In discussing logos, we've hit legibility, negative space and typography. In the preceding installment, we began talking about concept. In this final installment, we're going to conclude the concept discussion.
Tomorrow is the first day of September, and the kids are headed back to school. Which is great is you're a webcartoonist, because that means they're returning to reading webcomics from school.
In discussing logos, we've hit legibility, negative space and typography.
The fourth key to good logo design is concept.
In other words, this is the idea behind the logo itself. Making the image (if any) work together with the type to convey something significant about the comic. It's the hook, if you will -- the spirit of the logo.
There are a lot of logos that could be improved by addressing their approach to concept. So many that I'm going to break this section into two parts.
When Scott Kurtz intriduced comics writer Mark Waid for his keynote address at the 2010 Harvey Awards ceremony, he referenced the phenomenon of "Mark Waid is evil" T-shirts, joking that he wanted to walk up to one of these guys with a shirt that said, "No shit."
When Waid took the podium, he could have used the time to talk about any softball topic. But he chose one of the most divisive topics in comics today: File sharing and the "free" economy.
He delivered a rather good argument, and he presented some ideas that -- whether you agree or not -- were thought-provoking.
When he returned to his table after the address, he and MAD magazine legend, Sergio Aragones, got into a heated exchange, and Waid left the ceremony rather loudly.
Those are the events from the night, as I remember them from my seat near the front of the room.
Imagine my dismay when I read the following from Bleeding Cool's Rich Johnston under the headline "Mark Waid Defends Pirates":
Mark Waid's keynote speech at the Harvey Awards at Baltimore Comics Con last night started by pointing out that copyright was all about putting work into the public domain, rather than preserving it for company ownership, and the concept of public domain should be embraced again. That illegal downloading is inevitable leading to a new culture of sharing. Lines such as "culture is more important than copyright" and "there are more ideas in one week at your comic shop than three years in Hollywood."
Wow.
With a gross misrepresentation of Waids points, two out-of-context quotes and a headline that uses a word ("pirates") that Waid never touched in his speeched (to my recollection), it touched off an epic storm of Net flammage.
Waid didn't say that copyright was "all about putting work into the public domain." He said that the original intent of the law (400 years ago) was to protect the work during the artist's life and facilitate the passing of the work into public domain at the appropriate time.
And whereas he did advocate for the princiapl of public domain at a certain point, he was certainly not saying that all work should be public-domain immediately. "Culture is more important than copyright" was an accurrate quote, but Mark placed it in an overreaching historial context -- into a wider meaning.
Mark is a wonderful writer, but he wasn't much of a public speaker that night.
So, if I may be so bold, I'd like to parse this argument a little more clearly for the benfit of my subscribers (who are welcome to debate the matter further).
Here's Waid's argument, in a nutshell:
Today's Friday Archive Dive takes us back to Aug. 3, 2009, when we discussed the pros and cons of producing a calendar to offer your readers.
The suggestion gets made by earnest fans regularly: "If you offered a calendar based on your comic, I'd buy it."
I'll deal with that lie in another post, but for now, let's talk about the calendar as a part of your comic's merchandise roster -- and why you'll want to give it careful thought.
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As we head into the four quarter of 2010, I thought it might be a good time to go over some information that's going to come in handy by the end of the year. Keeping good records is going to do two things. First, it's going to help you calculate your taxes accurately and avoid any mistakes that might get you flagged for review. Secondly, in the event that you are called in for an audit, having your records in order will help you navigate the process in a much better frame of mind. All of the following links take you off-site to the IRS's official advice on each topic.
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]]>In this next group of logos, I'd like to discuss another important aspect of design: Typography.
Typography is such a powerful tool. It can convey attitude and emotion. It can add amazing flavor. If you're timid with your font choices, you logo could end up bland. And if you're careless, you could wind up with something that tastes horrible. To your readers' eyes.
Too bad fonts can't be used to fix a bad metaphor.
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]]>This piece was kindly submitted by Patric Lewandowski.
You finally did it. You thought about it for years, but you finally started your first comic. And it’s on the web! There’s no one to stop you from reaching the masses with your comic! There’s no one to tell you “no!” And, your craft is strong! You draw well. Jokes are funny. At least, that’s what the few readers you have told you. But why don’t you have more readers? You just need to work harder, right?
Wrong.
Sometimes, we need to fail.
Since the question has arisen once or twice, I figured I'd better clear up any confusion.
Your Webcomics.com membership is good for twelve months after your starting date. In other words, it will not expire on Dec. 31, 2010. Rather, it will expire one year after you first subscribe.
When you subscribe, you are automatically enrolled to have your subscription renewed after one year. You have every right to cancel that auto-enroll, and it is very easy to do to. However, if you cancel the auto-renewal and forget to update your subscription, your account will be automatically locked.
]]>In the first Logo Hot Seat, we discussed some flaws that fall under the heading of an important element of design:Legibility. In this next group of logos, I'd like to discuss another important aspect of design: Negative Space.
Positive space is the area that can be described as the object in an illustration. The negative space, then, is the area around and between the positive space.