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This is a made up logo for a made up company. I figured I would get a little practice and critiquing before I start selling myself as a "real" Logo designer. I've just been sitting around designing these things in my spare time. Please post all the boo-boos so I will learn from them.
[ August 03, 2002, 02:02 PM: Message edited by: John Thompson ]
-------------------- John Thompson JTT Graphics "The big guy with a little sign shop!" Royston/Hartwell Georgia jtt101@hotmail.com Posts: 626 | From: Royston Georgia | Registered: Feb 2002
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Hey John, its cool that you are trying something new. Go for it! Now about your design . I could pick it apart but I think you need to take a step back and put more thought into your designs before you even start to draw. And perhaps even get a pencil out before you even sit at the puter. Some things to think about are
1) design in black and white before you add color (if it doesn't work in b/w it aint gonna work with color)
2) prioritize. What have there is actually a biz card design with a logo in it but for a logo you need to think about what is being sold and to whom in order to make an effective design.
3) Even a really nice looking logo may be ineffective if it is not suited to the clients customer base
There are so many more things to consider but start there. Get yourself some good design books and practice, practice, practice.
Oh, and have fun....
-------------------- Brian Stoddard Northwest Wholesale Signs
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Thats exactly what I want, expert opinions. That way I can figure out my boo-boos and learn what to do RIGHT before I start trying to sell 'em as "well designed" logos. Of course, where I am at, it probably wouldn't matter to a customer but it does to me. Also, Bruce pointed out and I didn't even notice it until he did, the big negative space in the upper rignt hand corner, just sortta sittin, there goin' blah! Thanks guys now some more.
-------------------- John Thompson JTT Graphics "The big guy with a little sign shop!" Royston/Hartwell Georgia jtt101@hotmail.com Posts: 626 | From: Royston Georgia | Registered: Feb 2002
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John; the greyscale issue can also be looked at this way: If the customer takes the LOGO to the newspaper for some adv. he wants to run, can the newspaper use it? They print in greyscale at less than 300 dpi. Some of the logos I've seen on this site look amazing but are useless for newsprint, so an alternate logo would then have to be designed. Would a customer want all that hassle? Some might want two logos, but they should be informed of that first, because the marketing they are going to do may have to be different, if they are forced into two logos. Also remeber that you will need to provide different types of exported files as different advertising places use different systems.
If they pay for the logo design, then they legally own that work, so they should have a CD burnt that for them which includes directories such as "Letter Head" which would include different sizes of .jpg's and tiffs, "Signs" which would be vector format, and so on. You also need to include the Panatone colors used so they can be duplicated the way you origonaly designed it.
Go for it!
-------------------- Brian Crothers CR Signs 1790 C Tamarac St. Campbell River B.C. V9W 3M6 briancrothers@crsigns.ca Posts: 82 | From: Campbell River B.C. Canada | Registered: Apr 2002
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I've just about finished Dan Anotellis "Logo Design for Small Business" and I have long liked the concept of a "one stop for all" shop as he describes in his book. Nobody near me does logo design or offers a service like that. I have been offering t-shirts and subbing out screen printed tees for my customers for a while, even before I got into signs, but I want to get the whole thing going because I have the business card thing, and I know I could sell letterheads also to a lot of my customers. Now I 've just got to get my designing down pat as far as the logos go. I did the greyscale thing and I see what you guys are talking about. Next 'un 'ill be better. Having never had any exposure to decent sign layout or design in my area (and I ain't kiddin', this is knock out sign world around me), I have to turn to you guys and the books to to learn
-------------------- John Thompson JTT Graphics "The big guy with a little sign shop!" Royston/Hartwell Georgia jtt101@hotmail.com Posts: 626 | From: Royston Georgia | Registered: Feb 2002
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Hey John, I wanted to suggest a couple of books for you to look at, "How to design Logos, Symbols and Icons" by Gregory Thomas, and "The Big Book of Logos" by David Carter. I like Dan's books and all his articles too, especially if you are just starting to provide this service. I design logos for medium to large businesses, where Identity is taken very seriously. It's difficult to convey that to a small business owner, but we should be providing "branding" services to our clients. I also subscribe to the leading graphic design magazines such as HOW, Print, Communication Arts, and Step by Step. I thing seeing how other designers do things is a big step in understanding how to do a better job for the client. As far as a crituque, try designing the logo first, with no phone number or tag, design in its simplest form, in black and white, your design should convey the stregths of the business it represents, if you have to descibe it too much then the logo needs more work, your logo looks too much like sign layout, picture the logo on letterhead, t-shirts, hats, brochures, and other business colateral, and most of all have fun! Rick
-------------------- Rick Chavez Hemet, CA Posts: 1539 | From: Hemet,CA U.S.A. | Registered: Jun 2001
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I just had to show you some of the stuff the guys in my area are producing as "logos". The top one is a design used by this company on everything they have inculding a dozen or so vehicles and their shirts and business cards. The graphic you see is an Edge print. Look at the tractors closely, they are drawn pretty good huh? The middle one is a comapany that had a shop make this up for use on their shirts, business cards and all of their vehicles, check out the guy real closely, they have this same layout on their vehicles magnetic signs in vinyl with 1-Shot coloration added. I am in the process of redoing all their stuff with the design on the bottom. I didn't charge them for designing it as a logo because I know I need improvement at it. You guys can go ahead and let me know what is wrong with the bottom one too. I try to learn by my own mistakes and you guys here are the best so let 'er rip.
[ August 03, 2002, 10:28 PM: Message edited by: John Thompson ]
-------------------- John Thompson JTT Graphics "The big guy with a little sign shop!" Royston/Hartwell Georgia jtt101@hotmail.com Posts: 626 | From: Royston Georgia | Registered: Feb 2002
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Yikes that upper stufF is bad! What an improvement! I sometimes forget how bad you guys have it, I remember now the times I had to reproduce that kind of bad work.....By the way, I think you should charge, it give the impression you are not adding anything of value, by not charging something for your time for such a big improvement. I think it looks good though your "Concrete Construction" looks a little overdone in alkl caps, but otherwise keep up the good work. Rick
-------------------- Rick Chavez Hemet, CA Posts: 1539 | From: Hemet,CA U.S.A. | Registered: Jun 2001
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![[Smile]](smile.gif)
. I could pick it apart but I think you need to take a step back and put more thought into your designs before you even start to draw. And perhaps even get a pencil out before you even sit at the puter. Some things to think about are 
![[Cool]](cool.gif)
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