--
Chris Messina
Citizen Provocateur &
Open Source Advocate-at-Large
Work: http://citizenagency.com
Blog: http://factoryjoe.com/blog
Cell: 412 225-1051
Skype: factoryjoe
This email is: bloggable ask first private
Thinking about what I had said earlier (in your Flickr comments) and
expanding on it... could the logo include people somehow? Also, I
really would like to see more color. Finally, as a marketing person,
slogans should never include a negative. I hope this is helpful...I
don't mean to be overbearing.
The logo Chris posted is in greyscale because it’s proof of concept. Of course there will be colour.
As for the people part…I don’t want it to be too complex. I’m hoping it’s implied. Plus, when I think of little people figures, I think of companies like Microsoft and People Aggregator. Shudder.
Thinking about what I had said earlier (in your Flickr comments) and
expanding on it… could the logo include people somehow? Also, I
really would like to see more color. Finally, as a marketing person,
slogans should never include a negative. I hope this is helpful…I
There's no color right now simply because I'm working in black and
white to get the basic shapes down... color can come later (hopefully
with someone licensed to do logo coloring...!)
As for including people... well... I guess I'm reluctant to go in that
direction simply because abstracted people in logos never look quite
right to me... and personally having something iconic represent
aspects of the community could be useful later.
As for not using a negative (or obeying conventional wisdom)... you
have a point, but in this case I don't mind breaking with tradition...
Coworking isn't exactly designed for folks who like to conform w/
society's norms.
Thinking about what I had said earlier (in your Flickr comments) and
expanding on it... could the logo include people somehow? Also, I
really would like to see more color. Finally, as a marketing person,
slogans should never include a negative. I hope this is helpful...I
don't mean to be overbearing.
I wasn't a fan of the first two, but this latest one strikes me and
makes me smile. It reminds me somewhat of the BizNik slogen:
"business networking that doesn't suck". I like the simplicity of it.
Perhaps it would read better: "Coworking - Because Working Alone
Sucks". Just a thought.
There's no color right now simply because I'm working in black and
white to get the basic shapes down... color can come later (hopefully
with someone licensed to do logo coloring...!)
As for including people... well... I guess I'm reluctant to go in that
direction simply because abstracted people in logos never look quite
right to me... and personally having something iconic represent
aspects of the community could be useful later.
As for not using a negative (or obeying conventional wisdom)... you
have a point, but in this case I don't mind breaking with tradition...
Coworking isn't exactly designed for folks who like to conform w/
society's norms.
Chris
On 9/7/07, Erica Douglass <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> Thinking about what I had said earlier (in your Flickr comments) and
> expanding on it... could the logo include people somehow? Also, I
> really would like to see more color. Finally, as a marketing person,
> slogans should never include a negative. I hope this is helpful...I
> don't mean to be overbearing.
>
> -Erica
>
> On 9/7/07, Chris Messina <[email protected]> wrote:
> >
> > I mocked up a couple logos for coworking (nothing final) and would
> > love your opinions:
> >
> > http://urltea.com/1feh
> > http://urltea.com/1fei
> >
> > Chris
> >
> > --
> > Chris Messina
> > Citizen Provocateur &
> > Open Source Advocate-at-Large
> > Work: http://citizenagency.com
> > Blog: Blogger adopts OpenID site-wide – Factory Joe
> > Cell: 412 225-1051
> > Skype: factoryjoe
> > This email is: bloggable ask first private
> >
> > >
> >
>
> >
>
I like the use of the starfish to symbolize the coworking network, but
I feel like the logo should somehow suggest physical space, since
shared physical space is so fundamental to the idea of coworking.
Starfish-shaped building?
I was talking with Alex the other night about this. He finally explained the reasoning behind the Starfish, and I like direction that it could take. From an artist’s perspective, especially one that designs logos all the time, I think this particular starfish does not work at all; it makes me want to go by sea shells in Atlantic City.
The symbolisim of the starfish is superb but the drawing / icon itself needs to be reworked in my opinion.
I like the use of the starfish to symbolize the coworking network, but
I feel like the logo should somehow suggest physical space, since
shared physical space is so fundamental to the idea of coworking.
Starfish-shaped building?
–
Chris Messina
Citizen Provocateur &
Open Source Advocate-at-Large
Work:
http://citizenagency.com
Blog:http://factoryjoe.com/blog
Cell: 412 225-1051
Skype: factoryjoe
This email is: bloggable ask first private
Thanks for the feedback -- I admit that I'm not the best logo artist
-- and that my intention in putting this out there wasn't necessarily
to create the definitive coworking logo but 1) to fill a void that's
been left open since we got started (i.e. having a coworking logo to
identity ourselves by) and 2) to get a conversation started where
hopefully other talented design-types and coworking stakeholders could
help advance this idea towards an actual logo.
With that said, I invite anyone who feels so inspired to either take
my original work, or start from scratch, and mock up your own logo
design. I do ask that if you submit a mark to the group that you 1)
accept that coworking is a community mark [1][2] and 2) that your work
will be offered into the public domain for others to use and modify as
they like. As a "starfish organization", we should avoid centralizing
control, especially when it comes to IP and such. As BarCamp has
demonstrated before, allowing artwork to be used freely encourages
robust organic growth and a diversity of interpretation, allowing for
infinite possibilities and improvements to emerge over time.
If you're not comfortable with that kind of arrangement, I still
gladly solicit your feedback, but would ask that you not contribute
work for review that can't be reused, mashed up or that can't be used
in other commercial contexts.
I was talking with Alex the other night about this. He finally explained
the reasoning behind the Starfish, and I like direction that it could take.
From an artist's perspective, especially one that designs logos all the
time, I think this particular starfish does not work at all; it makes me
want to go by sea shells in Atlantic City.
The symbolisim of the starfish is superb but the drawing / icon itself needs
to be reworked in my opinion.
Johnny
On 9/9/07, MattCoop < [email protected]> wrote:
>
>
> I like the use of the starfish to symbolize the coworking network, but
> I feel like the logo should somehow suggest physical space, since
> shared physical space is so fundamental to the idea of coworking.
> Starfish-shaped building?
>
> On Sep 7, 10:43 pm, "Chris Messina" <[email protected]> wrote:
> > Here's a later version:
> >
> > Coworking - Working Alone Sucks | Uploaded with plasq's Skit… | Flickr
> >
> > Thoughts?
> >
> > Chris
> >
> > On 9/7/07, Chris Messina <[email protected]> wrote:
> >
> >
> >
> > > I mocked up a couple logos for coworking (nothing final) and would
> > > love your opinions:
> >
> > >http://urltea.com/1feh
> > >http://urltea.com/1fei
> >
> > > Chris
> >
> > > --
> > > Chris Messina
> > > Citizen Provocateur &
> > > Open Source Advocate-at-Large
> > > Work:http://citizenagency.com
> > > Blog:Blogger adopts OpenID site-wide – Factory Joe
> > > Cell: 412 225-1051
> > > Skype: factoryjoe
> > > This email is: bloggable ask first private
> >
> > --
> > Chris Messina
> > Citizen Provocateur &
> > Open Source Advocate-at-Large
> > Work: http://citizenagency.com
> > Blog:Blogger adopts OpenID site-wide – Factory Joe
> > Cell: 412 225-1051
> > Skype: factoryjoe
> > This email is: bloggable ask first private
>
>
> jbi...@gmail.com
> www.jbiljr.com
> AIM: palebluedot001
> Twitter: jbiljr
> > >
>
Not that it means anything, but this is the starfish I wear around my neck everywhere. The starfish I looked for all over the world.
One of Chris’ main concerns with a starfish was that every single starfish kind of brings up thoughts of the beach. He’s right. It’s just one of those symbols. Here are a bunch of starfish we looked at (you may like others better):
The requirements for me are: it should look alive and non-perfect (therefore all illustrations of starfish are too static), organic, moving…as coworking isn’t about being polished and ‘professional’, it’s about community.
I was talking with Alex the other night about this. He finally explained the reasoning behind the Starfish, and I like direction that it could take. From an artist’s perspective, especially one that designs logos all the time, I think this particular starfish does not work at all; it makes me want to go by sea shells in Atlantic City.
The symbolisim of the starfish is superb but the drawing / icon itself needs to be reworked in my opinion.
I like the use of the starfish to symbolize the coworking network, but
I feel like the logo should somehow suggest physical space, since
shared physical space is so fundamental to the idea of coworking.
Starfish-shaped building?
Not that it means anything, but this is the starfish I wear around my neck everywhere. The starfish I looked for all over the world.
One of Chris’ main concerns with a starfish was that every single starfish kind of brings up thoughts of the beach. He’s right. It’s just one of those symbols. Here are a bunch of starfish we looked at (you may like others better):
The requirements for me are: it should look alive and non-perfect (therefore all illustrations of starfish are too static), organic, moving…as coworking isn’t about being polished and ‘professional’, it’s about community.
I was talking with Alex the other night about this. He finally explained the reasoning behind the Starfish, and I like direction that it could take. From an artist’s perspective, especially one that designs logos all the time, I think this particular starfish does not work at all; it makes me want to go by sea shells in Atlantic City.
The symbolisim of the starfish is superb but the drawing / icon itself needs to be reworked in my opinion.
I like the use of the starfish to symbolize the coworking network, but
I feel like the logo should somehow suggest physical space, since
shared physical space is so fundamental to the idea of coworking.
Starfish-shaped building?
Not that it means anything, but this is the starfish I wear around my neck everywhere. The starfish I looked for all over the world.
One of Chris’ main concerns with a starfish was that every single starfish kind of brings up thoughts of the beach. He’s right. It’s just one of those symbols. Here are a bunch of starfish we looked at (you may like others better):
The requirements for me are: it should look alive and non-perfect (therefore all illustrations of starfish are too static), organic, moving…as coworking isn’t about being polished and ‘professional’, it’s about community.
I was talking with Alex the other night about this. He finally explained the reasoning behind the Starfish, and I like direction that it could take. From an artist’s perspective, especially one that designs logos all the time, I think this particular starfish does not work at all; it makes me want to go by sea shells in Atlantic City.
The symbolisim of the starfish is superb but the drawing / icon itself needs to be reworked in my opinion.
I like the use of the starfish to symbolize the coworking network, but
I feel like the logo should somehow suggest physical space, since
shared physical space is so fundamental to the idea of coworking.
Starfish-shaped building?
Oh...and one more thing...the logo should be able to be distilled to one
color (or b&w) for super cheap printing costs.
T
On 9/9/07, Tara Hunt <[email protected]> wrote:
> Oh...and here is the starfish around my neck:
>
> Tara Hunt - BarCampBlock | (CC) Randy Stewart, blog.stewtopi… | Flickr
>
> T
>
>
>
> On 9/9/07, Tara Hunt <[email protected]> wrote:
> > Not that it means anything, but this is the starfish I wear around my
neck everywhere. The starfish I looked for all over the world.
> >
> > One of Chris' main concerns with a starfish was that every single
starfish kind of brings up thoughts of the beach. He's right. It's just one
of those symbols. Here are a bunch of starfish we looked at (you may like
others better):
> >
> > Starfish | A dead starfish on the beach | Elroy Serrao | Flickr
> > Starfish in Shallow Water | A starfish in really shallow wat… | Flickr
> > starfish washed in on Rossbeigh Beach | starfish washed in a… | Flickr
> > Starfish | One of the many types of marine life along the sp… | Flickr
> > Starfish from Above | downing.amanda | Flickr
> > (these are all commercially allowed/manipulatable cc licensed)
> >
> > iStock
> > iStock
> > iStock
> > iStock
> >
> > The requirements for me are: it should look alive and non-perfect
(therefore all illustrations of starfish are too static), organic,
moving...as coworking isn't about being polished and 'professional', it's
about community.
> >
> > T.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > On 9/9/07, Johnny Bilotta Jr < [email protected]> wrote:
> >
> > > I was talking with Alex the other night about this. He finally
explained the reasoning behind the Starfish, and I like direction that it
could take. From an artist's perspective, especially one that designs logos
all the time, I think this particular starfish does not work at all; it
makes me want to go by sea shells in Atlantic City.
> > >
> > > The symbolisim of the starfish is superb but the drawing / icon itself
needs to be reworked in my opinion.
> > >
> > > Johnny
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > On 9/9/07, MattCoop < [email protected]> wrote:
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > I like the use of the starfish to symbolize the coworking network,
but
> > > > I feel like the logo should somehow suggest physical space, since
> > > > shared physical space is so fundamental to the idea of coworking.
> > > > Starfish-shaped building?
> > > >
> > > > On Sep 7, 10:43 pm, "Chris Messina" <[email protected]> wrote:
> > > > > Here's a later version:
> > > > >
> > > > > Coworking - Working Alone Sucks | Uploaded with plasq's Skit… | Flickr
> > > > >
> > > > > Thoughts?
> > > > >
> > > > > Chris
> > > > >
> > > > > On 9/7/07, Chris Messina < [email protected]> wrote:
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > > > > I mocked up a couple logos for coworking (nothing final) and
would
> > > > > > love your opinions:
> > > > >
> > > > > > http://urltea.com/1feh
> > > > > >http://urltea.com/1fei
> > > > >
> > > > > > Chris
> > > > >
> > > > > > --
> > > > > > Chris Messina
> > > > > > Citizen Provocateur &
> > > > > > Open Source Advocate-at-Large
> > > > > > Work:http://citizenagency.com
> > > > > > Blog: Blogger adopts OpenID site-wide – Factory Joe
> > > > > > Cell: 412 225-1051
> > > > > > Skype: factoryjoe
> > > > > > This email is: bloggable ask first private
> > > > >
> > > > > --
> > > > > Chris Messina
> > > > > Citizen Provocateur &
> > > > > Open Source Advocate-at-Large
> > > > > Work: http://citizenagency.com
> > > > > Blog:Blogger adopts OpenID site-wide – Factory Joe
> > > > > Cell: 412 225-1051
> > > > > Skype: factoryjoe
> > > > > This email is: bloggable ask first private
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > jbi...@gmail.com
> > > > www.jbiljr.com
> > > > AIM: palebluedot001
> > > > Twitter: jbiljr
> > > >
> > > >
> > >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> > tara 'miss rogue' hunt
> > co-founder & CMO
> > Citizen Agency ( www.citizenagency.com)
> > blog: www.horsepigcow.com
> > phone: 415-694-1951
> > fax: 415-727-5335
>
>
>
> --
> tara 'miss rogue' hunt
> co-founder & CMO
> Citizen Agency ( www.citizenagency.com)
> blog: www.horsepigcow.com
> phone: 415-694-1951
> fax: 415-727-5335
With some of my freetime this week I will try to construct some samples based on your direction and requirements. I will make those samples available as EPS files so that anybody else can contribute to the working model. I will just send whatever I get done to the Citizens and you can post it here or anywhere else that you see fit.
Tara, I thought the starfish looked familiar. Like I said before I love the idea behind it but I am wondering if there is another symbol out there that could be used but still convey the philosophy of coworking. I am only saying this as an attempt to keep the idea open to other options, not to dismiss the use of a starfish.
It would be an honor to work on a logo for such a influential movement. I hope that there are other designers out there that will throw their ideas into the till.
Feel free to bring forward other symbols. The starfish is sacred to me (as well as many other coworking/barcamp types) and I would love to see it used, but being that it is a starfish organization of over 1000 people, there will probably be over 1000 sacred symbols. In the end, we can put out there what we want to, but the adoption part will determine the acceptance.
You should also read Starfish and the Spider. I think I saw on Alex’s Shelfari that Indy Hall has it available.
Oh…and Coworkination, the site we are working on will have a starfish nonetheless (as it is more of an ‘owned’ project - CA is paying for the development, etc.), but that doesn’t mean that it becomes the symbol for the whole movement.
With some of my freetime this week I will try to construct some samples based on your direction and requirements. I will make those samples available as EPS files so that anybody else can contribute to the working model. I will just send whatever I get done to the Citizens and you can post it here or anywhere else that you see fit.
Tara, I thought the starfish looked familiar. Like I said before I love the idea behind it but I am wondering if there is another symbol out there that could be used but still convey the philosophy of coworking. I am only saying this as an attempt to keep the idea open to other options, not to dismiss the use of a starfish.
It would be an honor to work on a logo for such a influential movement. I hope that there are other designers out there that will throw their ideas into the till.
Just a brief opinion: If it's a target that the logo is used and
modified individually, it should be as simple as possible. BarCamp
logo is a perfect example with all the necessary features: a unique,
recognizable shape, without any superfluous details and text. The
current version of the starfish logo has too much detail (the shadow
on the starfish, superimposed shapes, little stars in some versions,
text on the circle...) which make it more difficult.
Just like the anarchy or peace symbols, the coworking logo should be a
simple shape which can then be modified and adapted as being adopted
(pun intended ) by the facilities around the world.
Hey Chris, would you be willing to post the EPS files (and fonts/font
names) to the group? Not sure if Google Group Files or the Wiki is
standard procedure, but it would be great to get them out there
somewhere.
I'm with Berislav on something simpler, more re-usable. I'm not crazy
either about the look of a starfish, the symbol is excellent.
I think a direction that's less of a circular badge would be a good
thing to try. Maybe making the starfish smaller and using it on the
side, above or under a larger "Coworking" would make sense, somewhat
like the Barcamp logo. Work on the word as the basis for the logo and
make the starfish more of a stamp/symbol/brand (not sure which word to
use here) associated to it, like the apple with Apple or swoosh with
Nike, that can then be used next to the name or separate. The starfish
could then be used small with the text on documents but blown up and
central on a t-shirt for example.
I want to take some time to flesh out some different versions, as these are all pretty similar. I want to try some different fonts, incorporate the “curvy” starfish, and try making a more vertical, square-shaped logo with the same basic elements.
It’s challenging to make a square or circular badge because the word “coworking” is so much longer than the star shape (hence, I believe, Chris’s efforts to wrap the words around the star).
I also found a nifty starfish-esque asterisk… Comic Sans of all things. I used it in a couple of the mockups.
Let me know what you think and if I’m on a halfway decent track… I’ll elaborate from there and provide PSD’s if anyone wants.
My initial inclination is that it may need to be further simplified if possible. Will review again in the evening.
I’m with Berislav on something simpler, more re-usable. I’m not crazy
either about the look of a starfish, the symbol is excellent.
I think a direction that’s less of a circular badge would be a good
thing to try. Maybe making the starfish smaller and using it on the
side, above or under a larger “Coworking” would make sense, somewhat
like the Barcamp logo. Work on the word as the basis for the logo and
make the starfish more of a stamp/symbol/brand (not sure which word to
use here) associated to it, like the apple with Apple or swoosh with
Nike, that can then be used next to the name or separate. The starfish
could then be used small with the text on documents but blown up and
central on a t-shirt for example.