So you’ve just entered into the field of logo design and you’re trying to figure out…how much will I be earning? You’re wondering how much does an average graphic/logo designer earn in the US? Well, think no more! Recently, I came across this comprehensive and in depth survey conducted jointly by AIGA and Aquent. They have presented a detailed metropolis-wise average salary estimate of US graphic designers for 2010.

This extensive analysis will help designers of all spheres to evaluate their worth at their appropriate level and experience. You don’t really need to ascertain the cost of famous logos to calculate how much you can earn. Simply examine the salary trends that have taken place over the past 10 years and analyze your current market worth as a logo designer.

Salaries of US Designers at Various Stages:

Factors that determine a logo designer’s salary:

But before going to the survey part, let us first discuss the factors that are involved in estimating the real salary of a graphic/logo designer. Bear in mind that salary estimate requires an extensive research on the market and logo designers need to develop their pricing structure on the basis of various extraneous aspects as well.

• The level of experience of a graphic/logo designer.
• The type, scale and magnitude of the logo design project you are working on.
• The location (region) you are working in.
• The variable overhead expenditures incurred in the logo design project.
• Will you be charging a fixed fee or on an hourly basis?

US Graphic/Logo Designer Salary Survey:

Following is the extensive analysis performed by AIGA and presented by Aquent. The map below shows the average salaries earned by “Solo Designers” in each region of US.

Designer compensation trend (2000–2010):

The following graph shows the trend of compensation received by graphic designers of various levels over the past 10 years.

You can also view the rest of the survey results along with an interactive salary calculator tool at www.designsalaries.org.

A warm welcome to all my devoted readers…today I come with good news for all graphic and logo designers. It gives me great pleasure to announce the launch of Logo Blog’s very own “Logo Design Gallery”. The sole aim of this effort is provide aspiring graphic designers the perfect platform to thrive upon and showcase their creative flair to the logo design world.

The idea of creating a Logo Design Gallery came as a solution for those aspiring and less privileged graphic and logo designers who cannot make the limelight because of insufficient exposure in the market. This gallery is another step forward from Logoblog.org in contributing towards the betterment of the logo design industry.

Without any hassle, you can submit your logos for display and get ratings on them from other designers. You can build your complete portfolio by adding more logos anytime you want. Moreover, the gallery showcases the “logos of the week” by displaying the best logos under the spotlight.

I hope the Logo Design Gallery will prove to be useful in providing logo designers the opportunities they deserve. Please don’t forget to share your views and comments regarding the Logo Design Gallery experience with us.

Since its inception in May 21, 2010, the US Cyber Command (USCYBERCOM) has been in the news largely because of the mystery behind its logo. Apart from its fancy logo design, the real attention getter was the strange string of characters inscribed in the inner gold ring of the logo. As it turns out, there really was a secret message inscribed in the US Cyber Command logo after all.

This was another addition to the series of logo design controversies particularly relating to US Government departments. A few months back, the US Department of Defense’s Missile Defense Agency was in the limelight for its similarities with the Islamic crescent and the Iranian Space Agency logo.  

Where is the Secret Code?

At a first glance, it might evade the viewer, but at a closer perusal of the logo, you will find that the US Cyber Command emblem consists of 32 random characters “9ec4c12949a4f31474f299058ce2b22a” embedded in its inner gold ring. Online technology magazine Wired.com was the first to bring this to notice and launched a contest to solve the puzzling cryptogram.

What does the code mean?

If you enter the above mission statement into an MD5 hash generator, the 32 character string “9ec4c12949a4f31474f299058ce2b22a” inscribed on the USCYBERCOM logo is generated. An extremely perplexing logic behind a logo designed for a Cyber War Agency.

You Decide!

I have been asked many a times by some of my readers as to why the prices of notable logos are seldom told? This simple yet intricate query compelled me to probe the matter. After an extensive research and hours of painstaking Google search, I managed to round up the prices of 9 famous logos along with their respective designers.

Following is a table featuring 10 prominent logo designs with their price and other statistics.

Any of you happen to come across lengthy posts by some self-proclaimed masters of design industry? It seems like few “companies” and “freelancers” have an intense opposition against Google and its search mechanism. Nowadays, some absurd cases are seen active in the logo design industry, creating bizarre hypes about Google.

Google search brazenly challenged:

Undoubtedly, whole world massively depends on Google and its search assistance but no one has been able to explain how Google mechanism actually works. Taking this advantage, a handful of companies and freelancers seem to be propagating “their” philosophy of Google mechanism. They have gone as far as challenging the authenticity of Google by ridiculing its search results and surprisingly only for the term “logo design”.   Logobird.com has brazenly challenged the authenticity of Google search capabilities saying,

“The Google algorithm doesn’t understand professional logo design.

  Yesterday, Steve Douglas from thelogofactory.com further gave his words of favor, saying

“Seems a lot of designers are starting to notice that all is not right in search engine land. And they’re right. It isn’t.”

  Why do I get the feeling these people are close relatives of Google?  

If you can’t beat them, defame them:

Logo designing is a growing industry and being a part of it is a battle of nerves. Those who cannot stand the test of times either lose the race or lose their nerves…what say? Steve Douglas from thelogofactory.com loves to spend more time spying on other blogs than on his own. Although Steve has a chronic habit of spying on other blogs and making up distorting articles (a dishonorable technique of generating traffic),  I would advise if you spend more time on SEO, you won’t be conjuring flaws in Google. But I understand, how can one be left with much time after all this post raiding and spy reports? By the way, it was really brave of you to finally admit that “We’re all in this together”. I Agree!  

"I never lie because I don’t fear anyone"

Let us now come on the subject of SEO and its latest color hats. In one of David’s recent post, when one of the readers asked about his link building techniques, this is what he replies     I’m sure that poor reader would want to see these directory submissions. By the way, isn’t this called SEO as well?    

What color hat SEO is this?   Undoubtedly, excessive Grey Hat turns into “Black Hat”. And Steve Douglas has left no stone unturned in doing exactly so.  Here are excerpts from his post   Someone recently asked me this “why do you link to your competition on your blog?” And it’s true, I’ve never been shy about linking to any site using (in most circumstances) ‘do follow’ links.   Well Steve, the bare truth is that it’s not the competition you are linking; it’s merely the “intimate ones” you interlink and support. Even a newbie can figure out that the only interlinking you do is limited to “the chosen ones”. Now what color hat SEO would this come under? Here are the blogrolls of this friend circle (logobird, thelogofactory, imjustcreative, logodesignlove) continually interlinking each other’s blogs…”only”. Great work, team!

       

Contradicting Statements:

The babbling does not end here. Steve further contradicts himself with another “enlightening” verity about SEO:  

“For each of these sites, there’s a set of support splogs and websites, often hosted on sites likeWordPressorBlogger. Those sites toss inbound links at both the secondary level of the network as well as the target site. For what it’s worth, and other than content scraping and logo raiding for content, we’re still probably in Grey Hat territory.”

  For those who do not know, Graham Smith so-called freelance designer at imjustcreative.com is busy creating multiple blogs to support his “friends” by doing some SEO work for them. After all, what are friends for? As David titled one of his recent post …“Birds of a feather, flock together”….so true!        

It’s either my way or the highway:

Then there is Graham Smith, (a “ very good friend” of David) who blatantly declares “Avoid Sub £100 logo designs”.What a tactful way of saying “It’s either my way or the highway”. What about those who cannot afford a logo design over £100 (from big designers), don’t they have a right to own a logo design? What a diplomatic way of diverting people towards oneself by labeling companies who offer low cost, economical logo design solutions as “criminals” (as quoted by Graham Smith) and portraying oneself as a “savior”.  

Who is the ring leader?

After reading the ludicrous stories put together by this “friend circle”, I learnt that connecting blogs and making relations isn’t so hard after all.
Even more startling fact is that their comments section is full of statements from “only” within their group. Have a look at the comment section at thelogofactory.com minutes after the post went live.

Update:

I would like to clarify this post a bit, and update things for the record.  I do not wish to imply David Airey is lying or a liar in anyway.  After reading David’s comment below, and thinking more about it I see now what he is saying. He makes a good point. I’m a big fan of both David’s design, and his blog and wish him all the best and hope he continues to contribute to our discussions here.   ]]> http://www.logoblog.org/wordpress/changing-logo-design-seo/feed/ 23 http://www.logoblog.org/wordpress/coffee-winter-logos/ http://www.logoblog.org/wordpress/coffee-winter-logos/#comments Fri, 15 Jan 2010 13:44:36 +0000 Nora Reed http://www.logoblog.org/wordpress/?p=3471

Coffee … some say it’s an addiction, for many it’s an obsession. For crying out loud, it’s just a drink! I personally think it’s a tradition! It reminds us of people we’ve shared a cup with, places we’ve visited and special moments of our life. The type of coffee we desire is an extremely personal thing, whether we prefer it dark or light decaffeinated or not, there’s a blend that’s perfect.

But ever wondered how coffee makers attract you? It’s through their aesthetically designed coffee logos. Today I’ve organized a collection of great coffee logos that are surely going to tantalize your taste buds. So come on and take a sip  

Coffee Fruit

Caffe Cottage

Cafe

Cupoccino

Cofree Shopaholic

Just Coffee

Sembari Minim Kopi

Streamers

Cofee cafee

LavaJava

Joe Joe’s

Studio Coffee

Handmade

Firenze Coffee

Langano

Coffee

The Coffee House

Blink Chocolate

Zvon Cafe

Get wired

Logos these days have become an increasingly important means for effectively marketing your company image. The appropriate use of logo design can boost your reputation to the skies. Cleverly designed logos are imperative for brand recognition and easy company recall. While company logos may be one the most valuable asset of any corporate entity, it may prove to be a symbol of doom if not properly designed.

History has witnessed some of the famous logos falter against controversies which have either destroyed the companies or annihilated them completely from the scene. But then again controversies are controversies; you can never be too sure about the validity of any. So just for the discussion sake I’ve searched a few controversial…let’s see if you knew about these stories.

1 ) Vodafone Logo:

First on my list of controversial company logos is the Vodafone logo. In 1997, Vodafone introduced its Speechmark logo, as it is a quotation mark in a circle; the O’s in the Vodafone logotype are opening and closing quotation marks, suggesting conversation. But controversy arose that the logo had something to do with the number “6” which represents the devil and the red colour strengthens the case even more. A debatable logo I must say:)  

2 ) Apple Logo:

Next on my list is Apple’s choice for its corporate symbol. The company’s logo is an apple that has had a bite taken out of it. To many occult insiders, this signifies that the eating of the forbidden fruit (symbolically, the apple) by Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden was a good thing. Occultists and New Agers teach that taking a bite out of the apple gave the first two humans knowledge, or gnosis, putting them on the path to self-divinity and godhood.  

3 ) Walt Disney Logo:

Everybody loves cartoons isn’t it? And especially cartoons produced by the all-time leader Walt Disney turn out to be instant hits. Disney has been much in the news lately. Christians are not at all happy with what they say is the smutty, anti-Bible direction the company is now taking with its movies (including the sexual references hidden in a few frames of cartoon movies as well as backwards voices glorifying child molestation), television shows, and CD albums. Is Disney’s hostility to traditional Christian values reflected in its corporate logo? Rumors are that “does the Walt Disney corporate logo conceal three cleverly disguised "6s"–thus, 666?” Carefully examine the Disney logo pictured here. Can you find what are alleged to be three 6s (666) concealed? Or is it just a coincident?  

4 ) Lays / Shell Logo:

Next I have found a series of company logos that are caught up in “The Rising Sun” controversy. The symbol of a rising sun can be associated with sun worship. In ancient Egypt, it was associated with Horus. Occultists consider it to represent the new age of Aquarius and the arrival of new radiation from the galactic core, the “Golden Dawn”. The blazing sun is also associated with the Promethean/Luciferian concept of bringing fire (knowledge) to man.  

5 ) Obama Healthcare Clinic Logo:

The hottest of all controversy is the Obama Healthcare Clinic. Controversies are that the Obama health care logo associated  to a swastika. On this the website Sweetness and Light compared Democrats to Nazis.

Don’t believe it???  See for yourself… Now watch this …

In the end I would like to conclude that company logos must carefully be designed keeping in mind the repercussions whatsoever there may be. Specially one has to be extremely careful regarding sensitive issues such as religion, culture, prejudicial references and bad resemblances.

If you think that I’ve missed out any popular logo controversies, then I would appreciate it if you guys come and share them with us.

Another year has come to an end…. time to wave goodbye to the year 2009. With every ending year, we get to see interesting collections on different blogs, after all its packing time Such compilations rewind all the pleasant and unpleasant happenings of the closing year and it’s always fun to go through them. 

Being in the design community, I couldn’t think of anything better then displaying the major redesigned logos of 2009. Although, famous companies and brands have established identity but to transmit an up-to-date image they keep playing with their logos. We all know that re-branding or logo re-design is no easy task and results can be harmful as well but still we get to see revamped famous logos.

1 ) Telecom

2 ) Play Station 3

3 ) Sunny Delight

4 ) Lays

5 ) Sony Ericsson

6 ) Yale

7 ) Sprite

8 ) Segd

9 ) Pfizer

10 ) Opera

11 ) OMCA

12 ) Msn

13 ) Nickelodeon

14 ) Movistar

15 ) Meiji

16 ) Kraft Foods

17 ) Doctor Who

18 ) Jack in the Box

19 ) France

20 ) Master Card

21 ) Forth Worth Museum of Science and History

22 ) Cadillac

23 ) Discovery Kids

24 ) Chicken Now

25 ) City of Melbourne

26 ) Cheer

27 ) Bavaria

28 ) Audi

29 ) AOL

30 ) Art Gallery of Alberta

31 ) Videocon

32 ) Veggie Tales

33 ) Olympic Air

34 ) Quick Time

35 ) FireFox

Kellogg’s will begin testing the new laser technology first with corn flakes, and if the effort is successful, it will be extended to their other cereal types, which include Special K, bran flakes and so many more. Kellogg’s reports that 128 billion bowls of its corn flakes are eaten worldwide each year. That is a lot of cereal and it seems the company wants to reinforce that those consuming the cereal, know where it came from. With a cereal that is so iconic, I would think that there would be no doubt in anyone’s mind of what brand name owns the famous breakfast food.

The main reason for this extreme form of branding is because there’s been a high number of similarly-packaged Corn flakes knockoffs lately. I’m sure it’s tough to keep competition away when you have a cereal that has been so popular for so long, but is this really the right way to go about it? I don’t think I would want to eat cereal with tiny writing on it.

-Nora Reed

A recent case of a possible stolen logo identity is between the well known Australian super store Woolworth’s redesign and the ever so popular, Apple logo. The recent redesign of the Woolworth’s logo, which is a peeled apple in the shape of a “W,” has created a stir since it slightly resembles Apple’s famous icon. Apple has pleaded with the government agency in charge of Australian trademarks to deny Woolworth’s application for the logo change. The decision has not yet been made, but if Woolworths wins,  they will have the right to put the logo on all their products, even their electronics.

Is this really a case of theft or does Apple just want to trademark anything that has the do with the popular fruit? What do you think?

-Nora Reed