I'll throw these into the ring:

Logo for my current place of employment.

One of those logos for a friend's when they come to you asking "I'm leaving the country on Friday and need to make business cards before then, can you make me a logo" deals.

Fair enough Darrel. I'll give you my last 3. I say, bring it on.

The first is a huge arts foundation in the NW.

The second is a quickie program logo for a design school whose mission is to get stagnated designers to get off their ass and polish their skills to be more marketable.

The third is actually my company's new identity. I'm not even supposed to show anyone yet, so please keep it quiet.

Discuss away.

Will someone help me put upload an image

Nice logos Darrel. I like the Minnesota Judicial Branch a lot. I like the Volta, except for the "Solutions" part looks a little odd.

Oh boy. I'm almost a pure lurker here, but I'm gonna go ahead and take the plunge. Please be gentle.

This is a logo I am working on for a friends father. He has a medical practice in Louisville, Colorado (Hence the mountains). I'm not really wild about it but it has been through a couple of revisions and the client is feeling positve about it. Medical logos are tough and it's hard to come up with something that's not cliche ridden... Blast away!

> Minn Judicial Branch

That looks like a Sockwell. I like the colors and the type, not sure how well it scales down.

> Volta Solutions

To gradienty, but strong. I like how the V relates to the inverted cone.

> Artsfund

I like it! Reminds of lendingtree.com. Just because of the leaf and colors. I really dig the half of the serifed A combined with the leaf.

> Suitcase thingie

Sorry Tan, reminds me a bit of VH1's.

> pop

Nice, simple, trendy in a good way. Good colors, Segura would be proud.

I post mine in a little bit.

Actually Tan, I really like pop's. It just goes... pop!. Very cool!

Thanks Armin. POP works well. I'm pretty happy w/ it. Damn if there aren't three harder letters to work with.

> Suitcase thingie

Sorry Tan, reminds me a bit of VH1's.

Yea, I know -- it's just ok. Plus, it's a straight rip of 2 Zeal icons. Hey, did it in less than 30. But Darrel said to post the good with the dogs. So...

How do I upload an image?

Darrell,

I definitely like the Minnesota logo, despite its Sockwellicity (he'll love that...). The Volta mark is alright. I tend to get violently ill anytime I see a logo with the word "Solutions" in it. Not your fault!

Tan,

Love ArtsFund and the Portfolio logo. That ArtsFund mark is the classic sort of logo that got me into design. I really dig the "pop" mark, but not as crazy about the type. It feels trendy and 70's - those detached p's get me every time.

Andy,

Please delete Rotis from your system now. You'll feel better. Also, I think there are too many elements in the logo - mountains, clouds, cross, a family. The style of the people is more international and iconic while the clouds are illustrative. Not sure they're gellin' together. I like the separation from the clouds to get 2 colors.

I'll post some of mine tonight. I can't wait for the brutality!

"Solutions" part looks a little odd.

Agreed. ;o)

Thanks for the comment on the courts logo. It's OK...certainly better than what they have (ie, nothing). It was the 'safest' of the bunch, which I suppose was an inevitable choice.

Tan...I really like the Artsfund logo. I don't 'get' the second logo. People still lug around big portfolio cases? ;o) ;o) ;o)

Andrew...sorry, I should have phrased that a bit better. You can't actually upload files. You need to link to files you have uploaded to another server (usually your own).

Andy...I think it's a great logo. I'd suggest a few things to maybe take it a bit further:

• Try making the people less iconified. The landscape seem much more organic...see if you can get the same feel in the peopole
• Maybe get rid of the people? I think it'd be nice without them. The ol' less-is-more comment.
• The type may be a bit small in comparison to teh mark, but I'm sure it all depends on where the logo is going

Dang. This isn't nearly as harsh as I was expecting people to be. ;o)

Andy -- the coal creek logo looks overly-complicated. Like the clouds (could be further simplified) and mountains, not so crazy about the figure sillouhettes. They seem incongruous and a little planted. Are there other ways to say "family" practice other than a literal family? A house, picket fence, small hands in large, etc. -- I dunno.

And if it matters, I read cross first, mountain scenery second, family third.

Darrel, like MJB a lot, hate Volta. But their name already kills it immediately for me -- anything w/ "solutions" is a no-win situation.

ooh! Tan's picket fence idea is a good one...

> I don't 'get' the second logo. People still lug around portfolios?

it's a walk sign. get it? get going w/ your career and move -- don't stand still.

you have to see it in context I guess. Ok, ok...it's not CA worthy I know.

Here are two of mine:

This one was for a client in Toronto that I was doing an advertisement for.
She didn't ask me for a logo - I quickly made one up and threw it in.

This one was for yet another Hebrew school based in Los Angeles.
Based on a fax of the architectural drawings of the proposed building.

I like Darrel's Judicial.
I like Tan's ARTSFUND.

The following logo is one I did as a concept just before I left my company: not sure what happened to it after that.

The client wanted something for a software program that would run on Mac OSX, OS9 and Windows, though the OSX was a big selling feature. The logo was primarily for the software application: He didn't think he'd be using it for print at all (though i did a simplified, 1 colour version just in case). I also made the mango as a 16x16 pixel icon, to make sure it worked. Oh, and the font is VERDANA! That's what they use in their software, so I decided to make it easy for them. Don't give me any shit about that.

The following logo was done for a new restaurant next door to its fancy parent restaurant, Lumiere (a Nobu's Next Door concept). When I asked the chef/owner whether this would be a place you'd take your mother to, or a place you'd go to party with the jetsetters, he said "both." The menu has a bit of High French from next door and a bit of low (the burger, and "Feenie's Weenie"). I did Lumiere's logo as well, and we wnated some affinity between the two, but differentiation as well (The "RF" is on both). I also knew they'd be embroidering this on things, so I went quite heavy rather than light. This is a custom logotype.

Some clarification here: do we post stuff that wasn't picked? Or just what the client bought?

Ooo...I love Lumiere's. But not one of those places you can afford to go to every week. But as to Feenie's, a period in place of a proper apostrophe? Tsk, tsk...risky territory w/ this crowd marian...

And one observation on the mango logo -- it says "mango", but I'm not sure it says "software" or anything else for that matter. Just an interesting, identifiable form.

This is fun people. But Darrel's right -- it's too polite. Where's Felix dammit?

Tan, your Artsfund is absolutely stunning. It's beautiful, and original and iconic. I like the quickie student thing as well.

I like Darrell's Judicial Branch ... Seems like maybe they're having a little tangled justice, there.

Andy, the only thing that I don't like about yours is the bubblehead people. It would be stronger without itand ... I just have a thing against bubbleheads. (Hmm.. just read others' comments and see that his has been said already.)

can anyone please help me post some stuff? ta.

Someone should let Nancy know about this. If she even cares that is...

I'll jump in and be ruthless.

Darrel:

Volta Solutions - I agree with Armin - I am not into the gradient. As well - I think the italic Solutions is too condensed or something is not working.

Tan:

The red guy in the portfolio - I don't like that sillhouette. His hips seem pointy.

Andy:

Coal Creek Family Medicine: too busy. Rotis Semi is a bit annoying.

Marian:

Mango is fun!

I like Feenie's as well. I like that it goes upwards. It's hip. :) I do agree that maybe the single quotation could have had a small point at the bottom. It's nice that you made the font yourself.

You have to put it up the image on your own server or a free web hosting server.

You simply link to that location from here.

If you want me to post it on my server - email me the logo/s and I will email you the link.

But as to Feenie's, a period in place of a proper apostrophe?

That's not a period, it's the dot of the i. (Heh heh) Bring it on, I love my square-dot apostrophe.

And in defense of the Mango, the client had a really targeted audience and a direct line of selling to them. Like, he wouldn't be advertising or marketing this in any way other than word-of mouth and contacting the people he and his business partner knew. It was kindof a spin-off product, and he didn't want it to say "software" because he said they'd already know that. It was a pretty small target audience.

OK, well I won't get real impolite, but I think The Volta Solutions is utterly reVOLTAing. Sorry, but that gradated cone is not a logo, it's a gradated cone. I just really hate gradations in logos, it makes them impossible to work with in so many applications (I think of struggling with the duMaurier logo as sponsors for arts orgs). The "solutions" part looks as though it was tacked on by someone after the fact, who thinks "we need it to be energetic and forward-looking, so make it sans, all caps italic." I like the "volta" part but it looks familiar: ie not unique.

And Tan, I'm so sorry, but I don't really care for "pop". It's not bad, it just has no distinct personality of its own. it looks like an offshoot of "Wallpaper."

Thank you, your comments are all helpful. Where do I sign up for the 12 step anti-Rotis self help group?

Yitz, I like your EMEK design, has a very Frank Lloyd Wright feel. Hope it looks OK small...

it's a walk sign. get it?

Oh, I got it...it was just a weak (and failed, apparently) attempt at humour. I long gave up the portfolio and still find it a bit odd that people lug those things around. ;o)

Some clarification here: do we post stuff that wasn't picked? Or just what the client bought?

I was envisioning that you'd just pull out the last few you did, so we could have a mix of both the good and the bad (due to clients getting in the way, of course...it's never *our* fault...)

And thanks for the comments on the Volta...THAT is the kind of smackdown I was looking for ;o)

The "solutions" part looks as though it was tacked on by someone after the fact

It was. ;o) I had a version sans the 'solutions' that I liked better, but they wanted solutions and time was short, so there it is.

BTW, Yitz: I love your site!

I don't do much logo work but I recently did this one for a fun local event.

Hack it up.

Ok. Going to be brave here. I will throw in my own personal logo that I am working on right now. It is very much still in progress and I haven't worked out what I want to do with the type treatment below.

I like the iconic portion of it, but not the typography below. Guess this was supposed to only be for finished logos.?!. Oh well.

Steve,

There's something unbalanced about the letterforms in the icon. The spaces are all equal until the top of the 'd' pops up. Is it supposed to be making a face? I know you said the accompanying type was unfinished. I think it should also be more reflective of the geometry in the icon. The lowercase 'l' especially is a disconnect for me.

Jesse,

Cows in space kick ass.

My latest:

geek - My own logo, personal and business use.

eye contact - For friends' new optometry business. Never used, but payed for, they still work at LensCrafters.

"BTW, Yitz: I love your site!"

Thanks Darrel! Your site is down...

This site rocks!

Here are my three latest. Sadly, the latest one did not get chosen by the client, but I still like it.

It's kinda weird, it's for two schools/day care centers that operate under the same management. One is for toddlers (brill beginnings) up to 3 years old and the other one (renaissance) is for 3 up to 12 yrs old. Anyhoo, I wanted to do a logo that changed, so the little kid on top would be different in each application. I would have printed the business cards four up, and have a different kid on each one.

Next one, I showed it in the Guess thread a few weeks back. For some sort of girly spa. I had to use three hearts and the colors were forced on me.

And lastly, a logo for a friend. Web development company. I built it so it could be "deconstructed" in various ways and still say "Red One" all the time.

Hack it up.

What's to hack? It's a cow. On a rocket. In space.

It's perfect!

The Baby New Year piece was one of the worst experiences i've had in recent times. Originally we went to the client with conceptual type treatments. Client came back with, "i want a baby running at 45 degree angle." We came back with revised great type work and some babies and the client continued to want more babies. Four rounds later and i was making minimum wage. At the end of the day i had to fight to not draw Yosimite Sam at an angle. As the firm that i was working with included a number of now friends, i couldn't walk away from the job.

the fish was for a proposal to redesign the Georgia Aquatic Park. the client was packaging the deal as "Worlds of Water" and wanted something family oriented. To my knowledge it never went further than the entertainment middleman that hired us.

it's funny to me that these are both illustrative solutions because the illustration work i do isn't line oriented and most of the logo work i do is very word/mark related.

anyway... these are the last two logo jobs. have at it.

Here is my company's new identity. Gulp. What do y'all think?

Quick smackdown from me - while I dig around for the last logo I did.

1. I feel the cone thing is a bit of a stretch trying to be a strong mark. Something very Adobe Dimensions-esque of that time and era too.

2. I thought pop was great 'cause it did sort of 'pop' but it is a tad bland - without seeing it within the system it looks like it might be.

3. There's some really lovely stuff being shown up here. Some stuff reminds me of other things I've seen. I like your schools logo stuff Armin - but for me, it strays dangerously close to the Pottery Barn Kids concept of having different kids and shit - i know the colors and stuff are different, it just reminded me is all... (which is not a bad thing here -)

Oh and then there's the similarity between Yitz's website and another sort of known illustrator. Sorry but it was too close to not mention it.

Steve, maybe I'm missing the point but I'm not keen on the round typeface with the angular icon.

Armin I LOVE that baby/girl thing, though I wonder how much they are enhanced by being seen all together like that.

I suck at logos. Take my criticism for what it's worth.

beautiful ID for Renaissance Armin. Just masterful...

but -- now I'm not saying this is bad or anything -- it really does remind me of Pottern Barn Kids stuff.

But they didn't invent kid silhouettes either. Good stuff.

Soulutions. Wuss. Nuff said.

Red One -- I like it enough, but at first glance, it read "Redone" Technologies. Maybe the weights could've contrasted more. I'm being picky.

Yitz -- the Latner logo is nice. The style of the silhouettes (using that word a lot) match the serifs of the logotype. Very nice.

And thanks for all the good stuff about ArtsFund. I got lucky.

heck, i'm not really a logo designer (some would say i'm no designer at all ;-) ), but...here goes

First off, I LOVE this thread. About time.

Dave - that's... what is it? I like minimal, but I don't see how it will invoke the word "form" without being directly in the vicinity. Of course, Nike probably took some time too :)

Favorite so far is Darrel' Artsfund logo, very schmooove. But I'll stop critiquing because I have nothing worthy enough to put here.

Andy - WORD UP LOUISVILLE, CO! (why do I insist on blogging like a punk kid?) I live on McCaslin Blvd, right by the Coal Creek suburia hell. I would enjoy driving past that logo, it's pleasant, and not too niche. Well done.

> Damien: I like your schools logo stuff Armin - but for me, it strays dangerously close to the Pottery Barn Kids concept of having different kids and shit - i know the colors and stuff are different, it just reminded me is all... (which is not a bad thing here -)

> Me: but -- now I'm not saying this is bad or anything -- it really does remind me of Pottern Barn Kids stuff.

Damien and I are actually the same person. I thought you'd guys would like to know that. I just throw on a fake accent when I'm him.

My favorites so far are ARTSFUND and Brilliant/Renaissance. Although, I do think Brilliant/Renaissance needs tweaking when it is scaled down.

>Damien and I are actually the same person.

and when we disagree its just Tan's personality disorders getting all out of hand again.

not mine.

>it really does remind me of Pottern Barn Kids stuff.

Yeah you are all right, I completely forgot about the pottery barn kids thing. They have lamps and toys right? Yes, too close. Not intentional though.

>Red One -- I like it enough, but at first glance, it read "Redone" Technologies.

crap! I posted the original version. I got the exact same complaint. Here is the latest version. Swear to God I didn't just create this right now.

>Although, I do think Brilliant/Renaissance needs tweaking when it is scaled down.

True. Since it didn't get picked I never fully developed it.

Armin -- much better. Not CA better, but better.

For a new communications firm. The only guideline was that it had to be 2 colors.

good catch damien - my site is way overdue for an overhaul - I liked the simplicity of Craig Fraziers site at the time... redhanded

good catch damien - my site is way overdue for an overhaul - I liked the simplicity of Craig Fraziers site at the time... redhanded

OK, my 2�. I haven't read all comments, and it's just as well if I'm repeating others. If two people see the same thing, it's not personal.

Minn. Judicial: Looks nice. Makes me think the scales are broken, though.

Volta: Like the first word. Hate the rest.

ArtsFund: Nice! Wouldn't change a thing. I'm sick of Trajan, but it works.

Portfolio: Love it! Except the figures could be drawn little nicer.

pop: Fun. Clean. It pops.

Coal Creek: Needs simplification. Esp. clouds. And lose the Rotis.

Hebrew School: Both are nice. but the building deems a bit busy.

Mango: Colors are spot on.

Feenie's: Nice, unique typographic solution.

Space Cow: Cute. What was the name?

lyons: Letters are starting to make a face. Not necessarily bad (see UV below).

eye contact: Nice Name. Logo is a tad clunky, particularly the "eye"

Brilliant beginnings: Very nice. Love the rotating mark. Reminds me of Pottery Barn in last year's 365.

Soulutons: Nice. Seems appropriate to the subject. In a cliché sort of way.

RedOne: I like it. Do they separate it into two words when typesetting? Almost could be Redone.

Okay, my most recent three. Not my best lately, but hash away. I could go into justification for each, but I think I've typed enough for now.

My logo. Yes, it's a pixel font. Got a problem with that?

For a friend's group. Heart and Liberty crown dictated. If you saw what they started with you'd understand. Yes, a new website is on the way.

Originally done for a poster as a pro bono for my biggest client's temple. Then they made it their logo.

Eric -- worlds of water looks very Japanese for some reason. I like the iconography of it. Not crazy about the baby one. Nice illustration, but so-so logo.

Adrian -- geek logo: the stroke weight of the star should visually match the type. It doesn't quite right now.

Steven -- the monogram has potential, but the interaction of the letters could use further studies. There's some hierarchy, but it could be clearer.

Veen -- I read 2 H's, a yellow lowercase one, and a black capital one. Why? Are there 2 owners, both named Hinton? The fit of the letters could be refined further -- there are some fit issues, as well as form issues. I'd also lose the thin yellow rule -- it serves little purpose.

Ok, gotta get back to work. Have fun critting mes enfants.

Got a problem with that?

I don't, but I've found lay-people do.

My current (and way out-of-date) logo is a bitmapped face and every other person I show it too always says 'it looks like your fonts are corrupt'.

Ugh. Lesson learned.

I am surprised at the amount of hebrew logos in here. It mainly freaks me out because I can read what they say. I guess I didn't forget all of my education.

Darrel, didn't you have a cow logo too? Something about software and yellow?

>Armin -- much better. Not CA better, but better.

It's VH1 better.

Patrick, I really like the Polyamorous icon, the type treatment does not do it justice. Something more spicy maybe... something Chasey?

I love well implemented bitmap font logos. Can't say I have seen many. Atomic Media pulls it off beautifully in web and in print.

Tan, thanks for the feedback. I'm not happy with the baby at all. Completely strong-armed by the client. I would have pushed for a Windsor MacKay vibe at the least if illustrating the concept was even the best way to go. in my opinion, not.

This being the "last two logos" i thought it better to be honest about my bad days rather than dig through my portfolio for stuff i liked.

Marian, I really dig your mango logo. Like Tan, I think it doesn't say software — but it looks pretty darn cool. It's a very interesting depiction of a mango. Man, a mango right about now would be awesome.

Well, this is somewhat intimidating. Great work all over the place.

Darrel: Love the first one. Not sure about the 3D cone on the Volta logo. Wouldn't it work better in a flatter form?

Tan: I mistook the Stop sign for a briefcase at first glance too. I think it's the lack of round corners to separate the main black areas.

Armin: Loved all of those. What font is that on the "soulutions" one?

Patrick: Great idea. Wouldn't that work better with a sans-serif font?

Ok. Here's what I made for my personal site. Sorry for the lack of contrast, but I don't have an original at hand. Copy pasted it from a screenshot of my site. (you can see it at http://overcaffeinated.net ) I'd appreciate any critiques on this. I know only the bare minimum of logo design (or any kind of graphic design for that matter).

> Tan: I mistook the Stop sign for a briefcase at first glance too.

It's a portfolio (not a briefcase) and a walk sign. Thus, the metaphor for an art school.

ok, I'm starting to feel like nancy...

> What font is that on the "soulutions" one?

Filosofia! Couldn't live without it. Univers Condensed to complement it.

>Patrick, I really like the Polyamorous icon, the type treatment does not do it justice. Something more spicy maybe... something Chasey?

I've never been a big fan of Ms. Chase. She's done some great marks, but I'm always put off by someone who injects too much of their own style into identity work. Style (as well as content) should match the client. Besides, her style would be too aggressive in tone for such a friendly group.

>Great idea. Wouldn't that work better with a sans-serif font?

It's kinda odd to judge my logo on it's own, 'cause it's actually part of a fluid system. Built on above-mentioned pixel font and Mrs Eaves. Not-so-subtly mentioning that I do design for both print and interactive, without spelling it out. My logo is only used as a small stamp on the back of business cards, letterhead, and the like. See business card thread. I've always loved juxtaposing seemingly incongrous typefaces. Not sure it's the right pixel font, but I'm happy enough with it.

>It's a portfolio (not a briefcase) and a walk sign

Tan, for what it's worth, I saw it right off, and thought it was a great, clever idea. A touch of clean up / refinement and it'd be my favorite here.

>Filosofia! Couldn't live without it. Univers Condensed to complement it.

The Filosophia works well. I'm not sure about the Univers, though. Seems a little weak. And feels too new/modern/bland against the bodoni/old type inspired filosophia.

Oh, too much! Great thread but i can't keep up.

I LOVE eric's worlds of water. Not sure why, just cause it's so lively and original and simple. It says kids and fish and fun to me.

I like the Ultravirgo logo thingy even though I know I've seen things like it before.

the type for Lyons design is just not the right face. The most interesting thing is happening in the lower left corner, and there's some positive/negative space there that is worth exploring.

I like the testicles in the girly-thing Soulutions (heh heh heh), but the sans seems out of place.

I have mixed feelings about Polyamorous NYC. I like the graphic, but the type is really bothering me. I think it just lacks cohesion. I dunno. Maybe not. Maybe I like it. Not sure. OK I like it. It looks sexual, which I presume is the point.

I agree about the weight of the star in geek, but there's something about this logo that I like. Simplicity, probably.

Swear to God I didn't just create this right now.

Hahahaha! Nice Armin!

As for the Brilliant/Rennaissance, I really like these, but I haven't seen the Pottery Barn thing so I'm not tainted by that. They both give a feel of educational standards and happy kids. Dignified feel-good.

IMHO, the Temple Emanuel is a graphic that should not have been adopted as a logo. Too much detail which will disappear at sall sizes and low resolutions.

The 2 H's of Hinton is the kind of thing I would've played with. I can never resist fitting letters together, at least initially. Most of them, however don't make it past the concept stage because of a forced awkwardness, which is what I think this one suffers from.

Logo overload ...

Okay, I'll participate. This is the last logo I did for a massage therapy clinic here in Seattle.

A logo for an online community consultant. You know, where people come together and talk about their, common, craft, like uh, here.

> various ways and still say "Red One" all the time

In those deconstructions it does not look like "red one" to me, it looks like one one, or eleven, or oh one.

I like the polyamorous logo- I like the feel of it, feels like a polygamist would just love it... along with maybe a few other logos.

The Arts Fund logo is terribly nice, have they started using that? I swear I have seen it around town.

Minnesota judicial branch - Is that line supposed to make the state of Minnesota or is it supposed to mean that justice is crooked?

I like the Brilliant/Ren. stuff PB be damned, soft, schooly and subtle with that old time feel.

Jon and Darrel, thanks!

Patrick, it was for a joint state ag research and Extension initiative for a farm science review and county fair. The theme was 'Heading to the Future' (cheesy, sure . . . but you work with what you're given) and was supposed to appeal to everyone from kids to legislators. They wanted something fun that would work on t-shirts, frisbees, printed matter, anything really. There's a variation of the logo in three colors as well. We generally try to stay away from the 'cows and plows' perception of ag research and focus instead on the high-tech end of things, but I felt this sort of retro approach worked this time. We've had a good public response from it.

Thanks for the comments.

>In those deconstructions it does not look like "red one" to me, it looks like one one, or eleven, or oh one.

Look closer, real close...

ah! Who am I kidding? I didn't pull it off so well. You know? Logos for friends ain't the same.

>an online community

What a ludicrous idea!

> have they started using that? I swear I have seen it around town.

again, thanks. Yes, they've started using it already. Some big ads announcing their rebrand in the newspaper, and it's slowly getting introduced everywhere. If you've been to a Seattle museum or the symphony, opera, or any public theater -- chances are, you might have seen it on a poster or program, etc.

Patrick -- I like the illustrated mark in Poly, and like the type interaction. But the juxtaposition of both elements takes away focus from either. It might be a scale thing, it might be a simplicity thing. It might be just me thing.

Kris -- I like the logo's form. Very strong. It says Olympic and mountain, but I don't see the massage and therapy part.

Anthony -- I like the way you combined the m's. Not sure about the backwards c though. I know they're supposed to look like mouths, but I think you're adding too many metaphors. The speech bubbles and melded m's are probably enough.

And sorry Armin -- Filosophia is one of my least favorite fonts. That unicase is a bit too cute for my taste. It's also AIGA's corp font, not that it's relevant.

> I like the testicles in the girly-thing Soulutions

hahaha.....(Ding! -- chalk one for marian) I feel wrong just pasting that word down. Please refer to them as 'acorns' or 'man-berries' from now on.

Come' on folks. Let's see some more logos...

Wow...too much to keep up, indeed. The recent few that caught my eye:

EyeContact: Prime example of why logos need to be worked out in black and white. I think the form would be much stronger if the negative and positive spaces formed the e/c combo. Nice eye-dea, though.

Renaissance: Yep, saw the Pottery Barns reference too, but still like the idea and the execution. I'm dying to pull off one of these multi-logos one of these days.

Olympic Massage: I'm afraid of these masseuses! Is that my spine broken in that logo? ;-) Great form and a nice strong visual mark, though.

Worlds of Water: Something about that splooshy fish...I love it.

Ok, I'm off to get a few recent marks and post 'em.

Since I'm one of the evil Logoworks underlings, I guess I have to represent. ::grins::

Much like a Baby'R'Us, but a little older.

Program developed for data analytics... can't remember for the life of the me the details!

As I was putting some .jpgs together, I realized that what I was going to show hasn't launched yet, so it's not good form to post it. Maybe in a few weeks.

So I had to dig a bit and come up with something. The first is not really a logo, per se, but what I've been using as my identity system. I don't use them all together, just one 's' per piece (envelope, invoice, etc.). I usually ink them with some red speedball and then handpress the wood letters. It's paired with some professional Scala and ScalaSans.

The second is a logo that wasn't selected. Ginnie Mae is a government agency that guarantees mortgage-backed securities, ensuring that low-income families can get a mortgage. I was pretty happy with the mark. Oh well.

su and i are currently working on:

branimira is a fashion designer (duh). the stacking and forced illegibility goes one level deeper with each collection title, but i'll wait for the site to go live to show that off.

we're breaking the letterforms to pay homage her eastern european background, and the precious/contained nature of the logos reflects the ritual in her clothing (she does lots of victorian-inspired gowns with hand-boned corsetry).

Sam, is it me, or does that bonsai tree have shifty eye?

PK, I really love the linking leg of the 'R'. Great device. And that illegibility is a nice trick, really. Once you actually attempt to read the letters, it is completely legible. Is the secondary face Priori?

precision obsessed eastcoast house dj

anagram for artist, to stamp his paintings

a program where the logo is dictated by the number of users in the company's outlets and the position geographicly of these outlets .. company name organic

icon/logo for network of 12 artists

skateboarding contest where the logo copy "scandinavis open 2003" is always in the company of a headline or notice or signage information and always in differently formed typo"graphic" trees

identity mark for a magazine portraying the inhabitants and users of the "freezone" of christiania in copnehagen denmark a section of the city taken over by "hippies" in the early seventies

hahaha...I love it. First comes man-berries as hearts, and now a shifty-eyed bonsai.

Isn't it amazing how you can totally not see something that's immediately obvious to other people in a logo? And once you see it, there ain't no going back either.

But Sam -- I really like both of your logos. Your type is very old-school traditional and well done. All kidding aside, the tree could be simplified just a wee bit.

Jon -- strong logo for Ginnie Mae. Like it. But let me guess, they wanted something warmer and less financial looking, right?

they wanted something warmer and less financial looking, right?

Ha! Their main concern was to communicate that they were government-backed. That's a major source of financial protection for anyone who loans money through their programs. If the homeowner defaults, the mortgage still gets paid. So my logo was not right for that. I don't really mind the mark they chose. It fits them. And it's not a standard-issue government seal.

I'd post logos I've done except I never did any. I'll be happy to post my annual reports though...

love mango, hate volta, bonsai is cool, i'd probably hire zander, coal creek makes me want to join a church, commoncraft makes me dream of dot.coms

here some:

these guys represent directors for commercials etc.

ad agency with clients in real estate.

promotional thing for prop-house that specializes in high tech, modern and futuristic props.

rip!

Heheh! Judging from the business's site and thought processes, the shifty eyes may have been my subconscious leaking. Much love for the compliments, tho'!

I actually thought about the whole complexity issue, as well. It's not painfully apparent in the jpeg, but all points in the composition are sharp (except the tree limbs), so it sized and printed pretty well. The end result had a thicker mountain, I believe.

The diversity of this thread is impressive! This will make for a read at work. ::shifty eyes::

OK, Zander, we get it: king of logos, no need to post it twice. (Just kidding). Really though, I love your logos, even that weird petri dish thing. (But not the constructivist type thing: that's not a logo it's constructivist type). The implicit is just ... just ... spectacularly implicit. And I love the artist anagram, and the 12 artists which is sortof an anagram of the "CBC pizza" from up here in Canada. What typeface is Ploygonen? It is beeeutiful.

I like Branamira graphically but it so doesn't say victorian-inspired gowns with hand-boned corsetry to me. It says Jill Sander with a whip.

I really like that Dreamshop logo. I don't even mind the type, which is kindof predictable. It's very comforting, all 'round.

I think the Olympic logo has too much emphasis on Olympic and not enough on Massage. It is a good strong mark but OUCH don't touch me!

I like the illustrated mark in Poly, and like the type interaction. But the juxtaposition of both elements takes away focus from either. It might be a scale thing, it might be a simplicity thing. It might be just me thing.

I think Tan came close to articulating what I was unsuccessfuly trying to say myself about the Polyamorous. I wondered if it was a scale thing; I also wondered if was an alignment thing. I like the various elements but there is something wrong with that logo. Or maybe there's something wrong with me and Tan.

Sorry ps, but Hi-mech: that's not a logo, that's a russian poster.

Goodnight.

Isn't it amazing how you can totally not see something that's immediately obvious to other people in a logo? And once you see it, there ain't no going back either.

This is why logo work is, in my opinion, the hardest of design work. I call it the Rorschach Test of design, because people always see this weird shit, and once they've seen it, you're done for.

"I see worms."

"Where?"

"Right there, that shape looks kindof like a worm going through a guy's head."

"..."

Y'know what I mean? And the other thing that makes it really hard is that if your client is more than one person, then they start having conflicting Rorschach responses which also can lead into conflicting visions about what their company is about. Man o man. I hate logo work.

Goodnight. Really.

Hmmm, last logo works.

Logo for a software developer in the bank sector, called BankPartner:

Logo for a web software distributor, load777.com:

And a logo for a company in the postpress industry, surprisingly named PostPress...

For my illustration rep:

Self-explanatory; they still haven't used it.

Document storage company; I really hate this one.

thanks for the kind words marian, and sorry for posting twice and adding horizontal scroll, my luck ..

the polygonen typeface is called mendoza, done 1991 by jose mendoza de ameyda from paris, somewhat tougher than most serif typeface, it fitted christiania perfectly being sorta different, with a couple of very distinct features, an overall sturdyness, humanistic and passionate... oh i luv it to pieces..

hey andy. i like your coal creek logo.

For a local independent theatre, let me qualify this one by saying the interlocking 3s are the shape of the building:

For a friend:

For a law firm, collaboration with Mr. McGee:

Zander...dude...1 or 2 samples...and no need to bold everything. Nice stuff, though. ;o)

I like the postpress illustration. I think the Headset logo is nice, albeit a bit dated (seemed like a popular style in the mid-90's).

The law firm logo. Is there a law out their where every law firm has to be a simple set of initial caps of the board members' names? Don't get me wrong...it's a nice logo, I've just never seen a very original logo for a law firm. (Not that I should talk when I used the most overused iconography in the field with the scales in the MJB logo...)

Logo for upcoming blog hosting software:

OK... Um... don't kill me. I'm not much of a logo person, but here are a few I've done.

This is a fake logo I made while I was in school.

Proposed logo for Magna Audio Visual -- tried to use that DVD "surround sound" image thingy and make it look like an "M"

Safewatch Security logo I whipped up 'cause they wanted a logo... like... NOW. Don't you hate rushed jobs?

Ahem... *hides*

Oh! And here's what Magna semi-decided on:

I still will have to make mini variations, but he seems set and liked how the wave thing looked.

I like Branamira graphically but it so doesn't say victorian-inspired gowns with hand-boned corsetry to me. It says Jill Sander with a whip.

that works.

brani's young, and her victorian work is probably going to be a starting point for other, less specific collections...so we definitely wanted it to have room for other connotations.

jonsel: yes, it's priori. we're usuing various barnbrook pieces for all her secondary and tertiary typographic works. currently also using melancholia, infidel, and false idol. it's kind of a joke: barnbrook's mason always gets used (terribly) for goth-eek work, so we wanted to stay in the genre...but make something not-ugly.

bob: what's the reasoning behind such nasty typographic forms for the 3B?

I just finished rebranding Morey Bodyboards.

What do you think?

Wow. I have not done any "real" logos for a while. So here are two I have done for work.

The first, is a logo that graces the "Splash" page of the realbenefits.org members area. Each state that we support has this type of logo..outline of state with the same colors and typeface (Trebuchet) - this is the most recent.

The second is the "re-do" of the awful company logo that I was asked to re-create when I first started here - still not ideal, I had some better ideas...but this is what they went with.

Attack away... maybe I will put some of "mine" (fully created and decided upon by me) when I get home...if your lucky! :) :P

Link to em!!

Well, that's our logo. What do you think?

Okay, so I'm coming late to the party, I know. While trying to put this on my server I crashed it, and couldn't start it back up until I got home.

Anyhow, there's some awesome work on here. Mango rules me. Artsfund is awesome (although, Tan, doesn't Alki Bakery do something similar? You should sue them). Armin, all three of your pieces are gorgie, I love 'em all. Worlds of Water - that fish is so nicely rendered! CommonCraft is nice, nice double-M treatment. It looks a little dot com, but not in a bad way. Zander's Implicit and Petri Dish things are rad.

I'm not crazy about the Rocket Cow, but maybe in context I would "get" it. Polyamorous is beautiful (because every damn thing Patrick does is beautiful) but I wonder how it will reduce. Also, Armin - isn't it weird to read L'Dor Vador in this setting?! DreamShop reminds me of some part of my childhood. I dunno if that's good or not; the logo unsettles me and I don't know why. Boss Talent doesn't work for me at all; it's already been done. Hi-Mech would look good as a hang tag, but I'm not sure of it as a logo.

Right, so now that I've crapped all over everyone else's work, here's a litle something of mine for ripping on. This is the mark I did for a local printer, Passage Printing. Shortly after they adopted it, they went under (damn!).

It's from a screenshot off my personal site, so forgive me the jags.

-R

This is the only logo I'll ever admit to making:

It was for Columbusmusic.com's website.

In general I couldn't design an identity mark to save my life.

It says Jill Sander with a whip.

Good. Frankly, I didn't want the thing to say "I'm so goth, I fart bats." The only edict I laid down when PK first asked me if I wanted to work with him on the site was "No black." It would've been really easy(and conceptually cheap) to just grab the latest spiky Margo Chase creation, or *gag* Totally Gothic, or Mason(perfectly good font, but Christ, it's overused[and badly]). The Victorian example PK gave was just that: one example. She's going/gone in different directions. Brani makes nice clothes, plain and simple. They have particular influences and styles right now, but those will change.

We wanted to come up with an ID that was refined enough to stand on its own, regardless of what style clothing it ended up on, and be usable in the future, rather than something she might end up embarrassed by*. So the pieces you've seen are fairly formal, but they only represent the "company" and overarching lines. The third level we can play with and let each collection have its own logo to set it apart. That's where you'll see something a little more representative of the particular work you're looking at.

I see it a bit like with any company that does conceptually different things. Altria has one inclusive(and colorful!) logo for the entire conglomerate. Hopefully ours isn't as ugly. But Kraft Singles have their own look that doesn't have to filter back up to Altria. Additionally, the Kraft Singles ID sure as hell doesn't look anything like the Marlboro logo. The problem is that with most companies that do this, the transparency isn't there. The great majority of the population doesn't know Kraft and Philip Morris are connected, much less of Altria's existence.

*Besides, Barnbrook's work is just damn sexy. Give him your money.

Marian: The Mango logo is sexy. I don't know what about it, but I just like the thing. But I also just like mangos. Mmmmmmm...mango.

Armin: I really like the way the RedOne piece works, though I think the R bothers me. But I tend to fixate on letters like that, for some reason.

marian & rick,

i agree with both of you. hi-mec is really not a logo. not sure why the hell i posted it as such...well, maybe because it was monday... it was a poster and a t-shirt. i think "morey" is pretty cool.

This is a logo for a local band in Silverlake. They are guitar-based alternative pop (whatever that means anymore). Vocals are soft/sweet with harmonious chorus and lyrics are romantic. Hey you can even check out the tunes at the Gliss site

Gliss is pretty.

Band logos are nifty - you get so much more lattitude, and they like to have a million different executions.

-R

I just finished rebranding Morey Bodyboards.

What do you think?

Umm...a nice mark, but rather unremarkable. But maybe that's OK these days now that Morey has a really solid name. Perhaps there's a day of liberation where a company no longer needs to depend on a highly memorable mark to maintain their image (think Sony).

Wow. another 100plus-comments-in-less-than-48-hr thread. This is becoming a common occurence.

Great thread Darrel.

.......

Lea -- your student logo has so much more depth than your work logos. Magna needs refinements.

Andrew -- Morey is bitchin. Great motion in the form -- all done without blur or other tricks.

Tan -- you hit it on the head. Which took 2 and a half weeks to make with group critiques and guidance, and which one did I whip up in 2 days? LOL

I hope people don't mind me posting the current proposed Magna logos as they appear for now (changed slightly from last posts). Please give me crits~! I actually miss my class crits. :P

I'm having difficulty in figuring out how to push this logo further -- the client really likes the wave/wire/graph look as it represents his business (sound, installations, connectivity throughout the house) Right now I can't see it to be more than a one-colour logo. Any suggestions as to make it two colour or should I leave well enough alone?

Thanks guys! :D

what's the reasoning behind such nasty typographic forms for the 3B?

pk: Thirdblog provides a hosted blogging solution that further eradicates technological barriers that prevent many people from fully utilizing personal publishing tools. Consequently, I was aiming for a contrast between the organic, hand-drawn style of the "3B" and the blocky "thirdblog.com" to illustrate the marraige of the creative and technological aspects of the thirdblog.com site.

Oi. so many logos, so little time.

Thanks all for your kind comments on Mango. I have to say that my collegue, Brian Morgan did two that I liked a lot better (he is King), but the client fell all over mine (though like I say, who knows what happened to it after i left).

I don't have time to comment at length, but I see some great logos here since i posted last.

BankPartner: somehow has made complicated simple.

Morey: I love it. Yeah, a little swooshy, a little Nike-school, but I love it anyway.

Passage Printing is nice (why do most printers have such godawful identities?)

Columbusmusic: Holy fuck!!!! I looked at that and thought "holy fuck!!!" but you know, I think that is one great logo. What makes it great? 3D in black and white. Motion without blurs, swooshes, or italic sans caps. Complicated, but simple.

and Gliss: happy.

Not so polite:

SarDesigns: I love that little curly blue thing but the type has got to go. Throw it out and find something to match the curly blue thing.

Thirdblog: I thing the 3b is interesting, but the rest is uninteresting and overpowering. I'd find soemthing textwise that either complements, enhances or defers to the 3b.

Safewatch security: I am so sorry, but that is appalling. Next time someone wants a quickie logo fast, now, gotta have it for this conference next week -- well, see how you did "security"? Do the whole logo like that. Looks dignified and they can come back when they're ready to spend the time considering their identity.

gotta run

Marian, LOL!

What?! My comment got screwed up. I had more to say to Marian besides, "LOL." What I said was, "Don't apologize -- it's all true!" It's apalling; just wanted to see if anyone would comment or bypass it simply because of its clip-arty likeness.

Do you think it's possible to send a type treatment only to a client if it's a rush job? I need to be more assertive, methinks. He insisted on a house and I gave him a house. (cries)

That Dreamshop logo. One thing I kinda have to wonder about is the technicolor aspect of it.

For a while, I worked for Think New Ideas. One of their clients was Hyperion. The Hyperion logo had just been redesigned by Pentagram of all places, and as you can see, it's pretty insane with the colors. If I recall correctly (and I might not; it's been years), it's 3 spots + black. Or something. And it totally doesn't work in 1 color. And 4c shifts the green and turquoise.

So really colorful logos worry me.

-R

Two logos I designed gratis for a friend (read, as fast as possible!)

Hyperion is a Landor mark, not Pentagram. But yes, lots of colors. Fun.

Well, of course the DreamShop logo would cost an arm and a leg to print in PMS... unfortunately, the client requested the full spectrum treatment. Through LogoWorks, I don't get the option to consult on color. :) Luckily, I do usually get to stick to my guns, tho'.

Never posted before but I thought I'd give it a shot. It's good to bounce things off of others. This is a logo I did for a client that was building a company to hold all of his many talents in the online world. Originally, the client wanted to include an image of a needle (yikes)to drive the point (no pun intended) home. I disagreed and came up with this solution. let me know what you think.

> I hope people don't mind me posting the current proposed Magna logos as they appear for now (changed slightly from last posts). Please give me crits~! I actually miss my class crits. :P

Ok, some truthful observations about Magna. Soundwaves are the last thing I see in that M. I see teeth. It also looks like landscape -- mountains. It doesn't look at all like a sound wave -- in fact, with the sharp points, it doesn't have a wave form at all.

Suggestion. Abandon trying to create an M monogram. The name MAGNA is interesting in itself -- work with that, try to use the letterforms to create metaphors of scale, projection, amplitude. In the bottom versions, I see you're already trying to play w/ baselines in the word.

If you want to chase the wave pattern, then Google a real sound hyperbola wave. And since most everything now is digital, maybe you can use cascading bars. There are lots of other symbols you can use for metaphoric forms.

Lastly, the MAGNA DIN typeface you used doesn't mix that great w/ the serif audio/visual. Why not use DIN for all of it? And incorporate it more as a unit. Right now, it looks completely tacked on.

Hope I wasn't too harsh -- tried to be constructive. Honest. Don't hate me.

Magna Audio Visual - Tough one. I'm having troubles getting medical/hospital out of my head. The audio beat lines are coming off a little like EKG, and the blue you chose is quite close to the color of nurses uniforms. Are you attempting to focus more on the 'audio' out of 'audio visual'?

>"I'm so goth, I fart bats."

I know it's a little late in the thread but I have to say that was hilarious. Beautiful work gentlemen, I can't wait to see the site.

Armin-usually I shy away from the red/black combo on anything but I like the Redone logo very much, as well as the illustrations of the children in the Brilliant/Renaissance logos.

Holy shit. Andy! I just glanced at your Coal Creek logo again. ps had mentioned earlier that it looked like a church. It's worse -- w/ the clouds, it looks like the family died and is going to heaven! It's so obvious -- i don't know how i missed it.

Not a good thing for a medical clinic. I'd seriously reconsider.

.......

> Tan, doesn't Alki Bakery do something similar? You should sue them

Rick. What a nice thought. Hornall Anderson did Alki a long time ago -- and it's one of my faves. I'm honored ArtsFund reminded you of theirs.

The fact is, there are lots of illustrative A logos. I searched for as many as I could so I could make sure that mine didn't look like a derivative.

Your press logo is interesting, but it reminded me of parking lot signs more than paper, unfortunately.

......

Theodore -- very nice Catholic bulb logo. The contour drawing thing has been done to death, and so has the lightbulb. But you made it fresh, I think. It works for me.

Plaza Triple 3 - The building must be quite a sight to see, makes for an interesting shape. I wonder if it maybe too big in the logo? It really dwarfs the name.

High Mech - Digging that constructivism style. I take it the logo won't be getting much smaller than it is on here? Is it signage?

Implicit - I find it hard to read, but also understand the reality of the audience.

DreamShop - Like the idea, the colors, the look. Small typographical peeve, too much tracking in 'for kids'

Bonsai - great logo. Clean and legible. Great mark.

Lyon's Design - I'd like to see where you end up on this. It's hard to do a designer's logo let alone your own. I have to agree with other's comments on this one (type below needs to be resolved). Maybe create more tension with in the confines of the block with the two letters (another typeface?). As it is I'm not sold on the aesthetic.

I hope this is taken as one's opinion and not cause offense. As I'm new, I don't want to be black listed.

concept for bendigo agricultural show society. this was a headache trying to get all the required elements into the logo... in the end we are now redeveloping an old badge from the 50s... oh well.

logotype for my fiancé's website.

logo for my current employer.

sorry about the big samples they are from my online portfolio.

Catholicwebdesign.com...what is the Vatican's stance on the use of gratuitious flash?

And I agree, the bulb is nice.

Bendigo show...oh man, that brings back memories. In college a friend and I had submitted a logo for the local ag show and had won. They then asked us for revisions, so we spend another few hours adding, if I remember correctly: a barn, a silo, a cow, a field, a combine, and a sattelite.

In the end, they ended up letting the printer redesign the whole thing to print up. That was my first experience with 'getting screwed' when doing spec work. We approached the committee, made our case, and convinced them that they had done us wrong and we got a few bucks out of them. Never again!

Love the ladybug.

My first post to my new favorite website! Here's the logo from my wedding invitation. Thought you might "get it" it better than our moms did. We even got really cheesy and added "you're just my type" as the tagline at the bottom of the invite. See what happens when you put 2 designers together? sick.

Holy shit. Andy!

Holy shit is right Tan. I mentioned the religious aspect to them a couple of weeks ago. I did manage to steer them away from "rays of light " shooting up from behind the mountain. So far not a logo I'm wild about. I'm seriously considering the picket fence idea...

A logo I recently designed for e3interacitve

Tan, Kurtis -- Thank you so very much! This is exactly the type of crit I was looking for and no, it's hardly "harsh." I don't hate anyone! *hugs*

The client I'm working for is kind of strange because his real specialty is wiring a home or office for super connectivity -- like you can control your TV, stereo, security system, etc. all on your computer or some control panel type of thing. Sort of a "future home." He called his company "Magna" (and didn't even know what it meant!) largely because his grandfather had a company named Magna. And then he tacked on "audio visual" to lend more information about the company in his name. Thus the wires, etc.

I was trying to go for "wires" and mixing it with the audio metaphor. I suppose it does look more like a hospital EKG or, er, teeth! LOL.

All your suggestions were great. I'm going to continue plugging away at this and look forward to more suggestions!

Tan, a parking lot! Crap! Once again, one of those "only when someone else sees it" things. Oh, that kills me! Augh!

Jonsel, my bad. It was four years ago. Pentagram, Landor... I just remembered it was somewhere who I *thought* would have known better. But what do I know? It's easy to critisize from down here.

Parking :shaking head:. Tan, I'm gonna cry.

-R

I like the E3i logo.

...of Course you know I meant criticize

damn.

> Parking :shaking head:. Tan, I'm gonna cry.

I'm sorry man. Hate to bear bad truths. I know how you feel.

Look on the bright side, at least you don't a medical clinic that sends people to heaven, or a shifty-eyed bonsai overlooking your systems.

OK... I decided to be the asshole that included 3 because the last two were text-only logos and I thought I should show one with a real logotype. Kinda. Boy, I haven't done any actual marks very recently!

Fire at will... I want to hear what you guys think. :)

I only mention logos I didn't 100% love. And haven't finished the list (yet)...

Volta: Good job on the schedule you had. I think that Solutions drags it down. Maybe it would be better in smaller type under VOLTA, with the cone on the left. But I like everything left of Solutions.

Suitcase thing: Just doesn't call to me. Maybe flip the suitcase sideways, rip off the hardware, and make it a back-lit traffic light instead! (Walk... don't walk.)

Coal Creek: I like this too, esp. how the clouds run out of the cross,, but once pointed out to me, the Heavenly connotations are hard to ignore... Also I might make it a tiny bit smaller.

Hebrew School: I know it's probably just me, but my brain is filling in the silhouettes with a truly frightening cross of Real Retro and Ren & Stimpy-style retro Dick and Jane characters. Help me. The building... if it were under my control I'd chop off all of the building but the very strong left part with the arches.

Fennies: I just have a hard time reading this one sideways. Sorry :(

Lyons Design: Maybe you should try a blocker font, maybe in caps, along the bottom - the perfect width of the square?

RedOne: ... RedOne? In Oz? Owned by a guy named SIMON, perhaps? Is this a Small World thing?!

Baby: Sucky clients suck. It's cute, and yet frightening. Makes me think of leprechauns, because of that hat.

Hinton: I like the part that spells out the name, but the mark confuses me. I didn't see that it was (supposed to be?) 2 Hs until I saw it out of the corner of my eye. If that's intentional, why 2 Hs? If not, eh?

UVC: Yeah, I got a problem with the pixel font. Maybe if it didn't look kinda blurry AND pixelly... Probably people are going to not understand it was a creative choice after all. That's what I'd worry about.

Polyamorous: I really like the mark, but I agree with the other person who said the typography doesn't do it justice. Though I think just putting the mark on the left of the text instead of on top would greatly improve the balance.

Amy (and everyone)

In today's mail I got a catalog that features the portfolio with the walk/don't walk portfolio thing.

It makes a little more sense in situ.

-R

It makes a little more sense in situ.

Thank goodness for context.

i love much of the work on here, i agree with many that MANGO is amazing as is the Renaissance and the RedOne Technologies work. i LOVE this topic. hope to see more like this in the future.

daleharris: i LOVE LOVE LOVE the blessing tree type. gahhhh i love every bit of it.

is the type totally original or did you begin from a typeface and altered it to suit your needs? if it was existing, which was it?

i LOVE LOVE LOVE the blessing tree type. gahhhh i love every bit of it.

the blessing tree type is just various styles from the poetica family mixed and matched.

i must say this thread is damn good. am looking forward to more like this.

Logo for a PR consulting group focusing on the "people" element of PR.

oh yeah, and a logo for a company's internal communications strategy, which includes newsletter, magazine, website and eNewsletter.The company is Land Securities, who have their own brand guidlines, and this need to fit within those while staying a little more fresh and funky.

The first is theirs, the second mine.

The Tish Group - It might be just me because it's late and all, but this doesn't seem like one cohesive mark I'm seeing it as a split into three columns. What if you tracked out 'ideas', 'concepts' and 'people' so that they are not so spaced apart? Maybe bring the illustrated elements closer together to have them relate better?

Landmark - As there are four elements involved in this communications strategy, why not add a little more to the graphic element (stack a couple of wafers/papers) on the left to give it some weight and meaning behind their multi-level approach.

Both good ideas. The Tish Group logo originally started off with just the glasses and the name, a more solid mark. But we both liked the positioning statement and it really spoke more to her...

Amy's three

prefab•ulus - I hate taglines, but what are ya gonna do? Any chance of drawing a little more attention to 'fab' and losing the tag?

urban chic - Well there's pink. There is something I like about it though. Looking at it closely, I thought that 'chic' might fit more snuggly and naturally if it was moved ever so slightly to the left. The 'i' and the 'h' would fit more conveniently.

SmartPark - I like the typographic tree (sure are a lot of trees in logos in this show and tell) I'm not sure what smartpark is. What is so smart about the park?

Is anyone else addicted to this site?

Love these logos, it's a creative dream in here!

I'll submit one of mine:

Man, I'm really impressed with a lot of the work I see here. A lot of talent. Of note, I especially liked the Minnesota Judicial Branch, Artsfund, Temmy Latner Hebrew School, Mango, PolyamorousNyc, and BankPartner. I thought I might post a couple of versions of the logo I've just started today for my firm, Further Studios. Tell me which one you like better - and don't worry, I haven't decided to stick with this style yet, so feel free to tell me they're shit if that's what they are.

Thanks everyone!

i like the color on armin's work

http://www.underconsideration.com/random/logo_kids.gif

i like.

My logo for sightless.com, my record label to be:

Lester -- the form is interesting (I prefer v2) but I don't see what it has to do with "Further" which in itself, is a nice name for a studio. Why not capitalize on that meaning, rather than attempt to create a typographic form that doesn't relate? If I'm wrong about the symbol meaning something, than my apologies -- I just didn't see it yet.

....

(I don't mean the following towards you specifically Lester -- but it's a point I've been meaning to make on this thread.)

I still gravitate to logos here that are not only dynamic, but are conceptually strong. I see many that have cool forms and whatnot, but a logo that's designed for just the sake of pure form, is at best, hollow. Everything in this world has a concept -- even the most banal company, band, or software. As a designer, there's no excuse not to look for it, even if a client doesn't ask you to. If you design a logo that has nothing to communicate other than its aesthetics -- then it's not really graphic communication, is it?

Kurtis, thanks for the feedback! Urban Chic and the prefab•ulus logos aren't done; the Urban Chic magazine flopped (but I'm gonna put it in my portfolio soon), and prefab•ulus just isn't complete yet. So your suggestions are helpful! :)

Let me tell you what they are for. Urban Chic: a new magazine aimed at hip "urban" women, i.e., black women. Prefab•ulus: sells all sorts of templates online. SmartPark: a super high tech business park that's also got a focus on lots of trees, beautiful landscaping, etc.

Is anyone else addicted? Hell yeah... you can't tell? ;)

Methinks that perhaps a section in Speak Up should be devoted to crits. Ahem. :) (though a prominent link in the front page w/ "recent comments" might be nice...)

perhaps a section in Speak Up should be devoted to crits

There was a section under "Design Help", I believe. But nobody used it. I think the nature of most blogs is to stay on the front page. But this thread will stay alive as long as someone posts to it, so keep 'em coming.

>There was a section under "Design Help", I believe. But nobody used it.

That's right. It was there, all there. It wasn't the greatest idea, but I gave it a shot. I think it had like 3 comments and only because Rebecca raised the question.

a new magazine aimed at hip "urban" women, i.e., black women.

When did 'urban' come to mean 'being black'? I realize that's how it is, I just didn't notice that one creeping up on me.

Prefab*ulus...do you need the bullet? I think it distracts and leaves the ackward 'ulus' floating by itself.

SmartPark: Good concept, but the mark needs a lot more weight if you're going to stick with the typeface you used. Actually, I'd probably suggest a different typeface that lends itself a bit more to the organic feel of the tree. I don't think the mark, itself, needs to say 'hi-tech' as I think the color choices and the word itself communicates that.

I like the Qlink. If anything, maybe just put more contrast between the two colors used.

Tish Group. I think the single mark is MUCH stronger than the three used at once. What if you simply used 3 interchangeable logos, one with one mark each?

brilliant beginnings work. in a word, sweet.

When did 'urban' come to mean 'being black'?

Dunno. I'm just a white girl from the suburbs. :)

Thanks for the input. The only logo that ever has any hope of being used is prefab, and it's the newest (and weakest), and everyone's made valid points about it... some day I'll post the revised version :)

A graphical solution for Peace in the Middle East (?)

Proposed logo for a more creative dispute settlement approach (?)

drafted at http://www.1-900-870-6235.com/PeaceMap.htm

i created this mark for an event planner. the last name of mane event's president is lionberger. good solution or trite. let me know.

For a disabilities advocacy group. My first logo.

Very nice solution Donald. The icon is very well executed. It is tronger in black and white. And that's a good thing. I understand where the "C's" came from, but it feels very repetitive. Real nice.

That flag... I like the name better than the flag... Israelstine... cute. Sounds like Ovaltine though.

Tan, I've been meaning to respond about Filosofia... I agree, the Unicase version is awfully weird, never once have I used it. The small caps are one of my favorite of all times though, so well-proportioned. And the lowercase italics... mmmmmm. The fact that the AIGA uses it has never bothered me as you would have suspected.

Oh, and "testies"???

I'm gonna go dig up some more logos.

oooh...does that mean we can start posting more of our logos, including less recent ones? I have some faves I can post as well.

I've been hesitant -- Darrel just said to post the last couple that you've done, good or bad. (But it seems like many just posted whatever they wanted.)

Yo! Darrel -- what's the word on your house rules man?

yeah, this whole "i'm going to show my favorite work" thing.... i call foul on that.

if this is going to expand then maybe we should do some kind of organized witch hunt, err... portfolio review

Should we start a new thread? This is getting kind of long and slow to load...

yup. good idea. and give people a max pixel count for the logo -- like less than 260 wide or something.

right on...

ManeEvent. Nice looking mark, though I would associate 'Mane' with a hair salon.

Yo! Darrel -- what's the word on your house rules man?

Well, I should have been more clean in hindsight.

The original intention was to post the last couple of logos you did. They may have been great logos, they may have been embarassingly bad (see my two ;o) and the idea was that we'd expose ourselves a bit. Less ego, more real-world-pump-out-the-shit-it-*is*-business-after-all type of stuff.

It sort of worked.

I agree with Armin. We probably need a 'post your favorite mark you've created' thread. Maybe have people explain their thought process a bit more.

Damn. Just can't type today. Clean = clear. Ugh.

I think it would also be interesting to see an entire presentation - the whole slew of logos shown to the client. It was my original intention to post such a thing, but as I was prepping the jpgs, I realized that maybe I shouldn't be showing something that hadn't even run on press yet. I doubt my client is looking here, but I hate to betray confidences before the launch. Once it has launched (next week) I'll post the bunch and the final design. It is mostly type designs, though.

Anyone else want to try that too?

These two don't belong in the new thread, so I'll post them here.

They chose the one on the top, I like the one on the bottom. I have better taste than my clients. They need to be synchronized... I mean educated.

Armin, I like both of those a lot. I can never get enough good 2-letter combos. BUT, the weight of the 'b' and 'g' forms don't match very well, throwing off the balance. I guess you made the top heavier to emphasize the 'Basinger". At least any materials oughta be a snap to design with the top logo. Go hairline crazy!

>I guess you made the top heavier to emphasize the 'Basinger"

Um... sure, why not?

I would have probably finessed it if they had chosen it, but alas...

Armin, both are nice -- but I agree w/ the client for one reason: the bottom one emphasizes 'group' more than is necessary. It occupies more space in the form, or at the least, equivalent space -- which doesn't make sense.

I'd make the same argument on the top one. Basinger should carry the weight -- 'group' is just a descriptor.

And one tiny pet peeve. The tracking of 'The' and 'LLC' should match 'Investment Real Estate Service'. tsk, tsk.

As Beirut said, if it's close, make it the same.

> I think it would also be interesting to see an entire presentation - the whole slew of logos shown to the client.

I dunno Jon. I know what you're saying, but it emphasizes quantity over quality. I don't think it's a good idea. Showing work you've sold is one thing. Showing work you're proud of is also valid. But showing fillers serves less purpose, know what I'm saying?

>And one tiny pet peeve. The tracking of 'The' and 'LLC' should match 'Investment Real Estate Service'. tsk, tsk.

Ugh! you are absolutely right.

>the bottom one emphasizes 'group' more than is necessary.

Yeah, but it looks pretty.

Tan - LOVE the arts fund logo.

Jesse- What was the Cow in space for? I love it!

Armin - sorry about the pink hearts. That must have been hard to swallow.

I want to make more comments... but I have to go back to work now... here's my fuel for teh fire.

What I wanted.

What the client insisted upon.

A promo giveaway logo.

All of our work is casino based so I do a schlock or promos logos. It's good practice as I used to not be very good at logos.

thanks Krystal. and thanks for the inadvertent setup below.

> Armin - sorry about the pink hearts. That must have been hard to swallow

too easy....must resist....cheap...shot

>Lester -- the form is interesting (I prefer v2) but I don't see what it has to do with "Further" which in itself, is a nice name for a studio. Why not capitalize on that meaning, rather than attempt to create a typographic form that doesn't relate? If I'm wrong about the symbol meaning something, than my apologies -- I just didn't see it yet.

The 'meaning' becomes more obvious when the logo is more than just a shape. All I showed you guys was the shape. Further Studios has a very "furry" theme, we use fur in a lot of places - the final logo will eventually be furry too. It'll also be die-cut into our business cards, with faux fur showing behind.

I.g. - really like the icon in teh Postpress logo.

i think the hardest thing about logos is getting the art to have a the right balance between simple/communicative

sorry Krystal. couldn't link to your logos for some reason. why don't you insert the images directly?

Armin:

Change the name to Basinger Group Scuba Gear and send it on to CA. You got yourself a winner there! ;o)

This logo Redes 2000 (translated it means Nets 2000 or Webs 2000) was created for the campaign of the wife of the past presidential candidate in Mexico. Her idea was to form nets of people that would become involved in the campaign and the logo symbolizes precisely the union of people, barely touching each other but with the strength of a net. There is also some dynamism. The logo was selected in a contest and used in the campaign.

Good one Darrel. Maybe add a couple of "ocean" lines. I just might do it... just for the heck of it.

Speaking of which...how many people think that at least SOME of the stuff submitted to the design annuals is for purely made-up clients?

When I see someone winning something for their client 'bondage day care' or 'bob johnson condom company' or something like that I have to assume that either some people get REALLY lucky in finding client's with such obscure and/or pun-perfect and/or risque businesses that you can't help but win with pretty much anything you do for them, or they just make the shit up.

submitted to the design annuals is for purely made-up clients

This has long been a problem with advertising annuals. I read recently that the Cannes ad festival made their rules tougher to thwart those agencies that attempt to hijack awards by "donating" ultra-creative advertising for small, local retail stores.

I have noticed a lot more design firms like Oh Boy and Haley Johnson developing their own product lines, then winning lots of awards with them. Nothing wrong with that, assuming the enterprises are legit.

I heard the same about Oh Boy and a number of reputable bay area firms. Round here, there are a number of small studios that I know for a fact submit bogus or one-off materials for design shows and win. There is no way anyone can truly monitor that. It's an ethics kind of thing that people either choose to observe or not.

Fuck em I say. If they don't have the brass to do it for real clients, then no amount of bogus recognition is going to matter. Oh Boy eventually went out of business didn't they?

>Oh Boy eventually went out of business didn't they?

No, they changed their name to reservoir... I was going to link them up and the URL doesn't work anymore, maybe they did go out of business. Not even their ohboyco.com is working, that's where they sold their merchandise. Weird. They were pretty good.

no, they did go out of business. According to a reliable resource, they got shafted with a couple of massive dotbomb print debts and didn't recover. Some of the players might have reformed under a different name though.

Their work was great. I wasn't dissin that. My point was just that in this economy, awards means little compared to real work for real clients. It's a marathon, not a sprint -- as Jack Anderson once said.

>If they don't have the brass to do it for real clients, then no amount of bogus recognition is going to matter.

I worked for an ad agency that skipped the middle man completely and just made up it's own awards. The creative floor was just filled with awards and plaques that were completely fabricated.

hahaha....awesome. now that's creative.

The You Already Know logo without the text. For the You Already Know What To Do project at Bloaty

Dale - I just love teh lady bug art in teh blessing tree logo. Nice logo too... good impression of tree without too much complaication.

Tomas - like the funky gliss logo

colleen - I get it... very entertaining.

lester - the letterforms are too ambigious. You need a more prominent cross bar on that F. lauren ( another designer here) feels it looks like a distorted paper clip and did not get any letters out of it.

Maybe thsi will work better, Tan.

The logo I wanted for this promo.. then the cliented wanted a real TV.... still ok , but it was better with the cartoony TV

Nope. still hanging. It's finding the link, but I think your server must have firewall issue or something. Also make sure all the operators are there.

sorry Krystal. Any one else get Krystal's logos? It could just be me.

I can't get them

I am the new kid on the block and would like to jump into the smackdown with a logo I designed for an after market racing parts company. Please let me know what you think.

George

I failed to leave my Web Site and e-mail.

http://www.georgedeloache.com

George@GeorgeDeLoache.com

Thanks for your input. George

all i see is nice logos.

i wonder, if anyone have enough time to make the logo to me.

it should include my nickname: kwazar

just an idea. :)

can send it to my mail address

COOL AND ORIGINAL LOGO ! LIKE REY MY STERIO !!!!

HELLO,

MY NAME IS ANTHONY FRANKLIN I AM TRYING TO CREATE A LOGO FOR MY COMPANY. I AM A TUTOR AT THE URBAN LEAGUE. THE NAME OF THE PROGRAM IS TULEAP WHICH STANDS FOR TOMORROWS URBAN LEADERS EXCELLING IN ACADEMIC PROGRAMS. PLEASE ASSIST ME IN CREATING A LOGO FOR MY PROGRAM. ID LIKE FOR IT TO HAVE AN ETHNOCENTRIC APPEAL. THE PROGRAM IS GEARED TO TUTORING MIDDLE SCHOOL CHILDREN(GRADES 6-8)IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS AND MATH.

ANTHONY FRANKLIN

And thus Speak Up finds its natural source of revenue....

I use a red rooster. And the tagline "all natural organic design". I have chickens here at my (hee hee) design ranch and it gets noticed over all the other logos. So i'm happy.

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