Hey Sam,

Don't you feel that the three pointed star needs to be made a bit bolder, easier to see? I mean, the graphic is nice, but I just feel like we need to make the star bolder than it is. Anyone else share the same feelings?

Just a suggestion. Either way I'll still like a bag of them. :D

Richard

Actually, richard, you read my mind.

I'm looking at it now and thinking 'boy, that star sure is small..' I'll rework one with a bigger star.

-sam

Put me down for a couple of them.

I kinda like the last design, but I bet we can't use the MB star without their permission.

Screw MB-USA! Actually, thats a good point... Though I figured as some sort of car club we could get permission to use it. We aren't a chapter of the MB club though.. Hmm.

I suppose we could do without it... but...

Even the 3 pointed star in the main shopforum logo is reminicient of the MB star, which is why I switched to an actual star. But in its 'nut form' its a little more vague.

Anyway, thats another issue for the masses to decide, here's a larger star version of the same thing, with colors tweaked a bit to hopefully 'bring out' the star some more.

peace,
sam

What do you think about the star looking more chrome/silver? :confused:

Your wish is my command:

Silver star. Keeping in mind that 'light grey' would be bare silver metal in this case, and that the black lines would be enamel (though I'm not sure they can do enamel that thin).

-sam

Put me down for three, I want them! :cool:

Just tell me where to mail the money order and how much they will cost.

Count me in
 

Count me in for 2. I can't imagine Mercedes getting to upset if no profit is made from this. If there is a profit involved here...then your going to hell..ok maybe not...

And here I was fiddlin around with the previous ones...

All I did, was soften up the edges of the wrench, and in the second one, I added a "D" for Diesel.

What about a Vintage badge? Or perhaps one for those who appear to be starting a collection (wether they intended to or not :D)?

One good thing.... If we have a get-together, we can use the same base and just insert the location and year.

By the way... What happened to Florida on the last few samples?? Or is there a hurricane coming that I haven't heard about yet? :eek:

Silver Star
 

if we can get away with it, that design is better than I envisioned. I'm still down for two, diesel flavored if possible.

If we can't, I'm OK with the hex star. After all, we are all Mercedes nuts... ;)

Geez you Florida guys are picky.

Version 4, now with Florida. ;)

-sam

Thanks! :2thumbsup

I like version 4; it would look good next to my 250k badge if I ever get off my but and call MB about it. :D

What a great idea!!!! Why hasnt anybody thought about it earlier?

If (and I do mean IF) these go into production then I would buy a couple also.

I like the looks of these badges. ASHMAN had some pretty nice designs before (in the 3 or 4 previous threads from a couple years ago when this idea first came up) but he never did anything with them.

There has been talk of MBshop hats, fender guards, tshirts, etc. in the past but thats all they ever amounted to - talk.

I don't think MBUSA will be happy if you use their logo so lets get them done quickly so we can disperse them all over. Once they are out, its' too bad for MBUSA.

You can count me in for one myself. I would be very proud to drive around with my mercedesshop badge. I would not even be on the road without this web page and yopu guys!! My extended family as I like to refer to you all! :D

That star doesn't belong to MBUSA. It belongs to DaimlerChrysler AG (DCX) in Stuggart. Of course, in North America, DCX would probably direct all copyright related issues to MBUSA. If there's no profit in it, I can't see MBUSA or DCX having a problem with the entire project. But to cover our behinds, we can contact DCX and get an official letter allowing us to use it for non-profit purposes. Afterall, we will be promoting the mighty three pointed star in the process. I'd say they need to pay us for doing so at this time when M-B's quality perception and market leadership are in question.

What do you folks think we should do to regarding any copyright doubts/thoughts?

Richard

Hey - Canada is too small in the Map - I'll take one too.

I don't think we'd be 'in the wrong' if we used the three pointed star. I mean, we are driving mercedes cars, discuss mercedes cars, and even yell at people for not buying MB specific parts. ;)

However, I'd be afraid that if we send anyone official a request to use the logo, they're marketing department would probably just send it right to the trash and mail us a generic, "Use our logo and die, hippy." letter. As reasonable as our request might sound to us, to them its, "We want to subvert your trademark", and we aren't important enough to not piss off.

Perhaps we could talk to another club and ask what they do, or even this Gary fellow at http://www.qualitylapelpins.com might know, since he claimed to do badges for lots of mercedes clubs.

peace,
sam

Oh come on, Canada is the biggest thing on there! Lucky stiffs!

No more complaining about the map, you only get so much accuracy on a 2.5" polar mercator projection. ;)

peace,
sam

I vote for phidauex's design. Wonderful artwork! :D

:D OK, so I'm over the top sports guy, but am I so wrong for having a hard time getting past those Seattle Seahawk colors??? :eek:


**edit**tongue was planted firmly in cheek :cool:

Sam I agree with you there. Let's make an inquiry with the guy that makes the badges and see what he says.

Check with fastlane!
 

MercedesShop.com is their name and it should by all means appear on the badge with their blessing.
As such, I am pretty sure I read somewhere here on this forum that they do not use the MB star due to legal issues.

Whether there was a run-in or not in the past with MB about it doesn't matter. I also doubt they would want to go to Diamler now to get permission (or not) and attract attention.-- "Hey officer, is it legal for me to grow this in my own private residence?"

I suspect MercedesShop.com would give their permission only if it were going to be an easy thing to do. If not, there's all this online documentation of what we may or may not have done to use the official MB logo. I say stay away from the official MB logo if it's gonna have their name on it.

We've been looking at the wrench logo w/ the pseudo MB white 3 points now for a while in the upper corners of our browsers. It's kind of a part of who we are here. We're keeping these cars running on our own and when possible, avoiding official dealerships that don't have the expertise or support we have here. (Shouldn't there be some patriotic, inspiring music playing right about now?) MercedesShop.com supports us by keeping this forum up, so we should support them by using their logo in this badge endeavor and spreading the word so they can sell more parts and keep this forum going as long as our cars.

They don't pay me to write this, by the way. :)

Now, if some of you were to say, buy an official badge and modify it.... :rolleyes:

My favorites so far are those where Larry Delor softened the edges of the wrench on the design I did. I still say MercedesShop.com should be at the top and Diesel Forum or Online Forums or something similar should be put on the bottom of the badge. The white D was cool, too. This way, if our car is in a lot, and an admirer or other MB owner sees it, they'll know what it's about..."Cool..A support forum", if they're newbies to us.

Who knows? It could even start another newbie oil thread! :eek:
After we slap 'em around for starting one and point them to the search as usual, they could probably even help us. :D

Thoughts on that badge
 

Nice design, I'd take two.

How about the title Mercedesshop.com Diesel Forum on the top, and the immortal words "Spark-Free since 1897" on the bottom?

I think I want one, whatever.

Most of you have not been around here long enough to remember the legal wrangling that took place between mercedesshop and Daimler-Chrysler. Yes, the site was almost shut down because they used mercedes in the name and they are definitely not allowed to use the trademark 3 pointed star. They managed to stay open because the site was started as a non-profit support forum and the parts business was added later only to defray the costs of web site operation. If it had been intended as a profit making sales site, it would have been shut down for use of the Mercedes name. Please consider that your use of the official star in combination with the Mercedesshop.com name may cause trouble for the site owners, not us personally. And who is going to put up the money for a legal defense if the site owners get sued by Daimler-Chrysler?

Fastlane is not who you need to check with about this - Phil just sells parts. You want to talk to Bill Wood (webmaster) or Donnie Drummonds (Benzmac) who actually own the site and get their permission for use of the mercedesshop.com name.

Finally, no offense guys, but I'm not wild about the designs on the last couple pages. Without the entire wrench, it's difficult to realize that it is indeed a wrench. And the globe loses much of its impact when obscured by the star and wrench head. Since R Leo makes his living as a graphic artist, let's see what he can come up with. Now that we seem to have enough interest, maybe he can create a few designs and put them up as a poll so we can vote on them.

Taking what Mr. Miley just said into consideration, we should suspend all badge design effors till the road is cleared to go ahead and use both mercedesshop.com and the three pointed star on the badge.

Amen! :cool:

Didn't you read the 1st page? We have the go ahead from the webmaster. As to MB well they wont know. Use the star don't make any money they will never know or care. I remember when they tried to shut this site down, they shut the Canadian site down for awhile to.

Yes, I did read the first page and it wasn't there. Here's what R Leo said on the third page:
Now, as for this:
They certainly knew about this web site when it was in its infancy. And they are very protective of their trademarks. It doesn't really matter, since Bill has reserved the right to approve the design, and I'm sure he won't let us do anything illegal.

As stated in an earlier post, we've gotten the go-ahead from Bill Wood to use the Mercedesshop.com name with the proviso that any badge we do using the name has to be approved by them before production and, that they have rights to any later production and distribution.

As far as graphic ideas, I say "the more, the merrier." Please comp your ideas and post them. I'll come up with a few too, and then, I take what I think are the best candidates for production to a tight comp and post a poll of the finalists. The top two or three vote-getters from the poll will be submitted to Bill and Donnie for final selection and an official 'okey-dokey.

This would be hot with a ring ring instead of the black and white lettering as opposed to gray.. either way I want one...

So we have Bill's approval so we can proceed right?

I like that idea "spark free". :D

Yes, we do have bill's approval. Trust me when I say I would not seek to tread on the feet of those who support us, I've run non-profit websites too, and I know the challenges. Any further action would be conditioned on his approval.

That said, maybe Bill can offer some insight into this logo business. His website uses the mercedes name, and is allowed to exist because it is not a business. If we buy these badges, and distribute them at cost + shipping, its still not a business, and we should still be in the clear.

What I don't want to do is get bogged down in subtleties and have nothing come of this. I want a badge. The other car clubs do it, and they haven't all been razzed to the ground by MB firemen, so there has to be a way to do it free and clear.

I'm at work right now, but I'll rework my design with the 'nut' instead of the three pointed star, just to see how it looks, and try to emphasize the wrench some more.

And miley, I did do some preliminary designs that included the entire wrench and globe, but in the given space (less than three inches, round or oval) it was very hard to make them look like anything more than a smear. However, I'll go ahead and rework a few and post them to see what you think. In the confined space of a badge, certain concessions have to be made to create a meaningful image. But the skys the limit, really. I'll take another stab at it tonight.

Anyway, its just doodling, if anyone else wants to put out some designs or make suggestions, please do. The more the merrier, and we can take a few of the finished designs and make a poll out of them to see what the teeming millions want.

Peace,
Sam

I love the idea of our own badge and like some of your design ideas. If you would like addtional help I'll offer my services. I have an advertising agency, with a couple of artist on staff, and can turn your concepts into what's called "camera ready art" or if you like I can turn my artist loose and work with you... it's the least I can do for all the help this forum has given me.

Les

Les,
Lucky boy, you've been elected.

Bring your guns to bear on the target and post the results here. Do not use the three-pointed star in the design and the name Mercedes-Benz™ must be trademarked.

Yes Les, lets keep that artwork coming! I'd like to see what a 'real' artist produces. ;)

In case they are wondering, badges are usually 2.5" to 3", and can be round or oval (or any shape, but round and oval are the most common).

-sam

OK, here's my addition to the badge art. This one is for the Damnyer-Chrysler logo headquarters approval department:

http://home.comcast.net/~tomj/images/hump1a.jpg

Ok, got a job ticket open and we're ready to roll. I'll probably need to talk to the badge maker to find out if there is additional charges for each color used, and how he would like the final artwork. For the forum I'll post jpgs for everyone to see.

Les

Hey Tom, that's my dog! Peeing is one of the few things he does very very well. :o

Count me in for one... possibly 2 depending on price. I have a gasser only now, so would prefer a generic badge, but will buy one (or 2) either way. Great idea, by the way!

Chris

I'll also check to see what are the requirements to be able to use the Mercede's Star so not to get into trouble.

Les

That's not funny...anyway, to clarify, I'm a technical illustrator, not a graphic artist.

We only need 50 to be able to get them produced right? Well, we can have both a generic one and a diesel one. We've already had over 50 requests for the diesel one and I'm sure once the word spreads to the other forums we will have enough for the generic one as well. I for one would love 2 diesel ones and three generic ones. :D

Ehh
 

That's funny I don't care who ya are...Git-R-Dun.

Hey! If Sady ever gets thawed out enough, he might very well be intrested in one for his pride and joy

Just for giggles, version 5 with a silver nut instead of the mercedes logo.

-sam

I'm in for 2 diesels. :)

- Patrick

The head is to wide. How about a little smaller wrench head with a little of the shank showing?