We know that some of you are going to post comments that this logo represents a failure, or proof that crowdsourcing or our model doesn’t work or won’t work. You’ll go on and on about how terrible my metaphors are or how much bullshit you smell or how ghastly our taste in design is. To which we say, have fun with that. And enjoy our comment section as your commentary platform. We have lots of server space for you. Because whether you think we’re being defensive or not, the truth is we understand you. And we love you. But we cannot control you. So we say knock yourselves out. And we’ll see you in Cannes.
To us, and to those who we believe are positive-minded, forward-thinking people, what we’d like you to know and care about regarding our logo is this: We had a great experience crowdsourcing this fucker. It was wonderful, actually. And what it proved to us, was that this blessed methodology with a geeky name (thanks Mr. Howe) just flat works. And it will only get better. The greatest thing that came from this logo assignment was proof that, via crowdsourcing, it is quite possible that the best talent, much like cream in a bucket (there’s another metaphor for you haters to pick apart, enjoy), rises to the top.
This logo was designed by Mr. Andrea Bigiarini (@norbu56 on Twitter). Andrea – or “B.Ja” as his friends call him – lives just outside Florence, Italy, in a town called Impruenta on the Chianti hills with his wife Stefania and daughter Francescaa. B.Ja is a graphic designer of the highest caliber. A craftsman whose father is a painter, Andrea has been designing since 1978 and “grew up around canvas, pencils, oil and turpentine.” He is the sort of artist who sketches first, goes to the computer second. He was studying at the Florence Lyceum of The Arts at age 14 and soon thereafter went to work on his own dime at Leonardo Baglioni’s studio – Leonardo represented the “new wave” in graphic design in Florence at the time and worked with Superstudio, Roberto Magris and Adolfo Natalini. And we only found out these details well after we awarded “norbu56″ the top prize of five (the others being pretty outstanding designers as well).
Through email correspondence across the pond this week, I was overjoyed to learn more about him. And thought you might want to know more as well. Andrea is a creative soul. Above being a world-class designer, he is also a biker and a musician, founder of the local ukelele uprising ( http://ukuleleitalia.ning.com/ ), author and illustrator of “The Xutan Papers” and upcoming “The Seven Magnificent Dwarves.” When asked about those who say that crowdsourcing is bad for design due to myriad reasons stated in the no-spec movement, he answers “I think that competition is part of human nature and competition makes things better. Crowdsourcing is the future and is a good way to work during a global economic crisis.” That’s Andrea Bigiarini. A man who likes quantum physics and sometimes feels like the Schrodinger Cat. A man with a take on life that we could all do well to emulate. “Love makes you create, hate makes you destroy. I love to love, makes you fly, is a kind of very good magic.”
What strikes us most about being lucky enough to find a talent like Andrea via crowdSPRING and crowdsourcing is that it illustrates perfectly that for those who wish to embrace this inevitability, it can work beautifully. We find it so poignant and magnificent and heartwarming that a man with the utmost of traditional design backgrounds has chosen to give these newfangled and much deliberated creative platforms a shot. Instead of lamenting their evilness, with an open mind and heart, he’s simply decided to jump in and give it a try. We’re very glad he did. And we’re hoping more talented people embrace his mindset. Thank you, Mr. Bigiarini. And thank you crowdSPRING.
Here’s to a beautiful future.
I won’t talk about how 1980s the logo looks, or how the designer borrowed from a Harley Davidson sort of vibe, but isn’t a logo supposed to be readable? I can’t read anything other than your name, and the cliche’s ‘Power to…”. It even looks like you were established in a008. How will this work on a letterhead? It probably won’t. And if I have any typos here it’s because the pt. size of the type in the comment box is impossibly small to read as well.
This is just a comment for everyone who commented, not meant for Auntie Christ specifically though it will probably post as a reply to that person. It’s for anyone who cares to read it – and it’ll probably the first and last comment from us about comments. It’s for all of you though – for those in the pro and for those in the con categories. First, thank you sincerely for taking the time to comment. It’s amazing how the blogosphere and social media work. Especially when the dialogue is around what is apparently a really giant hot-button. It’s also amazing just watching all of this unfold. We’ve cleared every comment on purpose – the in-favor and the not in-favor. In the spirit of transparency. And also in the spirit of welcoming all views. But I didn’t read the comments. Just skimmed and approved. So I didn’t catch the details. But even with skimming it’s clear that there’s a lot of anger and confusion and we would just like to say again that we totally get it. We knew it was going to be this way. And we understand all of it. In a small way, everyone is right. Just as everyone is wrong in some ways. Us included. So we’ll just leave it at that, whether or not anyone else does. It’s cool. And again, thanks a lot. Oh but just a quick note on the logo itself for anyone concerned it won’t work in small situations or on a biz card or that it’s not a logo it’s an illustration (a personal favorite as that’s a comment that could be given to at least 50% of logos out there): Rest easy, friends. Though your concern is appreciated, know that we have different versions for different uses. I thought maybe it wasn’t necessary to say that or post them – as versions for various uses goes without saying. At least for those with similar experience in design to ours. The rest is all subjective pretty much. Which is a beautiful thing and a big part of what makes the world go around. So here’s to that. And here’s to everyone’s success and happiness. Thanks again for your contributions. V&S – over and out.
wicked logo, i love it
Shepard Fairey called. He wants his logo back.
Evan,
I would have thought after my response – for which you stated respect – to your last post, you would have toned down the disrespectful tone and the self–aggrandizing language. There’s a great divide between confidence and arrogance and I hope you will pursue a respectful dialog in the future.
On that note: I’ll never understand why people believe that words like bullshit and fucker belong on a corporate site. Believe me, I can slather it on but there is a time and place for it.
What happened to civility and decorum in business?
About the logo:
It’s NOT a logo. It’s a banner; a sign. Even the modified version you are using on twitter can’t be used any smaller than it already is.
There is no consideration of scale in secondary and tertiary elements. Those beloved “POWER” tags and “SINCE 2009” will be unreadable on stationery and especially on–screen at smaller sizes.Outlines on the banner elements will plug–in; as will the counters on the scalloped rim.
This is further evidence that while someone may create something that looks great, it does not qualify it as a logo. Talent is one thing and looking at Andrea’s other work (all very ornate and detailed “logos”) he can arrange a lot of detailed elements that work wonderfully as beautiful, vintage signs or on the backs of t–shirts. But they don’t work well at required sizes, in typical formats and reproduction processes. Found on his site, his own logo uses a detailed, engraved eagle illustration at such a small size, it becomes a blob even at the 430 pixel width on his site.
Without these considerations of scale and use, what good is the end result?
Experience moderates talent. I know you know this. And that is not to say that experience HINDERS talent. It ensures that what is being created meets the requirements of its intended use and the demands of the communications objectives. What is obviously missing from a lot of the submissions – including the winner – is this experience.
Also missing was the innovative thinking from the “crowd”. As I mentioned before, it’s 1100+ examples of sameness. http://j.mp/3mtZ1u
Given these circumstances, I am not sure how this is going to be beneficial for you or your clients in future projects. Packaging, brochures, websites, visual brands, etc. that look just dandy but ultimately can’t be produced/reproduced in required or unknown formats. Thus, requiring more work than necessary in the hands of a talented and experienced individual or team.
We’ll see, but this is not a good start.
Sincerely
– Brady Bone
Note: You’re missing a detail in the medallion at the bottom. The “leaf” on the left hand side does not have the right–hand edge that the other two include. This is very noticeable. At least fix that. Then work on making it usable.
Crowdsourcing is a buzzword that translates roughly to, “get a bunch of amateurs and/or the unemployed and desperate to do spec work, sweatshop-style, for free”
Your logo would look a lot better on a can of motor oil from the 1920s.
Also, it looks like what you’d get when the account guys run the design shop.
Not saying that the design and advertising industries aren’t radically changing and that the work won’t get cheaper, but people working for free? This agency concept is a recession era special.
LOL, Prety bad the logo.
alright… time for a stupid question (or two)…
how is hiding things “in the spirit of transparency”?
sort of like not talking about daddy’s drinking problem makes it not there?
how is “not reading the comments” make the blog effective?
to what will you respond then and how will you explain yourself?
are you just going to fire randomly and hope you hit that broad side of the barn?
and try not be so smarmy about why the logo doesn’t work, please?
we’ve all had, for the most part, “experiences like yours” (the condescension really doesn’t help) which is where a lot of our comments came from. saying a logo is subjective is true, like saying you like one ice cream flavor over another, BUT it must be ice cream you’re comparing. comparing butter pecan ice cream to a michelin tire is pointless. a logo still must still behave as a logo, or put it in another category?
so, seeing that there’s a lot of “anger and confusion” (didn’t see too much anger, but did see a lot of criticism / confusion)… you’re not going to answer any valid points or concerns? i guess throwing the baby out with the bath water is one way of answering, but how will you handle that same criticism when it’s coming from a harsh CMO you’re courting?
so is “V&S over and out” the towel being thrown in? if “this is what you expected” why are you shocked? did you really think that everyone would just swoon at the idea of an agency not being real (in the flesh) but being a “virtual agency” (which we’ve all read about over the past 15 years and has been tried in various guises by many others), and we got over our swooning. we’d greet you as liberators? with chocolate and roses?
this is advertising, after all, and the same people are here as elsewhere, the people that want to blindly succeed and the ones that want to see you fail, just as blindly: that’s the subjective part. biggest newsflash: whenever you walk into a room of people you don’t know, the room gets pretty quickly divided until they get to know you. half of them hate your suit (the visual manifestation, like your blog) half think it’s really nice… most will think you’re not very good when you don’t answer their questions…
as an aside to auntie christ, if you’re on a MAc in Safari, just hit the command and + keys in combination and it will increase the screen size (and type)… i have the same problem on george’s site…
I just think there were better logos submitted. This one is garbage. Doesn’t read well, wont reduce well, and is just flat-out poorly designed. Its nice that you’re willing to put up with all the criticism, b/c you’ll get a lot.
I like Black Stars. A lot. Good anarchist connotations that fir well. Congrats on the new shop to you gents. Godspeed.
Unionize NOW!
I was on a shoot a while back. The directors were making $20k plus a day, the talents were make God knows what, and as I looked around, I realize I am the lowest payed person there and yet I am the one who came up with the idea. I am the one who is held responsible to the project. Why is it happening this way? How can this be?…….Why is our industry devalue our work so much? Are models like the crowd sourcing help or hurt our industry in the future?
PS. This is not a logo. It’s a T shirt design at best.
Honestly I think this is a great idea. This defnitely has potential as a new idea generator. Here’s to hoping your creative never goes stale with the constant changing of the crowd.
Sorry. The whole ‘crowd-sourcing’ concept sucks. Just as we are making progress in educating clients about the pitfalls of creative pitching in design we have an agency promoting it. Why would any half-decent creative spend the necessary time immersing themselves in a client’s market on the off-chance of winning a pitch.
But hey, great PR stunt… I don’t often air my opinion.
ANDREA,
I have known ANDREA SINCE 1975 HE IS THE HIGHEST CALIBER OF ARTIST NOT ONLY IN GRAPHICS BUT IN HIS WRITINGS IT IS TIME HE IS RECOGNIZED AS HE DESERVES THIS GREAT AWARD, I THINK HIS IDEAS ARE VERY INNOVATIVE AND SHED NEW LIGHT ON MANY ARENAS AND THE GLOBAL CONTENT IS GREAT TO SEE IN THIS AGE OF GLOBALIZATION ALAN LEWIS ROBINSON
Quite the written game of Kick the Can.
Rules Below.
Start by choosing one person to be It. (Brady Bone)
To start the game, this player gets to kick the can (Logo) as far as he’s able.
When It (Brady Bone) finds a hider, he calls out this player’s name. If the hider can kick over the can before It does, he’s safe.
It’s not a game, it’s a Logo.
I find it soothing like Mint Tea in a Mosh Pit.
Nice logo.
piano mp…
Hello
I bookmarked this site. Thanks heaps for this!… if anyone else has anything, it would be much appreciated. Great website Super Pianoforte Links http://www.en.Grand-Pianos.org Enjoy!…
[...] El primer trabajo de crowdsourcing que han hecho es la imagen de su agencia. La web, por el momento, es plana porque andan buscando el talento que dé con la mejor propuesta para el site de Victors & Spoils. Tampoco está cerrada su imagen pero lo que sí han encontrado es su logo. [...]
Im searching for sites related to this. Glad I found you. Thanks