posted
I posted about my new domain name last week... StickerShockGraphics.com
I'm not sure how much energy I want to invest in a parallel universe to my existing business Island Sign, but for the upcoming car show at least I might unveil this new sub-catagory of products/services to see if it draws any attention, so I want some kind of vehicle door sign or logo for the ocassion.
I played with some lettering for about an hour last Friday, called my wife to say I was coming home for dinner... & then couldn't tear myself away from wasting another hour on it... today I put another hour or 2 tweaking this & that & wanted to get some feedback at this point. The yellow background is because I want it to look good if I put it on my yellow truck for my booth at the car show.
I posted it at signs101 earlier & got some feedback over there. I have a preference at this point & it is not in line with the concensus. I am interested in any opinions & critiques. The more constructive the better... but I'll deal with destructive criticism as well.
posted
The way my mind works, or doesn't, depending on how you look at it, I think each design has problems reading quickly - especially those that have a different font on each of the three lines. I keep wanting "sticker" and "shock" to read quickly together, as a unit. I would personally emphasize it by putting the two words in the same font, color, and type treatment.
If I were to pick favorites from your list, I would choose the second design from the bottom on the right. I like the way the white lettering of Sticker reads so well, and I think the Shock would read better too if it were closer to white instead of orange. I do like the prismatic effect. I also like the color on the bottom left design, but would like to see Sticker in the same treatment as Shock.
Those were my two cents. Spend them as you see fit.
My mind wanders. And that's not a good thing, 'cause it's too small to be out there alone. Posts: 3129 | From: Tooele, UT | Registered: Mar 2005
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Jesus Doug, What Happened to Only 3 samples for a client.. Now you'll never make up your mind, so you'll never place your order then you'll cuss yourself out for not selling the job to yourself.. Its a viscous circle.
Ohh by the way I like row 2 #6 It seems to POP for me. I like the added blue
-------------------- Steve Eisenreich Dezine Signs PO BOX 6052 Stn Forces Cold Lake, Alberta T9M 2C5 Posts: 774 | From: Cold Lake | Registered: Mar 2000
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thanks for the feedback so far... gotta head home finally, but I did put a few new twists on one I liked, so might as well throw it out there too...
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I like Doug Phillips and the first one still. I am not a fan of the twisted shock in the background. But if you remove the background shocks it would be good the one with the Earth.
-------------------- Steve Eisenreich Dezine Signs PO BOX 6052 Stn Forces Cold Lake, Alberta T9M 2C5 Posts: 774 | From: Cold Lake | Registered: Mar 2000
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Less bells and whistles......make SITCKER and SHOCK the same size so you dont get asked 473 times a day what SHOCK is,no earth,gradient filled balls or spinning words that look like bird wings.....all too distracting and dont have anything to do with the subject ......if it was an animated flash graphic it would be one thing,but this is not the same audience youre going after with signs.....they posess zero sophistication,have no desire to be educated or appreciate design or be told whatthey need or any of that stuff.....your target audience has gone from people who may have common sense and taste to those who have 10% less than none and asking them to visually pick apart a design like that to figure out the order of the copy you may as well ask them to do advanced calculus. Just my $.18
-------------------- Gavin Chachere Plotter in the garage,New Orleans La.
"Sgts Shugart and Gordon again request permission to rope down to crash site two" Posts: 1223 | From: new orleans.la. | Registered: Mar 2000
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I agree with Gavin and Russ. Altho the public probably would go for "fancy" effects...less is more and also has more readability. Love....Jill (the orange on this needs to be neon) Posts: 8834 | From: Butler, PA, USA | Registered: Jan 2001
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I think Doug Phillips is on the right track, and Russ, as usual, has some great input.
Sticker and Shock should read as one thought, right?
I'm not big on putting gradients and bevels on every single element of a design. Mixing it up gives a feeling of variety. Example: if every element of a design is day-glo (yuk), the day-glo colors don't do much to emphasize the message of the design. My point is that you can't make an entire design "pop", or the whole thing fizzles.
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Doug, from what you've designed, I like the eighth line, right design, but not that particular script for the bottom line as the curves banana themselves in contrast to everything else.
Your last globe & wings design I do like- very 'logoey' but I'd make the word 'shock' have a heavier black outline to break it away from the globe a bit more, and sticker & graphics I'd like to see 20% taller, but the same length.
It's not easy making up your own mind, is it! It's too easy to be too picky, & prejudiced by personal biases which can easily cloud sensible judgement, when you do something for yourself. I've been told I'd hate myself if I were my own customer!
$0.03 (inflation)
edit to add that I agree with Zee !
[ July 12, 2005, 12:10 PM: Message edited by: Ian Stewart-Koster ]
-------------------- "Stewey" on chat
"...there are no limits when you aim for perfection..." Jonathan Livingston Seagull Posts: 7014 | From: Highgrove via Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia | Registered: Dec 2002
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Doug, ...Jill has the right approach, K.I.S.S (keep it simple stupid).
...Eliminate every unnecessary detail, and reduce it to it's bare elements. Then check how it would look if reduced to (say) 1'" tall. You may need to use it that small sometime. (Like on a business card.)
...If your truck is YELLOW, it could be good to include some "cool" colors (blues, greens) for contrast and color variety.
...Try to avoid throwing too many effects, tricks and extra details into it. (Like multiple outlines.) Remember, "Just because you can, doesn't mean you should".
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All these designs look cool and I bet they took a lot of time. Did you get carpel tunnel?
I really like that concept of movement on the fanned-out copy, but not too many outlines, and I also did'nt like it that the word 'sticker' was a different type.
Could'nt you use the convex lettering on both words with only one outline on the main copy and then if you want the background movement or the spinning 'echoing' of the word, make it sillouettes with varing shades of whatever colour.
-------------------- Signs Sweet Home Alabama
oneshot on chat
"Look like a girl, act like a lady, think like a man, work like a dog" Posts: 5758 | From: "Sweet Home" Alabama | Registered: Mar 2003
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Doug, we've emailed back and forth a bit about the digital printers and what you are going to do and I understand what you're trying to accomplish. A very simple logo isn't going to convey what type of designa are possible. I like them all but like the others said, kinda hard to read. Maybe if you muted the fanning wings into a ghost image, the words would pop a bit more. I know you'll decide on something killer.
-------------------- Dave Sherby "Sandman" SherWood Sign & Graphic Design Crystal Falls, MI 49920 906-875-6201 sherwoodsign@sbcglobal.net Posts: 5397 | From: Crystal Falls, MI USA | Registered: Apr 1999
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quote:Originally posted by Russ McMullin: ...I keep wanting "sticker" and "shock" to read quickly together, as a unit...
Russ, you are on the money there as are several other making that observation for me.
dangit, I just lost a paragraph & I'm too tired at 10:30pm to rewrite it... basically, Doug... AWESOME!!! Gavin... I'm a big fan of blunt truth... you use it well buddy! Thanks Jill, Stevo, Glenn... thank you all for getting involved & everyone else too!! I got heaps of inspiration to take back to the drawing board & play with this some more later in the week.
Stevo, even before you posted I decided I needed to check out your work again today... first time I've seen your website... Excellet site & just topnotch designs... no wonder folks who design circles around me still hire you to create for them as well... very inspirational (and a little intimidating )
Joey, yep... no match for paint, but full color at a buck a foot... it's a viable niche market for those of us without paintin' skills
posted
I do like Stevo's and Glen's logo but I am not to sure you want to simplify this Sticker Shock logo as was suggested. Don't you want to showcase that you can do some really cool stickers? That's why I would maybe add some more colors and gradients to Stevos design just to give it a little more punch. Or maybe make it more 3d in look.
-------------------- Steve Eisenreich Dezine Signs PO BOX 6052 Stn Forces Cold Lake, Alberta T9M 2C5 Posts: 774 | From: Cold Lake | Registered: Mar 2000
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I still say that the logo needs to be simple. Let the stickers speak for themselves. I'm sure that Doug will have thumbnails of em on the site.
Just because you can figger out how to add all the bells and whistles doesn't mean you have to. The design needs to be strong enuff on its own to stand in just black and white, in my humble opinion. Love....Jill
Posts: 8834 | From: Butler, PA, USA | Registered: Jan 2001
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Jill I know what you are saying but their is no reason why the sticker shock logo could have a full color version and a paired down Black and white version. I can not understand why he would ever NEED a black and white version? I still think Stevo's design needs more punch or in this case SHOCK. HAHAHA I know that he is going to have to make an outstanding website but this logo and business I thought was targeted at the web. So if that is the target he is going after he will need all the help he can use to grab the customers from the very second they see the logo. I truely believe that a web site needs a reason for a person to go back it is not like your neigbours business down the street that you are forced to drive by every day. Just try and go find a website that you liked but have not been back to for a long time. You could be searching for a long time trying to refind it. Jill in this case I think Doug should post on his website some of the other clean and simple designs to show that he is able to make any kind of graphics. Hows Stevo's website doing for him he has a great logo on his site with more going on should he simplify his logo?
-------------------- Steve Eisenreich Dezine Signs PO BOX 6052 Stn Forces Cold Lake, Alberta T9M 2C5 Posts: 774 | From: Cold Lake | Registered: Mar 2000
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Checking in again, stoked to see all the input, thinking I should clarify my intentions further for thos who may arrive or return to this thread.
I discovered a few years back that stickers have moved into the top spot in my sales totals, ahead of signs, & design work.
My "sticker" accounts are split between surf, skate, sail, & kite board manufacturers... followed by bumpersticker advertising, product labels, automotive "decoration" & young small business owners adding lines of hawaiian themed stickers for the tourist market.
I aquired the domain name Hawaiianstickers.com about 5 years ago. My sign business was too successful to ever take that where I thought it could go. A small sticker shop cropped up across the street (peeing Calvin's type of place) & registered Hawaiiandecals.com doing the same type of hawaiian flowers, fishhooks, sharks & turtles that tourists like & promoted that well enough to make little POP racks & get them in several shops around Maui. Their website grew to have many items & shopping cart e-commerce opportunities. IslandStickers.com has also shown up on the web & looks to be a serious player.
I am not that interested in Hawaiian stuff, or tourists. I like the sticker market that is already finding me & I think there is more of that market to tap into right here in Maui.
I thought the phrase sticker shock was "cool" & I thought a cool name, logo, & Basic website could help me attract more business of that nature. I also thought (a few months earlier) that having a booth at the car show could be good. I will have my new inkjet printer up & running by then, so this car show will tie in with the fact that I want to start some self promotion of the new capabilities (larger format, & more affordable short-term printing), & new ways to meet demand for existing products & services. I want to promote Island Sign at the show because I have a pretty good base, have been around a good while, & because, besides the custom car crowd, I expect some dads out their cruising the show with their kids will be regularguy business owners... contractors, shop owners etc.
So, anyway, the stickershock idea (yeah, I DO like the one word version & will be looking at that approach when returning to the drawing board) will NOT be limited to the car show crowd... will NOT be limited to internet marketing, & may never get off the ground as an e-commerce site, but as a division of Island Sign type of entity, I hope to draw additional attention to the sticker side of my existing business... maybe “brand” it a little bit as an individual entity, while also hoping to maintain a connection with Island Sign. I have no idea if that is a good marketing strategy, or if it breaks all the rules of good marketing ? ...but that is what popped in my head one day & I happened to like “StickerShock” enough in that instant to go online a.s.a.p. & pay $20 to “sit” on the backorder potential for stickershock.com which was taken, but not used... & $30 for a years registration of stickershockgraphics.com which I considered the next best thing.
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Steve, I don't think Jill intended for the final logo to be black and white. I think she meant the core design should read well in black and white, as well as color. If a design doesn't read well as a black and white image, it's usually relying too much on snappy color to carry an otherwise weak design. Designing in black and white first, and then moving to color can often result in stronger designs. That was how I understood Jill's post.
My mind wanders. And that's not a good thing, 'cause it's too small to be out there alone. Posts: 3129 | From: Tooele, UT | Registered: Mar 2005
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Hey everybody. Good stuff your sending Dougs way. I always wonder why the publications don't publish the typestyles in the description. It would generate interest, educate the newbies, and spike sales to those in our field producing these flashy fonts.
If you post, It would be cool if you mentioned the font style you used.
Now doug, hand me one of dem dar brewskis.
-------------------- Mike Duncan Lettercraft Signs Posts: 1328 | From: Centreville, VA | Registered: Oct 2000
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I am not trying to argue good design techniques with you guys. You have an awesome amount of expertise in design. I was just saying that Stevo’s design as it stands is very good. I just think it should now be jazzed up with more color etc.
-------------------- Steve Eisenreich Dezine Signs PO BOX 6052 Stn Forces Cold Lake, Alberta T9M 2C5 Posts: 774 | From: Cold Lake | Registered: Mar 2000
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My first thought when I opened up the thread and saw all your designs was, "how about doin the top or bottom, left or right corner of the word "sticker" curled up a bit so it looks like a sticker?"
My belief is that a strong black and white design is key. I loved Jill's design and really liked the subtle elements of Doug's design as well.
...you could do the subtle lightening storm in a purple / magenta-ish colored dot with neon green lightening with white centers and the copy over that...or not LOL
Well, you were going for shock value right? LOL
so, uhm, like, what shape was your dinner in when you finally let go of this and went home? LOL
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Yup, there is, but I never go there....however I do like their sign! SIMPLE and legible. It looks good any size or even in B&W. My point excactly! Love....Jill PS (I always holler at Stevo for getting too fancy too, if that helps)
Posts: 8834 | From: Butler, PA, USA | Registered: Jan 2001
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