AI Logos - what now?

[Stacey K]

I understand your point, but there is literally a site called "brands of the world" so you can pull their design files that are legit corporate branding. Or at least damn close. And that obviously can shift from year to year depending on the brand. But MY point is here, is that a the worst thing that will happen is a cease and disist letter. And in all my years, that's never happened. Harley Davidson would likely go after someone making fake bike week merchandise at Sturgis or Daytona.
IF you're not churning out tens of hundreds of decals and selling them as retail items, you're not gonna have a problem. A single one off decal is not going to alarm any brand. They literally deal with more retail theft loss in stores than they would ever need to consider to be concerned about with a brand decal that is ultimately going to promote their business.
Maybe a customer CANT GET an outlined all white version for a black tool case or something in their shop. Etc. There are a ton of reasons why someone would want to go to a shop for a custom decal that harley or any other brand simply doesn't offer.

One of the problems with starting to print copyrighted stuff is that guy tells his friend, then he tells someone else. Before you know it, you've got every Tom Dick and Harry looking for "one-off" decals. Ask me how I know...I printed a John Deere decal once for some 90 year old farmer for this 100 year old tractor, suddenly, I had farmers and tractor collectors calling constantly looking for old tractor decals. This particular HD guy would not have stopped at these decals. He would have hounded me every time he got a new bike in.

As far as people suing...it happens! We have a lot of race tracks in my area and a lot of photographers. They post the photos on FB with a watermark. They have SUED a number of people who have removed the watermarks and used the photos without buying them. Some of these drivers are literally just factory workers making 60k getting sued over a $15 photo. No joke. One photographer just posted about this the other day and warned everyone - SHE WILL SUE YOU over just one photo, she's done it and she will do it again.

I'd rather letter a van than print 4 HD decals anyway...who's got time for that little crap.

 

[Bobby H]

I understand your point, but there is literally a site called "brands of the world" so you can pull their design files that are legit corporate branding.

You must actually be a newbie in this business if you think the Brands of the Worlds web site is any sort of official repository for authentic corporate branding artwork. Most graphics people know Brands of the World is not an exactly trustworthy site. A bunch of the stuff posted to that site is just fanboy re-creations of logos. Even if you get some legit-looking artwork there is no guarantee that the artwork is current. It will probably be lacking the right colors and certainly won't include any of the official specs and usage guidelines.

 

[chester215]

In a way I like the AI idea for designs and in another I hate it.
Yesterday a customer sent me an AI design knowing that it wasn't exactly what they wanted but it gave me an idea of what they wanted.
It probably saved me from making a couple of drafts and changing them.
Those that think that I can use an AI design as it is in low resolution should be tarred and feathered.

 

[unclebun]

While you're not wrong, you think Harley is gonna go after someone who spent $60 on a customer 3rd party decal? Nah dude. I promise you, Harley isnt going to spend the money to sue someone over $60. If you slapped that decal on a custom bike and sold it as a custom harley, then yea... but We're talking apples and oranges. No one that I have ever worked for that has made trademarked brand decals has ever been sued for their work. Not a single one. And ive been doing this work professionally for 10 years.
Im not saying make a habit of it tho. Im just saying harley would never know.

You are wrong. KTM, for example, goes after unlicensed one-off bike graphics done for a single kid's bike in small towns anywhere in the USA if it includes their logo. Likewise Red Bull.

 

[WildWestDesigns]

In a way I like the AI idea for designs and in another I hate it.

Not too sure about that. That seems like a slippery slope. Once one gets used to using "AI", even if it's for a trivial application of it's use, the ability for the user to do that on their own starts to atrophy. Pretty soon, further down the line, they have to use "AI" for that initial brain storming or whatever it is (and this is the positive scenario if the user stops at just using "AI" for brainstorming and nothing else, doubt that will happen though). The problem with even customers using "AI" to have something to show the professional, that "AI" could send them down the wrong way as to what is/isn't possible that it's hard to work with that client. Moreso, thinking of physical production. I have dealt with very good designers that didn't know squat about certain physical production and that was always interesting to deal with (especially when they are of the mind that their designs should be replicated 1:1 and if the person doing production couldn't do it, they weren't good at their job).

We have seen this with other tech (that's still being used today, why I don't think "AI" will totally disappear) and there are reports coming out that at certain stages of one's learning, tech that does higher level abstractions should not be used until a good foundation is in place.