First critique...

Dimi

New Member
Hi everyone,


for my first critique I'm presenting a logo that I'm designing for my own company 'Languima' (located in Belgium).


We are a small business and offer the following services:
- translations
- photography
- photo retouching
- graphic design / branding


So, our activities can be divided into two main chapters: translating and image making.

35l8ffd.jpg


The idea behind the logo was to distinguish and connect these two chapters at the same time.
Therefore I used two grays to differentiate, and replaced the dot on the i with a comma to connect them together.


The following keywords describe our philosophy:
- professional
- approachable
- creative
- modern
- flexible


Would love to hear your thoughts about the idea, use of font, colors, kerning, tagline… you know, the whole package :icon_smile:

Thanks in advance!





P.S.: please take into account that I'm not the translator of our firm, so forgive me any spelling errors :icon_smile:
 
Overall, I like it. I'm not sure about 'languages & images' as I feel that a slogan needs to sound good when said out loud and I think this one fails the test - I also dislike the use of ampersands in all-lower-case type.
 
Nice, clean looking logo. Do you get any clients who want both translations as well as design work?
 
Thanks! I'm glad you like the logo. Is there anything in your opinion that can be improved? What do you think about the tagline? Keep it or lose it?

The translation business is going on for about 8 years now. Recently we added photography and graphic design (my part) to it, to be able to offer a full package service. I still have a day job (as a photo retoucher) so I take this on as a 'part time self-employed job' for now.
There haven't been any assignments that combine both translations and design work, but we haven't really started marketing ourselves as such a company yet, because of the lack of a logo and website...
 
Looks good enough to me - I wouldn't want to change it. I just have reservations about the 'concept'. I used to work as an interpreter/translator while doing web design but never got hte chance to combine the two. Just seems a bit strange as they are two entirely different services.
 
I don't feel you can brand a business that has two completely different unrelated services under the same umbrella brand - indeed marketing them together will also be problematic and far less effective because the target market for each will be completely different. It will be a marketing disaster.

Before you go any further, you really do need to create two different brands for this; one for translations, and one for design/images. Two different businesses, because trying to run the two together will not work well.

Amanda
 
I don't feel you can brand a business that has two completely different unrelated services under the same umbrella brand - indeed marketing them together will also be problematic and far less effective because the target market for each will be completely different. It will be a marketing disaster.

Before you go any further, you really do need to create two different brands for this; one for translations, and one for design/images. Two different businesses, because trying to run the two together will not work well.

Amanda


Amanda, I understand what you're saying. I agree that we offer two different services. But companies need texts to be translated, they need ceo head shots, product shots, brochures, branding, etc...
My partner started with her own translation business around 8 years ago.
I'll step in with my (photo)graphic services as a part time partner. We don't depend on each other to get assignments, but we do believe we can create a bigger volume if we combine our strengths and our skills...

But I'd like to hear your thoughts about creating two different brands. Would you create a common logo with a different accent for each department (like 'Virgin'), or go two totally different directions with it?

Dimi
 
I agree that combining the two services would look to be problematic. I suppose the question to answer is "What do your customers ask for when they approach you?" Do they ask you for translation services (and you then upsell your design services), or do they come to you expecting both? I suspect the former is the case, and therefore when a customer is looking for a translator and they see that you do translation and design, they might feel (as I would) that they would get a better service from a company that concentrated only on translation.

It seems an awkward mix of services and I feel it may put customers off.

I would suggest having two different companies, with the one promoting the services of the other.

Just my personal opinion, good luck with it all, and I really like your current logo, it's nice and clean.
 
I like the logo. The little touch of blue in the ' with the 2 tone grey works nicely. I'd perhaps consider dropping the line of text underneath altogether. Like Dave says, it doesn't sound great at all and to me, lets the logo down a bit. If you do want to keep it, I'd a) remove the & and replace it with the actual word, and b) probably find a nice serif font to mix it up a bit.
 
I really like the logo and think it looks quite contempory and professional, but agree the services dont go very well together - but that said good luck init! x
 
The lowercase L 'bugs' me a little. As it is at the beginning of a name logically people imagine a capital letter at the beginning and with out an uppercase L it almost reads ianguima.

Try an uppercase L. I think the nice angular edge and coner of it will contrast well with the curves of the rest of the type and make everything a little more interesting.

I always find the ascenders on Futura a little tall for my liking so don't be afraid to chop down the height of the L if need be.
 
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