Logo Design Critique

Xenonsoft

Active Member
In the early stages, only knocked a few ideas around and one of them needs a bit of tweaking if he wishes to progress with it.

I thought I would get some feedback before sending it off to him from you lot.

The company offer solutions not a product, not cheap or garish but deliverable, innovative and flexible. They're consultative, deliverable and slick.

Don't hold back, if you think it's really not the right direction for a branding company then say it, honesty is the way forward.

Colourschemes are pretty irrelevant, mainly the font choice and idea lower down the page that I'm looking for feedback on.

outstandingbranding_01_438.png

outstandingbranding_02_439.png
 
What kind of solutions is the company offering? I'm assuming something along the lines of branding, but what kind of services? I'm not really getting any kind of vibe from any of these logos. Purely type based, I like the first font in terms of professionalism.

I'm not a giant fan of the ideas you've got going on in the bottom half. Maybe try some different concepts?
 
8 looks like a bum!! :laugh:

Seriously, bottom set, number 1. Looks better than the other number 1, the colour change breaks it up. The overlapping g and b isn't working that well for me, perhaps if you reduced the leading so they were touching but not overlapping? Only if you really like that idea.
 
I'm not sure. I kind of feel like these are missing something, but I can't pinpoint what. I think you need to keep it a clean solution, so as not to really dilute any meaning and for aesthetic purposes to, so the last two I definitely would scratch, but there's nothing really "outstanding" about the three on the top. None of them would really catch my eye, and I think that with a name like "Outstanding Branding," catching someone's eye is one of the most important parts.

I think you can take more chances and try to make it really "outstanding," and you don't have to resort to "artsy" fonts to do it. I just think it'll take a little time and some more exploration to really find something great.
 
Sneakyheathen said:
What kind of solutions is the company offering? I'm assuming something along the lines of branding, but what kind of services?

Its clear this is a branding company from the logo I think.

I like the lower case 'g' on #3 but that definitely isnt an original idea.

Maybe try stacking the words?
 
Cheers for the feedback lads(/lasses).

I'll take it all on board and work more on it later in the week, cheers.
 
Ok, I think I'm getting somewhere.

I can't claim the idea to be my own, but here it is so far, I'll look at sending it to the client as a first draft soon:

outstandingbranding_01_442.png
 
Gotta say, I really don't like any of them Maybe it's the watermark on the back that's distracting me, or maybe it's the colours, or maybe it's even the font, but it doesn't seem to emphasise "outstanding" IMO.

Sorry, but I had to say :)
 
Hi Fred,

I like the connection of standing and branding on the latest concepts, as a thought have you tried pushing 'Out' to the left of the ascender of the 'b', and perhaps try lifting the whole word outstanding up a bit so the tail of the t in 'Out' connects to the b of 'branding'?

I'm pretty sure the latest concepts are the same typeface as that of the designforums logo! Have you tried many other slab serif options? To me the stacking of the two words looks slightly awkward with that particular typeface...

Just to confirm, what is it that the company physically does?

Greg
 
I think the coloured text sits nicer under the black text. if the t and the b lined up better it might not jar as much.

Question, why have you used different weights for the out? it works, and it breaks up out and standing, but in these cases, you've got 2 colours and 2 weights for 3(ish) words.
 
Definately prefer the second batch to the first lot but get rid of that outline. It just doesnt work for me.....and it wouldnt shrink well either.

I like the way that branding falls infront of the "t" of OUT and then behind the "g" of STANDING.

Maybe try a simple fade to enhance this?
 
tim-ater said:
Gotta say, I really don't like any of them Maybe it's the watermark on the back that's distracting me, or maybe it's the colours, or maybe it's even the font, but it doesn't seem to emphasise "outstanding" IMO.

Sorry, but I had to say :)

No apologies needed Tim, honest opinions are what I'm looking for!

I think it's partly down to the choice of font. This is potentially a paid job, but only if I secure the contract, he's pouting about to a few different designers to make sure he gets what he wants, so I can't really afford to spend out on a commercial logo, hence I'm limited to dafont.

Regarding colour choice, he says he's looking for something in this mould, something to catch the eye and stand out. For me Black & Red/Pink seem the front running colours.
Mesh PS - Promotional Products and Merchandise

Greg said:
Hi Fred,

I like the connection of standing and branding on the latest concepts, as a thought have you tried pushing 'Out' to the left of the ascender of the 'b', and perhaps try lifting the whole word outstanding up a bit so the tail of the t in 'Out' connects to the b of 'branding'?

I'm pretty sure the latest concepts are the same typeface as that of the designforums logo! Have you tried many other slab serif options? To me the stacking of the two words looks slightly awkward with that particular typeface...

Just to confirm, what is it that the company physically does?

Greg

Hi Greg, cheers for taking the time to comment :)

I hadn't thought of connecting the 't' and 'b' together, that's certainly an idea worth trying.

The font is indeed the same as the design forums, I realised after I had designed it, that Manfred Klein does get about a bit. I haven't looked at any other slab serif fonts as I'm currently limiting myself to dafont only, hardly professional I know, but with limited funds if any available and no 100% guarentee of funds coming from this I'm not sure what else to do. Maybe I'll ask for £50 for the mock ups and then pursue a paid commercial font.

The company has two segments, the first is consultation regarding branding merchandise and the latter is actually selling branded merchandise. These will be two pretty much seperate entities with seperate websites, although they're looking to keep them under the same brand, the same logo.

mrp2049 said:
I think the coloured text sits nicer under the black text. if the t and the b lined up better it might not jar as much.

Question, why have you used different weights for the out? it works, and it breaks up out and standing, but in these cases, you've got 2 colours and 2 weights for 3(ish) words.

I did it just to emphasise the rhyme of 'standing' 'branding', is it all too much?

philjohns said:
Definately prefer the second batch to the first lot but get rid of that outline. It just doesnt work for me.....and it wouldnt shrink well either.

I like the way that branding falls infront of the "t" of OUT and then behind the "g" of STANDING.

Maybe try a simple fade to enhance this?

Hi Phil,

I take it you mean the added weight on the 'standing' and 'branding' parts. I'll present the client with a few options, one with all the same weight and one with varying.

EDIT: Ah, I see that the outline is a darker black to the main colour, it was supposed to be a thicker weight of black, rather than an outline.

Regarding the fade, I don't really understand what you mean? Surely in logo design you want to keep it as simple as possibly, adding a fade would only complicate things when printed on different media?


Thanks for all the constructive criticism all, more than appreciated :up:
 
Made a couple of changes:
Old:
outstandingbranding_01_442.png

New:
outstandingbranding_02_444.png


For me it still doesn't quite work, but everyones thoughts are as always more than welcome.

I think adding a little more leading between the two lines in the first option would be best as it's a little crampt.
 
I dont like the awkward gap between OUT and STANDING. And the 'g' collides with the other 'g'.

Why not tone down this copy and come up with an interesting logo mark? With the name written underneath in a straight line - subtle.
 
Xenonsoft said:
For me it still doesn't quite work, but everyones thoughts are as always more than welcome.

Yeah I think you're right Fred and Jack, it's looking a bit awkward like that...
Has the client given you a full brief as such?
 
Still need to fix the two G's over lapping in some way, and also the b and t, it looks weird having it just plonked on top of it, have you tried linking them in anyway?
 
I agree that the current font doesn't portray "outstanding" to me - would the use of two different fonts help this, and address the issue with the 'g's overlapping? I'm picturing something in italics, as it's often used for emphasis - e.g. "I used this company for branding, and the results were outstanding!"
 
Back
Top