UK Studio Logo Collection - 17 Designs

Taken from http://www.sansdeputy.com/blog

Who Watches The Watchzen.

99Designs.com / Farce?

When i came across the website 99designs.com that allows you to submit designs to 'real' briefs, I was amazed at the brilliance of the site, gasped in the thought of winning some money and getting a top notch portfolio. However...

1 Month on from joining i feel there are some seriously floored problems with this 'mass freelance' website. Sure you get to work on Dictionary.com logos and all sorts of other creative briefs, but you have to do so with 2000 other people.

These are the problems i find with the site.

1. Mass Submissions. As so many up and coming (and some damned awful) designers submit their work to this site you are faced with so much competition, your submission (as mine has been in the past) missed, wasted time.

2. Feedback. CH (Contest Holders) in theory should log onto the contest once a day and leave feedback for the designers to go away and improve their designs. This unfortunately doesn't happen, 9 times of of 10 (or 99 out of 100) the CH doesn't leave all the contestants feedback, so a design can never receive the full creative process. The designs that have been lucky enough to have feedback have an unfair advantage, sure if the design sucks, tell us.

3. No Stars. The rating system is based on 5 stars, 1 being poor, 5 being amazing etc, if you get 1 star you don't expect feedback as you know that its not what they are after, but most of the time lots of submissions don't even get the grace of a single rating.

4. Cheap. I think this website devalues the design process, leaving inexperienced designers to run wild with their brand. There is no time in 7 days or even the longer 2 week setting to get a feel and understanding of their brand, probably leaving for redesigns in the coming years.

5. Copy Cats. I'm not saying i'm a 'life changing' designer but i have found a trend of copy cat designs, i submitted a circle logo for one brief and got a 3 star rating, all other designs got 1 or 2 stars, sure enough after that rating a wealth of circle inspired designs got entered and rated highly. I didn't receive any feedback to improve my design that started this trend, so in effect i loose out.

6. Original Logo?. I think not, if sites like this do grow and grow and offer a cheap alternative logo, we can almost kiss goodbye to an original logo, time after time logos are being spotted and 'frauded' from keen designers, who like me hate people ripping of others ideas. There is no true development or research process, websites and new businesses will run into copyright issues, 'but i got this site designed on 99designs.com by 'user'' 'yeah so did i' terrible.

7. No real designs. Contest ends, didn't win, re-use the logo but just change the words. Pish Posh.

So all in all i think the website should do more to get the CH's to leave more feedback, and encourage research before accepting the logos.

Spotify - Some Albums to Listen to.

If your looking for some decent new music or music you might of missed try playing these beauties.

spotify:album:1MbMJ1uxfeP9xjJOGq91Rg / Iglu & Hartly - and Then Boom

spotify:album:5rrgb7r4LLIyxEeSlqycd6 / The Acorn - Glory Hope Mountain

spotify:album:1pC69gZrIpeghDk2pkXbn8 / Anthony and the Johnsons - The Crying Light

spotify:album:6LPZgo0gjHTMmOwzMSUqAV / Hercules and Love Affair

spotify:album:5N82AYJ3FG1znFz3EqJNMm / Beirut - The Gulag Orkestar

spotify:album:7cF9Jhk6D8ZGHdYDZk9Aol / Elbow - The Seldom Kid

spotify:album:1ALusECIBIZJXgfoOomfv1 / Cold War Kids - Loyalty to Loyalty

spotify:album:12hUHS5yqMWJBXiioCxVch / The Cinematic Orchesta - Live at the Royal Albert Hall

spotify:album:5K0MhYdjSCmwUWevE7fb96 / Craig Armstrong - As if to Nothing

Listen free now by downloading Spotify, you will have to find an invite though.

Watch Lost Seasons 1 - 5 Online

Its still the best and only site to catch up with LOST through streaming media, updated and maintained often, well worth a visit.

Lost Season 1
Lost Season 2
Lost Season 3
Lost Season 4
Lost Season 5 - NEW SEASON

Top 5 Songs to Have in your Life! + Music Videos

1. Battles - Atlas



2. Beta Band - Squares



3. Lemon Jelly - Nice Weather for Ducks



4. DJ Shadow - Organ Donor



5 - Arcade Fire - Power Out

How to Manage with your host Darth Vader!

Only in it for Profit?

I remember a while back when i jumped on the stumblecards 'episode' my lovely little blog here at Cult Press was labeled as just another 'blog out to make money through advertising'. This has been at the back of my mind for some time, and although i am not updating this site much at all these days and focusing all my efforts in surviving as a struggling designer its still been bothering me.

The truth is i've not even looked at how much money i had made from the google adsence on my site let alone drawn in a second income. The site (was) ran for sheer enjoyment, i'm a big geek, i worked in the licensing industry for over 5 years designing and working on some of the worlds largest brands, i met some amazing people and workedwith even more talented people, this was just... me satisfying the geek inside us all.

So i thought i would share with you profitable this site is.. wait for it, its pretty impressive.

Content = Page Impressions = 46,692 = 138 clicks = $18.23
Search = Queries 70 = Clicks = 7 = $1.57

A massive $19.80 sits in my google account.

So there you have it, some people run (ran) sites for fun you know!

Amazon and Tradedoubler just spam you with emails and i've earnt about 30p off them.

Site Update

Just to let you know the reason why this blog is not getting updated is because i have been made redundant and decided to start my own design agency.

I have been a designer for well over 5 years, working on many top film licenses, i was responsible for the branding and promotion and indeed the art direction for the Star Wars Celebration Europe event held in London back in 2007.

I have worked on Products from the Lord of the Rings, Doctor Who, Harry Potter, Pirates of the Caribbean, Star Wars Classic, Star Wars Episode 3, UFO, Marvel Heroes, Fantastic Four Movie, Superman Returns, Batman Begins, Power Rangers to name a few.

I designed the massive Death Star inflatible in Celebration Europe and Celebration 4 in the US.

It is sad that i am no longer involved in this directly, and have designed some wonderful product over my years, i have met some amazing people, i have met some great celebrities, the highlight being talking about iPods with Elijah Wood on the top of a shopping Center in Milton Keynes. I have also met the Genius that was Gino from Weta, hell i've even met Luke Skywalker.

My new agency will focus on branding, design, web and promotion with any product design i can get my hands on. for more info head to our site www.sansdeputy.com

You can also see some of our portfolio work on sansdeputy.com or more on www.witchu.co.uk

Available for design work, please email mike@sansdeputy.com for a quote.

I have a huge passion for film, and would love to carry on this blog someday. But there are far better dedicated sites out there, but who knows what the future holds.

Two new Ruins Posters