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During the logo design process it isn’t uncommon to come up with hundreds of sketches, dozens of designs and, of course, a few gems. But for various reasons a great logo may never see the light of day. If you’re like me you keep those logos filed away, hoping that one day they may fit the needs of another client. But in all honesty how many ice cream shops will you design a logo for? Or a doggy day-care? Or a motorcycle repair shop?
So I have decided it is time to showcase some of those logo design gems for the world to see. Of course I could just show off a few of my unused designs in a quick blog post, but what fun is that? Instead I think it would be much more interesting to showcase unused logo designs from various designers from all over the world. So consider this the official call for submissions of your best unused logo designs.
Guidelines for Submission
- Please include your name, business name, and website address
- Submissions should be creative and showcase conceptual and/or design principles
- Logos must not be currently in use by a business or organization
- All logos must be the original work of the designer making the submission
- There is no limit to the number of submissions you can make
- Images must be submitted in full color on a white background and saved as a JPG
Please send all submissions (including JPG files) to LogoSubmissions@JeremyBolton.com
That’s it. Pretty simple right? I can’t promise every submission will be included. I really want to showcase designs that are well thought out, clever, and/or conceptual. Those submissions that are accepted will have their unused logos in an upcoming blog post along with their name and a link to their website. This is a great way to get you and your work noticed. So pass the word along about the call for submissions and start sending in your greatest unused logo ideas!
Hi Jeremy, I submitted my unused logos to you a few days ago. Just curious if you got them? When do you expect to publish the article? Great idea, can’t wait to see!
Hi Ria and thanks for the submissions! I am trying to get the word out about submissions, but so far I have only had two people submit logos. I want to find a few more before I post everyones. Maybe you could help get the word out? Thanks again for your submission! Great work.
This will be an interesting article. Many designers are taking advantage of Brandstack to resell their unused designs, so I would be interested to see some other great works from artists who are opposed to sites like that posting here simply to showcase.
Thanks Mel. I totally agree with you. I know a lot of people like to sell their unused logos on websites like Brandstack. And that is definitely a hot button amongst designers right now.
I thought a post like this would be a great way to get great designers noticed while giving them the credit they are due for the hard work they put into their designs, even when the logos don’t end up getting used.
Hm, I had no idea nor was I even aware of the existence of Brandstack until reading Mel’s comment. Shows what a newb I am, huh? I took a look and was nearly overwhelmed by the sheer volume of logos available. I wonder, how successful designers are at selling them via Brandstack? How many business people who are looking for a new logo would know to go shopping there?
On another note, is it me or do a lot of the logo designs I see at Brandstack (and elsewhere) all seem to look the same? Most of the design styles seem … well, like they are trying to hard to be cute, or ironic, or even weird. I have been more inspired by the graphic and logo designs I’ve seen at Letterhead Fonts – used to show off their amazing fonts. Granted, there is a distinct ‘style’ to the work showcased there, as well. But it’s certainly not bland or cookie cutter.
Again, I am a newb at logo design – so what do I know really? LOL!
Riavon, there has been a whole industry popping up to sell logos on the fly. Brandstack is just one of many. Unfortunately it devalues the design process and gives the appearance that logos don’t need to have any thought behind them other than having some sort of “cute, ironic, or even weird” aesthetic just like you said. I have seen passionate arguments on both sides of the design issues with websites like Brandstack.
NO!SPEC does a great job of breaking down what designers face when participating in these types of crowd-sourcing websites.
http://www.no-spec.com/
Love this idea of showcasing unused logos but have you planned to control plagiarism!
Thanks for the comment Debashis. I think that is a great question and, unfortunately, not one that is easily answered. For all the great things the internet has done for us it still has it’s problems and one that is becoming increasingly prevalent is plagiarism. This is something I thought a lot about before placing my own portfolio and design process online.
As designers we all take a certain amount of risk when placing our work online. Even if steps are taken to put watermarks, or “property of” tags on our designs people can still look at it and recreate it simple from viewing it.
My hope from this post was to help showcase other talented designers who have work that hasn’t been seen by the general public. I hope each of them knew that there was a chance there work may be stolen (as is the case when placing any of our work online), but hopefully there is a greater chance that they receive complements and clients from their submission.
I hope this helps answer your question Debashis. For further reading I found these links extremely helpful and insightful:
http://www.logoblog.org/wordpress/logos-plagiarism-inspiration-coincidence/
http://www.thelogofactory.com/logo_blog/index.php/logo-raiding/
http://www.davidairey.com/its-your-blog/