Good to see a layout set up for Portrait AND Landscape applications.

While the pictorial and font for the name are great recognition factors, will the service being provided be readable? On business cards, letterheads, etc. this is not a problem because the viewer has unlimited time to read the copy. However, if this were on the side of a van or sign panel and the viewer only had five seconds to read the entire message would they be able to tell what Keller does? Squint at this design from a distance and see if "Floor Maintenance" is readable.

In my opinion (and that's all that it is - an opinion), unless the company has been in business for a long time and the name is recognized as being closely tied to what they do (like McDonalds and hamburgers) the name should not receive more emphasis than the product or service. If I looked at this layout and had only five seconds to absorb the meaning, would I know what was being offered? My suggestion would be to give more emphasis to the service so that it was more balanced with the name.

Other than that opinion, I think you have done an outstanding job.

I've had this same conversation with Dan Antonelli (and a bunch of other people) but I'm not sure that I have really convinced anyone.

nice.

Here I thought I was going to get an “at-a-boy” from you since I eliminated the big, bold “PH. 717.555.1212” copy from the design. (inside joke from another board)

If I didn’t want to hear any comments, positive or negative, it would not have made it on the board. Fire away! I’m under the opinion that you usually have an opportunity to learn more when away from the choir than constantly with the choir.

I see the same thing you comment about plus some other issues as well. When doing the “squint” test the first thing I see is Keller’s thanks to the color contrast, then a pictorial element, and the last thing I see is Floor Maintenance. When looking at this design, at speed, what is it exactly that Keller’s do? And how do you get “Floor Maintenance” out of the pictorial? Good questions! So it may be aesthetically pleasing to the eye, for some, it does suffer functionality in situations as mentioned. Although it still wouldn’t correct the underlying issue, perhaps a more representative pictorial would aid in message delivery in time-limited circumstances.

quote:

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I’ve had this same conversation with Dan Antonelli (and a bunch of other people) but I'm not sure that I have really convinced anyone.

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After digitizing a few of my hand sketches into the idiot box, I started going away from emphasizing the service and putting attention towards the name. At that time I stopped and started thinking about those recent threads on the other board. A few minutes of reflection on past designs revealed that a higher percentage is skewed towards name emphasis instead of service emphasis. Why is it that I am in agreement with you, however, upon execution, I go away from that concept? Lazy? Undisciplined? Yes to both and more I’m sure! Something to work a little harder at in the new year.

Are we still friends? You bet! Anybody that is going to publicly state being a friend of mine has more to lose than I do.

Brian,

On the original layout, the reverse panel is centered on the Keller’s copy. On the landscape layout, it is offset to the left to help kill some of the water in pictorial, and in my opinion, leads the eye a bit better than if it were centered. It’s also positioned in such a fashion that the F in floor is below the K in Keller’s. I may or may not address it as I may just come up with a completely different concept before next week and the whole thing may become a mute point. Below are the centered and off centered version for review.

I like the layout you've done alot. BUt as Ray states, I think the secondary copy is understated.

By simply beefing up the face, I think you'd have it right on the money.

I kinda agree with Raymond about the type of business not being as legible as name. I stared at the 1st logo & was thinking it looked like something Gary Anderson would do. So I leafed thru his books & found one similar; but his design didn't exemplify type of business much better, even though he used bolder typestyle.

As far as legibility there must be contrast
between typestyles to be effective. So although you might want to make floor maintenance bolder, don't go too bold.

The only thing which I see that jumps out is the misaligned kerning between the "M A I" on maintenance.

When I glanced at it, my mental image was "fishing lodge". That's a great lake/forest/campground looking pictoral.

I never thought about floors.

But, and there's always that BUT, this is a logo out standing in its field. A field of white, on a page that is.

Put this thing on a side of a van (for example)with bold secondary copy (Floor STUFF!) and you've gotta winning combination.

I personally like iconic logos. I dont care for twisted text only as a logo. The only ones that ever really worked, were Coca-Cola and Ford. (the oldest trademarks still in use, respectively.)

Bert Quimby has a knack for doing a great job of balancing icon and text content as logos.

I wondered how a floor design would look in place of the mountain scene. Perhaps some other type of graphic would re-enforce the entire idea while keeping the layout the same?

BUT IT REALLY DOES LOOK GOOD!

Great work all.

[ December 27, 2001: Message edited by: Jerry Steward ]