2016 articles about Jeff Fisher LogoMotives

Articles, mentions of Jeff Fisher and sightings of Jeff Fisher LogoMotives designs online and in print:

Pro Bono Freelance Work: Does It Make Sense to Work for Free?, by Pamela Baker for Nation1099 | USA (July 2016)

60 Second Window #330: Is it a copy? Is it not a copy? Copy-anti-copy? Plagiarism? Stock?, by Fred Showker | USA (March 2016)

© 2016 Jeff Fisher LogoMotives

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C.A.T. logo design licensed to Whangamata Cat Adoption Team project in New Zealand

In 2007 I was asked to design a logo for the Cat Adoption Team in Sherwood, Oregon. I created a logo using the letterforms C, A and T – and knew immediately I had designed an identity that would be very successful for the “no-kill” cat shelter and adoption facility. My excitement for the design was shared by the then Executive Director of the nonprofit. The proposed logo was presented to the Board of Directors, and immediately rejected as “not being warm and fuzzy enough.” The Cat Adoption Team and I then parted ways, with the Executive Director telling me I was free to use the logo design as I pleased.

At the time, I opted to use the C.A.T. logo design to market and promote my own logo design efforts. The design received a Silver honor in the Summit Creative Awards and a Merit Award in the Hiiibrand Awards of China. The identity experienced world-wide exposure in the books Killed Ideas, Vol. 1 [Blurb, USA, 2009], Letterhead & Logo Design 11 [Rockport Publishers, USA, 2009], American Graphic Design & Advertising 25 [Rockport Publishers, USA, 2009], Designing for the Greater Good [HarperCollins, USA, 2010], LogoLounge Master Library Vol. 2 [Rockport Publishers, USA, 2010], Logolicious [HarperCollins, USA, 2010], For a Good Cause [Index Book, Spain, 2010], Logo Design Vol. 3 [Taschen, Germany, 2011], 2011 Artist's and Graphic Designer's Market [Writers Digest Books, USA, 2010], I Heart Logos, Season One [iheartlogos.com, USA, 2011], Logo Nest 02 [Logo Nest, 2012], Logo Book [Index Book, Spain, 2012], Letterhead & Logo Design 11 [Paper, Rockport Publishers, USA, 2012], Logo 3 [Zeixs, Germany, 2013], Logo Nest 03 - B&W Edition [Logo Nest, Serbia, 2014] and Logo Book [Paper, Index Book, Spain, 2015]. The logo also appears in the textbook Perfect Match Art Primary 5, by Prisca Ko Hak Moi (Pearson Education South Asia and Ministry of Education Singapore, Singapore, 2010).

Over the last eight years, the image has also become the most ripped-off of all of the designs I have created in the last 38 years; being appropriated without authorization by hundreds of “designers,” companies, organizations and individuals. Copyright infringements have been found in Canada, China, Ecuador, England, Italy, Hong Kong, India, Mexico, Philippines, Poland, Romania, Russia, Scotland, Spain, Thailand, Ukraine, United States, Uruguay, Vietnam and elsewhere. [Many of these infringements may be seen in the album on the Jeff Fisher LogoMotives Facebook page."]

In all of the time, since I created the logo eight years ago, no one ever gave me the courtesy of asking my permission to use the C.A.T. logo design for any purpose – until April 2015, when I received an email from Victoria Cordery, who lives in the small coastal town of Whangamata, New Zealand.

Ms. Cordery explained that, in a completely self-financed operation, she was “trapping, desexing, and re-homing abandoned cats and kittens” from the town’s garbage dump. With the job becoming too much for just herself, she realized it was time to get officially organized, and begin community fundraising efforts through car boot sales and cake stalls. She shared, “With this comes branding. As you would be well aware, having a logo (and a name) is paramount in being recognizable and memorable in people's minds.”

She mentioned that she had come across my C.A.T. logo design online, thought it was “truly brilliant” and felt if would be "purrfect" to identify what would become the Whangamata Cat Adoption Team. Assuming that the design was already in use, she wondered if there was any possible way she could pay to license the image as the logo for her own organization.

There was no doubt what I would do. She had written to ask permission to use the design, when in eight years no one else had done so. She had offered to pay a fee to use the logo to identify her organization. She was personally involved in a cause in which I strongly believe. And she lived in a town in New Zealand with the cool name of “Whangamata.”

Within a week, we had a an agreement in place and the C.A.T. is now licensed exclusively to the Whangamata Cat Adoption Team. I wish Victoria and her organization all the success in the world.

I will continue to use the design to market and promote the design efforts of Jeff Fisher LogoMotives. I’ve also told Victoria that I will not stop going after those who rip-off the design and use it without authorization.

You will find the C.A.T.'s new home on the Whangamata CAT Facebook page.

© 2015 Jeff Fisher LogoMotives

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2015 articles about Jeff Fisher LogoMotives

Articles, mentions of Jeff Fisher and sightings of Jeff Fisher LogoMotives designs online and in print:

No Spec: Why Design Contests Are a Bad Idea, by Lori Patton for Pyragraph | USA (April 2015)

One of the World’s Most Ripped-Off Logos Finally Gets Used the Right Way, by Pariah Burke | USA (April 2015)

© 2016 Jeff Fisher LogoMotives

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2014 Articles about Jeff Fisher LogoMotives

Articles, mentions of Jeff Fisher and sightings of Jeff Fisher LogoMotives designs online and in print:

Creating the Perfect Logo with LogoMotives’ Jeff Fisher, by GraphicDesign.com | USA (May 2014)

Design plagiarism is alive and well in Nottingham, by Together Agency | Nottingham, UK (January 2014)

© 2016 Jeff Fisher LogoMotives

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Business Logos

(Clockwise from upper left)

KidStuff PR
Client: KidStuff Public Relations
Location: Black Earth, WI USA

KidStuff PR is a public relations firm dealing with toy stores, toy manufacturers and performers for children. The design won a Summit Creative Award (Bronze) and appears in the books American Corporate Identity 16, The New Big Book of Logos, New Logo World (Japan), Graphically Speaking, and Logo Design for Small Business 2.

Al Bauer Advertising
Client: Al Bauer Advertising
Location: Portland, OR USA

In 1980, my first year out of college, ad agency owner Al Bauer asked me to design an abstract icon to identify his firm. Early in the process he selected this design - which most likely evolved out of my interest in the minimalist logo imagery I studied in school during the 1970's - thinking it represented how advertising was orderly until something went completely out of whack. About a week later he realized it was very abstract lower-case a and b letterforms.

American Telecom
Client: American Telecom
Location: Portland, OR USA

This logo re-design, executed in 1997, appears in the books The New Big Book of Logos (HBI, USA, 2000), New Logo: Two (Page One Publishing, Singapore, 2004) and The New Big Book of Logos (Paper, Harper Design, USA, 2003). The design was also honored with an American Corporate Identity award and, as a result, was featured in the volume American Corporate Identity ‘99 (HBI, USA, 1998).

Read more about the logo on bLog-oMotives.

WordWright
Client: WordWright
Location: Portland, OR/Seattle WA USA

The logo for a technical, business and grant writer appears, in its various forms, in the books New Logo & Trademark Design (Japan), Logo and Trademark Collection (Japan), Print's Regional Design Annual, the Japanese book Logo World, Letterhead and Logo Design 7, Logo Design for Small Business 2, The Big Book of Logos 3, and the Spanish book Logos: From North to South America.

Read more about the WordWright identity on bLog-oMotives.

All logo designs © 2015 Jeff Fisher LogoMotives. All rights reserved.

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2013 Articles about Jeff Fisher LogoMotives

Articles, mentions of Jeff Fisher and sightings of Jeff Fisher LogoMotives designs online and in print:

Wilfully Plagiarising? LogoThief Is On Your Case, by Graham Smith, The Logo Smith (November 2013)

Stolen Design is Bad Design, by Shawn MacDonald, 989 Design (November 2013)

Catnapped, LogoThief (November 2013)

31 Must-Follow Twitter Accounts for Graphic Designers, by Brian Morris, PsPrint (September 2013)

The Benefits of Pro Bono Work, by Bryn Mooth, The Creative Group (September 2013)

When it Comes to WWDC 2013, Sometimes a Logo is Just a Logo, by Michael Simon, Mac | Life (May 2013)

3 Reasons Why Logo Design Contest Sites are Bad for your Business, by Patrick Sesko, Sesko Creative (March 2013)

Getting the Most From Your HOW Design Live Experience, by Bryn Mooth, HOW Design (March 2013)

Designers Tackle Copyright & Intellectual Property Issues, by Terry Lee Stone, HOW Design (January 2013)

© 2015 Jeff Fisher LogoMotives

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Toot! Toot!*: 'iheartlogos' third volume gives logo love to Jeff Fisher LogoMotives identity designs

The newly released book iheartlogos season three features two logo designs by Jeff Fisher, the Engineer of Creative Identity for the Portland-based firm Jeff Fisher LogoMotives.. The inspiration-filled volume, published through the iheartlogos website, features 391 logos created by 121 designers from 20 countries around the world.

The Jeff Fisher LogoMotives designs showcased (above) are the logo for the North Portland Business Association (representing businesses in the designer's own neighborhood) and the safe sex self-promotion design for A Rubber's Ducky.

The identity re-design for the North Portland Business Association took the industrial history of the area, prominent landmarks and the familiar local blue heron into consideration as design elements. The symbol also appears in the books Logos From North to South America (Spain) and the Big Book of Logos 5.

A duck's head doubling as the shape of a condom, with a reservoir-tip, was a subtle "life preserver" message in the A Rubber's Ducky safe sex image. The logo appears in the books New Logo & Trademark Design (Japan), The New Big Book of Logos, LogoLounge - Volume 1, New Logo & Trademark Collection (Japan) and Logos from North to South America (Spain).

Logo images included in the book were judged and voted on by other designers submitting logos, and individuals registered to vote, at the website iheartlogos.com. The limited edition book is currently available exclusively on the site, for $25. Season four of the iheartlogos competition is currently accepting logo entries.

Fisher, a 35 year design industry veteran, is the author of Identity Crisis!: 50 redesigns that transformed stale identities into successful brands and The Savvy Designer's Guide to Success: Ideas and tactics for a killer career. Other book projects are currently in the works.

The designer has received over 600 design awards and his work has been published in more than 160 books on identity design, self-promotion and the marketing of small businesses. He often travels – nationally and internationally – to present courses, seminars and workshops on design, branding, marketing and social networking. In addition, Fisher is a nationally-recognized speaker, making numerous presentations each year to design organizations, design schools, universities and business groups.

More information about Jeff Fisher, and his design and writing efforts, may be found on the Jeff Fisher LogoMotives blogfolio.

(* If I don’t "toot!" my own horn, no one else will.)

© 2015 Jeff Fisher LogoMotives

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