I just PM'ed the following to Ken, and if you share my sentiments, I hope that you do the same. We're talking about a company that the community helped completely turn around. I see no reason, that we can not be vocal enough to make this happen. Fingers crossed.
Ken,
We've spoken a time or two in the past, and I have been with you since AMC had lift off. Before I go on, I should say that I have nearly a decades worth of experience in design and marketing. I am writing you in the hope that you would reconsider your position on the matter of the VMC logo and website. As of this moment, two board members have presented two separate options that work beautifully with one another to help solidify your company's image.
The first comes from user hazryder, in the form of a beautiful, modern looking logo that helps implant the thought of, "This company has really taken it's time to focus on their branding. Maybe I should consider buying hardware from them." To be as polite as possible, while also being blunt, hazryder's logo is far superior to the one that you are currently operating under, which looks incredibly dated from a design standpoint.
Moving on, we have lewicky, who has worked diligently to build a fantastic looking website, that not only looks great, but is also fast, simple and professional. I will be 100% honest, I do not hate the current VMC website. I think that it serves it's purpose, and looks moderately clean. I am however, strongly against the decision to implement very campy artwork, such as this one directly on the front page.
Again, not to sound incredibly rude, but when I see this, the message to me is that this is a company that is being run by a guy living out of his mom's basement, who just pirated his first copy of photoshop. In no way do I get the vibe that this is a professional company, that could potentially be worth millions.
I sincerely hope that you will reconsider your decision, and at least focus test with the various options. At the end of the day, it comes down to the market's decision on whether a company succeeds or not. And right now, I feel that VMC is in need of a major marketing overhaul. Branding and marketing is just as critical to a company as operating efficiency. It is for this reason that Hollywood invests just as much if not more on prints and advertising as a film's production budget for every blockbuster that they make. Word of mouth is great, but bums in seats are much better. In the case of VMC, we might be able to fill a demand for chips and hardware for early adopters desperate for 28nm tech, but once that market has dried up (and trust me, it will), casual miners will be the ones who will determine who comes out ahead. The thing about the casual market, is that they do not focus all of their attention on raw specs. Instead, they typically turn to whomever is wrapped in the prettiest package. You can look at Apple if you feel there is any question to that logic.
Thank you for your time.