Minefields
Have you ever been blindsided by something?
Like absolutely blindsided, no warning, did not even know to ask the question before it hit you in the face like a train. No? Well, I’m glad for you. Yes? I’m so sorry.
So, this is my story about how a simple Facebook post with my new company logo fell victim to Godwin's law. If you don’t know what Goodwin’s law is, please let me take a short tangent. According to Wikipedia, Goodwin’s law is an Internet adage asserting that as an online discussion grows longer (regardless of topic or scope), the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Adolf Hitler becomes more likely (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godwin%27s_law ).
Yes, that’s right - Nazis.
<<shakes head and rubs temples>>
Another short tangent I feel is necessary is to tell you that my actual maiden name is “Storm.” My father was a Storm, his father was a Storm, and so on for nearly 15 generations. On Ancestry.com I’ve been able to trace my Storm family back to Johann and Anna Sturm who came to Pennsylvania on the Ship Mortonhouse in 1728 from Schifferstadt, Germany (oh the irony). They changed their name to the English spelling of “Storm” when they landed in the “new world” and their son, John Peter Storm was the first of my family to be born in what would become the US, in York, Pennsylvania in 1740. There’s an unbroken chain of Storms living mostly in the eastern and midwestern US until you get to me.
So now, back to Goodwin’s law and the Storm Haus Publishing Logo.
I had been thinking about what I wanted for my logo for ages. I knew I wanted something that incorporated a lightning bolt and an umbrella. The lightning bolt has always kind of been our family symbol for my sister and I. It’s associated with bad weather and looks kind of like a stylized “S” (I am not the first person to make this association …) so we’ve always like them. I worked with a professional logo designer and he came up with the idea to have the book be the top of the umbrella and the bolt be the handle. As a total plus, the symbol looked vaguely like a “T” and so we replaced the “T” in Storm with the symbol when the logo is written out horizontally. I knew instantaneously that this was the design I had been wanting.
I also knew that the name of the company would be Storm-something. I decided on “Storm House” because publishing labels are usually referred to as “houses.” However, that was already taken as a company name when I went to incorporate. So, I changed it to “Storm Haus.” Simple, easy to remember, and punchy.
There was a smallish group of my closest friends and family that I had used as a sounding board for the logo design process. About 15 people from all different educations, careers, backgrounds, ages, ethnicities and religions. I’m really lucky to have a diverse network of people willing to invest in me. They all were so encouraging. Everyone loved the concept and gave me really solid feedback on design choices. The end product was so much better for their input. I was so excited with my new logo!
The day I got the logo high quality files from my designer, I immediately put them up on my Instagram account. At the time I had fewer than a hundred followers, but I was working on that. Now I’m up to nearly 400. While I am happy with the way the logo looks on my IG page, it didn’t garner a lot of notice or comment.
A few days later, I decided to start a Facebook page for the new company and I branded the page with my logo and some pictures I’d taken for this website and IG. Then, I used my personal Facebook account, where I have more than 800 friends (b/c I’m a geriatric millennial and have been on Facebook since 2005), to post about the new company and show my logo.
It was great! Everyone was so supportive!
Someone pointed out that Nazi’s, the SS, and WWI German special forces were associated
with “Storm” and lightning bolts!!
My first reaction was to throw up a little in my mouth. Then I started with a Google search for “storm lightning bolt nazis.” If you are interested in history and specifically WWI/II events, there’s a lot there. Apparently, there was an elite group of German soldiers who fought in WWI called Sturmabteilung - the "Storm Detachment." They called themselves Sturmtruppen or “Stormtroopers” (I believe I’ve heard that somewhere before, but I can’t put my mouse ears on it …). This group and the name predates the Nazi party by more than five years, though they became part of the political machine in the years leading up to WWII. I’m not going to regurgitate Wikipedia here, but you get the idea.
So what do I do?
Should I undo all the work I’ve done so far because there’s a negative historical context, in general terms, to some of my chosen symbols? None of the individual elements I’ve chosen resemble their tainted ancestors. The lightning bolts are different shapes, I used the English spelling of Storm, no where in Nazi imagery did they use books. I feel like I’m justified that my personal branding is so far removed from the message and atrocities of WWII that I should be okay. As we’ve previously mentioned, one of the most well known, family orientated brands in the whole world proudly uses Stormtroopers. Disney, and Lucas Films before them, have been able to take something that was born from hate and turn it into a cherished childhood toy - for kids of all ages. Now, I’m not saying I have the cultural power or influence of Star Wars, but I am saying that maybe how these symbols are used today and the messages behind them are at least equally important as the historical context. Taken as a whole, I believe that my logo and name do not specifically evoke hate or resemble the symbols and imagery used by people to promote hate.
After a lot of reflecting and discussing options with mentors, I have decided to stay the course. One off handed comment, though very well intentioned, isn’t enough to make me rethink my whole personal brand. Since I’m essentially branding myself as a new author, the logo and images are inextricably intertwined with me, as an individual.
Am I making a mistake? I don’t know. Maybe. Only time will tell.
