Logo Opinion - Does this look professional?

C

CSSmedia

New Member
Hi All,

Looking for a quick opinion on the following logo:

CSSmedia Logo (New10).jpg

Do you think this looks professional enough to use for a small photographic and video business? I mainly do weddings, birthday parties and corporate video but I'm always looking to expand and in the future I will be looking to go into narrative filmmaking with this company name.

It will be used on my website, across social media on my business card and on the DVDs I produce.

Feedback totally appreciated, thanks for your time.

CSSmedia
 
Hello,

To add to the above comment, there is also too many colours used and poor use of negative space. As a basic observation, it is not very imaginative.
 
Hi Hankscorpio,

Thanks for taking the time to look and reply.

It's very interesting to hear that you think it looks old fashioned. Can I ask in what way do you think this?

Personally I think it looks quite modern, with a like neon style font (it's not an actual font, I used a font as a starter and then re-modeled it in Illustrator).

Advice appreciated.
 
Hi Carl,

Thanks also for your response.

I have experimented with different colours. I wanted to have a two-colour design - orange and black - as I like orange and black would compliment this well. My problem is that this just looks too plain and boring in my opinion.

As for using the negative space - what would you suggest would be the answer if I was to stick with this design? Put in a solid colour background?

Obviously I'm not a designer and this is actually my first time using Illustrator, but wouldn't all text-only logos be bad use of negative space?

Thanks again.
 
CSSmedia said:
Hi Carl,

Thanks also for your response.

I have experimented with different colours. I wanted to have a two-colour design - orange and black - as I like orange and black would compliment this well. My problem is that this just looks too plain and boring in my opinion.

As for using the negative space - what would you suggest would be the answer if I was to stick with this design? Put in a solid colour background?

Obviously I'm not a designer and this is actually my first time using Illustrator, but wouldn't all text-only logos be bad use of negative space?

Thanks again.
Click to expand...

Less is more. One of my favourite quotes: "A designer knows he has achieved perfection not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away."

The reason for the poor use of negative space is because of the way you have boxed it in and then the decisions you have made with the use of text inside the box. It is just not very creative. It is boring, a bit dull to look at and yeah as Hank said, old fashioned. It is something I would of expected to see in the early 90's.

When you use a variety of colours like that, you have to have very good reason for doing so, and that reason needs to be clear to your audience. If designers cannot look at that and think, 'oh yes I can see why he's done that', then the general non-designer public certainly won't get it.

As you suggested, if you were to change it to a nice simple two colour scheme, but left it as it is, it still wouldn't be great but it would be an improvement.
 
If less is more, what would you suggest I remove from this design?

As for using the negative space, I think this is only a technical aspect - does a customer really appreciate it? Having Googled this technique it seems that the 'FedEx' logo is the best example of using negative space to effect, and in all honesty, I had never even noticed the arrow until it was pointed out following this search. I think it's just important that it balances out etc. which in my opinion it does.

With regards to being old-fashioned, I must be going mad! I really think it has a modern vibe to it with its smooth curves and sharp edges which is exactly the look I wanted. I wasn't even alive in the early 90s, so I have no idea what logo design was like back then, but I really can imagine it like this!

As with the colours, I appreciate what you're saying. I've tried the following revision with using just two colours - what do you think?

CSSmedia-Logo-(New13).jpg

Anyhow, I do appreciate the design advice, after all, it is a design forum. However, my original question was as to whether the design looks professional or not, so, do you think it looks professionally made?

Thanks agin.
 
That looks much better in just two colours though I would have to agree that it has a slightly dated feel due to the font with reminds me of the display on a digital calculator.

As for whether it looks professional or not, I would have to say no, simply because there's no real idea of 'craft' behind it. It serves a purpose but honestly doesn't look as though it's been thought through. I'm sure you have thought about it, but there's no real idea I'm getting from it.

Also, the box around the outside cramps the text and looks a little forced, almost as though you needed to do something so you didn't just have text.
 
Paul has further explained better what I was getting at with it being boxed in etc. I was just about to mention the font as well, I think of a digital watch when I see it.

When mentioning the negative space, I didn't mean you should do something clever like FedEx, I was just talking in terms of the way in which you have chosen to use the space you have given yourself and the composition of your text.

That two colour scheme clearly looks better, but that is as much as can be said in terms of an improvement.

My comment about less is more, was directed to the numerous colours you had originally used and your reason for doing so, as opposed to anything else.

If you want it to look professional you need to start from scratch and go back to the drawing board. My advice would be to do a google image search on logos, and have a good look at the professionally designed logos. Compare them to yours if you still can't see how dated yours is.

Better yet, if you are able to, hire a designer to do the job for you. You said you are not a designer; logo design is not easy and without the right knowledge, skill-set and experience, it will likely be an uphill struggle for someone such as yourself who has just started using Adobe Illustrator.
 
Honestly - not being rude - I "designed" logos similar to this in the late 80s for computer programs that I wrote. I'm 34.

As I said, it's not a bad attempt, but it's old fashioned, it's not modern, it's not timeless, it's not exceptionally exciting.

I suggest you work with what you've conceived so far - a real tip is to work in black and white (not grayscale) and if it looks good that way - then add colour.

But please consider sketching out ideas, use pencil only - and only go to the computer when you have a final design.


I might also add that you should hire a professional designer, who will provide black and white logs, spot colour versions, CMYK versions, RGB versions, reversed out options and single colour options.

Hope that helps.
 
Paul Murray said:
That looks much better in just two colours though I would have to agree that it has a slightly dated feel due to the font with reminds me of the display on a digital calculator.

As for whether it looks professional or not, I would have to say no, simply because there's no real idea of 'craft' behind it. It serves a purpose but honestly doesn't look as though it's been thought through. I'm sure you have thought about it, but there's no real idea I'm getting from it.

Also, the box around the outside cramps the text and looks a little forced, almost as though you needed to do something so you didn't just have text.
Click to expand...

Hi Paul,

I totally see what you're saying with regards to the digital calculator look. I was at a petrol station this morning and when I looked at the price/litres display at the pump the 'typeface' looked pretty similar to my logo.

I'll take on board what you said and see what I can come up with.

Thanks.
 
CLHB said:
Paul has further explained better what I was getting at with it being boxed in etc. I was just about to mention the font as well, I think of a digital watch when I see it.

When mentioning the negative space, I didn't mean you should do something clever like FedEx, I was just talking in terms of the way in which you have chosen to use the space you have given yourself and the composition of your text.

That two colour scheme clearly looks better, but that is as much as can be said in terms of an improvement.

My comment about less is more, was directed to the numerous colours you had originally used and your reason for doing so, as opposed to anything else.

If you want it to look professional you need to start from scratch and go back to the drawing board. My advice would be to do a google image search on logos, and have a good look at the professionally designed logos. Compare them to yours if you still can't see how dated yours is.

Better yet, if you are able to, hire a designer to do the job for you. You said you are not a designer; logo design is not easy and without the right knowledge, skill-set and experience, it will likely be an uphill struggle for someone such as yourself who has just started using Adobe Illustrator.
Click to expand...

Hi Carl,

Thanks again for your comments.

When composing/positioning the text inside the box, my only thought was to make it as tight as possible without making it too cramped.

I would agree too that the two colour scheme looks better than the original too, and in terms of improving it elsewhere, this is the only adjustment that was made (compared to the original shown here).

I did initially do some research but even then I was struggling for inspiration, so I actually reverted back to my original design. The two shown on here are based upon a logo I made in Photoshop (I know, poor choice of software) about two years ago.

CSSmedia Logo.jpg

As you can see, the two I've recently made in Illustrator are considerably better, although, I think the fact that it's now made of vectors rather than pixels helps a lot with that.

I'm gonna' stick with it myself and see what I can produce. Heck, if we all gave up at the first attempt and paid someone else to do the job for us, what would the world be like? (Full of rich freelancers :-D)

Thanks again.
 
hankscorpio said:
Honestly - not being rude - I "designed" logos similar to this in the late 80s for computer programs that I wrote. I'm 34.

As I said, it's not a bad attempt, but it's old fashioned, it's not modern, it's not timeless, it's not exceptionally exciting.

I suggest you work with what you've conceived so far - a real tip is to work in black and white (not grayscale) and if it looks good that way - then add colour.

But please consider sketching out ideas, use pencil only - and only go to the computer when you have a final design.


I might also add that you should hire a professional designer, who will provide black and white logs, spot colour versions, CMYK versions, RGB versions, reversed out options and single colour options.

Hope that helps.
Click to expand...

Hi Hank,

Well, I'm sorry I can't live up to the standard of 8 year-old you...

I'm gonna spend some more time doing research and then go from there. As for working in black, yes, this is what I originally did (read this tip somewhere online) and will carry on doing.

Thanks again.
 
CSSmedia said:
I'm gonna' stick with it myself and see what I can produce. Heck, if we all gave up at the first attempt and paid someone else to do the job for us, what would the world be like? (Full of rich freelancers :-D)

Thanks again.
Click to expand...

Lol nice! I like your attitude. I didn't mean you should give up but the reason I suggested to hire a professional, is that you would like a professional logo. As you are not a professional designer, it will be extremely difficult, if not near impossible, for you to design a professional logo. This is simply due to you not have the sufficient knowledge or experience to which would enable you to do so. It is like asking a chef to be a pilot for a day.

I'm not saying you can't do it. I'm just saying it will be a steep uphill battle, against the winds and ocean... (too far I know, sorry). Judging by your current attempt, you have a long way to go.

But go for it, you can only get better from here!

I look forward to seeing what you come up with next.
 
CSSmedia said:
Hi Hank,

Well, I'm sorry I can't live up to the standard of 8 year-old you...

I'm gonna spend some more time doing research and then go from there. As for working in black, yes, this is what I originally did (read this tip somewhere online) and will carry on doing.

Thanks again.
Click to expand...

I can't even live up to the standard I set when I was 8 years of age. I set my standards way too high, way too early.

I'm not suggesting you hire a designer to design a logo for you. I'm suggesting when you have your logo concept completed get a graphic designer to prepare all the file formats and itterations of colour, reversed out, single colour, cmyk, rgb, spot colours.


I often receive hand drawn logos by clients as the logo they want for their company, and I create the digital versions for them in various entities.

Nothing wrong with designing your own logo - but it has to be the right file formats for printing.
 
Hi All,

Gone back to the drawing board as suggested and have come up with the following.

Untitled-1.jpg

It's only been quickly made in Photoshop, so it's far from perfect, but personally, I really quite like it.

Thoughts?
 
hankscorpio said:
I can't even live up to the standard I set when I was 8 years of age. I set my standards way too high, way too early.

I'm not suggesting you hire a designer to design a logo for you. I'm suggesting when you have your logo concept completed get a graphic designer to prepare all the file formats and itterations of colour, reversed out, single colour, cmyk, rgb, spot colours.


I often receive hand drawn logos by clients as the logo they want for their company, and I create the digital versions for them in various entities.

Nothing wrong with designing your own logo - but it has to be the right file formats for printing.
Click to expand...

Sure, that makes sense. I'm fairly sure I could produce all the variants though if I am able to create the design myself.
 
CLHB said:
Lol nice! I like your attitude. I didn't mean you should give up but the reason I suggested to hire a professional, is that you would like a professional logo. As you are not a professional designer, it will be extremely difficult, if not near impossible, for you to design a professional logo. This is simply due to you not have the sufficient knowledge or experience to which would enable you to do so. It is like asking a chef to be a pilot for a day.

I'm not saying you can't do it. I'm just saying it will be a steep uphill battle, against the winds and ocean... (too far I know, sorry). Judging by your current attempt, you have a long way to go.

But go for it, you can only get better from here!

I look forward to seeing what you come up with next.
Click to expand...

Totally appreciate what you're saying Carl.

This is my next attempt:

Untitled-1.jpg
 
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