Logos off the rack, created by the crowds

iStockphoto is already a familiar name to many in media and design for its low-priced stock photography, illustrations and multimedia files. Now the Canadian company is planning to expand its offerings with a line of user-generated corporate logos as well. Late last month Alberta-based iStockphoto announced that it will soon begin providing logos that clients can download and use to brand their business or organization. The site’s existing contributors can create and upload logos for sale on the site, as can professional designers, many of whom likely already have unused logo designs left over from past jobs. Logos will be sold as fully editable .eps files—a training manual for contributors is coming soon—and they will be exclusive to iStockphoto. They will be sold only once to prevent duplicate use, and so will be priced higher than other items on the site—ranging from 100 to 750 credits each, the company says. iStock is currently seeking feedback on the possibility of its acting as intermediary between artist and client for one round of changes to a purchased logo so as to allow the designer to help insert the client company’s name into the logo design. iStock will pay a base royalty rate of 50 percent per logo design for the first 6 months, and designers will be able to upload an unlimited number of logos during that time. As an incentive to upload early, it’s also offering a USD 5 bonus for creators of the first 10,000 logo designs to be approved by January 1, 2010, with another USD 5 if it reaches 10,000 approved logos by that time. Much like IncSpring, which we covered about a year ago, iStockphoto’s logo line promises to give creators a way to monetize unused ideas and designs while providing businesses and organizations with an affordable option for their own branding. Yet another win-win for all involved—and another triumph for the crowds! 😉 (Related: Crowdsourced graphic design.) Spotted by: David Licona