New commercial site

Check my new commercial site
http://www.affordabledesign.pl

There was once a logo...

The logo did not feature the name of the organisation who owned it. Let's call them the Little House. Back then, I did some work for another organisation (let's call them the Big News place), who had this logo on its website.

Unfortunately, the Little House people were not well known. So unlike Nike, Apple or other organisations with a well established name, when people saw the Little House logo (which was a little house), they saw a little house, but did not know what it meant, or what the Little House organisation did, or what they stood for.

So Big News were happy to have achieved recognition from Little House, they were proud to show the logo on their site, but no one who saw that Little House knew. Or could know.

We checked with Little House, to find out if they had a logo with their name on it, but no. So the Big News CEO told me to take a small gif (200 pixels wide or something) with the Little House logo and take any Windows font, open the gif in MS Paint and write underneath what Little House was for. I protested, saying that the logo was not theirs, that if Little House was not known, it was not Big News' job to promote them or edit their marketing assets, that it certainly was a mistake of Little House not to be more recognizable. And then I had to choose between what I thought was right and what I was paid for.
This is simply to remind all logo designers:
1) a good logo does not replace marketing, it only supports it
2) "He who pays calls the tune"

Commercial offering

I have now decided to launch a commercial offering for commercial client.

My offer for charities still applies, with conditions described on my new site:

http://sneferu.myartsonline.com/

Logo for UAAR

I have just completed the logo for the UAAR ("Unione degli Atei e degli Agnostici Razionalisti"). The original concept (the U over A in the shape of a man) was supplied by the client.
It is a concept which is used in fact by many atheist organisations worldwide.

I supplied several variations on this theme, this one was chosen. I then produced all sorts of variant files as well as the technical specification and vectorial files which will allow my client to use this logo professionally.

Pantone Matching System

For logo design I am now using a proper Pantone colour guide which will now replace the CMYK callouts and also will allow me to pick the colours of logos more carefully. As my clients are unfortunately unable to judge the colour I pick on paper (they only see what is on their screen - and if they print that, it's down to how well their printer does the job), I am in charge of picking the exact shade.

Projekt Orient

I was asked to create a logo which would be based on a phoenix, for a not-for-profit which is being started in Krakow (Poland) as a cultural group. The purpose of this group is to provide information, promote cultural understanding about Asia and Africa.

As the choice for a phoenix had been made by the client before I started work on the logo, my policy is to take for granted that this concept is appropriate.
Kudos to Hirwen for the font - it's actually the second time this font is used by me for a logo.

MIKC - logo finalized

The logo for my Ukrainian client MIKC is now finalized. The finished design has two variants on top of a simple black version. While the spirit of the original doodle has been kept (see a previous post), it is now totally unrecognizable.

MIKC is a small not for profit dealing with youth events.

Logo execution - logo for Jobs Help and Hope

Jobs Help and Hope are a Michigan not for profit whose mission is to provide support, advice, and coaching to job seekers. They asked me to execute a logo according to a concept designed by them internallyI presented many fonts, and Universalis Pro by Arkandis Digital Foundry was selected by my client. I then created 5 variants using a set of colours which were globally defined.
For this job I also made some projects, which all featured a visual pun for the Christian cross, but the original design prevailed.
http://www.jobshelpandhope.org/

Mix logo

I was approached some while ago by a Ukrainian youth (initially "MIX", then changed to "MIKC") not for profit regarding the design of a logo based on a basic idea which they had found on the web.
You can see here the initial design they approached me with and the project submitted to them.

Project for a child daycare centre

A daycare centre in my area approached me for a logo. Their name is not chosen yet, but their marketing positioning was a focus on learning through play. Therefore the logo had to reflect this essential choice. The three projects above were presented, where for example the letters in a musical set are here to symbolise the formal learning (letters) through play (using music). Similarly, the elephant, a symbol of intelligence, carrying piano-like keys on his back.

The last concept is designed to be more appealing to children, but slightly out of target.

VoteSmartIndia - final project

The client indicated a more exotic font was prefered (Prakrta, a shareware font). On top of this colour logo, a black and white version was also designed, for example for engraving on supports where no ink is available.

http://votesmartindia.blogspot.com/

VoteSmartIndia - a flag project

This is the latest project submitted to VoteSmartIndia, an organisation covering the elections in India. The font is free. It is ADF Albertis, from ADF foundry. The logo is basically a stylized outline of India, using the two colours from the Indian national flag. The section of the wheel is subconsciously evoking the democratic process of electing representatives. Project submitted to the client, pending.

An old CV

A while ago I created this fairly pretentious CV. So there you go, you can now see my real face.
The design makes liberal use of the URW Classico font, which is an approximation of the otherwise famous Optima typeface. The overall layout is somewhat eye-catching, and a twist on the traditional "mugshot in the top right corner". 

The trick here is that the photograph was taken at waist level, therefore making me look way taller than I really am.
Don't try to peek at my address or phone number, they're edited out and replaced by incoherent text.

An old project

This is a first draft for a logo done a while ago. It is an unfinished project for my client, a mountain guide. The cross at the top of the mountain is meant to mimick a real cross at this location. In progress.

Font licenses

All fonts have a license which protects their copyright, and some of them are free to use, others not, others only free for non commercial use.

Fonts are like software or images or texts really. Someone worked to create them, they deserve payment for their work.

The issue is that as a lot of people have bunches of TTF, PS and OTF files that have no copy protection, there is a widespread belief that fonts are free to use and that they have no license.
Nothing further from the truth.

Typically a font licence will be around 25 USD, and there are quite a few online shops where you can buy the font licence. Having the font file is not having a licence, just like breaking into a car parked on the street is not owning it.

Don't hack software, just don't buy it

Had a look this morning at www.adobe.com

Creative Suite 4 is now happily priced at 1,799 USD. OK it is an impressive piece of software. Upgrade from CS3 (itself a very impressive piece of software) is 599 USD.

Adobe hires designers and they need to sell many licences to pay them. True. But what if, like my clients, you get your money by fund raising, or small university grants? Well that sort of money is just not there for software. So there you go, find a torrent and hack the thing. Bad Bad Bad.

By cracking software, you are first of all doing something illegal (but for which the chance of getting caught remains small), and most importantly you are promoting the release cycles of the software industry (is CS4 not just CS3 + a few fixes + the odd feature or so?) and not promoting alternative solutions.

I run all my logo projects on Inkscape (vectorial design) because while Adobe Illustrator is the standard, Inkscape does awfully well, and for no money at all, including the fact that SVG files are an open standard.

Brochure projects are run on Scribus, which can help my clients rework them and reduces their dependancy to me. Of course Scribus is not better than InDesign. But when something is 90% another one but the price tag is 0, some wheels can start turning in your head.

In short I believe it is wrong to steal a developer's salary, but right to promote a shift in the business model that's in place.

Logo redesign: Spanish Speaking Organization

The Spanish Speaking Organization (Georgia Institute of Technology) has a very nice logo, but unfortunately the only files left they had were too small to be used.

Which implies that enlarging the logo would not be possible. Also I spotted that the spaces between the letters was not harmonious (and that it would be a shame to spoil such a lovely logo with a detail like this). You can see what exactly was done above. The pink letters show where the difference is.

I suggested making this amendment, and delivered pure EPS logos to them.
Logo is property of the Spanish Speaking Organization, designed originally by Rodrigo Pemueller.

http://cyberbuzz.gatech.edu/sso/

Redesigning a logo - details

You will need to sign my terms, which basically say you can't sue me and that I can use your name in my portfolio. you'll need to loan at least 25 USD to a development project.

If you already have a logo, I would first want to work without seeing it.
You will need to describe your current logo (NOT send it to me)
You need to tell me what it evokes, which concepts it is related to.

If you do not have a logo, you will need to tell me about your organisation. Values, ideals, customers.
You may suggest a basic idea for the logo, whether it should represent something or not, if yes, what? You may also tell me about which colours you expect.

If you have a clear logo idea and would need it delivered, scan it or take a picture and send it. I will vectorize it (which bascially means draw it again) so that it can be used by whoever does the rest of your material.

From draft to design

This project started as a logo revamping. I only had the verbal description of the existing logo, which in a way was nice because I could resist the temptation of doing something too closely related to what already existed. First, came my first image of the logo (top left), then two projects, going towards more and more simplicity. The logo on the top right keeps 4 wave crests as a symbol for the 4 founding partners of the company.

The last project turns the drakkar, a fairly traditional warfare symbol into a symbol for a travel agency into a much softer symbol, with a human (woman in this case) face in the sail.
One of the signs it is a good logo is when you reduce it to a 32x32 miniature. If the logo can be identified at that size, you've got a winner.

The project is still pending final approval.

Can you afford software?

A while ago, I was answering a query for this pro bono work. My correspondent was very happy for work I could do, and then asked me "Can you work from existing InDesign files?".

Well technically I can. I know the InDesign interface and can use the software. I even have access to it.
But as a private designer, and a professional in the IT industry, I cannot afford to give the wrong example. Using InDesign without a proper license is a criminal offense. A large number of people think "it's okay to use a cracked (=illegal) software if you can't afford to buy a legal copy anyway".
This certainly does not apply to me because I could afford an Adobe InDesign license, but I don't want to spend this money there, so I don't use the software and certainly will not go into the easy road of cracked software, because somewhere down the line, a fellow programmer is losing out.

Which brings us of course to "what can you really afford?" and I guess that unfortunately if you could walk into a shop and steal your grocery and get away with it, a lot of people would.
This is what happens with MP3 downloads and software. My stand is that this is and remains illegal, and that the only reason why people do it is because they can get away with it most of the time.
I also agree nonetheless that CDs are dreadfully expensive. I can tell you that I really think twice before buying one these days and there's hardly any place left in my budget for an overpriced piece of plastic.