We were going through our work and stumbled on the Komkommer logo we did a while back. We loved this design. We came up with the name Komkommer, which is dutch for cucumber when we wanted a name for an online store. It was difficult to find one and we thought we would like a cool name. We were studying dutch and were living in Amsterdam at that time, and dutch seemed close to our hearts so Komkommer it was.
We designed the identity and did some copywriting for Komkommer some 2 years back. This was supposed to be the brand a friend wanted to start with us. We were supposed to be selling ethnic things online, special items found during our travels and also one-off branded bags.
The initial plan was that we use our skills for the branding and website, and she does the marketing and get the word out. As time passed, the logo was done and the website was up and running. But there was no word out. There was zero awareness. More time passed and it was nothing more than just words and no action.
It was not just hurtful on a friendship level as we trusted that 'friend' to do her part. But a partnership as we learnt, has nothing to do with friendship. It is a hard earned relationship. So words are just empty words without any action.
It became a rather ugly end to the partnership when we said told the friend that it did not seem to be working out. She claimed she has done her share of the brand and she wanted either the website or the logo. What audacity! We even studied and learnt a bit of html to get the site up and running. What did she do? We even did a whole lot of exploration to get the logo up to scratch. What did she do? Branding is not child's play and we needed the copywriting and tone of voice to be true to the brand. She was writing it in a tone that was off brand. It was not friendly nor was it nice to hear from us that she has to seriously consider the tone of her writing. But, that is what a brand needs to be.
Anyway, things turned really sour.
We decided to give her the logo instead. Reason being, the website was done with a lot of time and effort. Not to say that the logo was not. But here is the reason; Komkommer being dutch for cucumber is close to our hearts in a way our failed relationship involved a Dutch man, learning dutch and staying in Amsterdam. It seemed fitting to let it go. Besides, Komkommer in dutch has no whatsoever meaning to her. Why would she even ask for it? That was just a bit silly for us to fathom. The other reason is that we are skilled in creating brands, we could easily create a better one.
So we are writing this because a close friend recently mentioned that she has started to use this logo for something else. Upon some clicking and reading, we realised that she is using this for some wedding photography, or photography for events. She is now calling Komkommer Event. We just wonder, what does Komkommer events mean at all. She could say, Komkommer is cucumber in dutch and it is cool. We just wonder how she would answer the question, why dutch? This sounds like a branding moron in some ways. If one can sour and close a chapter of a friendship based on silly selfishness, we just wonder what friendship or integrity means to this person.
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