We got a modmail yesterday, I'm not sure who to send the user to.
Hey. I'm the designer who did this in a couple hours for fun: https://www.reddit.com/r/SCP/comments/92tlxo/had_a_few_minutes_and_refined_bitofbanditos/
There are things I know I would change and there is a lot of stuff I didn't do or thought much about since I just did this as a fun and quick experiment/exercise. It was very fun, though, so I have an offer.I don't know if you guys have a brand guidelines document (you don't seem to) but I think it would be fun to do one for the SCP Foundation, the fictional entity, in a way that could be used IRL by the SCP-wiki and other fanworks.
I'm a professional designer and illustrator and also a reader and fan of the SCP project from some long time ago and it would be great to be able to contribute in that way. Because I'm a long time follower there's this thing called nostalgia and the fact that it's already an well established brand, so I wouldn't want to change anything that already exists, but it would be very interesting to expand what is already done, even following that 00s look.
It would also be fun to photomanipulate it to look like scans of an old microfilm document, since microfilm is probably the most durable and safe way to store any kind of visual information physically, or just an old and dusty file almost forgotten in an office. Or I could show most of the guidelines as if it came from a microfilm document and put an "Addendum" in the end that looks like some paper printed in the 00s for the "Information Age brand guidelines". We could brainstorm the definitive symbol for classes or the design for various uniforms based on games/art and other stuff like that.
I sent this message to /u/toumey first because I didn't knew if modmail would be the best way to ask this, but I was advised to make the offer here :) he told me you guys may not be able to pay for a work of brand identity guidelines, which I understand since SCP-wiki does not seem to be monetized in any way besides ads, so I'd ask if you guys are up to discuss a symbolic value, since my main wish is to do this for the fun of it. Sincerely, if you can't pay for my time we can still talk and get something done, if there's interest, free time and fun to be had.
If there's no interest, no problem. Just tell me.
I hope you all have a nice day. :)
Response:
It's a bit more complicated than "we have no monetization beyond ads." We don't even see any of that monetization, it all goes to our host. The wiki earns zero revenue for any of us. So valuation of work along those lines will be difficult because it will essentially come down to what any particular person is willing to give.
Their response:
I understand and, honestly, even admire. It's good to see that there's still people doing stuff like that just for the fun of it (I've had trouble in the past with people taking over personal projects from their friends - me included - to turn them into easy profit)
That being said, if that's the problem, I'd actually do it all for fun too, since the SCP Foundation was always so entertaining for me :) I won't be able to spend work hours on this project (for obvious reasons of surviving) but I'm still 100% willing to do this in one way or another. So if there's interest just tell me how can I talk to all you guys to brainstorm this stuff, a forum, irc channel or something like that.
If there's any conflict/problem/"it's too much trouble"/lack of interest feel free to tell me :) it would be perfectly understandable. Have a great day!
I don't want to get into any particular thing they've brought up (the viability or even desirability of canonical symbols) but they are making a generous offer of their time and I want to get them in touch with whoever could make the most of it.