FIRST Logo
 

I am in the process of designing a new website for next year. I am planning on entering the website in to the website competition. Anyway, apparently you have to have the FIRST Logo on your site. That’s not a problem it’s just how much can I modify it? I know other teams have modified the logo and was able to be in the contest. From what I understand if I modify the logo I have to contact first and have them approve it before I can use it. Is that true? If so, then who should I send the image to at FIRST to get it approved or disapproved? :confused:

Thanks,
Larry Johnston

Re: FIRST Logo
 

Some teams have tried and failed, and others have been given permission to modify.

Se HERE for examples of both.

Re: FIRST Logo
 

FIRST has been very lax with the logos in actual judging of websites, but do you want to take that chance? In order to keep the integrity of the Registered symbol (it's no longer just a Service Mark), the text and symbol must be kept in your image. In fact, after having spoken to FIRST about this, I found the only two always-sanctionable changes are greyscaling and resizing their logo image. If you do anything other than that, you should send the image or URI of the image by email to one of these addresses (Ken Freitas, Marian Murphy), and hope they approve it.

Re: FIRST Logo
 

Ok, I emailed the modified logo to FIRST and Marian Murphy finally got back with me. He said he very much liked the logo, and also said that it meets the guidelines of FIRST. So I am glad that it got approved :) :cool: , thanks for all your help.

Thanks,
Larry Johnston

Re: FIRST Logo
 

Can we see a copy of your modified logo?

Re: FIRST Logo
 

Not yet, I may modify it a little more and mail it back in to get approved. The Logo part isn't really changed that much, its more of a thing that animates what FIRST stands for. The robotics site I am working on, which will use the logo of course, will open near the beginning of September. Not sure really depends on how busy I am and stuff. I have to get a domain name still, figure out some copyright issues, and most of all just get the site ready to go. Also as I am not on team 535 anymore, I am joining a rookie team same town and stuff just another team. So as you can understand we still have to get a team number and decide on a team name. Anyway, after I modify and get the website done I will post it and the website in this thread.
Sorry, its just I don't want to release it and have another team steal it and use it on there site. Though I don't really know anyone in FIRST who would do that, lol. Another question though if I was to put a forum on the website, what should I do to get it started? Give something away to everyone who signs up? or soemthing else?

Thanks,
Larry Johnston

Re: FIRST Logo
 

They were quite rude and yelled at me when I tried to do it for www.theforceteam.com.

They said under no circumstances should you edit it.

--Petey

Re: FIRST Logo
 

As far as I know, at least from what Marian Murphy said, the logo can be modified to fit into the design of the website (logo background, and FIRST letter colors), and it can also be modified into an animation that shows what FIRST stands for. I did both of those and when I emailed it, Marian approved it. However I just got an email today from the first person I contacted before Marian. He/she said:

"Hi Larry:

Thank you for your inquiry. Unfortunately at this time the 2005 FRC Website Award Criteria are still being determined so we can't give you an answer on this now. Once the criteria are released, if you still have a question on the Logo please write us back.

Hope you are enjoying your summer!"

I don't know why he/she said that when Marian said that it meets the criteria for next year. Also as far as I know they are not supposed to change any rules dealing with the logo. Try emailing your modified logo to Marian Murphy. :) I think as long as the logo its self is not modified to much you will be fine. Like I said the logo background and the color of the letters of the word FIRST can be modified. Also you can create an animation showing what FIRST stands for. Hope that information helps. ;)

Thanks,
Larry Johnston

Re: FIRST Logo
 

Interesting. I recieved permission for the logo that is here and then I emailed Marian Murphy last friday asking if i could use it on our website possibly, but was never replied too.

Re: FIRST Logo
 

You say you received permission to use that logo? Well if you did it had to be a few years back, correct? Because as far as I know now it is against the rules to modify it like that. I do know however that Marian has been busy because I emailed him quit a while back about another issue and he replied

"Hi Larry,

My apologies for taking so long to get back to you.

You may archive past years' files, but they are possibly already available from the "Wayback Machine" at web.archive.org. Just don't want you to go to all of that work if you don't need to. If you do proceed, please be sure to clearly indicate the timeframe for the materials so people who visit your site are not confused.

Thanks and regards,
Marian"

I emailed asking about this after I asked about the logo and got a reply back. I just received this reply today. So I know he is busy or was on vacation because it took a long time for him to email me back. I think you should expect a response by the ends of this week. If you don't receive a reply by that time email him again. Note though that I do not think that will be approved again, however there is a chance. Good luck.

Thanks,
Larry Johnston

P.S. - I love the logo it looks sweet. Once again good luck.

Re: FIRST Logo
 

Marian is a "she," not "he."

Re: FIRST Logo
 

:ahh: Oh sorry, I didn't know. I get so used to saying he that its just something that I don't even think about. I will try not to make that mistake again.

Re: FIRST Logo
 

Thanks about the logo. It only took me about an hour in photoshop. And I recieved permisison to use it on promotional items, like shirts, brochures etc. And I actually didn't recieve permission until mid-late January of this past season, because it was my teams tenth year in FIRST, so we created a special logo, and since there has been some talk of keeping it, I decided to check and see if we could get permission to have it on our website as well.(we would also have the official FIRST logo, with FIRST under it, as the link to the FIRST website.)

Re: FIRST Logo
 

Well that’s different I mean you shouldn't have to worry about if they approve it or not if you are going to have the official FIRST logo. Although it would still good to get it checked out so FIRST doesn’t get mad for some reason. Too many rules :rolleyes: , lol, j/k. So are you doing a whole new website design for the upcoming season? ;) :cool:

Re: FIRST Logo
 

Maybe, depends on what the website committee desides to do. First we want to try and get our current one working better, because we haven't really had anyone who knew PHP on the team and active enough since Joel left. If it proves to be too difficult we very well might change it, but only time will tell.

Re: FIRST Logo
 

I modified the logo on the current version of our website but the one that I'm working on uses a white background so I won't modify it for the new one.

http://www.team839.com/

It's located at the top left of all pages. I removed the white background and added a shadow effect but it's not approved, so I didn't submit for the website award last year. Heh.

Re: FIRST Logo
 

After talking with Marian I think that changing the background, the text color, and the color of the "(R)" is ok. I also believe that you can make the black border around the shapes is fine. I do not know about if you can shadow the image or not. But as long as you follow those guidelines and include the (R) you should be fine. Remember to email it to Marian Murphy or Ken Freitas to get it approved. Myself i would email it to Marian first and if you don't get a response back then email it to Ken Freitas. Good luck ;) getting approved and hope to see you in the website competition this coming season. ;)

Thanks,
Larry Johnston