A few people DM’d me on Twitter asking me my thoughts and during the weekend I read what other bloggers and journalists have to say about it. I think what it comes down to is that most people think a logo is design, just like the iPad and the iPhone are design. I disagree. Sure, a logo is design. And sure the iPad and the iPhone are design, but in different definitions of the word.

If you’re a reader of this blog, you know I’m a huge fan of Harvard Business Review. But their bloggers got it totally wrong. Umair Haque makes it sound like, because he doesn’t like the look of it, he thinks it looks like it was designed by “bean counters,” and he is confusing logo design with technology design, that Gap will lose customers and new customers won’t consider them as a shopping venue any longer. Give me a break.

What I love about the entire thing is they crowdsourced the design of the new logo…with professional designers. In a world of constantly changing technology and companies trying to understand the shift in communication with their customers instead of at their customers, Gap is going out on a limb by asking their community of brand ambassadors to participate in the new design. Why are we cruxifying them for that? We should be applauding their effort and ability to take a risk. It’s something we all talk about all day long – take a risk, see what works, be a leader in your industry. And then, as soon as someone takes our counsel, we shame them for it?

I still don’t see what the big deal is and I applaud Gap for going out on a limb and taking a risk – something most, if not all, of their competitors would never do. And as communication professionals, we’ll all sit behind closed doors and complain that no one listens to us when their competitors won’t take the same risks. We can’t talk out of both sides of our mouths – either we want our clients or companies to embrace new technologies and ideas or we don’t.

Update: Oct. 11, 2010 at 6:55 p.m. CT. According to Gap, “We’re listening to our customers. We’ve heard loud and clear an outpouring of support for our iconic blue box logo.” And that’s it, folks. They’re going back to their old logo. Unbelievable.

Guest post by Len Kendall, co-founder of the3six5 project.

For years now, since the concept of user-generated content has become commonplace in the marketing and PR world, companies have thought of crowdsourcing as a shortcut to building community that will mean less work for them.

Here’s how the conversation usually goes:

“Let’s put together a contest where target X can create Y content and upload it to our community. The best contributor will win a prize and gain status amongst their peers. We can just sit back and watch the community build upon itself.”

The challenge I would like to address is the misconception that the above is an actionable idea for most parties undertaking it.

The intentions are positive, of course, but the execution can appear lazy or short-sited if the proper investment of time and people isn’t applied.

Generally from what I’ve seen, there are only two things an organizer can offer to make the “build it, and they will come” scenario work: Fame or fortune. I would guess 98 percent of the organizations/brands conducting crowdsourced experiments don’t offer a valuable enough reward in either category (in the minds of the target) to justify their investment of time and labor.

With that assumption leading this thought, here are a few basic elements to remember when crowdsourcing:

Have a content calendar: This may seem like an odd step given crowdsourcing isn’t associated with publishing, but in many ways you’re publishing to the inner circle of participants. They need to feel your presence often, watching and reflecting on their collective work.

Your time > Their time: Make it obvious that you’re spending more time engaging in your crowdsourced community than each individual contributor. Why should someone spend time on creating content for you (for an unlikely prize) if you won’t take the time and effort toward a guaranteed product?

Be an editor: You can either try to sort through the masses of submissions and find a few gems to work with, or you can take the time to be an editor and go back and forth with your producers to take their first draft and make it better, or more in line with your vision.

Promote non-winners: Some of your biggest fans will be contributors who very obviously are not going to rise to the top in terms of a quality crowdsourced submission. The value of that individual may not come in the form of a product, but it may be extraordinarily high in regard to promoting the output of others.  Take the time to acknowledge and elevate all ranks of your contributors.

Have an exit strategy: The organizer doesn’t need to work off the assumption that this community needs to be tended indefinitely, but it should be actively managed while contributors are being asked to create, and hopefully fans and participants can ultimately transition their attention to a new, less robust outpost online such as a Facebook or Twitter feed. Additionally, make it easy for the “super-users” to go off on their own and continue the product creation you helped facilitate (if they’re interested in producing beyond your involvement).

Len Kendall is a digital supervisor with GolinHarris Chicago, co-founder of the3six5 project, and a Doodler for GOOD magazine.

Instead, however, I asked my Twitter friends what they would like me to write about and I got some great ideas!

* Brad Farris suggested how to feel like you’re in control of the business while traveling.

* From Bruce Smith: Trust.

* Scott Yurashek had an attention-grabbing idea: How the lack of public commentary has been lacking and how social media has made it interesting again.

* Troy Costlowhttp recommended how the intended message can’t be directly stated modestly.

* Several people suggested I write about how to get past writer’s block, which I guess I’m kind of doing by writing this blog post, even though I called them all smarty pants.

* And, God love her, Nancy tried to create a topic out of my wanting to veg out.

All of these are great ideas and you’ll see them as blog posts in the next few days. But this made me think…what would YOU like to see me write about?

* What kinds of conversations do you want to join?
* Is there someone you’d like me to interview?
* Is there anything you’ve always wanted to ask a CEO?
* Is there anything you’ve always wanted to ask a business owner?
* Is there anything you don’t understand about social media and need help?

The parameters are to stay within the PR industry, social media, or what it’s like to run a business.

If your idea is chosen as one of the blog posts, you’ll receive about 30 seconds of fame. And a fun surprise (which means I haven’t yet figured out what it is).