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      Edward Boatman on February 24, 2011

      Hi Josue,
      This is just the beginning :) We want to continue to improve Search, for one, as well as translate all nouns into different languages. As of right now we unfortunately can't accept icon submissions, but we definitely plan to open it up to users in the near future. Thanks!

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      Josue Oquendo on February 24, 2011

      The search and category additions to the design are excellent implementations to a very useful resource. How much more can ti be improved to become a #1 resource for iconic usage and communication?. Is there a section or way to submit design work from fellow designers? if not, it would be great to include a submit section in which new work could be submitted.

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      Edward Boatman on February 14, 2011

      Hi Scott,

      We submitted the order to the factory which makes the shirts (cuts the fabric, stitches, and dyes them). I'm waiting to hear back on when they expect our order to be ready, but will post an update as soon as I hear from them. Thanks!!

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      Scott | Candy | Bubble | Mei Ling on February 12, 2011

      any update on my shirts? Thanks

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      Iconfinder.com on February 9, 2011

      I have added search functionality to the icons from this project. They are available in three sets (because of the licenses):

      http://www.iconfinder.com/search/…
      http://www.iconfinder.com/search/…
      http://www.iconfinder.com/search/…

      Cheers!

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      Edward Boatman on January 24, 2011

      @chris Thanks for reaching out to us and being supportive. My only concern with you zipping all the files is did you include some sort of notice as to the licensing requirements? Some of the symbols are in Public Domain, but there are others that were created by us and other designers that are licensed under Creative Commons, and should be attributed. Thanks!

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      chris a on January 20, 2011

      this is awesome, thanks for this. sorry about the weird negative comments.

      also, everyone else, i scripted up all the nouns [so far] and zipped them up, here you go: http://bit.ly/idtCcT

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      Edward Boatman on January 20, 2011

      @fish Thanks, it's a back-end error that we're trying to figure out.

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      ><> fish on January 19, 2011

      hi nounproject. great idea. love it.
      NOTE: images 362 - 365 need some label correction =)
      cheers!

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      Edward Boatman on January 18, 2011

      @Meerenai Good job with your project! Looks like you're over your goal ;)

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      Meerenai Shim on January 18, 2011

      Congratulations on a successful Kickstarter campaign! Just wanted to share that I used one of your heart icons for the bumper sticker I am giving my kickstarter project backers. Thanks for making these images available to all! Look at the bumper sticker: http://kck.st/fi4UKM

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      Merms on January 4, 2011

      I made a New Years card using 99% of the icons from this project. Check it out. http://www.coroflot.com/merms/fun/2. Please add names to download files.

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      Edward Boatman on December 31, 2010

      Hi Danny,

      Thanks for posting your thoughts. We realize a search feature and easy to download collections will make the site much more valuable and user-friendly. The reason we ran a Kickstarter campaign was to raise money so we can add these exact features. I actually talk about this in my video. Since our campaign was successful, we are going to start developing these tools.

      All the best,

      Edward

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      Jazz Punks on December 31, 2010

      Sorry to be a ninny. I think your project is great and the icons are great, but the site is useless.
      No search and now simple download function. Who has the time to scroll, more, more, more...?
      If you want to spread the love can you make a useful site?
      Perhaps I'm missing something, which is just a UI issue then.

      d

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      Edward Boatman on December 23, 2010

      Hi Budson,

      Thanks for taking the time to comment on my project. I have a few comments that I would like to share regarding your post.

      1. In regards to your comment: “Mr. Boatman has essentially lifted symbols and icons developed by public organizations and private individuals and simply posted them under false pretenses, namely that he is carefully designing them.”
      There are indeed symbols on our site that have been designed by public organizations. We have never denied this fact, and these symbols are clearly labeled in the shadow-box as being designed by the organization. For example, a lot of the symbols on our site were designed by Roger Cook and Don Shanosky for the AIGA, and they are in the public domain. A lot of the symbols were designed by National Park Service, and are also in the public domain. But even though these symbols are in the public domain, a lot of designers, cartographers, artists, architects, etc. have a difficult time finding them available for download, thus having to recreate them or search for individual symbols across the internet. We placed them together in one easy to use collection, with proper attribution, for anyone to use.

      2. In regards to your comment: “Only a tiny fraction of the symbols available to date look original (and those few are poorly designed). I have isolated at least half a dozen images that are under copyright by a proprietary owner, yet the attribution states that the symbols were 'Designed by the Noun Project". My design associate will be contacting Edward to ask him to pull the images in question.”
      We have added to the collection of the public domain symbols the symbols that are designed by us. These are also clearly labeled on our site, under the attribution of The Noun Project, and using the least-stringent Creative Commons license available. I’m sorry if you don’t agree with some of our design preferences, and if you have specific feedback on the symbols we’ve designed we’re always happy to hear any constructive criticism.
      You’ve raised concern over Joseph Wain’s comment about our symbol attribution and some symbols being similar to ones he features for download. As you can see in our comment thread, we have addressed Joseph’s comment the same day. We have great respect for Joseph’s work and think he’s tremendously talented, and have asked him to contact us if there’s a symbol he believes is completely unique to his work, but have yet to hear back. None of our symbols are copied from other designers. There are symbols that we have recreated of the same object (ex: coffee cup) based on our own design standards and preferences. For example, if you look at our symbol of a football helmet, that was created based on a picture we took of an actual helmet, but if you do a google image search for a graphic representation of a football helmet I’m sure you can find some similarities. We’ve even gone as far as to meet with an attorney to confirm that this is not an infringement on someone else’s copyright, and have been legally advised that this is not the case. You or your associate are more than welcome to contact us with any symbols that you believe are in question as being under copyright by someone else. We have carefully reviewed the attribution of all the symbols on our site, but if there is a mistake by all means do let us know.

      3. Lastly, we’d like to address your comment of our fundraising being “merely a deviously simple way to raise money and sell over-priced T-shirts.” You are obviously not in the apparel business. If that was our intention, we would have chosen from a myriad of lesser-quality super cheap blank T-shirts that are on the market. But our determining factor was not price, but quality. Which is why we decided to go with a much more expensive high-quality T-shirt that is sold in Barneys, Bloomingdales, Kitson, and Fred Seagal. Since we’re not buying in large bulk as a store would do, this has further increased our price per shirt. I’m sure you would be extremely surprised if you knew the actual profit margin on our shirts. We wanted to thank our supporters by giving them the best product we could find, and I am absolutely certain that once our supporters receive their shirts they will be thrilled by the softness and the quality of the product we have selected.

      Happy Holidays,
      Edward Boatman

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      Jon Perry on December 23, 2010

      Edward, some points have been raised and they have not been addressed. I'm pulling my funding from this project. As a graphic designer I thought your project would be of great help, so I backed it, but upon seeing how you are neglecting to answer some pretty important questions about intellectual property in a timely manner you've given me little choice but to pull my backing.

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      Shaun on December 23, 2010

      I thought they were designing their own symbols. Using other peoples is going to dilute the whole look of theirs.

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      Budson on December 23, 2010

      WARNING: this project is a flagrant abuse of other people's work. Unfortunately, I have to agree with Chris that there is a bogus aspect to this concept and site. Wain and others have raised concerns about the site/project being sloppy in its implementation and its icon attributions. It is pretty obvious to any knowledgeable observer that in the rush to sell T-shirts and raise funding on Kickstarter, Mr. Boatman has essentially lifted symbols and icons developed by public organizations and private individuals and simply posted them under false pretenses, namely that he is carefully designing them. Only a tiny fraction of the symbols available to date look original (and those few are poorly designed). I have isolated at least half a dozen images that are under copyright by a proprietary owner, yet the attribution states that the symbols were 'Designed by the Noun Project". My design associate will be contacting Edward to ask him to pull the images in question. Therefore, everyone visiting the site and planning to contribute should be aware that while this project appears noble in scope, and has future potential, currently it is merely a deviously simple way to raise money and sell over-priced T-shirts... by obtaining and diluting other peoples graphic work and giving it away for 'Free', all without doing the required due diligence that being an 'above board' legal entity entails. If he does not clean up this act, Mr. Boatman will face justified scorn (and potential legal problems) from the professional design community.

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      Edward Boatman on December 22, 2010

      Mike,
      I saw your tweet this morning and read the post, thank you so much! And thanks for letting us know about it.
      Edward

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      Mike Wilson on December 22, 2010

      Edward,

      Great project. We just featured you on our site and have received a good buzz from our readers about your Kickstarter project. Keep up the good work.

      http://gearsofbiz.com/software/featured-kickstarter-project-a-free-collection-of-symbols/

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      Joe C on December 21, 2010

      Robbie, funny. But these are serious concerns. Like I said, the most clarity that has been given is that with "more funding, the better the site will be". Thats an interesting business plan. I'm sure there is more thought behind it, but share it. Especially when the site as it is today, is so minimal. I still stand by saying this is just a clever way to sell tshirts. (And you bought one, Robbie dont be sour - its a cool looking shirt, but I can see past the lipstick on the pig).

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      Robbie B. on December 20, 2010

      Joe C - You really do sound like a troll.

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      Joe C on December 20, 2010

      I really don't mean to sound like a troll, but this seems like just a clever way to sell overpriced tshirts thru kickstarter, and obviously you've done well at that so far - so I should probably just congratulate you. "The more funding, the better the site will be".... that's one heck-uva statement. Do you guys say that in your business plan? Is that maybe why you didnt just go to a bank for funding? Sorry, but to get my hard earned money - its gonna take more than 'mo money = mo better', and the promise of an overpriced tshirt. Also, I can't believe that you are launching this at a funding level with only 500 icons on the site, and a decent number of them look like they are from wingdings font. The name of venture calling it a "project" makes it sound like its some not-for-profit gift to humanity, but I'm not seeing it. I'm pretty surprised you have so many backers (or I should say, t-shirt purchasers). I'd have liked to see a much more developed idea, and a real plan an disclosure of what you are doing with the money. I really don't mean to be a hater, but this project makes me very weary about the appropriate use for kickstarter.com

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      Edward Boatman on December 20, 2010

      Martin,
      Thank you so much for the offer! I'll let our developer know, we're definitely wanting to get the search option up and running as quickly as possible. Great job on your site!

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      Iconfinder.com on December 20, 2010

      Hi Edward

      I really like this project and run a similar service at Iconfinder.com. Since I have already made and refined the database + code for tagging and searching through icons, I thought you might be interested in reusing this. There's an API ready so you could integrate the search functionality on your site.

      Best regards,
      Martin LeBlanc

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      Justin Shaw on December 19, 2010

      (P.S. Then initial amount is merely a placeholder. We are glad to support by getting some shirts too.)

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      Justin Shaw on December 19, 2010

      Thanks for posting these great icons! I plan on using some of them for my project (see ClockTHREE).

      Justin

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      Chris on December 17, 2010

      This is a great project and Idea - I am backing it. Please do not take my criticisim to wrong way.
      I do see problems with your project - even if this is a startup - CC licensing must be taken seriously!
      If you publish something under a CC license - and it is not your own original work - you must be 100% sure that it was published originally under a CC license and also keep it under the same CC license conditions it was intended to be used with. So if you say: As we have not been able to find the designer behind this symbol or its country of origin, it is marked as "Unknown".
      How do you know it is CC? You publish something under a CC attribution license and not mention the person/organisation to be attributed... Then the license is incomplete and invalid. This is the problem I have with some icons. If you are not sure about origin, license, IP or design rights .... then you should not publish it until you are sure. Please correct this asap. I assume you guys are busy with the t-shirts but please do not be lazy about this issue.
      Thats all I will say about this.
      Thanks

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      Edward Boatman on December 16, 2010

      Mr. Chris,
      We are continuously working on researching the attribution of each and every one of the symbols in our collection. This can not be done "asap" as you have requested, as in a lot of cases we have to personally contact the agency that created or sponsored the creation of a symbol in order to find the designer behind the symbol and the year it was created. It is very important to us to give the symbol's designer the credit he or she deserves. The "Camera" symbol #106 you have referred to is a speed camera traffic sign used in Canada, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, Georgia, Hong Kong, Iceland, Ireland, Latvia, Malta, Ukraine, and the United Kingdom. As we have not been able to find the designer behind this symbol or its country of origin, it is marked as "Unknown".
      In regards to your comment "are you guys just after the money", you may have noticed that our entire collection is free for anyone to download and use, unlike a lot of other symbol suites that are on the market for purchase. We believe in sharing these symbols for free, and we plan to keep it that way.

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      Chris (deleted) on December 16, 2010

      Mr. Boatman!
      are you guys just after the money or do you want to make a serious cc project? I asked about licensing issues and you just respond to $ questions... please clear up cc licensing issues asap - CC is too important to be lazy about it
      if you are unaware about these issues on your own site then let me point out one example: icon 106 Camera - just one of many

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      Edward Boatman on December 15, 2010

      Jkerrigan,
      All of the shirts are unisex, but my wife wears an xs and it fits her perfectly! Check out the picture of her in the xs Hozell shirt in our Update #2. And yes, you can pick different symbols for each shirt! Thank you for supporting us :)

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      jkerrigan on December 15, 2010

      Love Love Love this idea! Very nice simple site? Quick question...If I pledge $60 for 2 Tshirts, can one of them be a women's shirt? Or are they all mens shirts only? And can I choose different icons for each shirt?

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      Edward Boatman on December 15, 2010

      Bruce,
      Are you using Internet Explorer? The symbols on our site are SVG's (scalable vector graphics) for best scalable downloads. Unfortunately IE doesn't support SVGs at this time, but their IE 9 version will. For more info go to: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scalable_Vector_Graphics

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      Bruce Patterson on December 15, 2010

      Love the concept but I have never been able to see any of the images on the web site. The page shows up and says "Loading Nouns" but then the page stays white. Anyone else seeing a similar problem? I get the same problem on multiple computesrs and my smart phone.

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      Chris (deleted) on December 15, 2010

      @Edward
      nice project - but some icons say "Designed by in None (0)" this makes it impossible to use them under CC Attribution.. Please correct this asap.
      thanks

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      Edward Boatman on December 14, 2010

      Markus,
      Unfortunately we can't change the pledge levels or quantity of the limited editions available as it would be unfair to our other supporters. However if you choose to pledge at least $30 you will get to select the symbols that go on your shirt, so the shirt will be custom designed by you.

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      Markus on December 14, 2010

      Edward,
      yes, it does answer the question but the next question is: will you open up more slots for the $45 pledge? Or create another pledge that includes the hand-designed shirt?

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      PictoSelector on December 14, 2010

      Will there be a single download. When the collection grows I would love to use them in Picto Selector (As addition to the already 16000 available symbols). I can return the dutch translation :-)

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      Edward Boatman on December 13, 2010

      Hi Markus,

      The $60 pledge is not 2 X $45. In return for a $60 pledge we will send you two shirts. On each of those shirts you can choose up to three symbols from our collection. The symbols will be printed in light grey, like the shirts in the video.

      I hope this answered your question.
      All the best,

      Edward

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      Markus on December 13, 2010

      Is the $60 pledge the same as 2 x $45? Do you get two shirts with a new, custom designed logo each?

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      Chris MacDonald on December 12, 2010

      Great design on all of the symbols! I've started to incorporate some in my own site as a way to let people know what and where things are.

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      pregzt on December 11, 2010

      Fantastic idea! I'm already a fan of your website. As others already pointed there are bits and pieces missing (search, filtering), but the *IDEA* is very powerful. I'm hoping the pool of symbols will grow rapidly!

      What I think would be nice is RSS/Atom feed, so subscribers could get updates when new symbols are added. Another nice feature would be the programmatic API (RESTful) that one could use to browse the content of the pool as well the metadata (tags, license, etc.)

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      krodoff on December 10, 2010

      Interesting. As a Language Arts teacher, I feel compelled to let you know that #404, calendar, needs some spelling love.

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      eric on December 9, 2010

      I have two suggestions:

      a) have the little dropdown of id/name/tag values act as a filtering mechanism, such that one could hover over one item, see that it's tagged as "trash", click on the word "trash" and then be presented with all the other icons also tagged as trash

      b) some easy way for users to add more tags (eg. all the planet symbols could be tagged with "planet" and even "astrology")

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      Isa J. Farnik on December 9, 2010

      Stickers! Smaller donations should get stickers of these symbols. In my heart of hearts, I see a PR person at Moo.com being sympathetic to this cause. Also wondering why the shirts don't come in the colors used on the website..?

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      Edward Boatman on December 9, 2010

      Hi Richard,

      Submitting artwork.... yes that is a must have feature. We will get to that. We will keep you posted. Thanks for posting.

      Edward.

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      Edward Boatman on December 9, 2010

      Hi Ed,

      Thanks for the encouragement. We hope you will follow us on twitter and check back for updates.

      All the best,

      Edward

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      Edward Boatman on December 9, 2010

      Hi Peter,

      Thanks for catching the spelling, I just changed it. A search bar is priority number one, it is clearly the feature that everyone wants.

      Thanks for reaching out.

      Edward

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      Edward Boatman on December 9, 2010

      Hi Sirisian,

      Thanks for the suggestions, these are really good. These are definitely inline with what we have in mind going forward. We hope you stay in touch.

      Edward.

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      Richard Peal on December 9, 2010

      Aside from pledging support for your venture. Are you going to provide opportunities to submit artwork?

386
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Funding Successful

This project successfully raised its funding goal on December 24, 2010.

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55 Backers

Thank you! Please accept our deepest gratitude for supporting our project. Help spread the word. You will also receive exclusive updates about The Noun Project.

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216 Backers

Receive your very own custom-made T-shirt, printed with a symbol of your choice from The Noun Project's site (up to 3 symbols), plus all of the above. Shipping is included.

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Receive an exclusive T-shirt hand-designed just for you by our Creative Director. Through collaborating with you, he will design your dream-T by either selecting your preferred symbols from our collection or by creating a new symbol based on your ideas, and printing the symbol in any color you choose. Shipping is included.

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19 Backers

You will receive four custom-made T-shirts, printed with the symbols of your choice from The Noun Project's site (up to 3 per T-shirt). Shipping is included. Plus our deepest gratitude + exclusive updates, coupons and discounts, + Free Shipping on your next order from The Noun Project's future online store.

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My wife, dog, and I live a happy life in Los Angeles. My background is in architecture and design. I like art, burgers, IPAs, tacos, National Parks, and a good slice of pizza.

  1. thenounproject.com