DataPortability Logo Competition
February 22, 2008
As many of you may know Red Hat recently sent a Cease and Desist claiming that our DataPortability logo was too similar (Identical, in their words) to their Fedora Logo.
While the claim is arguable, we have decided that rather than dispute the issue, we would take the advice of community members to hold a Logo Competition to replace the current logo with a new one.
So I would like to announce the “DataPortability Logo Competition”.
Brief:
The logo should:
- Be distinct, unique and easily identifiable
- Remain clear and identifiable at small sizes (e.g. 16×16)
- Convey the concept of moving/owning/syncing data
- Aesthetically fit in with a broad range of site/application designs
- Provide a clear silhouette that can be rendered in multiple colors
As part of the submission, you must be willing to give up all your rights to the copyright and donate it to the community via the DataPortability project.
Submissions can be made via JPG/GIF/PNG however please be prepared to provide high resolution/vector graphic versions of your work.
Prizes:
The main reason for getting involved, of course, is simply to help the community create an important Trust Mark for the emerging Data Portability conversation. As a bonus, however, we are accepting prizes from any vendors who would like to donate to the effort.
Current prize list:
- iPhone from Jive Software
- Weeks ad space on Techcrunch! Thanks to Michael Arrington over at Techcrunch
- A Month ad space on either CenterNetworks (www.centernetworks.com) or
HTMLCenter (www.htmlcenter.com) thanks to Allen Stern - $100 from Bub.blicio.us thanks to Brian Solis
- $100 of Compete Credits to get access to premium reports thanks to Jay Meattle at Compete.
- $500 and a “I’d sync that” T-shirt from Plaxo thanks to John McCrea
- An A0 Trendmap from Information Architects
- $100 from HedgeHog Lab
- Free Ticket to Plugg (worth €500) thanks to Robin Wauters
2nd and 3rd Prize will be:
- An A0 Trendmap from Information Architects
If you would like to donate prizes to this competition, please email me. I will update this post to mention sponsors and prizes if any offers come in.
Voting:
The co-founders of the DataPortability project, along with the steering group, will make a short list. We will then provide a web-based voting system for the community to make the final choice.
If you have a solid web-based voting solution you can recommend for that stage of the competition, please email me sooner rather than later.
Submission Details:
- Submissions should be made to the Flickr pool.
- The deadline for submissions is March 11 2008
Legal Advice:
Once we have a logo (or at least a short list) we would welcome legal help/advice/sponsorship regarding TM and/or Community Marks so that we can ensure the logo is free and clear of IPR entanglements. If you are a legal firm and would like to sponsor this part of the process, please email me.
Spread the word:
Please help spread the word about this competition so that we can get a great cross-section of contributions and create something the community can be proud to use across the web.
Comment re: Red Hat:
Please do not flame Red Hat for their letter. It is likely that the decision to send the C&D was made by one legal person and is an honest and generic attempt to protect their TM. As a group, we hope to work with all vendors/organizations to play nice and create a healthy DataPortability enabled Internet. We welcome Red Hat to join us.
Please note that while this competition is going on, DataPortability Action Groups will continue to do the real work of promoting best practices and standards for interoperability of personal user data. Watch the timeline for updates.
Don’t forget to submit your logos to the Flickr Pool.
.
Chris Saad,
Co-Founder and Chair, DataPortability Project
Update: You can Digg it here to help spread the word!
February 22, 2008 at 8:12 pm
I am excited to see what kinds of logos turn up from this. I felt like the DP logo was lacking some pizzaz that it needed, so I think this is all a good thing.
February 22, 2008 at 8:12 pm
Why retool the logo? Red Hat’s logo isn’t unique enough. Show them this: http://tinyurl.com/2a732f
February 22, 2008 at 8:34 pm
I submitted this to Digg to get more exposure on this. Here is the link: http://digg.com/design/DataPortability_New_Logo_Contest_Because_of_Red_Hat
Justin, even if it isn’t unique enough, fighting it could be bad for DataPortability. I could only imagine the ramifications from companies not wanting to join just because of the retaliation from this event. No need to fight when Red Hat is just doing what it has to do to protect its trademark.
February 22, 2008 at 8:39 pm
@Justin as Jacob says, we can not have any IPR issues hanging over the logo that might dissuade people from using it on their site - it is best to come up with something free of any concerns to show the community we have taken action and removed the ‘threat’.
February 22, 2008 at 8:39 pm
[...] After a cease and desist letter from Fedora, we learned our logo was a bit too much like theirs, and rather than waste resources saving the logo and fighting with a company many of us like, it seemed to make more sense to just ask the community to help us come up with another one. If you have mad design skills, please give us a hand with the new DataPortability logo. Details on Chris’ blog. [...]
February 22, 2008 at 8:45 pm
Chris and Jacob, I now understand and respect the decision to take the high road. I updated my post to drive people to the logo contest and will create an entry myself. I still think it’s shitty of Red Hat since their logo looks more like other logos that came before them than it does like DataPortability’s.
February 22, 2008 at 8:54 pm
[...] Chris Saad, panelist from my upcoming MIX08 Panel : Web 2.0 and Beyond: What Is the Business Reality?, has launched a little competition to design the new DataPortability Logo. [...]
February 22, 2008 at 9:18 pm
[...] Chris Saad, panelist from my upcoming MIX08 Panel : Web 2.0 and Beyond: What Is the Business Reality?, has launched a little competition to design the new DataPortability Logo. [...]
February 22, 2008 at 9:19 pm
[...] chairman of the Data Portability Group though did decide not to argue and instead called for a Data Portability Logo Competition. If you want to be part of it, make sure to submit a logo by March 11 2008. Prizes should come from [...]
February 22, 2008 at 9:29 pm
[...] clipped from chrissaad.wordpress.com [...]
February 22, 2008 at 9:51 pm
[...] Chris Saad, panelist from my upcoming MIX08 Panel : Web 2.0 and Beyond: What Is the Business Reality?, has launched a little competition to design the new DataPortability Logo. [...]
February 22, 2008 at 10:06 pm
[...] Red Hat’s cease and desist, the data portability project has opted to take the high road and hold a competition for a new [...]
February 22, 2008 at 10:26 pm
DataPortability Logo Competition.
Un’altra segnalazione di un’altro concorso? Beh, in effetti.. DataPortability.org ha organizzato concorso per il loro nuovo logo. A chi non ne avrebbe ancora sentito dico subito che DataPortability è un’organizzazione che cerca di cr…
February 22, 2008 at 11:50 pm
Hi Chris, sounds good. BTW, just wanted to say that it freaks me out to visit your WordPress blog — because I chose the exact same theme. I came here, saw the graphics, and thought: “I didn’t write that!” Cheers - Mike
February 23, 2008 at 1:36 am
[...] exactly what they’re doing. Third parties are lining up to donate prizes, and an iPhone is already on the list. We’ll [...]
February 23, 2008 at 1:40 am
Chris - I’d love to donate a prize as well - I can offer the selected designer a month ad on either CenterNetworks or HTMLCenter. Please shoot me an email (it’s in the email field) when you get a chance.
February 23, 2008 at 2:31 am
[...] Saad, as mentioned in yesterday’s post, needs a new logo. Share the love: These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and [...]
February 23, 2008 at 2:35 am
[...] It seems that the good people working diligently at the WorkGroup already had the same idea. [...]
February 23, 2008 at 3:09 am
i’m going to win this one.
February 23, 2008 at 3:12 am
[...] it. Treat this as a press opportunity and hold a new logo contest instead. That’s exactly what they’re doing. Third parties are lining up to donate prizes, and an iPhone is already on the list. We’ll throw [...]
February 23, 2008 at 3:31 am
[...] DataPortability is running a contest to find a new logo. Cofounder Chris Saad describes the contest. Mike Arrington approves of [...]
February 23, 2008 at 3:37 am
Thank you all for your kind support and offers of prizes!
Logo ideas are already rolling in
February 23, 2008 at 4:48 am
Great stuff! Plaxo is certainly happy to kick in, too. Count us in for $500 and a “Yeah, I’d sync that” t-shirt!
February 23, 2008 at 5:27 am
[...] So if any of you have more design skills than me, do to Chris Saad’s blog and find out about the Data Portability Logo Competition [...]
February 23, 2008 at 6:58 am
[...] am pleased to unveil my official design for DataPortability’s logo design competition. DataPortability recently received a “cease and desist” letter from RedHat accusing the [...]
February 23, 2008 at 7:58 am
[...] אחרים שדומים לרכיב של כובע-אדום). ובמקום זאת יצאו בקריאה לתחרות לוגואים, אליה הצטרפו שורה של תורמים שמציעים פרסים למי שיצור את [...]
February 23, 2008 at 2:57 pm
[...] There are hundreds of dollar worth of prizes, ad exposure on Techcrunch and CenterNetworks, and iPhone and other goodies, read the full guidelines on Chris’s site. [...]
February 23, 2008 at 2:57 pm
DataPortability New Logo Contest Because of Red Hat | nerdd.net
\r\nThey will be holding a logo contest instead of fighting Red Hat over the similarities of the log
February 23, 2008 at 3:03 pm
Really a great project guys, I’m watching with much interest.
I’ll be pointing to the final winners too for additional exposure.
February 23, 2008 at 3:51 pm
As Tantek Çelik would say “Just use existing, open standards!” ; )
Like this:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ronin691/2285428799/in/pool-592496@N21
I am finding a lot of irony in Data Portability using a custom ( proprietary ) logo when a perfectly good open standard already exists. AIGA.org is giving this symbol away, why not use it? I just added the bleached green color from the Microformats logo.
February 23, 2008 at 4:35 pm
Is there a limit to the number of submissions an individual/group can make?
February 23, 2008 at 4:50 pm
[...] lange rumzustreiten hat Chris Saad, der Gründer der DataPortability-Arbeitsgruppe, entschieden das Logo zu ändern und einen [...]
February 23, 2008 at 5:11 pm
[...] working on this logo for a contest because i believe in the cause and there’s a free iphone to boot.. (i’m always on ginny’s and i [...]
February 23, 2008 at 5:15 pm
This is a great idea. I will participate. And before i start, may i know how many entries one can submit. Is there any limitation on how many logo solutions one can submit.
Thanks.
February 23, 2008 at 5:23 pm
[...] Portability initiert einen Logo Contest nach der Abmahnung durch [...]
February 23, 2008 at 5:31 pm
[...] is my entry to the DataPortability.org Logo Competition, it’s a dynamically changing graph that represents the pursuit of universal Data Portability. [...]
February 23, 2008 at 6:50 pm
@Jeremiah - thank you for your coverage!
@Houstonian There is no limit to the number of logos you can submit. If it is a large number, try to put them on one canvas so you don’t drown out the other submissions.
February 23, 2008 at 7:50 pm
count me in!
February 24, 2008 at 12:14 am
From one issue to another, NO!Spec:
http://www.no-spec.com/articles/design-contests/
February 24, 2008 at 4:04 am
[...] (Via Chris Saad.) [...]
February 24, 2008 at 4:07 am
[...] exactly what they’re doing. Third parties are lining up to donate prizes, and an iPhone is already on the list. We’ll throw [...]
February 24, 2008 at 7:01 am
[...] a result, we are launching a competition to design a new logo: read the announcement on Chris’s blog. Already we have received some generous corporate support, which includes an [...]
February 24, 2008 at 12:59 pm
When designing this logo, keep in mind that the “dp” letters used as a logo has been done a lot for other companies. Save yourself some time and do an image search for dp or dp logos so you make sure you dont accidentally copy someone else. For example http://www.danpatching.co.uk/ - nice use of “dp” - I would say half of all of the logo’s that have been submitted have been done already. Great minds think alike?
February 24, 2008 at 1:44 pm
[...] exactly what they’re doing. Third parties are lining up to donate prizes, and an iPhone is already on the list. We’ll [...]
February 24, 2008 at 6:45 pm
[...] front, technologists everywhere are sweetening the pot for the winning entry into the logo competition. This illustrates how much the issue of portability touches every corner of the Internet. I [...]
February 24, 2008 at 9:52 pm
[...] There is a competition for developing a logo for the DataPortability Project. [...]
February 25, 2008 at 2:19 am
[...] Help the Community. Data Portability Logo Contest [...]
February 25, 2008 at 10:52 am
thanks
February 25, 2008 at 6:11 pm
Sorry to be the downer here, but am I the only one seeing this as a thinly veiled call for spec work? This reads more like dp spinning the publicity of the dispute into a new (free) logo design, rather than actually going out and paying for a new logo. And you want free legal counsel as well? Come on, guys.
February 25, 2008 at 8:35 pm
[...] Friday, while checking the latest tech news I found a post about DataPortability’s Logo Contest. Being a graphic designer for over 15 years, I am no stranger to logo design. In fact I would say I [...]
February 27, 2008 at 1:25 am
Actually Mike, we want everything for free - since the group has no money and everyone is working in their spare time for, what we think, is a good cause.
February 28, 2008 at 5:45 am
Open letter to Red Hat about your logo “similarities” with the DataPortability Workgroup
digg_url = \’http://digg.com/design/Open_letter_to_Red_Hat_about_their_logo_IT_S_NOT_UNIQUE\’;
I’ve seen a few things about Fedora recently in my dashboard and I finally decided to take a look at what the stories have all been about. I read…
February 28, 2008 at 6:24 am
[...] DataPortability Logo Competition « Paying Attention (tags: dataportability logo competition) [...]
February 28, 2008 at 9:09 am
[...] Now Chris Saad, one of the founders of Data Portability has started a new campaign for the public to make a new Data Portability logo, more details can be found here. [...]
February 29, 2008 at 5:24 am
Joyent is happy to lend support to the project by providing a free year of hosting to logo contest winner [and to the DP group if interested].
March 2, 2008 at 3:28 pm
[...] gibt eine Liste mit neuen Logo-Vorschlägen. Wer will kann bis zum 11. März 2008 einen eigenen Vorschlag einreichen. Kategorien: About Web 2.0 Trackback: [...]
March 3, 2008 at 7:36 pm
I’d usually say logo competitions can be nothing but a good thing, but in this case, it seems to me the current logo _expertly_ conveys the notions this project embodies. It would be a shame to scrap it and have to rebrand when the whole site is already beautifully designed.
March 4, 2008 at 5:37 pm
[...] could be quite a mess for the burdgening group, but they decided it would be more advantageous to turn this into a positive rather than waste resources pissing in the [...]
March 5, 2008 at 5:19 am
[...] love nothing more than a good old fashioned logo contest like the one being held by DataPortablity. Even though I went down for the count in the Ruby logo contest, despite clearly having the logo [...]
March 13, 2008 at 4:08 pm
[...] will happen now is that those logos not matching the criteria from the contest will be filtered out and the rest of them will be published for a public vote using the TechCrunch [...]
March 17, 2008 at 8:26 pm
I’m excited to see how this all unfolds, however I think a public vote might be trouble. What is to keep a contestant from voting for themselves using aliases or getting their entire family to log on on vote?
March 31, 2008 at 11:42 am
[...] 7th March Good 50×70 2008 (Poster competition), helping charities, deadline 20th April Data Portability (Logo competition), iphone, cash, web tools, deadline: 11th March Firefox 3 T-Shirt (T-shirt [...]
April 15, 2008 at 12:51 pm
[...] a competition was launched , that soon followed with some generous prizes, for who could design the best logo. Over the course [...]
April 15, 2008 at 5:09 pm
[...] For some history on the competition you can read my previous post. [...]
April 15, 2008 at 5:57 pm
The DataPortability Public Vote is now open! Go cast your ballot:
http://dataportability.techcrunch.com/
April 15, 2008 at 7:15 pm
[...] logo contest instead. The winner would get a lot of attention, and a number of blogs and startups threw in prizes of their own (including [...]
April 15, 2008 at 10:55 pm
[...] 同グループは法廷で争うことを避け、元のロゴを捨てて新たにロゴコンテストを行うことにした。優勝者は大いに注目を集めることになるだろう。また多くのブログやスタートアップが賞品を提供する（われわれも）。 [...]
April 16, 2008 at 4:24 am
[...] druhý den byla na světě soutěž o nové logo DataPortability s celou řadou cen pro vítěze, od iPhonu, přes hotovost až po týdny reklamy na TechCruch. Pro druhé a třetí [...]
April 17, 2008 at 1:45 am
[...] Saad originally launched the logo contest back in February and noted that submissions were due by March 11 (although some [...]
April 17, 2008 at 7:57 pm
[...] logo contest instead. The winner would get a lot of attention, and a number of blogs and startups threw in prizes of their own (including [...]
April 18, 2008 at 6:44 am
[...] design side of things is purely commercial I noticed the data portability group got into a little hot water with their logo being too similar to that of Red Hat’s logo (apparently). When I saw they [...]
April 23, 2008 at 3:16 pm
[...] wat in. In plaats van deze claim aan te vechten besloot de Dataportability Workgroup een nieuw logo te laten ontwerpen door.. ons! De inzendingen werden verzameld, een voorselectie werd gemaakt door de mensen van [...]
April 23, 2008 at 3:34 pm
[...] in their words) to the Fedora Logo the DataPortability Project needed a new design. So they asked their community to come up with designs and vote on them. They received over 400 designs and thousands of [...]
April 23, 2008 at 8:18 pm
[...] late February, DataPortability announced a logo design competition to avoid a legal dispute with RedHat (their logo was too similar to their own). I submitted several [...]
April 23, 2008 at 11:04 pm
[...] finales de Febrero del 2008, DataPortability anunció un concurso de diseño de un nuevo logotipo, mediante Techcrunch y un grupo en flickr que albergó 320 [...]