Logo Design Code of Ethics
When you think about it, ethics can be a touchy subject on the Internet. We deal with so many different cultures and pre-existing codes of ethics. It’s a daunting task. Even more so in logo design, where something like exclusivity (which seems obvious to most of us) might not be obvious to every logo designer. In some cultures, all is fair in love and war - and in business.
So I have launched a new project that I hope to stay involved in for a long time. LogoDesignCode.com. The idea is simply to try and define a code of ethics for online logo designers. Have a look here. If you can improve on version one, please do via the suggestions form.
More on Logo Design Examples
I had a look at the Biz-Logo portfolio today and figured we could do a lot better. Made some improvements, added content and a proper index.
New Logo Design Samples
Posted some new logo design examples under logo design on the Biz-Logo site. I just love that Commonwealth logo. The Botori logo is also one of my all-time favorites.
Church Logo Designer - New Site
A new site that I’ve just completed and uploaded. Check it out here:
http://www.churchlogodesigner.com/
What worries me just a little is that it seems logo designers are in a race to out-site each other. The number of logo design sites on the Net increases daily it seems, but if you take the time to investigate, many of them are owned by a handful of the bigger design firms. My company had to create a system for keeping track of what we own and how all the pieces fit together.
It should be interesting to see a chart of who owns whom in the online logo design world.
The alternative to having many sites is having all your eggs in one basket. With Google’s mood swings I would not want to build my ability to feed my kids on just one site. Add to that the odd denial of service attack and having 200 sites instead of 1 seems perfectly logical.
Our poor customers though!
Vector World Map
A free vector world map, available in AI, CDR and EPS - and some raster formats as well:
Biz-Logo.com DDoS Attack - Update (2)
Biz-Logo
A follow-up on our post on the Biz-Logo DDoS attack:
Hats off to our new hosting company Blacklotus.net. We are happy to report that Biz-Logo.com has been back online and accessible since May 12, despite the ongoing attack.
The guys at Blacklotus are successfully mitigating the attack for us using a combination of high-spec hardware and manual traffic filtering. Most impressive of all is the speed: they (1) got the site working quickly, (2) the site itself opens much faster than I though possible and (3) their support team answers questions in no time at all.
All this comes at a price, of course. It costs many times more than the $7-or-so that we used to pay over at BlueHost. That’s a bitter pill to swallow for a stingy bastard like me.
But we need to look at the value, not the price.
If you pay 30 times more and you receive 100 times more, then that is money well spent. The speed alone justifies the price. Biz-Logo.com opens up in a snap. That will inevitably translate into more sales for us. Only two extra sales per month and our new hosting plan pays for itself. By the looks of it, we will be making a lot more than that. DDoS attacker 0, Biz-Logo 1.
If you are fighting a DDoS attack - or even if you’re not - consider Blacklotus. They are in a league of their own.
Vector Batman Logos
Vector Templates logo
We have started a new web site called VectorTemplates.com under our parent company Graphics Factory CC. The aim of this one is to offer free and premium professional vector templates for download.
Batman logos in vector format
One section of the site will be specifically for all kinds of fun vector stuff, like superhero logos. So to add to our ongoing series on the Batman logo and it’s many variations, the site offers some Batman logos and Batman fan art in vector format available for download.
We’ll add more Batman logos and fun stuff here as our schedule allows.
At the time of writing the site is still very new and fairly empty. We do have a massive collection of vector stuff though which we horded over the years and will be adding them all.
Keep an eye on this site as we upload many more templates over the coming months.
Biz-Logo.com DDoS Attack - Update
Biz-Logo
Since yesterday’s post on the Biz-Logo DDoS attack we’ve made some progress. We have upgraded to enterprise level hosting at a hosting provider that offers DDoS mitigation. Our hosting bill is several times larger now, but that’s a small price to pay.
The site is back online: www.biz-logo.com
The attack is continuing though so if you have any trouble accessing the site please consider visiting our sister-site www.LogoAnts.com
Biz-Logo.com DDoS Attack - www.biz-logo.com
Biz-Logo
The Biz-Logo.com web site has been unreachable since Tuesday, May 5. We established fairly quickly that Biz-Logo was the target of a DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) attack.
Who would’ve thought that our relatively small, specialized design business would be siginificant enough for someone to launch a DDoS attack against!
Our web hosting company, BlueHost.com, disabled the web site on their servers and the following day informed us that we needed to find a new host. We were of course delighted with their willingness to assist us in our hour of need. A live support agent told us, and I quote, ”remove all your stuff and find a new host”.
What really got under my skin was when they accused Biz-Logo of breaking the Terms of Service Agreement. Upon reading the Terms of Service Agreement I found that they must have a different Terms of Service Agreement… hidden somewhere.
We moved the web site to a different host. Same problem.
We moved again, this time to StartLogic’s virtual private server solution. Thank you StartLogic for the fast, professional service. While StartLogic does not provide protection against the attack, it at least provides us with a working hosting account from where we can monitor the attack to determine it size and nature.
We are currently working with StartLogic and other service providers to get Biz-Logo.com back online as soon as possible. We have reported the attack in the hope that the attacker is apprehended. Apparently it is difficult and time-consuming to trace a DDoS attack, but not impossible. Let’s hope.
Our customers may contact us via the temporary Biz-Logo site, or visit our sister-site LogoAnts.com.
Logos versus Logos
Good people of the Web, I present for your judgment,
the Silver Fish logo and the Connect logo.
Both these logos were designed by professional, full-time, qualified designers.
Both are fairly simple, clean designs. The Silver Fish logo is probably more memorable while the Connect logo is more practical if the logo is to be used on faxes, photocopies etc. You will probably like one of them more than the other one, but that’s personal taste. Let’s not get into that.
Let’s just say that there is nothing very wrong with either of these.
Agreed?
Well, no, actually there is something very wrong with one of these logos, according to many professional designers.
You see, logos like the Connect logo typically cost thousands of dollars. Professional ad agencies spend countless hours coming up with just the right design - and they charge by the hour, which seems only fair.
By stark contrast, the Silver Fish logo cost $125. It was also designed by a professional, full-time, qualified designer. The difference is that it was not designed specifically for the Silver Fish company, but was designed as a pre-designed logo for Biz-Logo.com. Someone from a company called Silver Fish came along, saw this fish logo on Biz-Logo.com and purchased it for $125. The Biz-Logo.com designer then worked with them to add their name, change colors, fine-tune the layout etc. It’s all included in the bargain price of $125.
This, says the traditional designer, is logo design blasphemy. How dare Biz-Logo.com take a perfectly good profession and make it this cheap. They did not even form a relationship with the client prior to making the logo. No research into the client’s business needs.
Huh?… says the client.
Huh indeed. I don’t get it either. Maybe I’m missing something, but at Biz-Logo.com we think our client, the small business owner, is typically a smart individual. She is starting her own business after all. There must be some savvy in that head of hers then. She knows her business, industry and target audience.
So I figured, let’s not charge her thousands of dollars to tell her what she already knows. Let’s give her a choice of hundreds of logos and leave the business decision to the business owner. If we do that, we cut out 90% of the design work. Now here’s an idea: Let’s pass that on to the client. Let’s take 90% off the price as well, making professional logo design truly accessible to the small business owner.
Logo design blasphemy?
No, this is not logo design blasphemy, it’s business. The cries of ”blasphemy!” really should be understood as “How in the name of all that is good am I supposed to compete with THAT!”.
The truth is that affordable online logo design services are here to stay - and they are gradually taking more and more business away from ad agencies. This is scaring ad agencies, who are finding it increasingly difficult to justify their fees.
There will always be room for the ad agency approach to logo design, but it is no longer the only option available to business owners. Thank goodness.
