English is one those curious languages where it changes and bends according to both geographic location of the speaker and current cultural imperatives. Thus, whilst I might say ‘or eee gaaarrn oh’, my North American counterparts might say ‘or egg an oh’. Of course, since I am a man, my pronunciation is correct (because, as a man, everything I say or do or think is the correct version, n’est pas?!).

But since cultural swine and heathens have (dare I say it) ‘bastardised’ the word ‘icon’ out of all recognition, feel free to use it in its current cultural context, whilst enjoying that warmly smug feeling of knowing what it REALLY means and knowing that your culturally inferior peers — plebs and morons as they are — are clueless (and probably dateless).

Yours in adoration for your thought processes,
Lee

I happened upon this post because I am currently working on a “logo” for a Student Government Association project. I appreciate the sacrament of a truly good “logo” (and thus appreciate this post). As some of the aforementioned comments mentioned, Auburn and the SGA have several rules and regulations about the use of a logo.

But now I find myself a bit troubled. Should we continue onward in our mistaken language… calling this image a logo when its word derivative clearly does not mean such? Or should we begin using “icon” which is more historically accurate, but has become overused?

Ahh…A true philosophical question that continue to manifest itself in my mind.

I have also run into the same problem that Tiffany had mentioned. The national headquarters for our fraternity had sent a leadership consultant to our chapter to monitor how things were running. Since I was VP at the time, he met with me to discuss our “unofficial” use of the fraternity’s letters that we had been creating ourselves for shirts and other memorabilia. He encouraged us to only buy items from headquarters. It was then that I realized I was part of a corporation that was bigger than just our house’s walls. We own membership, they own just about everything else.

We can see how business is evolving. Your right, “logo” was at one time used by Greeks as meaning talk, speech, speak, or word. But the Merriam-Webster dictionary in front of me just defines it: an identifying symbol (as for advertising). What have we become? Gone are the days LeeHopkins.

It is only Oscar Wilde who, along with Saki, is my mentor, who held (as I indeed hold) that the only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about.

Be careful of the ‘brand dragons’ out there in the corporate workplace — their teeth are sharp and their talons penetrate into places you wouldn’t believe!

I see both sides of the issue. I understand companies want to keep their brand ’sacred’ and therefore do not want their logos used in everyday print But at the same time, isn’t it free publicity if a companies logo is used in place of simple text stating the company name?

Icons are truly what we work for, the things that make a company. The swoosh, the golden arches, the strange Starbucks woman are what a company wants- an image that will always be tied to them. Because of the power of icons, one of the first tasks after a plane crash is to paint over the company’s logo on the aircraft. People might forget the name of the company, but they rarely forget logos. A negative association is the last thing that companies need. It is why they are so protective of their image.

Branding is often what we are called to do, and particular attention to logos…errr icons is a part of that.

The ’sacredness’ is built around the legality and IP risk you take if you use your ‘logo’ inappropriately.

So, for example, with ‘digital’ (you can see the image at http://www.leehopkins.net/images/image-digital.jpg) we were not allowed to use the logo (the letters ‘d’ ‘i’ ‘g’ ‘i’ ‘t’ ‘a’ ‘l’ each in their own box) as part of a sentence. The lawyers viewed it as risking the loss of ownership and copyright of the logo if we did so, meaning that anyone could then take the logo and use it for their own (nefarious) purposes.

I am working on the logo for my website as well, and I have been so discouraged with my lack of design skills in its development. But once I have perfected it, I plan on protecting it every way possible because of the amount of work I have put into it. The effort that goes into making that perfect logo makes it worth the lenghts companies go to in order to protect them.

Every major company I can think of has a consistent logo they use on each publication or site. I appreciate your post dedicated to the sacredness of the logos.

I know that my university, Auburn, has a section on our website where people can read and find out how to use the AU logo. The university illustrates the ways you can use it, and they also show EVERY way that you might think to use it incorrectly. The university holds our logo as a sacred symbol. It is definitely an iconic symbol that every student holds true to. Whenever I see our AU symbol I think about my connection to the university and what it has meant to me. I think that is the best way that a symbol should make people react.

I guess that is something to look forward to in the business world- confusing words and different business culture. I have been doing a lot of work with logos lately. Recently I downloaded the Get Adobe Acrobat Reader “icon” for my website. I read pages and pages of fine print about usuing the logo and obtaining permission to use icons. It is guarded better than the crown jewels.

I am also in the process of creating a logo. Of course I want the logo to be iconic- something that can remain the same and present an accurate image of me. I am not sure that I am qualified for the task, but I will do my best. Thanks for the clarification of logos and icons-maybe I can use the information for my project.