Matt McInerney

Foursquare has adopted the proposed rel=”logo” standard. You should too.

Since posting about relogo, a new standard for easy and automated logo distribution, I’m noticing it’s gotten a little bit of attention. I think the next step is to build a library of example uses, to show it off a bit.

In order to do that, I’m looking for some sites to use as examples. If you are a webmaster, all you have to do it is upload an SVG file of your logo and add this line to your site:

<link rel="logo" type="image/svg" href="http://yourdomain.com/logo.svg"/>

Replace the ‘yourdomain’ url with a link to your logo of course.

If you’ve started using this on your site, please send me a link on twitter, @mattmc, or reblog this post. I’d love to see examples so I can start using them on relogo.org.

rel=”logo” or relogo is an idea I’m proposing that uses existing link tags to serve up-to-date/approved logos. The idea is very simple. You paste a small line of code on your site that links to an SVG of your logo. This logo can then be easily pulled from any other site for promotional or editorial use. It also makes verifying correct logo artwork very easy. Since there is no centralized database hosting all the logos, the verification comes from checking the validity of the domain name hosting the SVG.

At the moment, it is surprisingly difficult to gather logos online. Sites like Brands of the World host vector files for many popular brands, but usually they are amateur recreations of existing artwork. Relogo would make it very easy to know that you’re using the correct artwork.

While I’m sure there are some brands that may not want to make their logo publicly available, I think a large percentage would rather host their own artwork than be represented by poorly drawn replacements or even out-of-date versions.

So how do you use it? Just upload your logo and use this line of code (with your own URL of course): <link rel="logo" type="image/svg" href="http://yourdomain.com/logo.svg">

I’ve also set up a simple API on relogo.org that will pull logo artwork from any site that uses the tag. Just go to: http://relogo.org/api/domain.com and replace domain.com with a web address i.e. http://relogo.org/api/relogo.org

I’m interested in getting feedback on this idea, so if you thoughts, please share.

It’s been a few weeks the launch of the new Big Ten identity. I wanted to let the initial reactions settle before posting, but I really wanted to post something. It’s the biggest identity project I’ve gotten a chance to work on at Pentagram, and it’s something that I’m very proud to be a part of. It’s gotten more attention than I would have imagined (including some hate mail from passionate fans…) Brand New summed up the rebrand and reaction pretty well. Fast Company have also written a very in depth article about the new logo.

Despite initial negative reactions, I do think time will be kind to this logo. I’m very happy that the final look avoids sport logo cliches in favor of a clever idea, executed with strong simple geometric type.

Above is the logo I designed for an original folk opera called Truth about the African-American abolitionist and women’s rights activist Sojourner Truth. I got involved because my mother is one of the producers of this opera. All the type in the logo above is completely custom. I designed it to look like stray letters gathered from old sets of wood type, printed years ago and worn.

The opera is currently raising money through Kickstarter and offering thank you gifts for different levels of donation. If you’d like to support this original production, click through, watch the video, and donate.