Awesome @Krekc looking forward to read more about the precise process!
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After five weeks of hard work the Brand Competition team is happy to present the first draft of the design brief for the SAFE Network logo design competition on the 99designs platform.
Design brief and Brand Wheel
After deciding on the design platform the team wanted to dive in and fill out the design brief. We realized that to do so we had to reach consensus on what the SAFE Network is about.
Since Nick had previously used a Brand Wheel for such an exercise we decided to give that a go. Reaching consensus proved harder than we thought and it took several online meetings before we finally did. @Shona then did a great job translating what we produced into the image attached below.
Armed with the results of the Brand Wheel template we managed to produce the first draft of the design brief which you will find at the bottom of this post.
Feedback on the brief and the image
We now invite everyone to give constructive feedback on the first draft of the design brief. The aim of the brief is to give prospective designers on the 99designs platform an idea of what the SAFE Network is about and to convey any requirements that we have for the logo they will be designing. It has been written with the assumption that most readers won’t have an intimate knowledge of the SAFE Network and similar technologies.
Strapline vote
During our discussions we agreed that the community should decide on a strapline for the SAFE Network. A lot of straplines were previously suggested on the Forum. We went through the topic where straplines were suggested and found that two of them could count on a lot of support:
- Secure Access For Everyone
- Privacy, Security, Freedom
To decide which of these two will be the official strapline for the SAFE Network a poll will be sent to all forum members who have reached trust level 2 (Member badge). We have chosen to restrict voting to trust level 2 members to prevent abuse of new accounts. We hope that members that haven’t reached trust level 2 will understand the reason for this decision.
A third option has been added to the poll which allows members to vote for “another” strapline. If we have misjudged support for the two suggested straplines a strapline competition will be held after the vote has been concluded.
Since the forum software doesn’t currently support a public vote where only members with a certain trust level are allowed to vote we have opted for a workaround with a private message. The vote will be turned into a public topic after a week so that everyone will be able to see the results.
What’s next
The strapline vote will take one week. During this week we want to allow community members to give feedback on the design brief draft.
After this we will need about a week to finalize the design brief. Once the brief has been finalized we will launch the competition on 99designs. Designers will then have one week to submit designs. Once the submission period has passed we will choose up to 5 designs and put them to a vote on the forum.
###Brand Wheel image:
Design brief
Click here to see the design brief
Background information
Name to incorporate in the logo
SAFE Network
Description of the organization and its target audience
The SAFE (Secure Access For Everyone) Network is a decentralised data and communications network made possible by efficiently combining the unused hard drive space, CPU power and Internet connections of its users. It’s a global network without servers that offers a level of security and privacy not currently available on the existing Internet. Users of the SAFE Network have full control over their data, while software developers can focus their time building on top of a secure infrastructure.
The SAFE Network is anticipated to attract different groups of people:
- People that want to have complete control over their data and communications (users).
- People that will be rewarded by the network for sharing their internet bandwidth and spare computer resources (farmers).
- People that will be rewarded by the network for improving the network or building great apps for it (developers).
The SAFE Network has a built in cryptocurrency called Safecoin. Safecoins are used to reward both Farmers and Developers. Users need to have safecoins in order to store data on SAFE.
Industry
Internet
Visual style
Style attributes
Other
Notes
Existing Safecoin logo
A logo exists for Safecoin, the cryptocurrency native to the SAFE Network. We want the new logo to be complementary to this logo. This doesn’t mean it has to be the exact same style, but it does mean that it shouldn’t have an opposing style and color.
You will find the Safecoin logo attached to the brief. The color of the logo is #5592d7.
Maximum of two designs per designer
We would like to restrict designers to a maximum of two submissions. Additional submissions will be disregarded.
Opening the competition to community members
An active community has formed around the SAFE Network and some community members have expressed the desire to participate in the design competition. We have asked 99designs to facilitate this, and they have agreed to open up the competition to non-platinum designers 3 days before the end of the competition. This means that all non-platinum designers will be able to submit designs during the last 3 days.
Deliverables
Contest deliverables
- The original, editable file (i.e. AI)
- A vector EPS file in digital (RGB) format
- A vector EPS file in print (CMYK) format
- A web preview file (PNG, JPEG, PDF)
Attached files:
- Safecoin logo
- Brand Wheel
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That Brand Brief there looks ideal… and could be an advert in itself!
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Thank you to the committee for putting in all this work. Before diving in I have one immediate query - did you consider:
SAFE Access For Everyone
I think David used this a few times fairly recently and at the time I thought, yes this is even better than Secure Access For Everyone (which I always loved). I think this for two reasons:
- I think it is clearer and more easily understandable (“safe” is less ambiguous, less technical, and shorter than “secure”)
- it has that GNU “trick”, but improves on it by being relevant (unlike “GNU”), as well as emphasising safety which is an unambiguously good and positive value.
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On first pass, it seems like a good idea but second pass, I wonder, it’s liable to then be easily mistaken as “Safe” not “SAFE”. This will not necessarily be a space that caters well for those who are soft around the edges and we might do better emphasising the Secure.
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I don’t think that’s a worry because it still works as
Safe Access For Everyone
The acronym is slightly less apparent but it is still there, and I still prefer “safe” over “secure” for the reasons given above.
I understand that but it lends itself to those looking to evidence that it’s not a safe place because of minority that do not play to conservative inclinations. Secure is not so easily manipulated… and any secure argument feeds right into encouraging onlookers appreciate how secure. Debate about how safe a space is, might be problematic because safe immediately draws opinion.
No space is safe enough for some.
Further, I would suggest Privacy; Security; Freedom, is not about being safe per se, it’s about responsibility and opportunity.
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We did discuss this option. We thought that it didn’t work well because it can be read as “Secure Access For Everyone Access For Everyone”. I guess you can avoid that by making it Safe Access For Everyone, we also considered that but thought that Secure worked better.
I suggest that if people like SAFE/Safe Access For Everyone better they choose the third option (other strapline) in the poll and post a comment that they favour Safe Access For Everyone.
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In this case I´d like to switch my choice. I think SAFE Access For Everyone reads perfectly as “Safe Access For Everyone” and “SAFE. Access For Everyone”.
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Since our previous update we have received lots of feedback on the strapline for the SAFE Network. This feedback has been incorporated into the final strapline vote which is currently available to all trust level 2 forum members. Votes can be cast or changed until next Sunday 6:00 PM GMT. The result of the vote will be converted to a public topic so that all forum members can see it.
So far we have not received specific feedback on the design brief and supporting Brand Wheel image. We’ll be able to respond to any feedback given before next Tuesday. We’ll then finalize the design brief and launch the competition on the 99designs platform.
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I’d like to suggest we change only one word in the following strapline :
• Secure Access For Everyone — SAFE
to
• Safe Access For Everyone — SAFE
In todays usage both are acceptable , however , from a branding and
communication perspective , it seems catchier to hint SAFE by using
Safe instead of Secure . The common man likes it simple & simpler 
For additional spinning & pondering on safe vs. secure check this out : word choice - Difference between "safe" and "secure" - English Language & Usage Stack Exchange
Both options are included in the strapline vote that’s currently being held. You can vote for the option you like best there.
I actually see you already voted for Secure Access For Everyone there. You can still change your vote if you want to.
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I see , that was the other day , I still had not reflected upon the little detail .
Now , I changed my vote accordingly . Thank You for pointing it out to me .
For what this post above might contribute , I truly hope that we can identify all
together the possible advantage of one over the other , and that the advantage
itself is then also reflected in the democratic vote , that is , that our consensus
truly gets to nail the better way to express what we are & what’s in the bucket .
I think I suggested it’s ideal above… I can’t fault it and the values expressed are on target but since you’re pushing for more replies and couple of minor thoughts…
The SAFE Network is anticipated to attract different groups of people:
“People”
Should that be People and Businesses in some way that notes it’s not just for individuals?.. Perhaps there would be no difference but perhaps a professional edge might be important if it reflects assurance and quality in a way in might not otherwise do.
Contest deliverables
I don’t know if an option on backgrounds might be possible too?.. Spawning more like Savage’s beach might be useful??
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I think everyone got consumed by the tag line tbh. The design brief is good, but along similar lines to @davidpbrown it should be friendly to businesses, in addition to individual users. I anticipate that some businesses would be happy to provided services, without the headache of storing and protecting user data.
Not sure about the exact wording but here is my take on this paragraph:
I’ve added global and changed the negative reference to companies to a positive opportunity for developers.
The SAFE (Secure Access For Everyone) Network is a decentralised data and communications network comprised of the unused hard drive space, processing power and data connection of its users. It is a global, serverless network that offers a level of security and privacy not currently available on the existing Internet. Users are in full control of their data, while developers can build services without worrying about how to store and secure personnel information.
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Re the link @000 posted, “English Language & Usage” - Stack Exchange:
Safe and secure, now nearly synonymous, used to be more different; secure was subjective —- man’s own sense of the absence of danger —- while safe was objective, the fact of such absence of danger.
Google's view of the same, "fre", "ger" and "spa" relative to "eng":
Phrases graphed in Google Books Ngram Viewer
As for straplines, also consider your appointment later on as Maidsafe's regional manager elsewhere:
[](http://mentalfloss.com/article/64594/proportional-map-worlds-largest-languages)
Mental Floss - Numbers of native speakers (in millions) by country
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This info graphic gives me another reason as for why we should seriously
consider to use safe vs. secure , namely , for Chinese people and some ,
safe is much easier pronounced than secure .
Helping over 1 Billion People to be able to voice our strapline correctly
might be a little detail in the wholesome picture , nevertheless we should
give it a dear thought and reflect our decision by voting according to our
» Chinese-User-Friendliness «
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We’re not pushing for replies, although it may seem so 
We just wanted to highlight the thread once more so that people who may have missed it the first time would get a chance to review and comment on the brief. If you think the brief is fine the way it is then there’s no need to come up with feedback just for the sake of giving feedback.
Thanks, this is useful feedback. 
I don’t think we’ll be asking designers to make the logo compatible with specific backgrounds. Once we receive all the files from the winner of the competition we’ll be able to put the logo on any background we would like. If this is not what you meant then could you please explain a bit further?
Thanks for the feedback pds. I like the additions and we’ll consider these additions when reviewing the design brief next week. I assume you mean ‘personal’ where you wrote ‘personnel’?
Perhaps we would need to change the wording of the last sentence a bit, since it may read like developers don’t need to give security any thought since it’s all taken care of automatically. I’m not sure that’s true? Perhaps someone with better technical understanding of the network than me could comment on that?
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It was allusion to that in this age of memes and online presence that perhaps brand is beyond just logo and I don’t know what that suggests really for a bundle of badges and stickers and posters that draw attention to the ideas. A logo is one route to marketing … I guess it depends how much this one request is looking to resolve… but for example, a background to match might be useful for maidsafe.net … for the default websites … for abc documentation like maidsafe.readme.io … for blogs.