stoneypath logo

[*the girl* ryan]

Looking for a little more guiding light. I have these four logos for the same company. Didn't give me much to go on. The bottom right is the most literal design that he asked for from a line drawing. Don't know about color yet but thats fine, we are still in the b&w phase. whadya think...?

and i should have updates to the garden party next week, I made adjustments to the shadow and the I in Cassie :D

in the meantime.. i think i'll go do a little critiquing of my own since i have some time on my hands :D

[Craig B]

First and foremost, what do they do?

What are you trying to convey with the logo?

The highly detailed tree in 1 and 3 also most likely won't reproduce well at a smaller size. The path in 2 makes me see a pyramid more than a path.

[*the girl* ryan]

what a good question-
well, in all reality, I'm not quite sure. Everything we have done has been over email or phone and when he initially described it it had to do with writing and publishing. He specifically wanted to incorporate an oak, a path and maybe some hills and was pretty adamant about that.

[Craig B]

I would definitely get more clarity on what they do. It may be too late, but a lot of times customers have ideas in their head of what they want, and you need to make them open to your expertise and your own ideas of how to execute the logo.

Help to educate clients to make them understand that logos are rarely so literal. Starbucks doesn't show coffee or cups in their logo, Nike certainly doesn't show sports or apparel, etc.

Usually when they give you restricting parameters they end up with a less successful logo.

Unfortunately educating them and getting them open to not being literal can definitely be a challenge.

[*the girl* ryan]

well, thats why this is up here. he is involved with writing and publishing. those are the elements he wants in his logo, so at this point I am trying to display them in a way to make him happy while still giving him a nice mark to put on his business cards. So based on where these are at the moment... what stands out as glaring no no's?

[tZ]

To be honest the first thing I thought of when I saw these logo's was a park not publishing. With that said, I would have to say that the bottom left direction/composition fits the business most appropratly. However, I feel that the second and bottom right compositions are the most sucessfull- from a technical and compoositional stand point but, they remind me of a park not publishing. I think that if you simplify the tree and create a more naturalistic looking path with linear/atmospheric perspective applied the lower left mark will become increasingly more successful from a design and technical standpoint.

[budafist]

I like the bottom right one. It's generic and a mature mark which I think a publishing company should be. The serif capitals suggest tradition and trustworthiness. I don't like the others because by altering the fonts, it's like you are meddling.

Capital letters work. More epic, solid, dependable. The lowercase logos look too casual and playful to me. Even though they are in a serif font (2 of them anyway), they don't exude a feeling of seriousness.

Publishers rarely have books or writing related images in their logos. When you open a book and see the publishers logo, you know they are a publisher - you're holding their book in your hand. You want to see something that distinguishes that publisher from other publishers.

The nature theme has been done before - that's not to say you should or shouldn't do it. I'm just saying that it's out there. Tried and true. Reed Publishing (http://www.sanctuary.org.nz/whatsnew/images/reed_logo.gif) is a big publishing company in New Zealand on the nature buzz.

The last one is my favourite but I also feel that it looks like a wine label. Don't you agree?

[tZ]

mediarail:

http://www.mediarail.com/images/portfolio/logo07.jpg

There are also some good examples of tree simplification on:

www.leadercreative.com

[*the girl* ryan]

*looking at the leader|creative website...*
*going in the bathroom to get razorblade*

[Virgo Nightingale]

The one on the bottom right reminds me of the Six Feet Under logo (http://content.answers.com/main/content/wp/en/f/fc/Sfu_logo_23.jpg) a little bit, as well as a particular movie production company animation you see during the opening sequence of a movie, but I can't for the life of me remember the name of the company – the animation is of a road with a tree one one side on the horizon, and the tree is struck by lightning and everything freezes to the logo with the company name. Oh I hate when I have something on the tip of my tongue like this... It's gonna bother me all day now.

Edit: Jerry Bruckheimer Films!!! (http://www.actingbiz.com/images/logo-jbfilms.jpg) Phew....

[*the girl* ryan]

i knew exactly which one you meant you described it. Yeah I see the Six Feet thing. had to go look at it, i never watched that show.. im an ER girl myself :) Back to work then!

[D-Frag]

mediarail:

There are also some good examples of tree simplification on:

www.leadercreative.com

oh my, that was quite amazing, i sat there for a bit with the logos and it was still going, im just mesmerized at the amount of high end clients , wow...just wow....

[captain spanky]

oh my, that was quite amazing, i sat there for a bit with the logos and it was still going, im just mesmerized at the amount of high end clients , wow...just wow....

i liked the hawiian airlines logo... :) simple and effective.

[seamas]

oh my, that was quite amazing, i sat there for a bit with the logos and it was still going, im just mesmerized at the amount of high end clients , wow...just wow....

Yes for the most part, but I couldn't help finding the "Brand Advisors" one a bit strange. It is a verbatim copy of a design from a well known travel poster (I think the poster is even featured in the Meggs History of Graphic design).

[Tea]

I know what you mean about the Cruise ship. I looked up vintage cruise ships and I have that image in my head, but can't find it. Grrr.
This was as close as I could find:http://artfiles.art.com/images/-/Normandie-Poster-C12340537.jpeg


the girl ryan: did you come out of the bathroom yet?;)

[tZ]

^ yep, I remember the very moment I saw that image in my gd history book and immediatly recalled that logo from leadercreative.

[Davis_Amber]

I really like the one on the last row on the left. It loks realyl sophisticated, it it really draws me in. But what is the logo about?

[sweet*pea]

It does look a bit "book publisher" to me.

[kevincdg]

I really enjoy the one on the bottom right. I could really see that as a book publising logo. That's by far my favorite.

Looking forward to see what comes next. :)

[viince]

I know what you mean about the Cruise ship. I looked up vintage cruise ships and I have that image in my head, but can't find it. Grrr. Correct me if I'm wrong, but you must be referring to this:

http://www.cyprien-fabre.com/images/atlantique%20affiche.jpg

[kar-po]

definitely the one on the bottom right.

[sweet*pea]

I like the bottom right as well. I just think one thing... if you could pull the black lines closer to the tree, sort of as if there was a white border around the tree. Then it would look more like the tree was growing out of the box, instead of having the box built around the tree.

[1ooScreamingTrees]

On a side note, the leadercreative navigation for their logo gallery is making me want to hurt myself, and others.

Most of those logos are great - However, I absolutely hate the "Basis" logo.

Back to the topic at hand:

The old "add this, this, and this" routine is one of my biggest fears whenever meeting with a new client. The best approach is to talk to them about why introducing so many elements into a mark is a poor idea that rarely works to the benefit of anyone. They may believe that all of the elements help communicate their message/ideals/business, but in fact all they do is cause a visual message overload that makes the mark less memorable. Not to mention, cluttered and overbearing.

Mock up a few samples of simplified designs and display them next to the "tree, dog, cat, fish, sun, green hill, mother holding a baby, black man holding a white man's hand, and a star shooting through the sky" logo.

Fight for the designer profession! Do not give in. Reject the job if neccessary, and if you need food, I'll Fedex you a box of saltines!

[seamas]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but you must be referring to this:

http://www.cyprien-fabre.com/images/atlantique%20affiche.jpg


'Yes.

Though I am remembering a different color scheme --- much like the one used on that site. Perhaps "L'Atlantique" used variations of the same illustration dependant on destination of the voage.

[seamas]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but you must be referring to this:

http://www.cyprien-fabre.com/images/atlantique%20affiche.jpg


I just noticed that both of those advertisements were designed by A.M.Cassandre. A very, very well known designer/painter/illustrator.

[*the girl* ryan]

:D i love that artist. I have a copy of the attached painting here at home. one of my favs...

i have changes to the logo, we have moved into BC/letterhead/eps etc... i will upload in a bit, but i am going out of town and i need to pack

ciao!