Critique me please

HarryB226

New Member
Hi Everyone

I am Product Design student hoping to get into the furniture design industry and am creating a bit of personal branding if you don't mind giving feedback that would be much appreciated. I have done 6 designs which are slight alterations of each other. Please let me know which you prefer? why? how they could be improved? or why they are all terrible and what I should have done? was trying to play on the furniture aspect using 2 similar tones and making the lettering interact In almost a structural manner in areas of some of the designs - although I didn't think this looked as good as the ones where I used this less. Any Advice is much appreciated!

Thanks, Harry
 

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Typographically the B doesn’t work all that well. I just feel,that with a bit more thought you could come up with a more clever solution. Feels like you are missing a trick and this is the first idea you had and you stick with it. Never stick with your first idea. Dig deeper. Also, if you are going with the whole cabinet maker’s joint approach… No dovetail? overall, it just feels a bit un- thought out and lightweight. It’s one of those jobs that’s a designer’s gift. So much rich material and ideas fodder to work with.
 
Typographically the B doesn’t work all that well. I just feel,that with a bit more thought you could come up with a more clever solution. Feels like you are missing a trick and this is the first idea you had and you stick with it. Never stick with your first idea. Dig deeper. Also, if you are going with the whole cabinet maker’s joint approach… No dovetail? overall, it just feels a bit un- thought out and lightweight. It’s one of those jobs that’s a designer’s gift. So much rich material and ideas fodder to work with.

Thanks very much for your heonest feedback. Lol I thought the B was quite cool shows how much I need to learn about graphic design and Typography. When you say it doesn't work do you mean it doesn't looks like a B or is out of place with the rest of the style of the logo?

The idea for the Dovetail is really nice i just wanted to keep it quite simple and subtle. I am going for a more minimal style and wanted to just slightly hint at it without it being obvious. I totally agree with the first idea comment, although it wasn't my first idea, it was quite close to my fixed vision I had at the start and I didn't explore concepts very broadly.
 
If you look at glyphs on existing, well-designed fonts, there are always optical compensations made. For example on the letter B, the top the top counter should smaller than the lower counter. On yours the two curves are equal, making it look top heavy.

Even on sans serif fonts that have apparently equal stroke weights, like Futura, etc, horizontal and vertical strokes are never equal, as the eye sees horizontal and vertical lines differently. Equal with lines will look heavier horizontally, compared to vertically, so this is compensated for.

With your B, the fact there are not two separate counters looks odd. That’s not to say it can’t be done, but your creates an unbalanced negative space and tension where they meet in the middle.
 
If you look at glyphs on existing, well-designed fonts, there are always optical compensations made. For example on the letter B, the top the top counter should smaller than the lower counter. On yours the two curves are equal, making it look top heavy.

Even on sans serif fonts that have apparently equal stroke weights, like Futura, etc, horizontal and vertical strokes are never equal, as the eye sees horizontal and vertical lines differently. Equal with lines will look heavier horizontally, compared to vertically, so this is compensated for.

With your B, the fact there are not two separate counters looks odd. That’s not to say it can’t be done, but your creates an unbalanced negative space and tension where they meet in the middle.

Thank-you so much for taking the time to share this stuff with me it really helps. I can think of a few that don't necessarily follow these rules though like the Netflix logo comes to mind. Is that just because they are breaking the rules well and not poorly like me. I hope this doesn't come across salty I am genuinely just trying to question things in order to understand fully. I hope you can appreciate that and don't mind! Thanks again for your help!
 
Unfortunately understanding typography takes a lifetime and then probably another. Even then you will have only scratched the surface. The more you learn, the more you realise how little you know. Worth sticking with though.

the Netflix logo does make optical compensation for vertical vs horizontal strokes. Measure the height of the top horizontal on the F, as against the vertical width.
 
Unfortunately understanding typography takes a lifetime and then probably another. Even then you will have only scratched the surface. The more you learn, the more you realise how little you know. Worth sticking with though.

the Netflix logo does make optical compensation for vertical vs horizontal strokes. Measure the height of the top horizontal on the F, as against the vertical width.

Damn your right seems like a 10/11 ish ratio so I guess they are using a really subtle one. Thanks for all your help, any recommendations for where I can learn more? good books videos etc?
 
There are loads of resources out there you’ll find with a quick search. One company whose work is worth looking at is Fontsmith. They make some absolutely stunning families.

Books: Erik Spiekermann’s stop stealing sheep. Eric Gill, An essay on typography. Jan Tsichold’s a treasury of alphabets and lettering. Just my type. Simon Garfield. 20th century Type by Lewis Blackwell. Twentieth Century Type designers by Lund Humphries. And most important of all, learn the history and origins of lettering from Trajan’s column, to the origins of moveable type, to Gutenberg on through the early masters of type like Janson, Manutius, Griffo, Garamond, Baskerville, etc, etc. Learn the difference between lettering and typography – a very, very common confusion. The difference between a typeface and a font (again, often used interchangeably, but they are different)

After that, you just have to learn to use it and that takes years of practice. At college, I never quite got it, but years later something kind of clicked and it has become a life-long passion for me. It’s a bit like learning an instrument; you plateau and stagnate for ages, but stick with it and you eventually get those eureka moments.

One thing I wish I’d known when I was 20, is that being able to use type is not just about the glyphs themselves, but as much, if not more, about controlling the space between and around them.

Hope this helps and gives you a starting point.
 
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