I decided to come up with some alternatives to address my major criticism that the M in the logo isn’t really visible (I had to be told it was there)
I think with the change in colors, maybe the weight of the hex needs to be increased slightly
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Logo’ should work in color, as well as in black and white.
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Just the inner part looks interesting, not to mention much easier to spray paint on stuff
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Either way they will be easier to stencil since they are single part images. It will make 3d printing and lasering them easy too
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Current logo is fine.
Sincerely,
Tim Nielsen
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I have no opinion towards either logo, which was not a choice in the poll. So I didn’t vote.
I like the people at the Maker Space. Some I have found to be extremely crusty, but I have been assured they will warm towards you if you are there to build things.
That pretty much describes me. I go there to build things I could not do otherwise.
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I see the M, the wrench (it’s an open end in my head rather than Crescent), the screw, the drill, and of course the hex bolt head, but I’m not seeing the D…
So as to not be off topic, I’ve already stated my opinion in ‘the other thread’.
Wow, this is a big, stressful topic in my life right now. I designed the current Dallas Makerspace logo and have seen it used to represent us over the last six (? I’ve kinda lost count) years. (Rablack - “approved”, oh you kidder. There were fewer than 30 members at the time.) To me - as I think to many others - it means “home.”
Yes, this is sentimental. I mean, have the key to the space implanted in my hand - I’m pretty attached to this place. I think that’s okay, though. Attachment is what makes a community.
The idea to do brand development on the space really perplexed me - that’s not what I expect PR to do. But now I know that’s Michael’s experience, it makes sense that he’d focus his energies on something he’s good at. I hope its understood that - to my mind, at least - the approach to presenting it to the community is the objectionable thing. Something like this should feel like a gift to the members, and if I can venture a guess, I’d say that’s what Michael feels he’s doing by designing something new. It just takes more than a good design to make people happy about changing something that’s close to their identity. We have to choose it.
One of the things that has been brought up in conversations off thread: 99% of the instances of the logo you see are made by members independently - in stickers, out of the 3D printer, lasered and routed and plasma cut. We don’t have a chain of command for approving stuff like that (because that would be silly.) If you try to enforce brand unity here, well, that way madness lies. 
I am SO happy to see us discussing this in a general forum, even though some heat has been turned up. We need to talk about this kind of thing.
-H
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I agree with what Haley said – it is a good thing that this is being discussed.
In the grand scheme of things, whether we adopt a new logo or not is irrelevant (although I must admit I am partial to the original logo as one of the original members). The manner in which the change is being pushed through, however, is VERY relevant as it hints at some unsavory cultural changes which we would like to avoid.
I fear there is a failure to understand the basic values of the organization with regard to this “re-branding.” The Dallas Makerspace is not a shop where you come to rent time on various tools. It is a COMMUNITY of makers, artists, technologists, and creators which has acquired space and various tools based on member interest. This community is very diverse in its opinions, interests, and abilities. It rarely reaches 100% consensus on ANYTHING. It is, nonetheless, a community which is greater than the sum of its parts and has always come to some workable solution after much debate.
Trying to push a major change without community feedback or consent fails the “be excellent to one another” tenet of our entirely volunteer-run organization. Hurling public accusations at a member for initiating discussion and creating an informal poll fails it even further. I have witnessed us grow from 30 initial members to the 1000+ we have today and it has happened through shared enthusiasm and word of mouth – not corporate branding initiatives.
This being said, Michael appears to be a talented designer. I hope he can receive what we are saying here in the spirit of constructive criticism.
We are a volunteer run and financed organization – whatever mandate anyone in a leadership position has comes from below – not above!!
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I did a google reverse image search on the “new logo” and the most similar logo is Magento’s: 
It’s probably not too similar though, so that’s good.
It’s also worth noting that what we’re referring to as the “current logo” is a variation that I hacked together to match the font and color changes to dallasmakerspace.org in May 2013. I think improvements to line widths and kerning are still welcome.
I think the “new logo” looks great, but I’m not sure a total change is worth wiping out whatever brand recognition we’ve built based on the current logo.
Edit: Oops, looks like some others already looked into whether the logo was similar to others here: New DMS logo files available - #19 by CaryF300
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I am open to a new variation on the logo but maybe an adjustment of the current one that still has similar color palette and shapes.
The blue in the proposed one seems like it could almost be a different makerspace.
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