “ALL the accepted logos will be randomly posted on this PAGE as received for ongoing commentary., but there’s nothing posted on the page.