Visa Business Network on Facebook

Visa has unveiled a combination 'Facebook Application / Facebook page' entitled "The Visa Business Network".

"With over 21 million users, Facebook is a great place to build your business. When you join the network, you get $100 to create targeted advertising and reach potential customers on Facebook."

It seems like a complicated way for Visa to get people to join their network for a $100 incentive (which is great for Facebook and the small businesses). Any small business can already join groups, buy Facebook's social ads, and build their network-- so why join Visa's?

It looks like they want small business owners to 1) Make a profile (which they would have already done just to access Facebook). 2) Connect with others (duh!) 3)Keep in Touch (and this one blows me away) Yet another inbox for small business owners to keep track of. They have their email, their Facebook inbox, and now their Facebook Visa Application Inbox.... (youch.)

Why is this so hard for big businesses? People want timely and relevant resources, free stuff (like the $100 in FB Social Ads), a place to connect with others-- for more resources and tips and help with their business... My thinking is that they over thought this. They should have just suped-up a page. My $0.02

Green, Leafy, Eco, Enviro, logo design

(click for larger version of the leafy logo compilation) As an exercise during the development for some branding work, I did a little bit of research (and I do mean little) to find some examples of 'Green' logos. Not just the colour of the brand, but logos that are trying to represent themselves as eco, enviro, earth friendly, with planets, blades of grass, trees and many, many leaves.

I asked a few colleagues which were the ones that actually stood out from the crowd, and it wasn't the sharp tips of the leaves and trees and check-marks-- it was the solid color (not necessarily green) and bold shapes. The less words the better. The more unique the better.

It was as though things had come full circle (again) and what would have seemed cool, hip, cutting edge, socially responsible, and innovative, just three or four years ago, has become dated, easy, replicable, mass, and even boring.

One thing that really resonated with me about a post I read on TheBestLogo.info was about the "black and white" test: What will the logo look like when you can't put the exact colour in the leaves, or show off that swoopy gradient? How will it look when you send it through a fax machine?

Where do you thing Green/eco/planet/enviro/organic/recycle-type logos are going? Comments?

Logo theft is laughable sometimes

Just read a great post/article from The Logo Factory, a professional design firm that specializes in--you guessed it--logo design. The post talks (complains) about several factors that lead to logo theft, like contests, lazy people, etc. Ripping off someones trademark is low but illegal. The worst is when people rip off ideas that aren't even that hard to think up in the first place.

Granted-- design work is difficult. I spent a few hours tweaking my latest K! idea, which is by no means the best logo in the world, but I like it, and that's what counts. It hit me today though, when I stumbled onto a site called Add-Art, that gives you a plugin for Firefox which--similar to ad blocker plus-- changes all the ads on a page, in this case to art. Neat idea. My issue was that I immediately recognized the logo as that of Sherwin Williams, a well know paint brand in North America.

If you're trying to establish yourself or your company as legit-- ripping off a logo is a no no. Inspiration is one thing, but being a 'copy cat' as the Logo Factory dudes tell us-- is another.