The New TGN Logo

So some of you might have seen the new and improved TGN logo!! Made by our very-own, very talented William Murphy! 👏

But let’s get the story behind it.

AI “artwork” is a fickle mistress. She can be inspiring, she can help those with no artistic ability create the foundations of something decent.

Take my attempt here:

Things working in this attempt’s advantage:
• It is a grapefruit
• It is slightly radio tower-y
• It does convey the combination of radio networks and grapefruit

Things working AGAINST this attempt:
• It is AI generated (yuck)
And, most unfortunately,
• It looks a lot like a butthole…

Now, as a self-proclaimed AI-Artisté, I couldn’t see that at first glance…
I was BLINDED by the magnificent creation that Google Gemini had provided me.

But everyone else could see this unfortunate trypophobic-nightmare 🤣

E. Pluribus Anus, indeed.

But fret not, with a TRUE graphic designer in our midst, some ideas started popping up in the wake of this idea!

First concept was a Cup Head/Rubber Hose/Max Fleischer cartoon inspired cartoon grapefruit.

Now, while fun as a mascot, that’s not necessarily the best move for a logo. Which we learned almost instantaneously, as the soulless eyes of Gus peered into our deepest being…

So this rendition of “Gus the Grapefruit” was D.O.A.

Another attempt was a decent stop-gap (and might inspire other creations) but he also was not long for this world.

Less terrifying, but same “not-a-logo” dilemma

So we were quite literally back to the drawing board.

Next up was an attempt at a “Corporate, Software-as-a-Service Startup” rendition of a logo.

“Hi, we’re Graapfruut, and we’re a podcasting-as-a-service solutions company”

Now, while this logo was moving in the right direction, it really didn’t encapsulate the whimsy or fun of who we are as a team. Nor did it give off the aspirational growth goals we really have as a network.

Which brought us full circle back to the butthole.

Ok, not really.
But the idea behind “tower + radio waves + grapefruit” was coming back.

Except, this was too sterile. Almost even pizza-ish.

We all know the expression: “Those who cannot ‘do’, ‘teach.’”
Thus, I (Alex) began the teaching of a lifetime.

Oh my gosh dude, do you have a degree in Yapology?

William scribbled down these (surprisingly-somewhat-valid) notes betwixt the incredibly detailed ways he imagined killing me.

[Side note: Between the sarcasm here, this is what I love about the four of us goobers (yes, I’m continuing to self-title us the “goobers” and there’s nothing the other three can do about it.)

The brainstorming, the creativity, the division of skillsets, the ownership and empowerment we each feel. That’s friendship. That’s iron sharpening iron right there.

Am I a good artist? No, but I have an eye for it. Is William an incredible artist? Absolutely! But would he also tell you he gets bogged down in designing things for himself? Yes again. So being able to bounce ideas off each other in a constructive manner is so validating, and I’m proud to call them my friends.]

Side tangent over. Back to the butthole. (No, not “Alex”, you jerk…)

We’d solved the problem of the grapefruit looking too anatomical, but now we’d overcorrected into lifeless territory. With those quick (were they that quick, William?) tweaks, it was pretty clear we had the makings of a winner on our hands, and it was shaping up nicely.