Decentralized FLOSS Guild - 0.5 BTC prize for best logo

[isysd]

The Decentralized FLOSS Guild is a proposed organization of free and open source content creators. Eventually, the guild will issue its own Bitcoin sidechain, run a payment network, arbitrate transaction disputes, and enforce contracts. That is all very grandiose and abstract, and those interested can read more. More importantly, right now, the guild needs a face.

De FLOSS founders were thinking that an appropriate and engaging logo would be Tux riding a honey badger and pointing the way. First, lets meet our mascots.

This is Tux, the Linux mascot.


Here is Tux being a gentlemen, for the annual GNU Ball.


Finally, we see Tux showing his true colors.


This is the honey badger.


Honey badger is famous for not caring about your petty problems.


Honey badger is the official mascot of Bitcoin.


The proposed Guildcoin is planned to be a sidechain using Bitcoin as a reserve currency. De FLOSS Guild's currency will be backed by Bitcoin, but the guild will provide material support and engage the broader FLOSS community.

The rules of this contest are as such:

1. All submissions are to be posted in this thread and given a creative commons license. De FLOSS Guild will purchase the winning design for 0.5 BTC, and will maintain its CC license.
2. All submissions are due within 24 hours from the time of this posting. (by Wed Dec 16, 2015 9:15 am UTC-5)
3. The final decision will be made via vote by Guild members. Votes of non-guild members will be considered but not counted in the final decision.

This post will be updated to reflect contest updates. If there are questions or general discussion, we'll respond in the thread. Thanks, and good luck!

[UPDATE] The contest has been extended to Wed Dec 16, 2015 9:15 pm UTC-5, to allow at least one more submission.

[CoinMode]

I have created a submission and will post it in this thread soon.

[patestevao]

Hi, I'm the maker of http://bitcoinfographics.com.

I created a few versions of logo around the idea of the tux with the honey badger, you can see them at http://imgur.com/a/JRJmt.
I did a version with multiple colors, but, since it's supposed to be a logo, I also tried a monochromatic one.

Although I worked with the proposed idea, I believe it would take a drawing with too much information to make this idea look great, and too much information is never a good idea for a logo. But I'm not an experienced logo designer, so I might just not have the right approach for it.

Any comments to make these ideas look better are more than welcome.

[badgerdodger]

Hi there,

I'm a freelance graphics designer and also just made a logo to enter this nice contest.
The idea with tux and honey badger combined sounds great, but in my opinion too much for a logo. I think, less is more in this case so I went with the badger on blue ground. It could be used with or without the 'FLOSS' type and is also recognizable with a white back instead of blue (in cases where colors are not available).

Let me know if you have any suggestions or feedback. Thanks and good luck with the contest results!

floss logo submission by badgerdodger

floss_logo.jpg (27.66 KiB) Viewed 8465 times

[isysd]

Hi folks, thanks for the submissions! Happy to see we have one penguin riding a honey badger as well as a creative alternative. These permutations are welcome, and we just wanted to stimulate creative juices on the theme. When there are a few more, we'll organize into a poll.

[patestevao]

Just to complement my previous post, I also made a version without the tux, in case you decide to go for fewer elements.

[isysd]

Thank you for the submissions. They are in the right theme, but maybe missing some depth. If the characters had eyes and/or color, it would help a lot.

Tux looks pretty uncomfortable standing up, too. Don't you think he'd be more comfortable sitting?

[patestevao]

Hi! Answering to the last request of giving the image more details, here are 2 new versions. One has more of a flat design style, the other is more cartoon-like.

[isysd]

Hi thanks again for your submissions. Since we're still waiting on one out of three, I think it is ok to extend the deadline for 12 hours (until 9:15 PM UTC-5).

So far, I'd say it is still a tough choice. Badgerdodger has more attitude and life to it, but the latest from patestevao is closer to the theme and uses the correct name.

[badgerdodger]

Hi again,

I made changes to my first submission to include the correct name in the logo.
Also my first badger version (left) probably had a little too agressive look so I changed his
eye to a more neutral shape this time (right).

[isysd]

Hi badgerdodger, great update! I liked the aggressive look, but next to natural it does seem a bit extreme. Thank you also for changing the name.

[clockworkgrey]

Hello!

I hope i am not too late to the party. I put some work into my contribution yesterday but wasn't able to register here until now so here are my 2 logo designs. I also think two animals combined is a bit too much, so i chose the penguin!

Good luck everyone!

[Evander Smart]

Here's what I came up with. It integrates Bitcoin, Floss and the Honey Badger, which lives within Floss, which lives within Bitcoin. I took adding the actual name as optional, since all logos do not include names, especially wehn their are corporate mascots included.

[BitcoinNewsMagazine]

The Decentralized FLOSS Guild is a proposed organization of free and open source content creators. Eventually, the guild will issue its own Bitcoin sidechain, run a payment network, arbitrate transaction disputes, and enforce contracts. That is all very grandiose and abstract, and those interested can read more. More importantly, right now, the guild needs a face.

De FLOSS founders were thinking that an appropriate and engaging logo would be Tux riding a honey badger and pointing the way. First, lets meet our mascots.

This is Tux, the Linux mascot.


Here is Tux being a gentlemen, for the annual GNU Ball.


Finally, we see Tux showing his true colors.


This is the honey badger.


Honey badger is famous for not caring about your petty problems.


Honey badger is the official mascot of Bitcoin.


The proposed Guildcoin is planned to be a sidechain using Bitcoin as a reserve currency. De FLOSS Guild's currency will be backed by Bitcoin, but the guild will provide material support and engage the broader FLOSS community.

The rules of this contest are as such:

1. All submissions are to be posted in this thread and given a creative commons license. De FLOSS Guild will purchase the winning design for 0.5 BTC, and will maintain its CC license.
2. All submissions are due within 24 hours from the time of this posting. (by Wed Dec 16, 2015 9:15 am UTC-5)
3. The final decision will be made via vote by Guild members. Votes of non-guild members will be considered but not counted in the final decision.

This post will be updated to reflect contest updates. If there are questions or general discussion, we'll respond in the thread. Thanks, and good luck!

[UPDATE] The contest has been extended to Wed Dec 16, 2015 9:15 pm UTC-5, to allow at least one more submission.

I think your limitations would result in a very busy logo that would not put the best public face on your organization. Also the number of grahpic designers who visit this forum would be limited I think. One way to get talented designers to work on your project is to use http://99designs.com/

Depending on the reputation of the designer expect to pay $300 to $900 for an excellent design. Once you put a project up designers submit proposals and you only pay the winner if you are satisfied with the result.

[patestevao]

Since the contest has been extended, here's one more creative thought that just occurred to me. It doesn't follow the initial proposal, but I like this discrete use of one of your mascots (the tux).

[isysd]

Wow lots of great entries, thanks! Really happy with the variety!

Now that we have some more competition, I added a poll to the OP. Hope that is less confusing than a second post. Everyone gets 2 votes, so entrants can vote for someone else also.

[isysd]

This is particularly amazing for its similarity to an old time crest or heraldic symbol. Really great work. I'm not sure it will scale well enough to be a logo, though. Any ideas on that, or if this could be made more scalable with some changes?

Here's what I came up with. It integrates Bitcoin, Floss and the Honey Badger, which lives within Floss, which lives within Bitcoin. I took adding the actual name as optional, since all logos do not include names, especially wehn their are corporate mascots included.

[isysd]

Hi thanks for your submissions! I like them artistically, but there's something about the penguin that just seems wrong. Almost like he's too much like a real penguin and not enough like a Tux. We're not observing a nature scene but building a new, high-tech community.

Hello!

I hope i am not too late to the party. I put some work into my contribution yesterday but wasn't able to register here until now so here are my 2 logo designs. I also think two animals combined is a bit too much, so i chose the penguin!

logos_clockworkgrey.jpg

Good luck everyone!

[isysd]

It is a little early but I don't think any last minute submissions are coming in. This was a very helpful activity, so thank you everyone for participating! The variety and feedback really broke our mold, and was exactly the sort of community driven feedback we hope the guild can facilitate.

Evander, this is a really well thought out design, and was particularly the favorite of our cleaning lady who loved the honey badger, which I explained was not quite an "oso." She and others independently suggested that the honey badger should be on a t-shirt that Tux wears, and that the coin coin and background are too much for a logo. That said, the spirit of your design shines through, and deserves the prize. Congratulations! Please contact me (I think you know one or two ways) with your bitcoin address.

If you are very nice and feel up to the challenge, your take on the refined Tux wearing a honey badger shirt would be welcome. It is not necessary for the contest, as I believe I can use one of my 99designs.com task credits to finish it off easily. This was much better than going with them for the whole thing.

Thanks again everyone for participating. We enjoyed your ideas and I look forward to continuing to participate in a community as polite and fun as this.

Here's what I came up with. It integrates Bitcoin, Floss and the Honey Badger, which lives within Floss, which lives within Bitcoin. I took adding the actual name as optional, since all logos do not include names, especially wehn their are corporate mascots included.

[badgerdodger]

Well, if the spirit of open source and this contest is illegally taking material made by others (coin, tux, badger photo) to combine it, I don't want to be part of it.
Congratulations Evander for successful stealing and winning

[clockworkgrey]

The cleaning lady chose it… because she has logo skills and is part of your target audience? Yeah right!

Ok you got me
This is a joke, right??

[isysd]

Well, so much for my comment on politeness. Obviously you guys only are nice when you think you'll get paid. :p

Evander's design reuses elements, it is true, but I'd hardly call that stealing. Tux, in particular, is the mascot of an open source project, and as far as I know, every image of him that exists is already open source. I'm pretty sure the same is true for the Bitcoin "coin" imagery. I'm not sure about the badger, but the overall design is workable. Would you have preferred no one got the prize and it was done entirely on 99designs so we could have been assured a professional outcome?

And yes, I trust my maid's taste and opinion. Her idea to put a shirt on Tux was quite good, and I'll thank you not to disparage people you don't know.

[clockworkgrey]

Ok, so this is not a joke. Congratulations, Evander!
It was not my intention to make jokes about your maid, but my points remain true. A professional logo should work for your target audience.
Thanks to whoever tipped me 0.005btc and voted for my design!

[isysd]

After a bit of tuning, here is a more logo-style image:



As far as I know, this image was first used by my friends Roger Ver and Erik Voorhees. I asked them publicly about the origin of the image. Considering how many times it has been remixed, I hope it isn't claimed with a restrictive copyright, for more sake than fanboy Tux!

[clockworkgrey]

Much better, but still a mascot and not a logo. Scale it down and what you get is Tux with an unreadable shirt, like for a Linux distributions desktop background.

[isysd]

That's true this won't scale very well. Like you said, though, it is kind of a mascot, and therefore can be moved around without losing it's essence. I should have been more specific to say that this "logo" will be part of the brand for a simple website and forum on defloss.com. This will allow De FLOSS Guild to start to have a life of its own as a public, independent community. I'm sure that community will make any number of variations and improvements over time.

[clockworkgrey]

OK, then the only thing left to say for me here is good luck!

[CoinMode]

I think this is closer to your description and it has the depth that you were asking for in the logo design. Use it as you like in any way and I don't want a reward since this is remixed material.

[badgerdodger]

This thread is ridiculous.
By the way clockwork gray, the tip came from me. You're welcome!

[isysd]

Wow yes this is closer to the original idea! Remixing in a unique way also has value, and I'd like to tip you. I don't see a bitcoin address though. If you DM me one or a twitter handle, I'll happily tip you for the value I see here. If you feel guilty, I suggesting tracking down the creators to share the love, or simply spreading it around the community.

I think this is closer to your description and it has the depth that you were asking for in the logo design. Use it as you like in any way and I don't want a reward since this is remixed material.