This is flagged and I kinda get it, but this a genuinely correct observation.
Thank you, sir.
Readit Newssabon commented on Why do AI company logos look like buttholes? velvetshark.com/ai-compan... · Posted by u/sabon
sabon commented on Why do AI company logos look like buttholes? velvetshark.com/ai-compan... · Posted by u/sabon
lol, obviously, but there's also definitely part of me that thinks this would've worked better as a bsky post than a whole serious-sounding blog analysis. The core complaint is made explicit in the postscript:
...let's not pretend there isn't a serious point here about the depressing sameness in modern design
To specifically pick on their examples of bad "Big AI company" logos, and how many already "embrace meaningful abstraction":
1. Gemini is a twinkling star, and it's just not a circle at all. Using curves isn't copying other people that use curves, that's one of two ways to draw a line!
2. OpenAI isn't just "corporate euphemism", it's three interlinking chain links. I'd say that's some pretty cool abstraction, personally!
3. Meta AI's logo (?) is obviously trash, so fair enough.
4. Grok is a black hole, which is invoking the metaphor of the Vinge's Technological Singularity (i.e. the point at which an intelligence explosion leads to unforeseeable outcomes, likened to how the center of a black hole is somewhat unforeseeable in current physics).
5. Perplexity's logo is an abstraction of the pages of a book -- the designers actually have a nice blog post here: https://medium.com/smith-diction/branding-perplexity-ai-70eb...
6. "Apple Intelligence" isn't a real product and is definitely copying OpenAI's "interlocking shapes" metaphor, but I'd also say it's more triangular than circular when you really look at it. To its small credit, it definitely seems built with animation in mind.
7. Finally, Anthropic was founded by OpenAI engineers worried about existential risk, and the logo reflects that -- AFAIK, it's depicting an intelligence explosion. The parallel to Vonnegut has been noted before and is funny for a moment, but IMO "asterisks are banned" isn't a design principle to take at all seriously because of that one joke.
Remember, the alternative to this "butthole" phenomenon is a much, much darker world, one that's already in place for smaller companies: a world where every logo is a slightly-stylized brain!
I appreciate the serious analysis and reply!
I agree with most of it, but I also don't see why all blog posts have to be serious. I had fun researching and writing it, and I don't pretend it's a scientific masterpiece.
sabon commented on Why do AI company logos look like buttholes? velvetshark.com/ai-compan... · Posted by u/sabon
It surely has to be intentional
I can't see how it wouldn't be intentional. A weird choice though.
sabon commented on Why do AI company logos look like buttholes? velvetshark.com/ai-compan... · Posted by u/sabon
Wow that Brazilian institute... surely they knew?
This one boggles my mind. But it's a real logo, so there were at least a few people with decision power who didn't know and let it happen.
sabon commented on Why do AI company logos look like buttholes? velvetshark.com/ai-compan... · Posted by u/sabon
sabon commented on Why do AI company logos look like buttholes? velvetshark.com/ai-compan... · Posted by u/sabon
please put funding here?
And when you put the funding, that's where the valuation is coming from.
sabon commented on Ask HN: Did you personal website help you get hired? Tell about it · Posted by u/throwaway844535
My personal website definitely helped me get hired. Here's how.
Whenever I create something, either for work or personal, I add it to a "Featured" section on my website's homepage. Over time, it became such a nice and comprehensive list that I now use it every time when talking about past projects or whenever a "Can we see some examples of your past work or appearances?" comes up.
It has different types of work and is exhaustive enough that whoever asks, can find what they're looking for. I had a lot of positive comments from prospective employers about it.
What started as a mini project for me to collect all the scattered links for myself so that I don't forget or lose anything, became a great asset that keeps on giving.
Here's the link that I send when asked about "examples of your work": https://www.velvetshark.com/#featured It's an anchor link of my homepage that scrolls straight to the Featured section.
Oh, just to clarify: the "Featured" section is not the only thing that people find interesting. Once they're on the page, they can browse around and find articles that are of interest to them. That helps too.
sabon commented on Why do everyone's logo fonts look the same? (2020) justcreative.com/why-do-e... · Posted by u/thunderbong
I wrote an extensive article about this:
https://www.velvetshark.com/why-do-brands-change-their-logos...
Since its publication it even got featured in a Spanish textbook, and I get tons of traffic to it all the time. The topic seems very much valid for the last few years, with no sign of change.
The main reason seems to be to look good (or even readable) on mobile, but it seems that it's more of a bandwagon than a proven good strategy.
https://velvetshark.com
Personal, work, non-work, TILs, anything.
It's a personal blog, anything goes.
My most popular article, featured on HN (and even got into a Spanish textbook) is "Why do so many brands change their logos and look like everyone else?" https://velvetshark.com/articles/why-do-brands-change-their-...