custom searches 🔎 Alfred Custom Searches directory! 🆕

[Chris Messina]

After exploring @deanishe's great Searchio Workflow, @nikivi's Web Searches Workflow, and asking for tips on how to best share my many Custom Searches, I decided to launch a simple website with a listing of my Custom Searches, along with icons that I'm making for each one.

 

There are 57 searches so far, I have another 33 that I'm working on, and you can also submit your own suggestions! 

 

Would love to know if you find this valuable! 

 

Visit Alfred Custom Searches

 

 

[Chris Messina]

Update: There are now over 100 Custom Web Searches available!

 

I've also created 80+ custom icons for many of these searches, which you can get here.

 

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[Mgor]

Good job and thank you. It does the job and powerful.
Personally, It would be better if I could search in each mac app. 

[Chris Messina]

13 hours ago, Mgor said:

Personally, It would be better if I could search in each mac app

 

Hmm. Can you explain what you mean? Which Mac apps are you thinking of? For those that support custom URL handlers, this is possible — for example my custom search for Spotify or with my Twitter Toolkit.

[Chris Messina]

I've posted my custom web searches to Product Hunt if you'd like to check it out and offer some support! 

[vitor]

On 10/5/2020 at 7:10 PM, chris said:

I've also created 80+ custom icons for many of these searches, which you can get here.

 

You haven’t really created those, though; not really. You’ve grabbed existing logos, stuck them on a round container and are selling them, which might get you in legal trouble. It’s unlikely, but any brand would be within their right to send you a cease and desist and possibly ask for damages.

At least one of them can’t even be used on that version: according to Instagram’s brand guidelines (last time I checked them), the coloured logo can only be used when referring to the app itself in specific cases. Not that anyone follows that rule, and I’ve never heard of legal repercussions from that.

There are quite a few open-source projects that gather and distribute those same logos (and more) in vector format. They probably get a free pass because they’re generally target at developers and there’s no money exchange involved. You can’t say the same.

 

I’m not a lawyer, but I am a graphic designer who used to specialise in logo and brand design. My non-legal advice is that for $5, it’s probably wise to rethink selling those.

[Chris Messina]

4 hours ago, vitor said:

 

You haven’t really created those, though; not really. You’ve grabbed existing logos, stuck them on a round container and are selling them, which might get you in legal trouble. It’s unlikely, but any brand would be within their right to send you a cease and desist and possibly ask for damages.

...

 

I’m not a lawyer, but I am a graphic designer who used to specialise in logo and brand design. My non-legal advice is that for $5, it’s probably wise to rethink selling those.

 

Thanks for your feedback. I appreciate it, and I hear you.

 

For me, charging a small fee is really about recognizing the work that I put into assembling the logos and creating high quality versions, similar to how you have a Paypal link in your footer. While some of the icons and logos are available in public repositories, many are not, and I spent many hours combing the web to find vector versions or recreated them myself. 

 

Of course, if any brand would prefer that I remove them from the collection, I'd be more than happy to oblige; the intention is to make brands look good in Alfred searches that point to the associated web properties. I'm certainly not building apps using other people's logos and pretending that my app is made by them.

 

I also felt encouraged by the number of other icon sets that I've seen launch recently that take advantage of iOS's new custom icon capabilities. I've seen many of those sets sell for $15-20+ and are basically offering the same value as I am, with one designer claiming to have made six figures in six days. I don't believe I'll get rich (or barely break even given the time I put in) but I did want to experiment with charging for a digital good.

 

And to be clear, no, just because multiple parties may engage in infringement doesn't make it legit, but this gray area seems to be one that brands don't seem too bothered by, at least from what I can tell. But again, happy to remove any brand that doesn't want to be included in the set!

[vitor]

6 hours ago, chris said:

similar to how you have a Paypal link in your footer.

It isn’t similar. No one has to send me money to reap the benefits of my Workflows, and all the work put into them (including the icons) was indeed done by me or licensed appropriately. Legally and morally, I’m absolutely in the clear; there’s no grey area.

 

6 hours ago, chris said:

I've seen many of those sets sell for $15-20+ and are basically offering the same value as I am, with one designer claiming to have made six figures in six days.

Again, not the same at all. That designer is selling original icons they’ve put work into. That’s more value, not the same. They own the rights to their work and thus can sell it. Had they been selling icons owned by others, they would (very likely) have neither have made all that money nor been able to keep selling them.

 

6 hours ago, chris said:

this gray area seems to be one that brands don't seem too bothered by

 

It’s costly and possibly a PR nightmare to go after cases like this. Not doing it doesn’t mean they’re not bothered by it. If this didn’t bothered them they wouldn’t need public brand guidelines.

 

It’s your choice to sell those, I only wanted to make you aware of the risks.

 

But I will respectfully ask that you don’t compare this situation to others just because those also pertain to icons or have money involved. They’re not the same at all, and I hope you can see why. The quoted cases are the result of years of experience honing a craft, while sticking logos on a round container is a 30 minute scripting job or can be done with a pirated copy of Photoshop by a novice.

 

I want to be clear that I’m not saying you’re not providing some value with that set, you seem like a decent person and I wish you success. But I am asking you don’t use others’ apples to justify selling your oranges.

[Chris Messina]

5 hours ago, vitor said:

That designer is selling original icons they’ve put work into.

 

Surely that designer is also using glyphs that other people created? You're not suggesting he manually drew the Figma, Snapchat, and Twitter icons?

 

 

5 hours ago, vitor said:

It isn’t similar. No one has to send me money to reap the benefits of my Workflows, and all the work put into them (including the icons) was indeed done by me or licensed appropriately. Legally and morally, I’m absolutely in the clear; there’s no grey area.

 

 

I understand your distinction. I also don't charge for my Custom Web Searches, but I offer people to leave a tip if they feel inclined. I agree that that's more similar.

 

5 hours ago, vitor said:

The quoted cases are the result of years of experience honing a craft, while sticking logos on a round container is a 30 minute scripting job or can be done with a pirated copy of Photoshop by a novice.

 

Well, I wouldn't begin to suggest that I'm a talented designer, or a capable scripter. But I do know how much work I put into this project, and it was far more than 30 minutes.

 

 

My design skills may not produce a product that you think is worth paying for, but I still struggle to see how my work is any different than the many other examples I see of similar products being sold.

 

I appreciate that we disagree perhaps on moral grounds, or maybe on perception vs reality. So I understand a resolution you'd feel comfortable with: if I just didn't put a price tag on my icons, you wouldn't have an issue? Or is it something else?

[deanishe]

28 minutes ago, chris said:

you wouldn't have an issue?

 

He doesn't have an issue, as far as I can tell. He's just warning you that you're selling stuff you have no right to sell, and you could get into trouble over it.

[vitor]

1 minute ago, deanishe said:

He doesn't have an issue, as far as I can tell. He's just warning you that you're selling stuff you have no right to sell, and you could get into trouble over it.

 

Absolutely correct.

[Chris Messina]

Got it. Well, appreciate the warning as I understand you to be offering it in good faith and that you're just looking out for me! 

[benlim]

@Chris Messina did you discontinue this?

[Chris Messina]

2 hours ago, benlim said:

@Chris Messina did you discontinue this?

 

By "this", do you mean the icons, or the Custom Searches directory? If the latter, it seems that Pory is broken, but my Airtable is still available here. 

 

Do you have any suggestions?

Edited June 18 by Chris Messina