jockpti

Ok guys, be gentle, I have just started learning Photoshop in the past two months, so i have a lot of learning to do, anyway, I am starting up my own online business and this is my logo... whatcha think? What could be done differently? My husband doesn't think that the wire thats wrapped around the star looks like wire- what do you guys think? what could i do to make it look more like wire?? thanks so much!!

dubya

I've recently embarked upon logo design myself. From the information I've gathered about it, a central nugget of advice seems to be "Keep it simple." Convey the most amount of information in a minimal and efficient manner. In my opinion, your design follows that formula pretty well.

My suggestions for changes/improvements are such:
1) The words "Design Co." are difficult to read on a white background and would probably be invisible if you set the logo against a yellowish hue. I would suggest adding a dark drop shadow (assuming the logo will be set against a white bg) to give it some emphasis.

2) The wire around the "U" seems to be a little distracting to me. I would either make the loop around the "U" smaller (creating more negative space inside the letter) or use another technique to attach the wire. (I whipped up a quick example of an alternate idea below.) You could also use a similar technique to make the wire appear to be threaded through the star.

My wife took a look at your original logo and she didn't have a problem with the wire encircling the "U", so that's probably just an issue of personal preference on my part. If you're satisfied with it, go for it.

Hope this gives you a little insight. There are others on the board with much more experience in this area who will undoubtedly give you some priceless advice on this matter.

Keep up the good work! (It looks too good for someone who's only been using PS for 2 months. You must be a quick study! [righton] )

~Dub

hedsteve

kinda reminds me of those crafty, candle stores or the sewing shops run by the little old ladies...

but... tip #1 logos really should be done in illustrator. but other than that it looks alright.

The words Design Co. are kinda hard to read yellow on white doesn't have enough contrast to be quickly read.

one idea to help this is add blue behind it or some other dark color... like:

stickdiesel

I agree with headsteve. You should draw the logo in illustrator.

Just a word of advice, bevel, emboss and drop shadows are an effect you should use very sparingly. They are a cheap effect and often look that way. Any Joe Bloe can pick up a graphic program and apply them. I think a 3d look is best left to high detail work.

I would also suggest using a sans serif font for both text elements, or script for both. Avoid clashing fonts, they compete too much with each other. Design Co, should be small type and inconspicious.(spelling)

As for the star, I dont like its placement, it needs to look like its a part of the main text element. Perhaps, given u find a suitable font, you can make the star smaller and add it above the "i" in Wish, and create a trail that curves over the top of the main text. You could play around with it, perhaps try on a black background and see what u can come up with.

Bubble

Good feedback all, and your design is looking good lauren.

I agree with all the suggestions thus far, although, I just have to slightly disagree with one:
Stickdiesel:This isn't a concept i necessarily agree with. I don't think you need to keep your fon't consistent in style (consistent in design, yes, but they don't need to be the same font). I think there are a lot of cases were opposing fonts have been used together, and actually work quite well. It's that old opposites attract issue, i mean even the best colours to put together are opposing colours... [shhh]
[size=7px]and i do believe that coke uses two very different fonts in its logo... just don't have an example handy.[/size]


What you have is a great basis lauren, and with a little fine tuning (drop shadow issues, etc) it could look very good. It's already an appealing design (even with the star down the bottom, you just need to create a little balance).

Anyway, that's my ramble... feel free to just skim over it

wbiss

Hey lauren... see what happens when you ask!

Ask 20 different designers and you'll get an equal number of different and objective opinions and suggestions! That's the beauty of a site like this!

I love your 'dangling' star from your corpoate name! It creates a "logo" that speaks volumes!

I do think, though, that you need to 'sharpen' this image up by creating it in a vector format...

Forget the 'texture effect' that you've got going on the star... stick with a simple 2-3 col design.

Why the wire (which is distracting) twisting around the star? In logo design, you have to remember that "less is more".

I like the idea of just "hooking" the star onto a dangling letter of your logo, as dubya has shown!.

And, by all means, if you insist on using this image on a white background (i.e. letterhead, business cards, etc.) you should put some kind of a contrasting background around it. hedsteve's "cloud" is brilliant! [righton]

Do drop the 'drop shadow'... and I love the contrast of the 'signature effect against the traditional "serif" ... maybe just thicken it up and try giving it a 'keyline' (outline) effect to lend more emphasis.

Finally... overall, think in terms of 'simplify'...

Once the 'basic design' (for print) is complete, then yeah... take those next steps to "fancy it up" (via various effects) for web use.

stickdiesel

Why would you want clashing elements in a logo?

Its not an artwork, its a business identity. The simpler it is the better. Typography is extremely important in design (not art) And the first rule is to be strict on yourself with fonts.

You have to be game to use more then 2 fonts for any page layout, if you do use 2, try not to be extreme, again, its design not art. You dont want customers looking at it and having to read it for more then .5 of a sec.

If you are creating art, then hey go for it.

Cant remember what Mag i read it in, but there is a saying that goes something along the lines of....

An artist will create a statue that can be sat on,
a designer will create a seat that looks good

something to that effect anyhows.

stickdiesel

If you're interested there is a really good collection of logos here.

http://www.coolhomepages.com/newstat...ter&HS23=Logos

if you study their typography you'll see what I am getting at.

wbiss

Cool link stickdiesel! [righton]

gymmie

For inspiration. And wise words have been said here. Keep it simple, almost laughably simple. Shapes, colors can tell your story, without distracting bevels and textures.

For this one, I'd make the star a simple yellow star shape (with the rounded corners you have, give it a 1-px black stroke and make the text black. But that's just me...lots of good ideas out there. B7

http://www.logoed.fsnet.co.uk/logos.html