Website Award Revised!

[Petey]

I don't like how we have to use the FIRST logo on our homepage. It ruins our color scheme and limits our creativity. Sorta. I just like to whine.

--Petey

[jonathan lall]

In general I am very impressed with how FIRST is handling the Website Design Award this year. Our new site will, in its current state, get high marks in every category. These criteria effectively destroy the chances of websites that feature Photoshop, Flash, and nothing else, which get good marks with some FIRSTers (who of course were the judges last year). What this does is remove the weight that pretty fluff has on website judging and focuses more on other, more important things. Of course now those wanting to win the Website Award will begin to make their sites only satisfy the criteria, but this is necessary I suppose. We already satsify them pretty well

(note: our domain is resolving to the new website currently as of this post)

[BandChick]

Originally Posted by Petey

I don't like how we have to use the FIRST logo on our homepage. It ruins our color scheme and limits our creativity. Sorta. I just like to whine.

--Petey

would it be possible for the logo to match better in grayscale instead of red, white & blue?

[activemx]

Originally Posted by Petey

I don't like how we have to use the FIRST logo on our homepage. It ruins our color scheme and limits our creativity. Sorta. I just like to whine.

--Petey

Yea thats a bit of a eh.. but you could still use a transparent gif image of their logo, im not sure if they have it on their site but if they have it in EPS format u can convert it into a transparent GIF. Even grayscale if you like it that way!

[JohnBoucher]

You need to obtain permission from them to alter the logo. It's in the documentation somewhere. Also don't forget to use the Service Mark (sm)

[Petey]

Originally Posted by JohnBoucher

You need to obtain permission from them to alter the logo. It's in the documentation somewhere. Also don't forget to use the Service Mark (sm)

Crap.

I'd just finished a nice alteration, too.



Well, I'll go put the SM in and contact them.

--Petey

[JohnBoucher]

Section 2.13 from the 2004 documentation...

Positive Promotion: Use our logo in a manner that is positive and promotes FIRST.
Unmodified: Use the FIRST logo without modification. This means that you
will use our name and the circle, square, and triangle as you see
it on our website or letterhead. You can use it in red, blue, and
white, or in black and white.
Modification Permission: If you have an interest in modifying our logo, do that only when
you receive our permission.
FIRST is happy to talk with you about modifications after you
submit a written request letting us know why you want to
modify the logo; how you plan to do it, and where you plan to
apply it.
Send an e-mail request to Ken Freitas, kfreitas@usfirst.org,
Marketing and Promotion.

[Petey]

Yeah, I just got two emails from Mr. Freitas.

Not only did he strike down my logo, when I asked what the parameters for alteration of the logo should be, he replied

The logo should be used as is. Alterations do erode the legal trademark protection.

After having said

Unfortunately, the FIRST logo cannot be altered as submitted.
Trademark protection does not allow the logo/trademark to be altered as such.

This pisses me off, because the condition of having an unaltered FIRST logo on your site clearly conflicts with having a consistent color scheme on your site. So it is impossible to ace the Web Design thing anyway.

$@#$@#$@#$@#.

--Petey

[iamnafets]

I have to agree there, I mean even changing the background under the quotes that you stated above would be fouled. In other news, does anyone know of a page listing "legit" logos that I could use without "eroding the trademark?"

[Petey]

Me and some pals of mine looked around and found a bunch of websites that had done worse justice to the FIRST logo than mine. So I think that I'm probably going to fool with some logo a bit, or else post a heated challenge in the FIRST Q&A system about the problem.

I'll also post something in the "About Team Force"-->"Web Design" section, explaining why I did not comply. Sounds like good old fashioned civil disobedience to me.

--Petey