The community can have a say in the creative direction... but not the design principles. Imagine that an audience for a film not only says, "Please make the main character have a gun" but then goes on to say, "Oh, and the gun has to be pink and say 'Fuck you' on it"
even though the film is a gritty and dark depiction of crime? This wouldn't work at all. Now also imagine that the audience has control over the film techniques applied and songs used. Suddenly, we've got a film that uses a Linkin Park song in the midst of a bank heist, pink guns blazing and 10 second, ELS (shots taken from a far distance) angles taken with the camera. The result is a laughably different film. Instead of being a gritty crime drama, it's now a pop-corn action flick with inappropriate humour and film angles which take the viewer out of the action. It's boring, muddled and generic. The entire thing blows.
This is essentially what you're doing when you give the community practically complete control. I say practically because even though, in the end, you have complete control it seems the community has way too much weight in terms of design principles used. The community can have a say, but only in terms of artistic direction. The fact is, the majority won't know anything about design principles. For example, it might look cool to take a photograph at a 45 degree angle and apply a sepia tone filter, but what is this conveying? Angled lines convey action, but what's so action packed about a selfie that you need to tilt the camera? Is the sepia tone there to state something, like maybe the photograph is a look into ageing or becoming a part of the past, or is it there just because you like brown colours?
I guess I've went overboard with the examples now... but I hope this makes a little more sense and can help you see where Skype's coming from.
Elliott wrote:Tell me about it - I was always amused by the fact the original logo resembled a bull, but the fact of the matter is demon's and cows are apparently the same :P
Here's one of the concept sheets for the 2012 version as I think some wanted the vector, I made almost 50 variations IIRC.. And then we decided to sell the site with the old design anyway!
The original logo from 2010(?) was made by Kim Vattic, I think I still have her e-mail if you want to get in contact
I like these a lot. Especially the demon head on the top at the far right. I like the font a lot more in it's simplistic form (no gradient).