I'm really excited to be done with our logo. It seems silly, but this is a big milestone for the Fireworks project. We're an open, online company, and we designed this logo using only online collaboration tools. Most of the credit is due to Martin Hipp, who did the lion share of the graphical design work.
Why is this significant? Because, if we can learn to design, build, and innovate using online collaboration tools, then we can engage with and share ideas with anyone in the world who has access to an occasional internet connection. Our talent pool then becomes much larger than just the people who work within the 4 walls of a typical brick and mortar organization.
So, while a logo is not such a big deal, leaning to design and build something online is a big deal. So what did we learn?
Constant communication is key. Use twitter, instant chat, and news groups to leave messages and critique to everyone working on the project. Do this constantly. Nobody should go more than a day without either responding to an ongoing discussion or starting a new one. We didn't do this very well and the project lost momentum whenever we lost contact.
When designing it is also very easy to get caught up in a design contest of sorts. This should be avoided, because it is an inefficient use of everyone's time. Instead of trying to create "knock your socks of" designs right out of the gate, the whole team would be better served if each member worked on creating minimal sketches of their ideas. Each sketch should only have enough detail to simply communicate the idea, and nothing more. A sketch could be on any medium, but for graphical design it is often easiest to use the typical computer graphics tools.
In general, the guidelines I outlined in a previous post still hold true. Now, with our first project under our belt, I'm really excited to keep moving and learn how to improve our online workflow. Our next project is our website, and you can follow along here.
Monday, June 15, 2009
The Fireworks Project Logo is Done
I'm really excited to be done with our logo. It seems silly, but this is a big milestone for the Fireworks project. We're an open, online company, and we designed this logo using only online collaboration tools. Most of the credit is due to Martin Hipp, who did the lion share of the graphical design work.
Why is this significant? Because, if we can learn to design, build, and innovate using online collaboration tools, then we can engage with and share ideas with anyone in the world who has access to an occasional internet connection. Our talent pool then becomes much larger than just the people who work within the 4 walls of a typical brick and mortar organization.
So, while a logo is not such a big deal, leaning to design and build something online is a big deal. So what did we learn?
Constant communication is key. Use twitter, instant chat, and news groups to leave messages and critique to everyone working on the project. Do this constantly. Nobody should go more than a day without either responding to an ongoing discussion or starting a new one. We didn't do this very well and the project lost momentum whenever we lost contact.
When designing it is also very easy to get caught up in a design contest of sorts. This should be avoided, because it is an inefficient use of everyone's time. Instead of trying to create "knock your socks of" designs right out of the gate, the whole team would be better served if each member worked on creating minimal sketches of their ideas. Each sketch should only have enough detail to simply communicate the idea, and nothing more. A sketch could be on any medium, but for graphical design it is often easiest to use the typical computer graphics tools.
In general, the guidelines I outlined in a previous post still hold true. Now, with our first project under our belt, I'm really excited to keep moving and learn how to improve our online workflow. Our next project is our website, and you can follow along here.
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