Critique My Logo

davew8203

New Member
I'm designing a logo for the Chesapeake Bay watershed. I'm designing it for apparel, i.e., t-shirts, baseball caps etc. I would market it to people who live near or work on the watershed, fishermen, crabbers, boaters, vacationers, anyone who enjoys the watershed or makes their living from it or on it. I welcome your thoughts.

Shore Unique.png
 
Honestly it looks like you've got 3 different logo's stuck together....

It just feels disconnected and I have no idea what that image is in the O, I assume it's the shape of the bay, but to an outsider it looks like you've just peeled part of the O away..
 
First off the block, what struck me was the stretched word ‘unique’. If you really want an extended font, find one that was drawn that way. Mechanically stretched fonts are just plain ugly.

Overall, I am not a fan of the design and the O with the map doesn’t work. Firstly, why does it encroach on the R and E? It impacts on legibility and adds nothing. Also, and most importantly, it is far too complicated and detailed. How would that reproduce embroidered on a fisherman’s fleece? The whole point is that people from the area would recognise the map, but as soon as you reproduce it on anything other art stock at anything smaller than, say, 3-4 inches across, you’ve lost its whole raison d”être.

Finally, the rhyming name is just too cheesy for me. It makes it all sound a little comical and trivial. I’d never buy anything with that on for fear of looking a bit silly. I understand that your target audience are not likely to be brand-saavy trendy young things, but even then, it has to appeal to their expected tone of voice. This does not say, in any way; rugged, robust, no-nonsense, hard-wearing and practical.

I’d suggest going back the the drawing board, or more, stepping away from the drawing board for a bit and doing some market research. Look at competitors’ offerings. Not to copy, but to get a feel for tone of voice. I’d suggest talking to your target audience to get a measure of their preferences. It’s a competitive market, People who live and work outdoor lives are unlikely to buy stuff just because they identify with an area. Clothing has to do a job and do it well.

Even if you get that tone of voice spot on, the products you apply it to have to live up to the claims. You can’t build a brand for that audience, then stick your logo on cheap T-shirts. The whole thing would fall over in five seconds flat. This is going to take a fair bit of investment in market research and making sure that you have the right product, to my mind. That being the case, you need to be sure your tone of voice is absolutely bang-on or you could lose your shirt on this.

i am not trying to discourage you from doing it, but don’t do it lightly and make sure you get it right.

I have assumed this is your venture and you are not designing this for a client. Even if that is the case, most of the above still stands. It just won’t be you losing your shirt.

Good luck. Hope this helps.
 
You absolutely cannot recreate that logo in embroidery at small sizes.

Simplify - simplify - simplify!

Don't stretch fonts.
Other than that - it's good.
 
As above, back to the drawing board, I'm afraid. Far too much going off, keep it simple. There's no way you'll get that irregular inlet
shape to look right on a logo.

Start with the name, it doesn't make any sense. Just call it Shores Apparel, or Bay Clothing or something.
 
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