Ask HN: How do I persuade my designer that a character is useful
Hi guys, we are a couple of friends building a product. I'm the so called 'leader', and I'm having the following problem -
I'm a huge fan of Github and Travis CI design. I just love the characters and the way they help the marketing of the product. I have a great idea of a character that fits the purpose of the product. The problem is that the designer doesn't like having a character in the logo as it is 'too childish' .Of course, I mentioned we can use it in email marketing etc.In my opinion having the character in the logo is crucial to the marketing. How do I persuade her that we must do this? What are the pros and cons to having a character? In short... can you compare the success of top products who feature a character in their logo and top products which do not. e.g which one maximizes the probability of a 'unicorn'.
TL;DR: You don't have to convince the designer of anything---you can "disagree and commit" and spend time on other decisions. Maybe some help:
> Third, use the phrase “disagree and commit.” This phrase will save a lot of time. If you have conviction on a particular direction even though there’s no consensus, it’s helpful to say, “Look, I know we disagree on this but will you gamble with me on it? Disagree and commit?” By the time you’re at this point, no one can know the answer for sure, and you’ll probably get a quick yes.
> Consider how much slower this decision cycle would have been if the team had actually had to convince me rather than simply get my commitment.
From Jeff Bezos' Annual Letter (https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1018724/000119312517...)
I don't even know how to approach this question.
There are grammatical typos. The poster appears to have little professional experience in an area they're attempting to get reinforcing opinions for their stance from HN for, and the entire question seems both shallow, stupid and ridiculous.
Someone with apparently no experience in branding or marketing wants to override their experienced colleague and thinks it's going to mean the difference between a 'unicorn' and a... moderately successful company?
Single biggest problem in the startup world is the "founder's vision". You either do or do not need a designer. If you know better, don't hire a designer. If you don't know better, hire a designer.
Now, since you _already have a designer_... How about let them do their job and if there is poor response or if the employee is twiddling their thumbs at some point you can ask them to make the version you want.
I have long since lost track of the number of times a small startup, which finally got some funding, hired experienced senior employees at the request of their investors and proceeded to ignore everything those new employees recommended. This applies to everything from design to devops to running the reception desk.
Clearly, the probability of a unicorn is maximized by putting a unicorn in the logo. Boom. Unicorn. Probability 1.
I don't know that any hard data exists on this because, frankly, it seems kind of silly. Plenty of companies have been incredibly successful without any sort of character as part of their branding (Uber, Twitter, Facebook, Google, Apple - to name just a few) and there are plenty of "characters" in the graveyards of internet startups. Sure, some successful ones may stand out to you, but is it because the characters sold the product, or is it because the product itself was so good that you got a lot of exposure to the characters?
It doesn't seem like design/marketing is your area of expertise, yet you are trying to push someone who is more experienced in that area to follow your vision, which you don't really have any good validation for (hence the reason you are asking here) - that doesn't seem like very good leadership to me.
You are still building a product - is it worth expending this much time, energy, and conflict with your designer over something that most of us think is pretty trivial? Is your product in a good enough state that you have the luxury of fighting over something like this?
How about you listen to the specialist you hired for this specific purpose?
You can have a character, just not as part of the logo
> In short... can you compare the success of top products who feature a character in their logo and top products which do not. e.g which one maximizes the probability of a 'unicorn'.
Why don't you do your own research to compare the success of products with and without a character in their logos.
Well how are we supposed to assess this without knowing anything about your product or target demographic? Will it be used by quirky individual geeks, or are you aiming at market position in an established industry or...?
If you're offering funeral services, for example, even the world's cutest cartoon skeleton might not be an appropriate logo element. Your HN bia says 'builds software for chemical diagnosis' - sounds like your target demo is doctors and hospitals but I'm just guessing. I presume you wish to be different from other firms competing in the same market, but different isn't always better.
In short... can you compare the success of top products who feature a character in their logo and top products which do not. e.g which one maximizes the probability of a 'unicorn'.
I could...what are you offering in return? Right now it sounds like you want other people to do stuff for you for free so you can get what you want, which isn't a very compelling come-on. That might be why everyone is taking your designer's side instead of yours, hm?
Maybe you shouldn't persuade her but listen to the expert you hired?
You're not a designer, so come off it.
If this is the sort of thing you're worrying about as a "leader," you're going to have a bad time.
Ask your customers how they'd feel about a character in the logo, they're a better audience to poll.
And if you don't have customers to ask, then that should be your #1 priority instead of worrying about your logo. Github launched and worried about their octocat way, way later.
How many of these companies were successful because of a character in their logo?
It doesn't matter. Don't you have better things to be doing?