Nothing too technically impressive here, just a clean, simple, visually appealing, well-designed site. If I were planning to make the move out of Brooklyn this website would almost convince me to put Greenville on my list. Perhaps it really is the perfect blend of big city excitement and small town simplicity? Living in the northeast my whole I would typically say no, no it is most definitely not– but good on you lifeingreenville.com, you’ve made me believe it just might be true.
Bored at work? Take a break from watching videos of cats doing crazy shit and head on over to oneminutewith.com, a cool little website put together by designer Conor O’Driscoll. He interviews creative people from all over the world, asking about their lives, work, sources of inspiration, etc. Maybe you work from home, alone, like me, and your life is mostly devoid of contact with other designers (it’s not quite as depressing as it sounds). This a great place to “meet” other like-minded people, see how they work and what inspires them, and maybe in turn get inspired yourself.
Remember when NFL team logos were actually well designed and looked cool? No? Well, that’s because it’s been a very, very long time, and for many teams it was just never the case. These aren’t all winners, and some aren’t all that disimilar from the team’s current logo, but nearly every one of Wes Kull’s vintage, Vince Lombardi-era inspired logos IS significantly better than the modern and (as he puts it) “swooshed-out, dropped-shadowed, and more commercial-ready” version we see today. See them all here.
I love the old-timey feel of this website. It has a very clean layout and typography, and some beautiful black and white photography. The spinning barber’s pole page loader is also a cool little visual element.
This is great. I particularly like the multiple cheetahs and the Xbox and Olympic logos. [via Brand New]
I love this. Animated gifs CAN be cool. By Christopher Monro DeLorenzo for the Silver Screen Society.
Nothing too fancy about this one– but some really cool typography, a nice distressed texture that gives it a rustic feel, and a perfect color scheme. Simple, yet very eye-catching. I love it when great web design is about great graphic design.
So I’m definitely a little late to the whole LogoGarden controversy. In fact, I didn’t even know about that particular website until just a few days ago. I’m aware that there are other similar internet companies that sell cheap, most often terrible logo design. As a designer and someone who appreciates the time and effort that goes into creating a beautiful, effective logo, I just despise that they exist. Maybe even more despicable is the fact that so many people turn to them for their logo needs and, I can only assume as these companies seem to be thriving, are satisfied with what they get for $50-$100. It undermines the existence of our profession.
But LogoGarden, and in particular it’s CEO John Williams, seem to be the lowest of the low, not only offering logos for $79, but offering logos they actual steal from other designers. I first saw a post on the LogoDesignLove blog about how this sleazy, deceitful, plagiarizing company somehow recently secured $2 million in funding. From there I went down a rabbit hole of disgust– blog after blog of designers airing their grievances and providing actual, visual proof that LogoGarden outright stole their designs (Drawsigner , RockPaperInk and Logo Lounge, just to name a few). In the comments section of many of these posts you will see John William’s generic, copied and pasted response in which he says designers are accusing them of theft out of fear of “LogoGarden’s successful, technology-enabled business model.” That’s actually pretty accurate– designers are afraid of it’s success, because it’s success comes from ripping off their work.
I was glad to see the AIGA issued an action alert for designers to check LogoGarden for theft of their work, but I hope it doesn’t stop there. This guy and his pathetic excuse for a business need to be taken down. Unfortunately, companies like FCA Venture Partners investing large sums of money into the continued success of this diseased company isn’t going to help.
Well, let’s hope 2012 is a good year for us real, hard-working designers and a very, very bad one for LogoGarden. Spread the word!
I love websites that combine strict grid layouts with a fun, engaging vibe. This one is big and bold, has a great color scheme, fun vector illustrations and some really nice javascript effects.
