Latest / Community Marketing with Fexingo: Discord, Slack Groups, and Brand Communities / How a Brand Community Crowdsourced Its Own Logo
Transcript
- Lucas: So there's this skincare startup I've been following — they're not a household name, but they've got a really loyal following. And a few months ago they needed a new logo. The founder's instinct was to hire an agency, but the community manager made a case for doing it differently. She basically said, 'What if we let our 12,000 members design it?' Luna: That sounds like a recipe for chaos. And also, potentially, a lawsuit. Lucas: Right, and that's exactly the skepticism most people have. But they structured it really carefully. They ran a four-phase process over nine days. First, they put out an open brief — not a contest, more like a collaborative workshop. They asked members to submit sketches, mood boards, even just words that captured the brand's vibe. Luna: Okay, so not a free-for-all. But how did they avoid the classic design-by-committee problem where you end up with a camel that's a horse designed by a committee? Lucas: That's the key. They imposed constraints from the start. The brief specified the logo had to work at small sizes, had to be monochrome-friendly, and had to avoid clichés like leaves or droplets — which is hard for a skincare brand, honestly. And they only accepted vector files, which immediately filtered out the people who were just playing around. Luna: So they raised the bar for participation. That probably cut down on the noise. Lucas: Exactly. They got 214 submissions. Then in phase two, the community voted on their top ten. But here's the twist — they didn't just have a simple upvote. They asked members to rate each logo on three criteria: distinctiveness, relevance, and scalability. And they weighted those scores based on whether the member had been active in the community for over six months. Luna: Oh, so long-time members got more weight. That's smart — it rewards the people who actually know the brand. Lucas: Yeah, and it prevents a bunch of new followers from hijacking the process. The top three went to a final vote, but they also brought in a professional designer to refine the top pick. The designer didn't start from scratch — they took the winning concept and polished it, fixed the kerning, made sure it held up on packaging. Luna: That's the part I think most brands forget. You can't just hand the community the reins and expect a finished logo. You need that professional polish. Lucas: Right. And the final logo actually incorporated a motif that had appeared in multiple submissions — a subtle nod to the brand's hero ingredient. The founder said it was better than anything the agency pitch had come up with, and they paid a fraction of the cost. Luna: But what about the people whose designs didn't win? Didn't they feel burned? Lucas: That was the other smart move. Every participant got a public shout-out in the community, and the top ten got a small gift card. Plus, they published a blog post showing the evolution from the winning concept to the final design, crediting the original designer. That person actually became one of the brand's biggest advocates. Luna: It's like they turned the whole process into a story, not just a transaction. Lucas: And the numbers back that up. Community engagement — measured by daily active users in their private group — jumped 40 percent during those nine days. And it stayed elevated for weeks after the launch. The new logo also performed well in a pre-launch survey: 78 percent of members said it felt more 'them' than the old one. Luna: So what's the one thing a brand should steal from this if they're thinking about crowdsourcing their own logo? Lucas: I'd say the constraint-setting. The brief they wrote is now basically a template — it explains what makes a good logo, gives examples, and lists the 'do nots'. That's why the submissions were so high quality. It's not just 'here's a blank canvas,' it's 'here's a very specific problem.' Luna: But I'm still a little curious — did they have any IP issues? I mean, someone could theoretically submit something they didn't create. Lucas: Good point. They had a simple submission agreement that participants had to check — it said they owned the rights to their work and granted the brand a license to use it. That's standard, but they also had a rule: if anyone flagged a submission as copied, it was disqualified immediately. They didn't have to use it, but it was there. Luna: So it's not just about the logo. It's about making the community feel like they literally own a piece of the brand. Lucas: Exactly. And that's the deeper lesson — when you give people real ownership, they become more than customers. They become co-creators. And that's a relationship that's hard to replicate with a paid agency. Luna: You know, this whole episode reminds me of why I love this show. We get to hear about these real-world experiments that most people would never think to try. Lucas: Yeah, and that's the thing — we keep this podcast free and ad-free because we think these ideas should reach as many people as possible. If you've gotten value from these conversations, and you want to support that choice, the link is buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. It's a small way to keep this going. Luna: Yeah, every little bit helps us keep doing what we do. Lucas: But back to the logo — the founder told me that the real ROI wasn't the logo itself. It was the fact that six participants went on to become volunteer moderators, and they're now the core of the community's governance. That's the kind of organic growth you can't buy. Luna: So the logo was just the spark. The fire is the ongoing sense of co-ownership. Lucas: Exactly. And that's the takeaway I'd leave with you — if you're thinking about crowdsourcing any creative asset, remember that the process is the product. The community doesn't just give you a logo; they give you a reason to stay engaged. Luna: And maybe that's worth more than a perfect vector file. Lucas: Right. So if you're a community manager or a founder, next time you need a design, don't just hire an agency. Think about what your community could do — with the right guardrails and a bit of trust.