5 ms·

Probably not many do remember, but before this logo Twitter had a different bird logo until the company was already quite big. If I remember correctly this log

Probably not many do remember, but before this logo Twitter had a different bird logo until the company was already quite big. If I remember correctly this logo was allegedly bought from a royalty free image platform and Twitter had no exclusive rights to it. Also there was a little outcry that the original artist just received the royalty free platform usual ridiculously small one time payment. EDIT: The one I remember is the second one in the timeline image from the following (unfortunately ad infested) article, so apparently it was not the first one they had. https://www.afaqs.com/news/digital/has-musk-gone-too-far-with-twitter-rebrand https://www.afaqs.com/news/digital/has-musk-gone-too-far-wit...

nolok 1mo ago
> Also there was a little outcry that the original artist just received the royalty free platform usual ridiculously small one time payment. I mean, if I tell you I'm to sell something to you for 5 dollars and you will be allowed to do this or that with it, and you give me the 5 dollars and then do this or that, it's a bit ridiculous to then have an "outcry" that you were successfull at doing this or that so you owe me more. Not trying to offend but artists willing to make bird logo for cheap are a dime a dozen, which is why those site exists in the first place, and they didn't care about which one exactly which is why they went on that site to buy it; it's ot like there was any vile or unfair action being done there.
- bsoqk 1mo ago
  Not all outcries have to be entertained.
  - thaumasiotes 1mo ago
    And similarly, when an outcry is worthless, it's valuable to tell the people involved that they should shut up. Outcries don't have to be entertained and they also don't have to be tolerated.
  - Brian_K_White 1mo ago
    Outcries are just collective action. If a majority of people think a thing should happen, then by definition that thing should probably usually happen. If the structure of the moment (societal norms, laws, etc) doesn't provide for it, then the outcry is the initial stage of the conversation and process where we collectively decide whether or not the structure needs to be updated. IE, figure out some new laws or legal principles to apply existing laws such that the thing the majority has decided should happen can happen. Everything you value for yourself and consider normal today, was only the result of some outcry at some point, and at that time there were people going "oh so dramatic the outcry just ignore it"
- QuantumNomad_ 1mo ago
  A lot of the royalty free images I have bought prohibit using the imagery as part of the logo for a company. But maybe the platform where the bird graphic was sold did not say any such thing in the licensing terms. In which case, tough luck to the artist. And on the other hand, if there were such terms agains using the graphic as your logo then the artist should have sued and gotten a sizeable payment.
  - saltypixel 1mo ago
    This is right, and the second half is what bites. Standard stock licenses generally prohibit use in a trademark or logo outright, and the extended license that permits it still gives you no exclusivity, so the image stays on sale to everyone else. That is why logo marks get commissioned with an assignment of rights instead of bought off a stock site. You are not paying for the drawing. You are paying for nobody else being able to use it. A company that grew into a global brand on a non-exclusive stock bird got lucky that nobody claimed it first.
- Dylan16807 1mo ago
  Personally, when companies (or movies, or albums, or books, or games, etc.) become worth enormous amounts of money I think there should be bonus royalties for everyone involved even if they sold their labor for a flat rate. No, I don't have a good plan for how you'd calculate the distribution. But it would make windfalls more fair to the people that made them happen. And that kind of mechanism could also help fund many open source projects.
  - c22 1mo ago
    You can just add this to your contract if you think there's a good shot at success.
    - IAmBroom 1mo ago
      You can also be a generous person, and share a few pennies from your pocket.
    - rsynnott 1mo ago
      Apparently, in this case, the license _did_ in fact forbid this usage, which is why they changed logo in the first place: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon_Oxley#Twitter_Bird_Logo_(2006) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon_Oxley#Twitter_Bird_Logo_...
    - Dylan16807 1mo ago
      No one wants to deal with a 0.0001% or 0.00001% royalty clause in an individual contact.
      - nolok 1mo ago
        Ah, come to France, maybe that explains my "sure of myself" answer in the parent comment. 0.0*01% + "à-valoir" is very common and cover the situation described here (eg you get paid a paid royalty, in advance, if the revenue ever exceed you are owed it, but if it's always under you never have to pay back). Sort of a "I pay you 100€ but if this turns out to be a billion euro thing you get you gold ticket too".
- dubbel 1mo ago
  I just want to point out that if there was an outcry it wasn't by the actual (recently deceased) artist, who, according to Wikipedia, was happy to see his creation get this kind of visibility. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon_Oxley#Twitter_Bird_Logo_(2006) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon_Oxley#Twitter_Bird_Logo_...
ChrisRR 1mo ago
I think that image really visualises how bad the x logo is https://img-cdn.thepublive.com/filters:format(webp)/afaqs/media/post_attachments/01a0219e8bd0442ca293a6998514c7805960ea51f509e6d6971783907505664b.jpg https://img-cdn.thepublive.com/filters:format(webp)/afaqs/me... The original logos weren't great but they were more charming than X
- pprotas 1mo ago
  Musk probably drew it himself
  - erk__ 1mo ago
    $ \mathbb{X} $
    - 7bit 1mo ago
      I don't think he'd be able to come up with this.
  - tidbeck 1mo ago
    He took it from a tweet https://x.com/SawyerMerritt/status/1683310992493608960 https://x.com/SawyerMerritt/status/1683310992493608960
    - pferde 1mo ago
      Wasn't it basically the X11 window system logo?
      - LocalH 1mo ago
        It's confusingly similar (by the "average person" metric( but I don't think it's identical
        bluebarbet 1mo ago
erk__ 1mo ago
Simon Oxley designed quite a few of the most well known animal logos in the tech world today including GitHub's Octocat: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon_Oxley https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon_Oxley
weisnobody 1mo ago
> Also there was a little outcry that the original artist just received the royalty free platform usual ridiculously small one time payment. Reminds me of Carolyn Davidson, Nike’s swoosh logo creator, who was paid $185 for the original design but was later given shares in Nike that ended up being worth a bit more. [1] [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carolyn_Davidson_(graphic_designer) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carolyn_Davidson_(graphic_desi...

nolok 1mo ago

> Also there was a little outcry that the original artist just received the royalty free platform usual ridiculously small one time payment. I mean, if I tell you I'm to sell something to you for 5 dollars and you will be allowed to do this or that with it, and you give me the 5 dollars and then do this or that, it's a bit ridiculous to then have an "outcry" that you were successfull at doing this or that so you owe me more. Not trying to offend but artists willing to make bird logo for cheap are a dime a dozen, which is why those site exists in the first place, and they didn't care about which one exactly which is why they went on that site to buy it; it's ot like there was any vile or unfair action being done there.

bsoqk 1mo ago
Not all outcries have to be entertained.
- thaumasiotes 1mo ago
  And similarly, when an outcry is worthless, it's valuable to tell the people involved that they should shut up. Outcries don't have to be entertained and they also don't have to be tolerated.
- Brian_K_White 1mo ago
  Outcries are just collective action. If a majority of people think a thing should happen, then by definition that thing should probably usually happen. If the structure of the moment (societal norms, laws, etc) doesn't provide for it, then the outcry is the initial stage of the conversation and process where we collectively decide whether or not the structure needs to be updated. IE, figure out some new laws or legal principles to apply existing laws such that the thing the majority has decided should happen can happen. Everything you value for yourself and consider normal today, was only the result of some outcry at some point, and at that time there were people going "oh so dramatic the outcry just ignore it"
QuantumNomad_ 1mo ago
A lot of the royalty free images I have bought prohibit using the imagery as part of the logo for a company. But maybe the platform where the bird graphic was sold did not say any such thing in the licensing terms. In which case, tough luck to the artist. And on the other hand, if there were such terms agains using the graphic as your logo then the artist should have sued and gotten a sizeable payment.
- saltypixel 1mo ago
  This is right, and the second half is what bites. Standard stock licenses generally prohibit use in a trademark or logo outright, and the extended license that permits it still gives you no exclusivity, so the image stays on sale to everyone else. That is why logo marks get commissioned with an assignment of rights instead of bought off a stock site. You are not paying for the drawing. You are paying for nobody else being able to use it. A company that grew into a global brand on a non-exclusive stock bird got lucky that nobody claimed it first.
Dylan16807 1mo ago
Personally, when companies (or movies, or albums, or books, or games, etc.) become worth enormous amounts of money I think there should be bonus royalties for everyone involved even if they sold their labor for a flat rate. No, I don't have a good plan for how you'd calculate the distribution. But it would make windfalls more fair to the people that made them happen. And that kind of mechanism could also help fund many open source projects.
- c22 1mo ago
  You can just add this to your contract if you think there's a good shot at success.
  - IAmBroom 1mo ago
    You can also be a generous person, and share a few pennies from your pocket.
  - rsynnott 1mo ago
    Apparently, in this case, the license _did_ in fact forbid this usage, which is why they changed logo in the first place: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon_Oxley#Twitter_Bird_Logo_(2006) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon_Oxley#Twitter_Bird_Logo_...
  - Dylan16807 1mo ago
    No one wants to deal with a 0.0001% or 0.00001% royalty clause in an individual contact.
    - nolok 1mo ago
      Ah, come to France, maybe that explains my "sure of myself" answer in the parent comment. 0.0*01% + "à-valoir" is very common and cover the situation described here (eg you get paid a paid royalty, in advance, if the revenue ever exceed you are owed it, but if it's always under you never have to pay back). Sort of a "I pay you 100€ but if this turns out to be a billion euro thing you get you gold ticket too".
dubbel 1mo ago
I just want to point out that if there was an outcry it wasn't by the actual (recently deceased) artist, who, according to Wikipedia, was happy to see his creation get this kind of visibility. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon_Oxley#Twitter_Bird_Logo_(2006) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon_Oxley#Twitter_Bird_Logo_...

ChrisRR 1mo ago

I think that image really visualises how bad the x logo is https://img-cdn.thepublive.com/filters:format(webp)/afaqs/media/post_attachments/01a0219e8bd0442ca293a6998514c7805960ea51f509e6d6971783907505664b.jpg https://img-cdn.thepublive.com/filters:format(webp)/afaqs/me... The original logos weren't great but they were more charming than X

pprotas 1mo ago
Musk probably drew it himself
- erk__ 1mo ago
  $ \mathbb{X} $
  - 7bit 1mo ago
    I don't think he'd be able to come up with this.
- tidbeck 1mo ago
  He took it from a tweet https://x.com/SawyerMerritt/status/1683310992493608960 https://x.com/SawyerMerritt/status/1683310992493608960
  - pferde 1mo ago
    Wasn't it basically the X11 window system logo?
    - LocalH 1mo ago
      It's confusingly similar (by the "average person" metric( but I don't think it's identical
      - bluebarbet 1mo ago

erk__ 1mo ago

Simon Oxley designed quite a few of the most well known animal logos in the tech world today including GitHub's Octocat: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon_Oxley https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon_Oxley

weisnobody 1mo ago

> Also there was a little outcry that the original artist just received the royalty free platform usual ridiculously small one time payment. Reminds me of Carolyn Davidson, Nike’s swoosh logo creator, who was paid $185 for the original design but was later given shares in Nike that ended up being worth a bit more. [1] [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carolyn_Davidson_(graphic_designer) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carolyn_Davidson_(graphic_desi...