Concepts

[martyng]

I had promising interview earlier this week and I have been given a second one as well as a mock brief: a corporate identity. The company used in this brief is fictional, it is called 'Business Sense', I think he has named it so, to catch out anyone who would abbreviate to 'BS' for the logo http://www.respawned.co.uk/forums/images/smilies/wink2.gif

Anyways, the design job is with a pretty large company who are also a very large well known printers.

Concept 1:
http://martyng.com/bs1.jpg

This one is a play on the '6th sense' without being too obvious, although I think I could do with a tag line.




Concept 2:
http://martyng.com/bs2.jpg

The logo mark represents the ups and downs of business and the straight line is the sense.



I want a third concept as well, but I am struggling a little for good ideas. I will present the logos on business cards, headed paper and a mock up of a homepage.

Some constructive feedback would be great http://www.respawned.co.uk/forums/images/smilies/smile.gif

Cheers

[martyng]

One of the early site mock-ups:

http://martyng.com/bssite.jpg

[WannaBrie]

The "b" in the first one is reading as a "6" to me. I think the second one works better plus you have a definite concept for it. I vote #2

[martyng]

It's supposed to read as a 6 :/

[WannaBrie]

Oh, duh, that's what I get for skimming your post! Mea culpa. Okey dokey then, I like it! The hand reference is good, but I can't make out the symbols all that well. Maybe make them a tad darker.

[Virgo Nightingale]

But is there a reason for it to read as a 6? The Sixth Sense is a great movie, but I don't see what the correlation could be. Or is it supposed to relate to some sort of extra-sensory perception?

[martyng]

Well the idea being that 'Business Sense' would be a sixth sense

[Virgo Nightingale]

I gotcha. ;)

I do like the concept, especially with the site mockup illustrating the concept, but to me the logo on its own doesn't convey that. Seems like too far-fetched a correlation for it to stand on its own. I wish there were a way to incorporate the finger symbols into the logo design without ending up making it far too busy.

[martyng]

I thought that too, which is why I was thinking a tagline would be useful, but I cant really thinf of anything that works

[Crimson]

I think it is a very clever idea. I liked the hand- funny you might think 5 not 6 - Photoshop in another finger???? The thing I am not crazy is the pink 6 and the rest of the text. Is it ok in Black and white? It does seem harder to discover the cleverness off the logo. Number substituted for letters isn't a new trick or anything. However, I think you making a good push.

Does that make sense? (he, he no pun intended)

[Virgo Nightingale]

I thought that too, which is why I was thinking a tagline would be useful, but I cant really thinf of anything that works
A tagline may help make the concept clearer, but a logo should be able to stand on its own without the added help.

[martyng]

I think it is a very clever idea. I liked the hand- funny you might think 5 not 6 - Photoshop in another finger???? The thing I am not crazy is the pink 6 and the rest of the text. Is it ok in Black and white? It does seem harder to discover the cleverness off the logo. Number substituted for letters isn't a new trick or anything. However, I think you making a good push.

Does that make sense? (he, he no pun intended)

It does work in black and white, but it's not as obvious. I think if I darken the 'sense' images a previously suggested, then the hand might work better

A tagline may help make the concept clearer, but a logo should be able to stand on its own without the added help.

I think the logo works tbh, some people get it some don't, I guess I have to way that up though.

Thanks for the replies so far :)

[Quirk]

I like the idea, but I definitely did not get it at first, and probably would have never got it without explanation... but it is a nice concept.

[Broacher]

It's a good, playful, first-rounder concept but I don't see the rationale in investing in it any further--or presenting it as a client proposal.

How many clients would accept a fundamental change like this for identity? Did you get any sense in the brief that this is one of those rare clients? Or an indication that the character of the company would welcome a direct tie with the supernatural connotations? I'm just going by the name here but, I would guess that 'business sense' is something far less fantastical and far MORE grounded in common sense and conservative experience.

Especially given the current economic situation, I don't think many of that client's clients would be overly receptive to a company claiming (no matter how tongue in cheek) some kind of 'mystical' power in business planning.

Conservative, business-service client. Oy. Gotta be one of the toughest identity nuts to crack if you're looking for conceptual logo innovation.

You might be better off choosing an identity message concept that would reinforce a tried and true blue business ideal -- but in a fresh and clear manner. Don't think so much about playing with the words here, but do try to feel the character of the client's service. What situations would show that feeling best? Colours? Metaphors?

Good luck!

[martyng]

Thanks Broacher, I do need a new concept to work on.

I just want to point out though - the 6th sense concept isn’t implied to be supernatural. You have your 5 basic senses, then ‘Business’ would be the 6th. I know there was a film called the 6th sense that means he sees dead people, but that’s not what I’m going for.

[martyng]

Thanks for all the comments so far folks, great feedback http://www.respawned.co.uk/forums/images/smilies/smile.gif I'll keep working on the others.

I'm trying a third one here:

http://martyng.com/bs3.jpg

The tool handle is obviously metaphorical, I do however want to stay clear of looking like a handy man logo or something.

[bigmedia]

I like the second logo better as it stands, but I think that the 6th sense idea could be quite a concept, but yeah, you'd need a tagline.

I'd think of a tagline, like "giving you the 6th sense in business" and then make the top curve of the 6 a bit less obvious, so it stops without curling all the way over, or curl it further (but not to touch) so as to create a kind of capitalised B, though I think a lower case would work better.

[martyng]

I can't really use Business or Sense in the tagline, which ios why I can't really think of anything

[bigmedia]

In which case it's going to be difficult to explain. It's a great concept if you can nail it though.

I'm not a fan of the handy man logo, yeah I'd maybe do the 6th sense logo, the ups and downs one (another nice concept), and then a really conservative stiff upper lip one. Are you allowed to present three concepts?

[Broacher]

Thanks Broacher, I do need a new concept to work on.

I just want to point out though - the 6th sense concept isn’t implied to be supernatural. You have your 5 basic senses, then ‘Business’ would be the 6th. I know there was a film called the 6th sense that means he sees dead people, but that’s not what I’m going for.

Yes, but you really have to go to the connotations of the 'sixth sense' phrase. It's very often used as a convenient way to communicate the complexities behind the word 'intuition' (Have you read Gladwell's 'Blink' yet?). Intuition is extremely important in business but so difficult to trust. And yet trust is really what gets exchanged between businesses--especially between consultants and business clients.

Which is why I think a 'trust MY intuition' graphic statement is gonna set off the mistrust alarms. (How many new design clients have you ever gotten without showing any of your work first?)

A direction that might be worth exploring is some kind of graphic connection (Translation? Substitution? Psychicly inferred? A modified optical illusion?) between a natural 'sense' and a symbolic representation of 'business sense'.

An example? I dunno. Take the big eyeball over the pyramid thing on American currency. What if you placed something to enhance that eyeball's power in front of it: a monoscope? Or... nah, you work it out, not me.

[Tdubya86]

When I look at your second concept I really want the green mark to be an eyeball. I think the "ups and downs of business" is maybe too arbitrary. You could use the same graphic element, that green line, but lose the straight part and alter it into an eye shape. It nearly looks that way already. I think you'de have something there. Also, you shouldn't capitalize the first letters of the words unless the typeface has smallcaps built into it. The B and S are noticeably thicker than the rest of the word. Make all the letters the same to correct this issue.

AS far as the 6th sense thing goes, You're going to be hard pressed to get away from connotations of the movie or of supernatural intuition. The concept is worth keeping as one of three but maybe make it 6thusiness sense. But with a much smaller "th" in a light grey or some other color than the main type. If you can make that work visually it might strengthen the concept.

If you want your last concept to be distinct froma "handyman" look then you'll have to make the tool mark even more abstract. Even if it only looks like a tool to you, that's fine. Just make it a nice looking symbol. Also make the tagline MUCH smaller. Like 8 pt. Taglines should be very much secondary, and right now it has almost as much impact as the name and symbol. I think you should make the word "sense" Larger, make both words in caps and align it evently with "business" so that it creates a nice box Structure. like this:

BUSINESS
SENSE

Just fix the the leading and Kearning so it fits better than i can make it with this window.

[Optimusdinkus]

what would look sweet in my opnion is a formed collage of graphs showing ups and downs, some financial sites have awsome charts and graphs, and even the old ass stock sheets that were used way back in the day.
Use that stuff for research me thinks to get an even better concept than this.