Logo Re-design

[Scott Dawson]

Hi, I'm new to this website (first post) so bear with me

I work for a local furniture company as a Graphic Designer in a loose sense of the word as they have a company that does their major promotion design etc. whereas I handle small and usually internal projects

As a 21 year old that is new to the job, I haven't really proven myself but have a very keen interest in design and I feel that I have the potential to do well for them. Unfortunately, despite having an agency that handles designs for promotion/sale campaigns, it is clear to see that it has been a while since the company has had a professional designer spending time on the branding side of things.

Recently, I have started to look at fixing up a fresh set of brand guidelines (moving away from using Trajan Pro to target young, fashion minded customers) starting with the logo. Obviously the fonts will be kept the same and the colours have to at least be a close match to colours currently in use.

Here is the company's current logo



And here is my initial idea, bearing in mind I am at a very early stage of the project,this is just an initial idea



So far, this is the design that i feel to be best. I feel that when the text is all white against a contrasting colour it becomes stronger. Also I have moved away from the old red (which I feel to be "sale" red) and towards a deeper red that gives a stronger sense of quality and based on big brands such as Microsoft and Google, I have kept the red as a flat colour rather than adding gradients etc.

What are your thoughts so far?

Idea 2
Already I have doubts about this one. Through re-search I found that perhaps a unique letter 'S' could prove useful as it makes the logo stand out against competitors, shows care and time has been taken into the brand identity and hopefully the unique lettering would perhaps make the brand stronger and more identifiable.



Please note this is a very rough idea, I would just like the opinion of others before I start to work on it. My main problem with it is that I feel it could reflect badly on the brand, i.e it looks a little unfinished and may suggest that the company is unstable or sluggish

What do you think?

 

[hankscorpio]

As you can already see - the type is lost at smaller sizes.

Plus if this printed on a business card the plate could break up with such thin font printing at such a small size - usually for small fonts a bolder version is more desirable for litho plate printing - as the emulsion could in theory break on the fine lines.

How will this logo look when it's in black and white - when it's faxed (if people are still sending faxes) - when it's photoscopied?

The logo needs to be multipurpose will it retain the legibility across all mediums? Clothes, apparel, pens, business cards, 1 colour, 2 colour, embroidered, transfer printed, flexo printing, screen printing and all sorts of things.

The ultimate guide to logo design: 50 pro tips | Logo design | Creative Bloq

 

[Paul Murray]

Hey Scott, welcome to the forum.

Personally I'd probably start a new identity design from scratch. For me, the current one is not a particularly strong basis for a redesign. The mixing of uppercase and lowercase characters in the name for example is not a particularly favourable approach, and only serves to make the name harder to read. The G at the end is interesting though. It looks a little more like a C with a tail at the minute, but it's very distinct.

As for the idea of a unique S, it's a good one, though what you currently have is a little 'gothic' looking to me and doesn't suit the rest of the type. From the thumbnail the whole identity it reminds me of the identity for a show about vampires or something.

I'd recommend having a stab at a new identity from scratch. Perhaps reference the old one somehow, but don't let that dictate your options.

 

[Wardy]

I quite like what you've done, but it's not enough to call it a rebrand. Maybe that's not your object, but it wouldn't hurt to change the font. Further to what Paul said, upper and lower case together can
work, but they need to be the same weight and thickness to read properly.

I like the new S, but the rest needs some kind of uniformity re the enlarged t and L. Not keen on the G, might work as a double story one.
'Furniture' needs to be sans serif, and the outer box doesn't need to be so large.

 

[Sam Cowley]

If I were to choose from the two I would probably say the second design, but then again both designs are too similar to the original logo. If I were you I would try think of new designs without making it all look similar. Hope this helps!

 

[MJ96]

Welcome to the forum Scott.

I don't think you've done a bad job tidying up the existing logo. Both Paul and Hank make good points about the thickness of text and the use of upper and lowercase lettering. Assuming they are not looking to completely change there identity, how about giving the logo a bit more of a vintage hand made feel? It may represent them nicely, being a small local company and shouldn't be too much of a dramatic change.

 

[Dave L]

Good choice on the red and I like the bespoke 'S' which, pleasingly (to my eyes), has a shape reminiscent of the curves of a wingback chair (this is perhaps worth developing if it's an appropriate echo of the product range). The rest of the logo, however, needs properly overhauling if it's to lose some of its stuffiness.