
Open-Sourced Logos - JavaScriptrr
http://www.logodust.com/?ope
======
TillE
They don't seem to mention it anywhere, but Inkscape is probably the best tool
for opening .ai files, assuming you don't have a copy of Adobe Illustrator.

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jtolmar
The amateur game development community would love these. Designing logos for
in-universe companies is a thankless chore.

But they're really adverse to using things without an explicit license. This
could really use a CC0 stamp somewhere.

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sago
It does have an explicit license CC4 Attribution. So you put

Logos by XX in your credits and you're done.

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userbinator
I wonder how easy it would be to generate more logos like these, via neural
network or other means.

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Lerc
Neural networks might be tricky. Logos tend to be precise, neural networks
work better when the result is fuzzier.

On the other hand, identifying a good logo is the sort of fuzzy problem that
you might be able to train a network for. Use it as a fitness function over
some other algorithm.

You could have a generator that combined a variety of operations into a 'logo
expression' that generates an image.

Have values and operations in the expression to represent:

    
    
      a variety of geometric shapes.
    
      composite operations (union, intersection, subtraction etc.)
    
      symmetry operations (reflective, rotational)
    
      Glyph images (possibly with some sort of semantic metadata to enable relationships between multiple glyphs)
    
      Transformations (translatiosn, rotations etc.  Possibly just a matrix)
    
      Filters (smooth corners,  grow shape,  generate outline)
    
    

So you get something like

square(1.5).rotate(45).smooth(30).outline(3).translate(-0.5,0.0).rotationalSymmetry(5).subtract(
circle(0.25).translate(0.5,0.5) )

Which if I got it right should be a set of 5 squares with rounded corners and
a line thickness of 3 arranges in a circle and a small circle cut out of the
bottom right corner of the squares.

~~~
Lerc
I'll add to that the possibility of adding a layer similar to
[http://www.contextfreeart.org/](http://www.contextfreeart.org/)

It occupies a somewhat similar space, (I believe it does not provide
composition operations). Having the ability to define shapes as a
probabilistic combination of other shapes gives you a massive variety of
possibilities.

something like this would allow for a good variety of base imagery which could
then have the layer I posted in the previous comment come after.

Check out the context free art gallery for some amazing (not very logo like)
images

[http://www.contextfreeart.org/gallery/](http://www.contextfreeart.org/gallery/)

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leni536
What's the actual license?

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itslennysfault
Creative Commons (it's at the bottom of the page).

Specifically:

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
[http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

~~~
leni536
>No additional restrictions

Does it mean that one can't trademark a logo from this site?

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weinzierl
Copyright and trademark are independent, you could have one without the other.

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fluxic
Ah, another website using the Unsplash.com give-everything-away business
model. Great concept! And great Unsplash photos beneath the logos :)

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kampsduac
I have been building my first personal site with links to demo toy projects
and was just about to figure out the logo situation. I want to create a simple
but engaging brand for myself. This rocks. Thanks!

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pbhjpbhj
The pharmacy logo is more or less the logo of Lloyds Pharmacy in the UK. Close
enough that it could be deemed to be infringing their TM IMO (it's tricky
though with generic imagery).

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propter_hoc
If you're referring to this device [1], it's a matter of opinion. Personally I
wouldn't really agree: the mortar and pestle is a common enough device and the
leaf is a nice distinctive element.

The real risk in a situation like this is not really that you get a C&D from
using it on your startup's landing page. The risk is that if you eventually
tried to file a trademark for it, you would lose: either because some large
firm's lawyers would oppose and have no trouble outspending you; or because,
if you tried to file a trademark on an open-source logo you found on HN, you
probably got bad legal advice.

If I had a natural-supplement startup, for example, I'd be fine using this
open-source logo as a placeholder and developing a new logo once I wanted to
start a trademark registration process.

[http://enjoykingsheath.com/wp-
content/uploads/2012/02/lloyds...](http://enjoykingsheath.com/wp-
content/uploads/2012/02/lloyds-pharmacy1.gif)

~~~
weinzierl
> The real risk in a situation like this is not really that you get a C&D from
> using it on your startup's landing page.

Doesn't a trademark have to be defended if you won't face the risk to lose it?
Is the C&D really so unlikely?

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propter_hoc
IP law firms use automated software to scrape the trademark registration
filings at the USPTO and other national trademark offices (ex. [1]). These
software services automatically assess filings for possible infrigement. This
is the most likely way for a bigco's lawyers to find out about your logo or
company name - far more likely than them finding out about your startup from
techcrunch or some other source.

Unfortunately for me, this happened to me. I was able to negotiate a
coexistence agreement for my logo, but I could have done without the pain. If
I were to start over from scratch, I would seriously consider doing the
Apple/Google offline foreign filing trick [2].

[1] [http://towergatesoftware.com/](http://towergatesoftware.com/)

[2] [http://blog.altlegal.com/tongan-shell-game-how-apple-and-
goo...](http://blog.altlegal.com/tongan-shell-game-how-apple-and-google-file-
trademarks-in-secret)

~~~
weinzierl
Thanks for sharing your experience. The second link was really interesting to
read and the Apple/Google offline foreign filing trick was new to me.

I still don't understand how it solves the problem. After six months you will
have to file at the USPTO and then the scrapers could find you anyway.

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mratzloff
You, too, can have a generic logo that doesn't actually reflect your
individual company, message, or values! Simply pair it with a font of your
choosing (font and logo need not match), and you have yourself a brand.

These kinds of things devalue the actual work that goes into real branding,
like crowdsourcing your logo or Marissa Mayer popping out something that she
thinks "looks nice" over a weekend. It also has the effect that any graphic
designer who can whip something up in Illustrator thinks they are a brand
expert.

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jasim
No. I'm bootstrapping a product startup, and the only thing I care about now
is whether it works and whether people find _value_ in it. Its logo doesn't
matter, the copy doesn't matter, glossy startuppy pictures don't matter. The
only thing that matters now is whether it is materially useful - whether
someone thinks that their life is easier because this tool exist in this
world.

So when this site came up a long time ago in /new, I grabbed one of it and put
it on - only because my product contains a Chrome Extension, and it needs a
small 32x32 icon. And, it is a damn good logo too. I also sent an email asking
permission to use it, and even offering to pay (peanuts) for exclusive access,
and the founder was extremely courteous and reminded me that it doesn't matter
what you start with, you can always change once you get traction.

So there you go. I love my generic logo.

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malandrew
I can't upvote this enough.

I know a few of the true stories behind the original logos of some of SV's
unicorns and this is spot on (unfortunately, I cannot share them because they
were shared in confidence). The parent comment is not wrong about the value of
a great brand, but it can easily become a huge frivolous distraction after a
certain point when you're should be focusing on building something useful for
people in their daily lives. You can always perform a full brand refresh later
once you can afford to spend a few months and lots of money to do so, and
that's exactly what many unicorns eventually do.

I've seen outside designers rationalize some of these well known brands after
the fact without knowing the inside and often accidental story and its
comical. It's brand design. Like all the other components of a great company
and great product, it's contributory like engineering and customer service,
but it's not like you're solving World peace. For some products/services and
target markets, the brand may be very important. For others, it could be non-
consequential. "Worse is better" and "perfect is the enemy of done" apply to
brand design as much as in any other aspect. Like other aspects you can always
iterate and improve later.

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jiblylabs
Totally. I think there is plenty of value in design and brand work. The types
of startups that don't have the money, or need to get a professional designer
to help them out aren't the types of customer any designer would want in the
first place. So free resources like these simply fill the gap to make sure
startups don't waste $5 on fiverr for crap, instead get something much nicer
for free. WHen they have the money and are seeing their company get traction,
their brand becomes important and they'll naturally shift towards designers. I
think the company behind this resource understands that. bravo.

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RobbyMcCullough
Thanks for this! These could be really useful for folks creating design
templates. There's tons of stock photos, icons, videos, etc available, but not
a lot of logos.

I don't see any information about a license, though? This article might be
helpful:

[https://wiki.creativecommons.org/wiki/Marking_your_work_with...](https://wiki.creativecommons.org/wiki/Marking_your_work_with_a_CC_license)

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ctstover
I like this, but I'm trying to understand the consequences of more than one
person using the same one. I think the answer is, nothing until two or more
users start to clash. At which point it will come down to who trademarked it
first. That sounds reasonable, since you are probably dealing with small use
cases wouldn't bother trademarking such a thing. They would get their own
unique one first.

One the other hand, I suppose a new type of "trademark troll" could
hypothetically arise from paying to trademark these, and then suing you for
using them. Although I would like to think that a reasonable defense in court
would be, "look I just got it for free from this site, and I willing to stop
using it". ... and on the third hand, we see actual out of court settlements
for patents that have less to stand on than that.

So I guess it's more of a "who gives a damn", and "quit worrying so much"
thing.

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drakonka
This is great! I played around with mixing a couple of them into a possible
logo for my snail simulation:
[http://i.imgur.com/hRkCw2q.png](http://i.imgur.com/hRkCw2q.png)

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DonHopkins
Here's a nice classic logo:

[http://donhopkins.com/home/archive/lisp/llogo.lisp](http://donhopkins.com/home/archive/lisp/llogo.lisp)

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samwyse
1) I really like this! 2) How to make it better: Design your own quick-and-
dirty logo. 2a) Upload a photo. 2b) Apply a filter. 2c) Overlay a simple icon.
2d) Bonus: combine filter and icon to create a favicon!

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nathancahill
#16 is gold. Using that on my next project.

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eccstartup
How to open it in an open sourced way? GIMP?

~~~
nacs
Inkscape ( [https://inkscape.org/](https://inkscape.org/) ). Runs on
Win/Mac/Linux and OSS.

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kocsmy
I am using this since I've seen it on ProductHunt. Pretty good stuff.

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eecks
Awesome - thanks

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officemonkey
I swear I thought I read "Open Sources LEGOs" and I was super pumped up.

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bobwaycott
I read "open sourced logs" for some reason. I was confused by what that could
mean. I clicked, and felt even more confused.

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paulpauper
These logos aren't good. A logo should have some degree of symmetry, simple
enough to draw, original, and not readily resembling something in real life or
a prior logo.

this is an umbrella plus tear drop:
[http://www.logodust.com/img/logo18.png](http://www.logodust.com/img/logo18.png)

paperclip
[http://www.logodust.com/img/logo20.png](http://www.logodust.com/img/logo20.png)

too complicated to be effective:

[http://www.logodust.com/img/logo9.png](http://www.logodust.com/img/logo9.png)

ripoff of star trek and anarchy circle

[http://www.logodust.com/img/logo2.png](http://www.logodust.com/img/logo2.png)

this was the only good one
[http://www.logodust.com/img/logo1.png](http://www.logodust.com/img/logo1.png)

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Chris2048
> A logo should ...

Why?

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serf
Let me un-ellipses the quote so we can make some sense of things.

> A logo should (...) have some degree of symmetry, simple enough to draw,
> original, and not readily resembling something in real life or a prior logo.

Symmetry is valued by us humans as a positive aesthetic.

Simplicity aids in recall.

Originality aids in brand recognition.

Those are _some_ whys.

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its2complicated
They're all just geometric shapes that anyone could throw together. Really,
you're pretty damn lazy or uninspired if you can't put together a stop sign
outline with 2 circles on either side of it!

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overcast
Do you realize how many company logos are just the Helvetica font? You can't
get any more basic than that. When you're just getting started, especially a
one man operation, anything to get your product up and running quicker is a
good thing.

Here's a few "no name" companies.

[http://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2009/03/40-excellent-
logos-c...](http://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2009/03/40-excellent-logos-
created-with-helvetica/)

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its2complicated
Yes, but thought, money, and man hours went into them. They didn't just grab
rejected logos from the "commodity" bin, which is what we have here.
Seriously, if you can't put some design effort into your logo then something's
wrong.

