As many of you know, I really hate our logo. We've been struggling with it for a while, & this is what we have so far. Any thoughts? Feel free to be cruel.
Thanks always Felix
Posted by Mikes Mischeif (Member # 1744) on :
Hi Felix,
Nice design! If I was doing it, I would punch up the background color behind puerto rico. The gray is dull and blends in with the white horizon line. I'd go magenta. Drop a matching magenta pinstripe inside the oval to liven it up too.
Second, eliminate the blue/white wallpaper and change to solid. The stars are hanging there by themselves. The ones on the ends disappear altogether. Either tighten them up or hang them on a bar, or use a shadow landscape of a puerto rican landmark to tie the name of your company to the city, sort of like the letterville logo.
And last, those are some heavy shadows for the letter thickness, maybe soften those up just a little.
You're off to a great start.
Mike
[ June 13, 2007, 10:36 AM: Message edited by: Mikes Mischeif ]
Posted by Joe Sciury (Member # 4653) on :
Felix, start over in black & white. Bevels, drop shadows, transparencies and outlines don't make logos effective, only prettier. If you can't make this logo work in B&W then scrap it.....Just my .02 Posted by Mike Faig (Member # 6104) on :
Looks like you need to sharpen your pencil, put on some R&B, find your happy place, and start over.
Posted by W. R. Pickett (Member # 3842) on :
...I second what Joe said. ...That looks more like a sign design than a logo. Start by doing a version in black on white that is COPY ONLY without all of the borders, backgrounds, stripes, stars outlines and shadows. Start with the root 'essence', keep it legable and develop it from there. Imagine what it will look like printed in one color and tiny on a business card. Save all of your tricks for later. K.I.S.S.
Posted by Todd Gill (Member # 2569) on :
How about something like this?
Quickly legible with an island flair?
and a grayscale version:
[ June 13, 2007, 01:17 PM: Message edited by: Todd Gill ]
Posted by Ray Rheaume (Member # 3794) on :
Nice design, Todd! Simplistic in form, yet it has movement and depth...me like that one a lot!!!
Rapid
Posted by Felix Marcano (Member # 1833) on :
Thanks a ton guys. & Thanks Todd!
Posted by Felix Marcano (Member # 1833) on :
Hey Mike, Not R&B! Diana Krall! Spyro Gyra! Chambao! Bob Marley!
Actually, R&B doesn't sound bad either! Posted by George Perkins (Member # 156) on :
Boy, nice job Todd, I can even feel the breeze!
Posted by Laura Butler (Member # 1830) on :
You are so good Todd. Want to do one for me? Posted by Deri Russell (Member # 119) on :
I like Todd's design but I don't like the word Signs in yellow. Yes it suggests sun but against a white truck? I don't know. I have yellow on my lettering on my van and have regretted it ever since. What about blue (or blue blend) suggesting water?
Just my 1/2 cent.
Posted by Mike Faig (Member # 6104) on :
Todd, nice one. Got a iland feel, mon.
Felix, what color is your shop truck?
Spyrogyra? Why not Tangerine Dream, while you're at it? Posted by Todd Gill (Member # 2569) on :
Thank you everyone for the nice comments....
Deri - funny you should mention "yellow" because I mostly hate the color yellow myself....seemed like it might be bright and work well with greens here...but here's another version with the yellow tamed down. Of course it adds a fade which may or may not be desirable for a logo...
Posted by Felix Marcano (Member # 1833) on :
Tangerine Dream? What's that? Trance?
Todd, awesom-er!
Posted by Felix Marcano (Member # 1833) on :
Mike, the truck is red. I'm not real concerned about the truck right now, because I rarely use it nowadays. Really I'm trying to redo the website, to push dimensional signs.
Posted by Rene Giroux (Member # 4980) on :
Good Todd, try completing the oval and filling it with a sky like blue fading to nothing at the bottom.
Posted by Ray Rheaume (Member # 3794) on :
...or make the "swoop" a nice blue shade behind the lettering.
Just thinkin'... Rapid
Posted by Randy Campbell (Member # 2675) on :
One nice layout Todd.
Posted by Sonny Franks (Member # 588) on :
Todd, that's a swell layout - is there a way to get a vector file so we can all have a tweak party?
Posted by Rich Stebbing (Member # 368) on :
The stars may be important I would guess,...why not convex? it would create further depth. I would lower the word "signs" a bit, and maybe change internal color to white. The letter "I" in Puerto Rico looks like a "number 1", I would modify. Also double-check some of that spacing in PR. I really like that "g" in Signs. Mabe try and make the oval more like the dimesions of Todd's oval. OK , that's enough cruelty for now.
Posted by Ian Stewart-Koster (Member # 3500) on :
Good stuff, Todd! Felix, for academic purposes, here are some comments on your original design: Puerto- the TO needs to be kerned closer to Puer, as the neg space between R & T is a bit big, making it look a bit like PUER to RICO. The blue to brown photoshop horizon- I'd be putting the changeover under the middle of the panel, rather than the bottom quarter of the middle panel. The bluey outline around signs has inconsistant highlights- on one side it's welded with the puerto Rico panel border, but on the opposite edge of the esses (Ss), it follows the S downwards. "Signs"- maybe it's just me, but I'd prefer it if the slope of the script was a bit more, bringing the downstrokes to vertical. The backslope isn't harmonious IMHO. The uppercase S has the outline under the top hook filled in, while the lowercase s has a little hole there. These would be better if they were the same, I think. That font- kind of like clarendon on top & optima on the bottom- YUK! It can't make up its mind whether to be sans serif or serifed. The 'bells & whistles' with highlights etc as mentioned above won't help the design till it works on its own, but I do like the word Signs with the multiple outlines & colours. Why the bluey vertical corrugated iron background & why the stars in the varying colours- what's their significance? (My eyes tend to get drawn to the top star first of all...not good!)
Todd- nice how the R & the t join up!
Posted by Dale Flewelling (Member # 2577) on :
Todd, I think your on to something!!That looks professionally nice.Design simple & clean but stylish.Nice rythem with the palm and script lettering and then the main text "SIGNS" with a little "Punch"
Posted by Todd Gill (Member # 2569) on :
I am sending this file per Sonny's request to Sonny....and to Felix.....
Feel free to use it as is...or tweak it to your liking for posting purposes....have fun.... Anybody else wants it...give me a shout here.
I replaced the fades with solid colors for the email file because I know that CorelDraw doesn't like Adobe Illustrator fades...so you'll have to refade the "Signs" colors and leaf highlights if you want.
Edit: Oh, and by the way....I whipped this out so you'll see in the vector file that the borders and stuff between the leaf and the oval sweep aren't perfect and stuff like that.....remember this was just an idea to look at...not finished art
[ June 14, 2007, 05:30 PM: Message edited by: Todd Gill ]
Posted by Amy Brown (Member # 1963) on :
Todd,
What did you use to make the file? I really like the inlines in the different colors.
Nevermind. Just saw you used Illustrator. Man I wish I could fork out some bucks and learn that program.
Posted by Dave Sherby (Member # 698) on :
Amy, take a vacation up here in Upper Michigan and we'll train you. A vacation that you can write off.
Todd, sweet design. That's better than those $20,000 to $800,000 logos we've seen lately.
Posted by David Harding (Member # 108) on :
Tell you what, Felix. You can have this one for half price--$400,000!
Posted by Ian Stewart-Koster (Member # 3500) on :
put a swoosh on that, Dave, and you will be able to double your asking price!
Posted by Todd Gill (Member # 2569) on :
Amy - I did use Illustrator, but if you have CorelDraw you can do the same thing....and more, easier.
I've used both CorelDraw and Illustrator pretty extensively....well, I don't know everything for sure between the two of them it adds up to about 17 years I'd guess.
I use illustrator almost exclusively now...not totally by choice, but it's what I need to do.
Both Corel and Illustrator have their +'s and -'s.....but Coreldraw has so many handy and easy-to-use functions that you can do in a "click" whereas the same thing in illustrator will take multiple tool changes and several steps and/or a good memory at what I consider unecessary keyboard combos.
I do prefer illustrator's basic drawing style with their "pen" tool to that of Corel's......
But just wanted to let you know that there really isn't any advantage to owning Illustrator over CorelDraw especially if you already have Coreldraw....at least in my mind - and that comes from a guy that uses illustrator and photoshop everyday.
Dave - that's hillarious! You've got to be a fun guy to work with! Great sense of humor.
Posted by Amy Brown (Member # 1963) on :
How about a Corel step-by-step making the same thing?
I've been wanting to do exactly what you did in the lettering but can't figure it out. I just flat don't have time to learn right now. I barely have time to do quickie layouts.
Thanks for the heads up!!
Posted by Glenn Taylor (Member # 162) on :
Todd,
Your talent for logos is simply amazing. Nicely done!
.
Posted by Todd Gill (Member # 2569) on :
Amy....I'll do a step by step for you. It's very easy and takes just seconds....I'll post it by the end of the weekend - maybe today if I get time, ok?
Posted by Felix Marcano (Member # 1833) on :
Hey Thanks a ton to all. Todd, I may seriously buy this from you pretty much as is! I've about had it with this!
Thanks again! Felix
Posted by Todd Gill (Member # 2569) on :
Felix - you don't need to *buy* it from me....it's done, you can have it...use it in any way you want.
It makes me feel good that I could help someone, especially from here and especially from Puerto Rico! How cool is that?!
Have a good one.
Posted by Joe Sciury (Member # 4653) on :
Nice job Todd!....Simple but creative and legible too. Posted by Felix Marcano (Member # 1833) on :
Ok its official! After talking to Todd for a bit, we now have a logo!!!!
Posted by David Harding (Member # 108) on :
Felix, one last chance. We've added the swoosh Ian suggested and, as a value added bonus, a subliminal message for your clients.
You may have it today only as an internet special for $400,000. After that, it goes back up to the regular price of 800 grand.
Posted by Felix Marcano (Member # 1833) on :
Dave the thing is, that with that logo I'd get so busy I just couldn't keep up with production!!! I need something small business! Thanks anyway!
Posted by Doug Allan (Member # 2247) on :
Great job Todd. It's very cool to see that you will be using it Felix!
I sent Todd an IM with my immense praise of such a nice logo the day he posted it. Although it would have been mostly joking... I almost wrote that if Felix didn't want it.... um, I ... um, knew somebody...
...but then I decided it wouldn't sound like I was kidding... more like drooling... & besides, I pretty much had a hunch it was not just great, but it was just right too. Guess it was, or IS!
Posted by Dennis Raap (Member # 3632) on :
Cool design Todd Posted by Todd Gill (Member # 2569) on :
Thank you guys!
Posted by Talisman (Member # 1869) on :
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![[I Don t Know]](graemlins/dunno.gif)
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that's hillarious! You've got to be a fun guy to work with! Great sense of humor.
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