Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with logos

This one is for all you map enthusiasts out there.

eskers — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 22:32:56 -0800

What kind of mapping was used to create the UN logo? I have a question about the U.N. logo. Was there a particular map projection used for the globe in the middle of the logo? I'm guessing it's azimuthal from the looks of wikipedia's map projection entry, but it may not be because you can see all of South America, Africa, and Australia in the logo.

Help me identify these logos

CaptainZingo — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 16:43:29 -0800

What are these logos?

Do I really have to blur out every coke can?

yellowbinder — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 09:02:58 -0800

What are the rules regarding logos captured incidentally in documentary? I'm working on a documentary webseries with a corporate sponsor, and was curious what the rules are regarding other corporate logos. Obviously we are clear to use our sponsor's logo wherever it appears, and we're going to blur out competitors' logos (not so much on our sponsors request, more because these are alcohol products shown being used by underage people and we don't want any potential issues).

So that's clear, but what about other logos, like clothing brands, coke cans, etc? Do we have to blur all logos wherever they appear?

This is in Canada, if relevant. Thanks for any help you can provide!

Help me find my long lost font

psmealey — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 14:34:18 -0800

Can you help me identify this font? A long time ago, I was looking for a good band logo font, and a friend of mine sent me a couple of samples, and the ones I went with are here and here. I seem to recall the name being something like "jailhouse"... but using that search in google has turned up nothing for me after looking for many months. I lost the files long ago, and my friend doesn't remember the name. A little help? Thanks!

Why do so many different TV stations use the circle with a 7 in the middle as their logo?

Bud Dickman — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 09:51:05 -0800

Why do so many different TV stations use the circle with a 7 in the middle as their logo? I'm wondering how so many different businesses can use the same logo. Are all the stations that use it ABC affiliates? Does the logo signify some sort of collaboration among the stations that use it? My hometown ABC affiliate's logo is a circle with a 7 in the middle. The Internet has shown me that many other stations across the country have the exact same logo.

I'm wondering how so many different businesses can use the same logo. Are all the stations that use it ABC affiliates? Does the logo signify some sort of collaboration among the stations that use it?

Or is it just a snappy symbol that lots of stations use and has somehow not been copyrighted? I know a circle with a 7 in the middle is pretty basic, but it seems like all the stations use almost the exact same one.

Anything for the top of my head?

nitsuj — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 10:44:33 -0800

So I really like the fit and style of Twins Enterprise fitted baseball caps, but I want something without team logos on it. Suggestions? No logo would be fine. Or perhaps something more obscure and entertaining than a standard MLB or NHL team logo. Is there a Threadless for ball caps? I've seen Fitizen, but I don't like that style.

Do you have any suggestions?

Why cover up logos on TV shows?

Thrillhouse — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 08:21:49 -0800

Why do tv shows blur or cover up logos on clothes instead of just changing clothes? I'm watching Mythbusters and Tory is wearing a hat with a piece of duct tape over the logo on it. It's not as though they have no control over what he wears on camera. Why don't they just have him wear another hat or something? This seems to happen frequently on this show in particular.

Smallest Number of Words To Be Deemed A Dictionary?

vanoakenfold — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 13:59:13 -0800

LogosFilter: Could a blog entry that contains two words and their definitions be consistent with the definition of a dictionary? In looking up with word dictionary, I most often find something along the lines of "a collection of words.." as far as quantity, but nothing further than that besides "a selection of words" or "a list of words" which to me would be at minimum, two. Is two of something a collection? How many of something must one have before it is deemed a collection?

I can't find the font I used for my logo anywhere!

donmak — Sat, 28 Jul 2007 07:58:55 -0800

Fontographers: Help me identify this font. I did the typical n00b thing and lost the PSD of my logo and now I can't for the life of me find or remember the font I used to create it. My site is at www.bloggingmuses.com and the logo is in the upper left. Any ideas what font it was? I have looked on every font site imaginable trying to find it. Thanks!

How do you justify spending half a million pounds on a logo?

chrismear — Mon, 04 Jun 2007 09:11:43 -0800

Help me understand the marketing/branding industry. The 2012 London Olympics committee just spent £400,000 on this new logo. How does a branding company justify this kind of money to just design a logo? That can't be all there is to it, right? What kind of things actually get delivered and done on a project like this?

Prince of Pockets

Xurando — Mon, 02 Apr 2007 08:36:05 -0800

Help me to become a whiz at identifying the brand of blue jean by their pocket logo. I was leading an informal training group last week of about thirty people. Most of the participants were wearing blue jeans. There were at least 15 different logos on the pockets including plain, and I could only recognize a couple.

I tried googling blue jean pocket logos and checked out Flickr. What I'd really like is a quiz. Help me become the Prince of Pockets.

How do I sell items with sports logos?

bagels — Tue, 29 Aug 2006 18:49:22 -0800

I am looking to sell a new product, and I would like to have team/league (NBA, NFL, MLB, colleges) logos printed on it. How do I go about obtaining permission and paying licensing fees? The product is easy to work with, and I have figured out how to print the logos on the item. Is there a certain volume of sales at which I need to concern myself about licensing fees? I would like to get blanket approval for all teams and pay a consolidated fee to a central place if possible.

I have googled and can't seem to find any reliable information. Google comes up with individual colleges whose fees are ~7-10% of the manufacturing or retail price.

LogoHell

matty — Wed, 16 Aug 2006 08:28:41 -0800

Logo Search: I've got a company, but I ain't got no logo! I'm trying to find a logo design company to create my logo, but there are SO MANY online companies that I can't figure out who to go with.

I've researched LogoBee, LogoWorks, LogoDesignCreation, Yoggin, and some miscellaneous others. I've read reviews (a mix of good and bad) on all of them, and I've searched MeFi for comments/threads.

Can anyone provide some feedback on their familiarity or experience with any of these companies, or suggest something that has worked for you personally??

I'm all for getting a logo via the internet, but I wish I could find a company with designers that I could actually TALK to vice filling out online forms...

Why couldn't they show the Chanel logo on The Simpsons?

benrodian — Sun, 09 Jul 2006 11:14:18 -0800

What are the rules for using company logos in creative works? Specifically, why was Marge able to refer to Chanel many times in that one Simpsons episode while the logo was never fully visible? In the Simpsons episode where Marge gets the Chanel dress really cheap, the Chanel name is never fully visible. The word is obscured by a tree, etc. This leads me to think that representing the logo would be a possible copyright violation.

I also remember the McDonald's logo being represented in a very angular version (rather than the normal curvy logo) on the show.

Why is it permissible to have a character talk about Walmart but not permissible to show the complete Walmart logo?

Can anyone explain the rules to me in a simple way?

May I ever use a stock graphic in a logo?

lemuria — Sat, 04 Mar 2006 12:46:53 -0800

Clients want me to use stock graphics in their logos. May I do so, if I warn them that the resulting logo may not be trademarkable? I'm a web designer whose clients have recently begun asking for logos. I'm nervous about posting these questions, because when I've asked advice of graphic designers in the past the answers have gone like "that is terrible practice, leave the designing to professionals, your lousy designing will actually physically kill your client," &etc.

I understand that ideally a logo is an entirely original creation, and I'm not looking for a design lecture. I am looking for some help understanding the basics of the subject. My questions:

1. I have been making logos for small companies, usually one-person home businesses. They often send me stock images that they want to use in their logos. These folks are not Nike or Coca-Cola, and they may not care that the resulting logo can't be trademarked. Can I use the stock image, if I remind the client that anyone can use their graphic?

2. This page makes it sound as though using clip art is a-OK as long as the client doesn't care about trademarking. Aesthetic concerns aside, is there a reason that the "Deer Creek" example on that page couldn't trademark just the text part of the logo? If not, why not?

3. I'm really confused about the basic concept here: the importance of complete uniqueness in a logo. Why is it okay for more than one logo to use the same typeface or the same colors, but not the same graphic? (Or is it not okay for two logos in the world to use Futura...?!) Couldn't five different logos incorporate the same basic shape - say, a shield? Then why couldn't they all use the same stylized flower?

4. What counts as a "logo"? Why is a "logo" subject to special rules - is it just because of the trademark issue? My favorite stock graphics website, for example, has a rule that the graphics cannot be used in a "logo", but you can use the art pretty much everywhere else. Is this to protect the clip art's creator, or the company with the logo? If it's for the creator, why does the artist care if their stylized flower is right next to the name of the company as opposed to 300 pixels away?

Wow, those were more questions than I thought I had. Thanks in advance for your patience with my newbie questions, super-professional graphic designers.

Books and Birds

bubukaba — Wed, 08 Feb 2006 13:26:39 -0800

Why are there so many book publishers that have birds in their names or their logos? Is there a historical explanation? Is there any explanation? The ones I thought of off the top of my head were Bantam, Penguin, Pelican, Puffin, and Signet (which might not be one, but it's a homophone of "cygnet").

I looked at various lists of publishers on Wikipedia and found three more, Osprey Publishing, Black Sparrow Books, and Catbird Press.

Then I looked at my bookshelf and noticed that Norton Critical Editions have a bird in their logo, and the NTC Publishing Group has a hawk (or something) in their logo.

I could be looking for an explaination where there isn't one, but I've been obsessed with this question for the past week.

logo design blogs

chuckforthought.com — Thu, 02 Feb 2006 13:47:04 -0800

Logo design blogs? I'm interested in seeing updates and new logos out there. I googled and couldn't find sites that specialize in blogging logos.

Where can I get classic sports fonts?

ooklah — Fri, 02 Dec 2005 07:55:06 -0800

I'm looking for some free classic baseball jersey fonts to use for mocking up some team apparel ideas. I'd love to have the variety found here

the circle line

sammich — Thu, 01 Dec 2005 17:44:29 -0800

What is the origin of the universal power symbol? You know the one with the circle and the vertical line. There seem to be two variations of the symbol, one with the line inside the circle and, more common, the one with the line half way inside the top of the circle. It seems to me that it's either a symbol for 1 and 0 (binary for on and off) or more exoticly, some kind of phallic sexual representation of power.

I googled many pages and came close but empty. This article seems to talk about it but it's more about the modern standardization of the symbol rather than the origin. Then there's this page that says it is a Rikki symbol but it seems made up and other pages of Rikki symbol shows something way different.

Blur Brand T-Shirts

RobotHero — Tue, 01 Nov 2005 10:26:41 -0800

What's the deal with blurring out logos? If I produced a movie or TV show and did not blur out the logos, what legal recourse do the logo owners really have?

I'm not selling a competing product, so I don't see how it's trademark violation. Is it copyright on the package design? Or is it more like how some cartoons have to do the "celebrity voices are impersonated" spiel? (The companies don't want to look like they've endorsed my rap video?)

What should I use in my logo?

godawful — Fri, 12 Aug 2005 07:23:42 -0800

Problems encountered in designing a logo... I've been charged with producing a new logo for my company. My remit is vague: has to suggest an association of universities, unity, ideas, learning.

My problem is that I can't think of anything to represent these things other than the horrible cliches of mortarboards, lightbulbs, handshakes etc. I'm just drawing a blank. I feel hamstrung from the start - I want a really good concept to underlie this design, but I just can't get past these images.

If anyone could offer general advice on what a good logo should look like, that would also be a massive help.

Many thanks.

Free Logo Maker for Website

webmeta — Fri, 15 Jul 2005 02:04:06 -0800

Can you suggest a free service that will make a smart logo for the heading of web sites. (Something similar to the nice logos at Gotlogos gallery, which is a paid service)

Red and Yellow Logos

jonah — Tue, 26 Apr 2005 07:55:10 -0800

Why are all of the logos for major fast food chains red and yellow? Is this psychological, readable, an offshoot of McDonalds? The ones I have seen are McDonalds, Carl's, Wedy's, Burger King, In and Out, Sonic, KooKooRoo - I'm trying to find one that is not yellow/red.

Upmarket clothing brand with a Scottish lion for a logo.

Mean Mr. Bucket — Sun, 16 Jan 2005 13:00:07 -0800

Anyone know the name of that sort of upmarket brand of clothing that uses the Scottish lion as it's emblem/logo?

Name That Photog

id girl — Tue, 14 Dec 2004 12:40:08 -0800

I am looking for the name or a link to a photographer who shoots pictures of store shelves filled with products, and then photoshops out all the branding / logos etc. so that the shelves appear to be filled with blank products. [+] I'm fairly certain I once saw it linked off of MetaFilter, but it would have been over a year ago. Searches of MeFi archives and googling terms like 'blank products' and various iterations have turned up nothing; I'm hoping someone here either bookmarked it or can point me in the right direction.