The Weekly Feed: Experimentation Edition
Morning Roundup: Change Edition
Former Blade Staffers Launch 'DC Agenda'
D.C. Unemployment Rate Reaches 11.9 Percent
D.C. Insurance Dept. Denies Birth Control Coverage Meddling
It was five years ago this week that a small band of bloggers came together to officially launch a little web site called DCist.com, and a lot has changed since then. We've grown from a scrappy half-dozen or so writers to over 45 regular contributors and photographers. We've hired our first full-time employee, and later brought on weekend editors. And we've seen our amazing readership (and of course, the commentariat) consistently grow to where we find ourselves today: the most well-read local news blog in Washington. And for that, we thank you. Profusely.
The DCist staff will be celebrating our big 5th anniversary tonight at a small shindig, but we're also celebrating with all of you today by introducing our brand new logo. The logo was designed by our very own arts staff writer Lynne Venart, aka The Art Monkey, and it was conceived out of a long held desire on our part to have a logo that better reflected the mission of DCist: to represent not just the federal aspect of the city, but the local one. DCist has always been about serving the interests and needs of actual D.C. residents. So yes, we still have the U.S. Capitol and the Washington Monument, but now we also have a typical D.C. rowhouse and a little cherry blossom branch offering it shade. And before you all jump in and make a bunch of comments about what you think should have been in the new logo instead, keep in mind: it took us months of meetings and negotiations to agree on these elements. We've gone through multiple rounds of revisions, we've considered every possible building in the city, and this is what we've come up with. We hope you like it as much as we do.
But most of all, we want to share our gratitude for coming along on this ride with us for the last five years – and encourage you to stick around for the next five!
add to stumble upon
add to reddit
tweet this
post to facebook
Congratulations!
I personally like the new logo.
I like this logo better. As we've told tourists time and time again, DC is much much more than monuments, politicians, federal buildings and junkpunching coffee shops.
Stop lying to the tourists.
comment o' the day
Hey, that's my trademark. You stick to MOLLY!
Congrulation everybody. cheers Dentist Birmingham
Contest idea!!!! Design your own new DCist logo!!! I'm thinking an abstract sillouette of a Jumboslice
Meh. I prefer this logo for obvious reasons. And whatever happened to that much-discussed Hirschorn/goatse mashup, or the two-girls-one-Capital logo, or even the notorious "tubcouncilmember?" I thought this blog was supposed to be "hip," "vibrant," "edgy," and "turgid?"
This is an excellent opportunity for me to ask a completely unrelated question: what the hell is your avatar? A monkey hand holding the sword of awkwardness?
It is a stylized AR-15. And I greatly respect him for that.
I just don't approve of the assault rifle geometry. That should be banned from his avatar.
This is an excellent opportunity for me to ask a completely unrelated question: what the hell is your avatar?
It's the Ikon of J.R. "Bob" Dobbs, pinkboy.
It is now abundantly clear. We have added a new level to the rabbithole today.
cminus, your exhibit of slack today is commendable.
What's with all the stems and buds on the right hand side? Can't we get a decent image of cannabis?
Agreed. I don't think they consulted Martin in these so-called meetings.
You're having a party and DIDN'T INVITE US? I see how it is!
I like how the weather tracker has the clouds hovering above the rowhouse.
Me too! I didn't even think about that until I saw it today, either.
congrats to everyone who has helped make dcist what it is today!
i think the new logo should have been Marion Barry boning a panda while eating a half smoke with one hand and shooting hookers with the other, but this one will do just fine.
happy 5!
It would be nice if they had one of DC's distinctive skyscrapers in the logo...oh, that's right. How about a black box to represent commercial architecture in the city.
This is nice, but I would like to see a logo designed by Davy DCist that features snow, ice, and Monkey using the Washington Monument as a poop trebuchet.
i'm still seeing the old logo in the upper left, do i need to clear my cache to get the new one to load?
I'm still seeing it as well -- maybe it means that we're Old Skool.
Yeah, you might need to clear your cache if you don't see it.
yep, I enjoy the new logo. Congrats DCist!
Congrats, DCist! You are the reason I don't go completely mental!
Get back in your padded cell, Liz.
Wait, you mean you're not mental? I figured dealing with all of these menz pushed you over the edge a long time ago.
Clearly, I am related to Snow White ...
Hi, 'ho! Hi, 'ho! It's off to Wizzyliz we go!
Too bad. Crazy chicks are hot.
If they have red hair it is a bonus.
aw guys, i didn't know you cared! happy 5th to DCist, etc.
add a dollop of low self-esteem, and you've got yourself a party!
I think the new logo needs a C.H.U.D.
"...it took us months of meetings and negotiations to agree on these elements. We've gone through multiple rounds of revisions, we've considered every possible building in the city, and this is what we've come up with."
there's your problem. you should've given the task to a designer, let them present a few options, and pick one. so sad that people keep ending up with some generic, over-complicated, 1-dimensional, design-by-committee logos. sorry, but it sucks on so many levels. and it's even lamer that as digital media color is free but you choose not to use it.
Um, happy, can i suggest that you check out austinist.com, gothamist.com, shanghaist.com, chicagoist.com, etc, etc. . .
Branding, even new branding, has parameters. . . and the DCist's parameters are pretty clear. . .
Quit your bellyaching.
Oh, and congrats DCist. Love the new logo. Now, let's get it on the actual website. :-)
point taken, but even within extremely strict parameters, it's poorly drawn elements very poorly put together. upon looking at the other sites, at least austin has its buildings tied together with the bridge. who's in charge of all ist sites? can we vote for a total rebrand???
Mmmm, the delicious irony of your username....
brushing aside honest and informed criticism as "hating" is totally weak.
I agree with you Happy.
While there are constraints on the design due to brand maintenance, the logo is really poorly drawn. The two dots on the Washington Monument are too small (or look smaller than they really are due to the dots being surrounded by a massive field of black), the lines of the Capitol look like they are bouncing up and down (possibly because the spacing isn't consistent), and the line widths of the logo aren't consistent either. The flower stem looks less like flowers and more like black blobs on the ends of sticks. The little white lines get lost and almost don't even show up.
A great book to get if you're into logo design or digital illustration is the Logo, Font & Lettering Bible by Leslie Cabarga (link to Amazon - http://bit.ly/Drawing), in which he details the finer points of digital illustration.
I don't know if the designer was given the chance or not, but she should have been given the opportunity to come up with the buildings/ideas herself instead of a committee. She looks like a very competent designer (I looked at her website. Good stuff). It undermines a designer's ability, judgment, and skills for a committee to decide (decree?) everything.
Dear people, designers are not mere pixel pushers.
I fought tooth and nail for a silhouette of Marion Barry sitting on a hotel bed smoking... something; but nobody at the meeting would listen to me. Which was ridiculous. I know they heard me. I was right across the street and my bullhorn was set on high.
With a few modifications, you could probably still license the Arlington Pediatric Center logo for a small fee.
And by "fee" I mean "fellatio."
Hah! That was my last graphic design gig before I was fired.
I presume the pedophelia charges were dropped?
Wow, that's the creepiest thing in DC since the Boy Scout Memorial http://tinyurl.com/l5lpvg
I don't remember what the old one looks like now...
Congrats DCist. You provide me - and clearly a lot of people here - at least an hour every day of quality entertainment/timekilling at work. And thanks for the shout out to the commentariat - not too many of the other -ist blogs get nearly as many comments as DCist posts do.
Agreed, and I am still waiting for that DC-ist sponsored happy hour with MOLLY!(TM)
Woof!!
Happy 5th, DCist!
Re: new logo. Clean look, relevant imaging--what's not to like? But still, I would have cast my vote for the half-ton family of four from Des Moines wearing fanny packs and shirts that read "FBI," "I [heart] DC," "Baltimore Sucks," and "Don't Let Marion Barry Eat Me." And of course they'd be pictured standing on (blocking) a Metro escalator.
Comment o' the day, right he-ah.
Congrats DCist. As for the logo, when Rob Goodspeed and I were brainstorming the buildings for the original DCist logo, we were pushing for something that had a few non-federal buildings/monuments that would give DCist more of a local flavor. We tossed around the Key Bridge, the Old Post Office tower and even a bland K Street office box. I can't remember what happened to those ideas, but I guess they didn't make the final cut with the -ist folks in New York.
Happy 5th anniversary DCist!
-- Michael E. Grass
Founding Co-Editor
I like this, but as long as we are nitpicking--the dimensions seem a bit off. I would have gone with the old capitol building with the row house and tree
Well, poop. I can't remember what the old one looked like, so I'll just have to assume I don't like this one as much.
Perhaps they can show us a photo of the old logo to compare with the new?
The old logo still seems to be on some of the archived pages, as in this one linked in the above post to our first week.
Geez! The new logo is soooooo much better than the old. Thank you for the switch! The new logo has more character. =D
With the level of sports coverage on DCist I’m surprised you didn’t add “Louisville Slugger” to the side of the Washington Monument.
Would make no sense, as the Louisville Slugger is an object associated with a game known as baseball.
The Lousiville Slugger is also associated with a game I play... IN MONKEYROTICA'S PANTS!
http://bit.ly/Drawing
I bet Sommer does a keg stand at the party.
oh, well i think the new logo is super cute.
yes, that reads "super cute."
congrats, dcist!
Nice!
i really hate this new logo.
Did you really have to use the The Real World: DC house in your new logo?