The atheist "A" symbol

[lordpasternack]

Well, truth be told, I always did find it rather naff to begin with, though had never really bothered to take the time to say so. I found it quietly amusing that Josh would want to sue over the use of it - and thought that if he was successful, at least RD.net might find a more appealling logo for their "Out Campaign".

The issue here is that I didn't for one moment doubt that Josh had indeed laboured over producing that neat little "A". How foolish and naive of me. Well, I was just there browsing my old blog, reading various embarrassing stuff I wrote way back when - when I happened upon a blog entry starting with an "A" - which had been stylised - and suddenly thought to myself "wait a fucking minute…!"



Now either Josh has sold his lovely piece of fontwork to some company or - and as I suspect here - that "A" has always been just a standard font, in a standard colour! Josh's "design" amounts to approximately five minutes on Photoshop, getting an "A" from a menu, making it scarlet and maybe adding some little cute touches.

And the mendacious little fuckwad seriously thinks he can sue for the use of that? Seriously thinks that warrants design work?Fucking LOL!

Richard must hear of this…

[Animavore]

I hate it so much


But I never bothered pointing it out, either, for some reason.
That A does look the same, though.

[Millefleur]

Same as you, naff. Same level of tacky as a jebus crucifix, makes me cringe.

[Animavore]

Not as cringy as this crap.



(ceramic necklace and ear-rings )

[Feck]

Josh ? Mendacious oh surely not .

[Millefleur]

Not as cringy as this crap.



(ceramic necklace and ear-rings )

[Pappa]

I always thought it looked wank and pretentious.

[Bella Fortuna]

Coincidentally the font is the one TA has used as his logo for years for his music, before the Out Campaign was born...

[Animavore]

I hate anything that gives away what I am. Whether it's clothes that say, "I'm into metal, rave, punk...etc" or t-shirts with logos of political/charity...etc organisations I support. I don't mind if others are into it but it seems people use them for a conversation starter than anything else.

[rachelbean]

I hate anything that gives away what I am. Whether it's clothes that say, "I'm into metal, rave, punk...etc" or t-shirts with logos of political/charity...etc organisations I support. I don't mind if others are into it but it seems people use them for a conversation starter than anything else.

Yep. I was very into this as a teenager who was afraid to talk to people but wanted friends. I wore my jacket and my car full of band and other stickers declaring who I was or what I was interested in. Now the thought is rather off-putting that someone would get to know about me before even saying a word to me

But yeah, the font is a default font and that alone would prevent the art geek in me from buying it

[hadespussercats]

Well, truth be told, I always did find it rather naff to begin with, though had never really bothered to take the time to say so. I found it quietly amusing that Josh would want to sue over the use of it - and thought that if he was successful, at least RD.net might find a more appealling logo for their "Out Campaign".

The issue here is that I didn't for one moment doubt that Josh had indeed laboured over producing that neat little "A". How foolish and naive of me. Well, I was just there browsing my old blog, reading various embarrassing stuff I wrote way back when - when I happened upon a blog entry starting with an "A" - which had been stylised - and suddenly thought to myself "wait a fucking minute…!"

You thought he worked hard on it? Whether JT took it directly from a prepared font or no, that letter shouldn't have posed any problem for a person with a modicum of graphic design skills (and JT does seem to think he's an expert...) I have it on my blog, because it's recognizable for its associations and intent, and in theory, helpful for increasing traffic-- but I've never understood the T-shirts, mugs, lapel pins, or anything else where you have to pay to display it.

The Hawthorne association isn't bad-- but I wouldn't be surprised if RD himself came up with that part.

Come to think of it, I might have to take the "A" off my blog, depending on how this plays out. Like I said, I'm not willing to pay to use it.

[maiforpeace]

What Josh did with it (with Richard's support), designing it, promoting it on the website, promoting it through the OUT campaign, and on goods for sale like T-shirts and lapel buttons... is worthy of recognition. The lapel pins are now standard issue to us as volunteers of AAI, and I believe the same for AA volunteers. You may not like Josh, but it doesn't depreciate the value of his efforts...what he created and promoted, with the support of RD and the RDF is now a universal atheist symbol that atheists around the world identify with.

Lots of great things are just accidents, or an afterthought, or a small improvement on something that already existed...does that make them less valuable in terms of their effect or how they affect?

And, if this sort of thing is such a cinch to come up with, why hasn't anyone come up with something better? People have tried since (there's a strange curly A I've seen some people use), but to date nothing has come up yet that competes.

My understanding is that the symbol can be used by anyone for the 'atheist' cause, as long as they aren't making money on it selling products...that's reserved for RDF. That seems pretty generous to me. However, it would be pretty sloppy of Josh's defense not to make an issue of this design work he did do, so it's not ludicrous that it is a part of the lawsuit.

[Millefleur]

I hate anything that gives away what I am. Whether it's clothes that say, "I'm into metal, rave, punk...etc" or t-shirts with logos of political/charity...etc organisations I support. I don't mind if others are into it but it seems people use them for a conversation starter than anything else.

Still want one of these on my car though

[lordpasternack]

Hades - I actually recall jokingly saying to a friend from the forum in person a while back that I don't want to ADVERTISE the fact that I'm an adulterer.

[lordpasternack]

Mai - you're overstating the design element involved. There is no tweaking AT ALL of the original design that Josh used. It's not "inspired" - it's ripped WHOLESALE from a collection of standard fonts. It's just a standard font in a standard colour. Go open your nearest art application and write yourself a big "A". Now make it scarlet. That's you done pretty much the same as Josh. Really…

I don't deny that there may have been graft involved in subsequent steps in the chain of his work with the symbol - though, again, it might have been mostly others who then did that work, for all you know - plus the basic fact that the symbol got steam mostly as a trickle-down effect from the popularity of RD.net…

Oh, and as for others finding a symbol - well, I personally don't give a toss about wanting a symbol for my nonbelief, which is partly my excuse (along with the fact that I don't use Photoshop). And I'm first a rationalist then an atheist, in any case. If others want a symbol and like that symbol, and think the symbol has wrought good - then carry on… I still think it's naff.