There’s just one little catch: You have to design a logo for A Voice for Men.
But the logo contest is a real thing, as is the prize. Go here for the details.
You can see my first attempt above. Post yours below! And maybe even submit it to the official contest.
Also, read the comments over at AVFM to see Mr. Elam bring the banhammer down on a graphic designer who offers to do the logo for free. No, really.
RE: katz
Wait, how did AV4M end up spending $499 if they only paid the winner $300?
Where did this data come from? I’m kinda perplexed and curious. What the hell is this “99 designs business model”? I mean, I figured that the contest happened, people would host images on imageshack or something, and then AVFM would choose the best. But instead they had this place they had to pay a couple hundred bucks for? What? What the hell is this?
I’m so confused. I mean, I designed a logo for a podcast for about $20, $50 last year, and I was happy, but it was the first arty job I had! I’m so confused at how this contest was run. It seems to have been a raw deal for everyone!
LBT: It’s a specific design contest hosting site.
I expected it to just be a platform: You choose the prize amount, pay the winner when it’s over, and the site takes a cut of 5% or something like that. But it isn’t. Instead, you buy a contest package from the site, different packages have different prize amounts (and maybe other hazily specified benefits, I don’t know), and then when the contest is over and you’ve picked a winner, the site pays them.
99 Designs is a company. This is what they do, posting logo/design competitions and getting (presumably not otherwise employed) designers to offer up designs for clients to pick from.
http://99designs.com/about
(They’re local, which is why I know this.)
O_o
Well. That sure seems a bit skeezy. What the hell. AVFM only had about a dozen contributions, right? Would it have been so hard to host and do it themselves? This just seems so weird to me. Like, I’d get it if they had literally hundreds of submissions to go through, but for just one dozen? It seems to have been a huge waste of money for substandard product, when surely a site as big as them could’ve just hired a pro designer for the same cost.
They’re a product of the same kind of mindset that also produced a company that promised to organize your dry cleaning over the internet, imo. There were lots of companies like that about in the Bay Area back in the day. I do feel like it’s institutionalizing the idea that creatives should work for free and only get paid if and when the buyer feels like it.
Like, I get what they’re doing… but a ‘designer marketplace’? For CONTESTS? I’m a working artist, man, I want to be PAID for my work, not competing against maybe hundreds of other people for pay! Not to mention such a huge overhead.
Seriously, this just sounds like a whole lot of trouble gone through, and just… am I missing something here? What the hell? I mean, I’m going to design header animals for Feminist Borg, at $20 an animal. BOOM. I’m happy, the borgs are happy, and presumably I’ll make something people like. PROBLEM SOLVED.
RE: CassandraSays
I do feel like it’s institutionalizing the idea that creatives should work for free and only get paid if and when the buyer feels like it.
Uh, yeah. Definitely. Food doesn’t buy itself; unless you’re a friend of mine and I’m feeling generous, I don’t work for free. That’s why they call it work. WTF.
What annoys me is when people try to frame things as if it’s a privilege to be able to compete for monetary scraps and folks should be thankful for the opportunity. Sorry, guys, you’re not doing anyone a favor.
I just don’t get why anyone would pay $500 to pay someone else $300.
Then again, these are the same people who were going to do the “Misandry in Video Games” web series, where they were going to donate all their Indiegogo money to charities (because they claimed they didn’t need any money to create content), and people actually donated money to that campaign for the purpose of someone else supposedly donating it to charity after part of it went to Indiegogo fees, so masters of money management they are not.
katz – How dare you suggest that MRAs are irrational? Men are the most rational of genders!
[/sarcasm]
I don’t see ‘hate for women’ in this logo activity and I’m starting to feel sorry for Paul Elam. I am sure it’s normal when mobs start to single out people and bully long term. The person being attacked starts to take a human identity and witnesses start to question the ring leader.
Perhaps you can extend your blogroll if you are struggling to find women haters so things don’t turn on you. Just a thought, otherwise, thanks for holding people accountable. Just don’t forget power corrupts and to keep yourself in check.
Those logical men over at AVfM seem to get taken in by every con, don’t they?
Honestly, it’s tempting to create a scam targeting them because they donate $100,000 a year to people who do absolutely nothing. It’s got to be the world’s easiest cash cow.
It’s kind of funny in light of all the accusations that Sarkesian was running a scam. At least she eventually made something, even if people didn’t like the product.
Yeah, it’s so weird and convoluted and just seems a really rotten set-up.
Like, I do writeathons. I have sold out every one so far, and I’m pretty sure I’ll do fine with this one too, but it’s always kinda chancey. But I build them KNOWING that; I only write the rough drafts, and once the money comes in, THEN I do the edit job. And if I ever end up with a bunch of orphaned stories, then once I have enough of them together, I have a half-price story sale. But a logo… you can’t sell it half-price at a later date like a story. It’s specifically FOR a certain group. It’s a colossal waste!
(Which reminds me, this is actually the LAST DAY for folks’ donations to count towards the bonus free writing count on Spookathon! Just a heads up if anyone was lollygagging!)
The only advantage I can see (other than for the middleman who’s collecting the fee) is a slight increase in convenience for the client, since they don’t have to bother going out and looking for a designer. The decrease in quality and increase in cost kind of make any minor increase in convenience worthless though, imo.
I’m sure for $200 you could hire someone to find you a designer.
OMG, have you guys seen how the new logo looks on the site?
Somehow they made a vector logo look fuzzy and low-res. And the edge of the Y is cut off.
Like I hinted earlier, it’s a case of companies existing to make money for the founders rather than to fulfill an actual need.
http://www.super-mv.com.sg/
This is a pretty popular stock image that has been used many times over the years. Dink around with it, and do it in red black and white, cuz everything looks good in red black and white, and ta da.
It kinda looks like a giant V penis between two stubby legs.
I’m redrawing my AVFP logo; should I make it handwritten like the current AVFP logo, or should I make it a vector?
I hadn’t been on AVFM’s site proper and checked to see what the logo was like. Thought it looked pretty boring (not to mention badly sized), so it made sense that they would pay money for something better… except apparently the one I was looking at is the one they paid for. So. Good job whoever was in charge of that.
Wouldn’t it be nice to think someone actually trolled ’em with a crap logo AND got paid for it?
LBT — just please make them have edges and not be a rectangle? Sketchy is fine, and I can remove the paper white background no problem, but if you do smoke or anything, please ink it?