Help: Logo Critique

[kant22]

Hello,
I need help on deciding on a logo. The logo is for a small German Advertising & Design ("Werbe- & Gestaltungbüro") company. I am an American, joining the company as a partner with a German, however the logo as it was just doesnt do it for me. The logo as it is now, is the light grey logo. Which of the logos if any do you prefer. I would greatly appreciate any feedback.

[G-Man79]

I really don't see "Advertising" or "Design" when I look at the logo. Could you give us some more insight into the design of this logo?

[Jeff Fisher LogoMotives]

I prefer the simplicity and clean lines of the original logo or the one directly above it. The added elements in the top two versions only complicate the design and may create reproduction problems in much smaller sizes.

- J.

[1ooScreamingTrees]

Are these scaled correctly? They look distorted horizontally to me - very stretched out. Especially the current logo at the bottom.

As for which logo I prefer, the one directly above the current logo. In your current logo, the contrast between the grey type, orange square, and the black title are not complimenting eachother but rather conflicting with one and other.

In my preferred logo as mentioned above, my eye immedietly hits the orange square and then evenly filters through the rest of the logo - much more smoothly than any of the others.

I would suggest evening up the o/circle in "joy" so it is more of a circle and less of an elipse.

One other thing that I just noticed...on my preferred logo. The "Werbe- & Gestaltungbüro" lines up evenly with the edge of "Amjoys" on the right side, but on the left side the A in "Amjoys" falls short in contrast to the secondary line. Your grid needs to be fine-tuned on a few of these logos.

[Samakimoto Graphics]

Yup!

Definately the one just above the original logo - second from the bottom.

You may need to chck on the kerning of the small text just underneath...

[kant22]

Thank you all for the input. I agree with the comments and will go with the one just above the old one. G-Man, as far as seeing advertising & design directly from the logo, unfortunatly not all logos depict what the company is just from looking at the logo ie. Bank of America, Chase Manhatten, Coke, etc. The name itself "Amjoys", comes from the names of my partners 2 children, Amy, and Joyse, ergo Amjoys. Because you can not tell what kind of company it is from looking at the logo, it was important for us to write "Advertising & Design Buro" (Werbe & Gestaltungsbüro) in connection with the logo. As far as the symbol integrated into the logo, the gray circle/oval with the Orange box. The gray oval represents our closed system, or our full spectrum of services. The oval also acts almost as a hand holding the orange box. The orange box represents what comes from our services, or you could say our products ergo the strong orange (vibrant, clear designs that catch attention). I hope this helps a little to understand the logo better. Thanks again.

[Spectrix]

I prefer the simplicity and clean lines of the original logo or the one directly above it. The added elements in the top two versions only complicate the design and may create reproduction problems in much smaller sizes.

- J.

I agree... I like the second from the bottom best. Clean and simple.

[1ooScreamingTrees]

The oval also acts almost as a hand holding the orange box.

The fact that you used the word almost sums up everything. If this was the idea you were trying to communicate, it has not been successful.

The gray oval represents our closed system, or our full spectrum of services

The problem with this is that your oval is not "closed" or "full". It's three-quarters of an oval, because it is broken by the orange box. Even if it were to be a full oval, do you think the viewer would really understand this concept without any leading from the designer or business? Probably not.

If these are the ideas you are trying to communicate, there is much work to be done. Unfortunately, the more lenient you are in trying to defend your design concept, the more it ultimately leads to ineffective design.

While objects within a design can be implemented in various ways to be interpreted a number of ways, the old "this represents this OR this and also this" typically does not sit well. You want to communicate as clearly as possible to your audience, and by not having a solitary unified concept that you yourself were intending to communicate, things become unnecessarily complicated.

[distruktor]

In the top two it looks like the oval is starting to resemble an artists palette? not a closed system