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use twitter to design a logo

9  Comments
On the topic of creative process on December 8th

QUICK LESSON: For those unfamiliar with mind mapping here is a short definition:

“A mind map is a diagram used to represent words, ideas, tasks, or other items linked to and arranged around a central key word or idea. Mind maps are used to generate, visualize, structure, and classify ideas, and as an aid in study, organization, problem solving, decision making, and writing.”

[source: http://j.mp/mindMaP]

Now that we’ve had our lesson on mind mapping, or as I call it keyword sketching, we can proceed. Prior to starting any identity design, I jot down as many words as possible that relate to the name of the company and feelings/emotions that the client expressed in the Project Worksheet. This helps to start getting a visual/symbol/icon for the direction I would like to take with the logo. While at times this can be easy to generate hundreds of keywords within minutes, other times it can be quite daunting. NOTE: Even though you may not use any of the keywords that are generated, mind mapping is still a great exercise for getting creativity in motion.

social designing

Oh, the power of Twitter! Instead of spending an hour trying to drum up keywords that came to mind when I thought of the word ‘triumph’ — the companies name is Triumph Services — I asked my Twitter followers to participle in a collaborative mind mapping session by tweeting the first word/symbol/icon that came to mind when their heard the word triumph.

Within ten minutes I had over thirty or more responses and plenty of resources to get my mind going in the right direction. Even more importantly, working as an independent designer this allowed me to get feedback and assistance from my peers — a collaborate effort, and essentially “user feedback.”

Over the past year I’ve come to appreciate the power of Twitter more and more, and have added yet another reason to the list. Interact with your followers and they will interact back.

Thanks to everyone that participated. Your feedback was greatly appreciated. I will keep you all posted on the progress of the logo as I move forth.

 
9 responses to “use twitter to design a logo”
 


1

Design Informer said on December 8, 2009 @ 3:17 pm

This is clever Brian. I will try this method with my next logo design project. Thanks for the tip!

2

Jesse Wall said on December 8, 2009 @ 6:55 pm

Now thats using your brain… and someone else’s!!

3

Phillip Copley said on December 9, 2009 @ 6:29 am

This is a great idea, but I bet it only works with people with substantial followings. You’ve got more than 10,000 followers, so 30 responses comes out to about 0.3% if my math’s right.

That means with my 400 followers, I can expect 1 response! haha

I agree with the concept though and it’s a good article. Keep it up.

4

Dan Redding said on December 9, 2009 @ 6:32 am

I should’ve mentioned this at the time and I don’t know if it’s relevant, but my first association with ‘Triumph’ is the Bob Dylan record cover where he’s wearing a t-shirt with the logo for Triumph motorcycles.

5

Brian Hoff said on December 9, 2009 @ 6:32 am

Phillip,
Why that is true, if you possibly sent it out twice it would get more visibility on Twitter. Even though 30–40 people responded, how many people just didn’t even see it because of how fast Twitter moves? Glad you like the short article though. Thanks for your comment.

6

Andy Gillette said on December 9, 2009 @ 6:53 am

I think it would be fun to see response rate vs. time of tweet graphed out. Something to think about the next time around :)

I’ve noticed funny traffic spikes on some of the sites I manage and I know that some of it has to do with Twitter, Tumblr, etc… I think there’s like an 11AM sweet spot for tweeting about stuff and actually having people click on it, but I haven’t done nearly enough research here. Up for a little collaborative longitudinal study?

7

Dan Redding said on December 9, 2009 @ 7:13 am

Andy, I read a study about newsletter effectiveness that said that 2-3pm on Tuesdays and Wednesdays was the best time to engage people. It’s after Monday’s rush but before Friday’s lull. I would imagine that this fertile time for an audience’s attention might apply to Twitter and blog readers as well.

8

Hernan Valencia said on December 9, 2009 @ 12:46 pm

That’s a really great idea. After tweeting for nearly 2 years it’s great to acquire some ROI in the form of opinions, feedback and suggestions from the great people in the design community through twitter. I recently asked for some feedback and it went great. I need to do more of that.

9

Lawrence Dmello said on December 18, 2009 @ 10:56 pm

I’m at odds here. As a designer, I’ve often had to step back ,.. or drown from the feedback sought from opinionators*.
Ask 10 people for an opinion,.. and you’ll get 20. The challenge I’ve found is sifting through these and achieving a balance within the ’signal to noise’ ratio.

I’m reminded of Hick-Hyman’s Law “The time it takes to make a decision increases as the number of alternatives increases.”

Your lucky,.. perhaps it is the quality of your Twitter followers that determines the outcome of your success.

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