Recently, I was approached by a friend to enter a logo creation contest for a company.  They had a grunge website and they dealt with resistance movements that deal with crimes against humanity.  Seemed like a cool company and there was a $1000.00 bounty for whoever came up with the best concept and design.

I took a stab at it and sent a preliminary concept to my friend who got me initially involved in the contest.  He decided to send it off to a bunch of desiners, and one responded with the following:

I don’t mean to be mean, but this looks really corporate. Like the
peace industry. Or those Che shirts. Go for something more subversive.

I very much so disagreed with this criticism, so I responded with the following:

Hey ***** -

I appreciate your criticism and opinion, but I will have to disagree with you about the corporate-ness of the logo thus far.  I would first like to say that this was simply a concept that I sent David, I actually didn’t intend for it to be interpreted as a final product or be sent out yet.

But with regard to your comment, I fail to see the corporate aspect of this logo.  If I were to place this logo upon a marketing material for another corporate company, it would certainly seem out of place.  I think the thing that is lacking by just looking at the logo at first glance, is the emphasis on the minimalism of the design (which is something I will address in a moment).  The key word, at least upon looking at the web site and other materials for this client, is “Resistance”.  “*******” is the subject, but resistance is the verb, the action (if you will).  I felt that this was important to emphasize, and there is no better signifier than then fist of resistance.

I see your association with Che, but honestly the fist is a universal symbol of resistance that many cultures have used in their time of perserverance.  I did research on resistance right after my purely typographical approach to the logo, and the fist seemed the greatest signifier out of anything.  I know its a traditional symbol, but like David agreed, it is incredibly powerful both visually and idealistically.  I could not find a more “subversive” symbol than this.

The other thought I put into this logo was the fact that the POR can be used regardless of the clarification that is below it.  This kind of branding, that is so minimalistic, has proven VERY effective in modern marketing.  The best example is the Obama logo, easily one of the most recognizable and arguably most innovative branding logos in the last 50 years.  That logo was just an O.  I find that if this client, ************, can isolate this kind of minimalistic symbol that is easy to reproduce, it could in-itself be incredibly subversive and even viral (which is something that online marketers are striving for these days).

Just thought I would respond and clarify where I was coming from on this design.  I’m excited to try out more variations in due time.

I received email responses back from the other designers agreeing with my position.  What does this prove?That you can’t just submit a logo, you need to have the concept behind it, and it needs to be contextualized.  Also, when there is a prize at hand with many designers competing, you ned to be able to defend yourself formally and aggressively.