Opinions please

[bluecape]

Hi gang

This friday, July 21, we are launching our new club, Apnea Capetown. The plan is to get together a like minded group of divers, mainly from scuba initially as I've had many requests from them, to learn about the lifestyle and magic of apnea that we all understand so well. We plan to have monthly meetings, socials and away-weekends, and under the guidance of Hanli Prinsloo on her return from Sweden, to start training sessions under Aida guidelines.

However..my dilema has been our logo. To be honest, I have been busy working on the logistics of the launch and other details, and did'nt give it much thought. I then saw the stunning logo which came from a website of Jacque Mayol, and really enjoyed it. I obviously can no longer contact Jacques Mayol, so tried to send a mail to the website contact, and it just bounces back saying no longer exists. I added a Table Mountain to the picture and wanted to ask if they were happy for us to use it.

As a freediving family worldwide, I have the greatest respect for your opinions on DB, and am not sure about the ethics of using this logo.
I have attached my modification, and am anxious to hear your comments.
If you feel it's not a good idea, I will scrap the plan, and start looking at new options. As I mentioned earlier, apart from Mayol himself, I cannot think of a better group to get feedback from than DB.

best Regards

Jeff,

 

[fcallagy]

Hi Jeff,
Looks great don,t know about the copyright end of it but the logo is well cool

 

[island_sands]

Hi gang
As a freediving family worldwide, I have the greatest respect for your opinions on DB, and am not sure about the ethics of using this logo.
I have attached my modification, and am anxious to hear your comments.
If you feel it's not a good idea, I will scrap the plan, and start looking at new options. As I mentioned earlier, apart from Mayol himself, I cannot think of a better group to get feedback from than DB.

best Regards

Jeff,

hey Jeff, we are always here for you! Personally I love the logo. Well done on getting a club together, i tried a few times in Dubai but dont seem to be able to get it together... too much on my plate!

 

[saver]

congratulations bluecape..
Very nice logo!

--SAVER--

 

[bluecape]

Thanks for the feedback so far guys. Nice to have had positive feedback, as I said earlier, just wish i could have contact with the originator ( if it was'nt Jacques Mayol) just to confirm that they are OK with me modifying their idea and using it?? To me, it was mayol that inspired me to start freediving, so it's kind of a cool irony to be using his logo somehow??

Jeff

 

[trux]

Personally, I am always hesitant to use artwork of others. It is a complicated ethic and legal problem, so as much as possible I try using original artwork. Although you cannot contact Mayol, it does not mean it is legally OK to use the logo. It is quite possible that the copyright belongs to the original artist or a 3rd party. If you can, try digging among friends or family of Mayol, or his book publisher, if you can get some information. Try calling the phone number associated with the domain record. Keep copies of all emails (or better certified letters) - if you do not manage to find or contact the copyright owner, it may be helpful in case of eventual legal dispute. I'd also recommend, adding a small note to the logo, with credits to the original source - that can also help in case of a dispute, and it is ethical - I use to do even here, when posting photos to threads - I usually add a credit note with a link to the source (when known).

 

[island_sands]

What about contacting these people and asking who holds the copyright?
http://www.hds.org/mayol.html

 

[Pastor]

Not an expert Jeff, we did a module on copyrighting and plagarism in uni a few years ago. I suspect that you still fall foul of the copyrighting laws even with table mountain added. But then you are not doing this for financial gain and nor are you just trying to rip it off, so why not if you're setting up a website (even if its only a geocities cheapie) put an acknowledgment on it?

 

[Sagara]

You unquestionably are running afoul of copyright law and perhaps trademark law as well, but that does not necessarily mean it is wrong. The worst possible repercussion would be a lawyer sending you a nasty letter telling you not to use this design anymore. ...unless your club somehow made oodles and oodles of money, eheh, then the copyright owner might try to get some of it.

I'm not really a part of the free diving community, for what it's worth, but in general I wouldn't feel comfortable using something like that without specific permission. Someone could easily interpret it to mean that your club is/was approved by or affiliated with Jacques Mayol. I do like what you did with the design, though, and it does look very cool.

 

[SanderP]

It's pretty bad quality, you should save it in higher quality. Also, there's something on the dolphin's fin, that big blue "thing", imo it should be removed. And the text "capetown" should have a different, more unusual font - I'm not even sure what it is but there's something I don't like about that font, somehow it doesn't fit. Or maybe it's the bad quality and not the font itself.
But the general design of the logo is awsome.

That's my humble opinion.

 

[yugyug]

As a graphic designer my opinion is that is definately the wrong thing to do. Most of the ethical/legal reasons have also been outlined, but boil down to two things; you don't have approval and in anycase your club should forge its own identity. On a practical level as well you willl ultmately need your logo in higher res. and in proper printing formats like EPS which will be difficult unless you obtain the original source files.

What you do have though is an image you can show to a graphic designer to indicate what kind of thing you want. They can then design something original and better for you. Its doesn't have to be expensive either, I have done logos for spearfishing buddies for pretty cheap. I would be happy to work on your logo too if you wanted.

- guy

guykeulemans.com

 

[bluecape]

Hi Gang

Thanks for all the input. The bottom line here is that you always need to feel completely comfortable with what you decide, and as you could see from my original question, I was not really comfortable.

I have decided to scrap the use of the logo completely, by justifying it to myself because Mayol played a huge part in me starting is not good enough, I will rather design an original logo and try to reflect that in my own design.

Thanks for the feedback, it did help me to make up my mind.

I will put my new logo up to show you guys once it's done!

Jeff