Did some mockups of design; main elements, approach, focus. Tried to ask questions about the parameters, because I was being told "needs to look good at 64x64" but then also about "the maaaaagic of SL" and etc, so I wanted to know if they wanted a LOGO or a GRAPHIC so I could design for a poster (denser, busy) and also a logo (spare; recognition at a glance).
Went to a meeting with all kinds of Important People and some Lindens. Pitched my idea about the Magician's Top Hat as a main element/metaphor of "magic" and the particles/stars & letters coming from it and showed them both the physical mockup (it was made in prims for shooting photos) and the photo of the 3D mockup. A lot of stuff came up about the colors and people not liking this one, that one, whatever one ("we had green last year, I don't ever wanna see green again!"). I told them basically please come up with a color set/theme so I could work without having to redo the whole thing if people decided the "theme colors" were going to be different somewhere down the road; I suggested purple because of the obvious "magicness" associated with it, but there was no consensus so I said I needed to know the color schema in order to redesign the logo in the colors picked...
Then a few people IMed me about a week later, "congratulations!!!" - this is how I found out I was listed on this page as Logo/Graphic Designer AND under Estate/Buildouts/Exhibits, although I had not requested a plot and had no intention of building at SL8B.
I heard nothing from anyone associated with this for 6 weeks (except for the Legal Dept.'s "no!" on use of the Hand) and figured they got pissy after my little quiz on what they wanted and blew me off.
Well, today someone tweeted this logo - which is pretty much the graphic design idea I showed to that Committee. Oh yes; they tilted the letters and the Hat about 38 degrees... they used little paint tube stars (mine were multi-colored with particles also); they used a flat-style lettering instead of my beveled chrome letters... but this is my design. And who is this logo attributed to now on that Linden Lab Official: SL8B page? Jillian Linden.
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
Now, you need to know a few other things: when I was asked to design the logo for Burning Life (you remember, the one that looked like a cheap western KOA/motel sign) I went through this same process; spent a good amount of time going back and forth with it.... and ended up in the same position: I got my design lifted, rearranged and attributed to other people. I thought the redesign so tacky that I demanded my name be taken off the credits (they had stuck my name on it with two other names).
I also had the Linden Hand incorporated into this design, backing up or holding the Hat; I mean, SL8B is an Official Linden Thing, right? Brand awareness and all that? Well, it took 8 days for a Linden to get back to me with this message from Legal: no, you can't use our logo in our own logo.
So Linden Lab has a big bunch of wind to say about Intellectual Property, but when it comes right down to it, they are happy to lift design work from other people. Did I mention there was no pay ever involved for graphic design? Of course not. No, I am not being bitchy because I wasn't getting paid, but it's interesting that Lindens who get paid to do stuff are ok with asking someone to spend a couple hours design and graphic time for free so they can use it... like I should be so happy to be asked to work with Lindens.
Well, I'm not. This is the second time I've been worked for ideas that are then appropriated and redesigned and attributed to someone else. Hey, Photoshopping is all kewl 'n stuff (I mean, check out the lovely ersatz metallic sheen on those flat tin letters!) but design is 80% ideas and 20% execution.
To add insult to injury, someone changed the Logo/Graphic Design credits to Jillian Linden on that official wiki page but still left my name in Estate/Buildout/Exhibits (which I had never volunteered for, and specifically chose to ignore SL8B this year).
So am I such a big name they need to leave my name on this page? When the real work I did was appropriated, sucked up and regurgitated with someone else's name on it? If I was a meaner person, I would have copyrighted that logo design and be in the process of jamming some DMCA takedown notices up LL's butt. I mean, that's what they do, isn't it?
So here's a little note to any Linden who'd think I'd be thrilled to be used again:
