Brain Freeze on "Already-Done-A-Million-Times-Idea". Help!

[ControlZ]

Hi everyone;
I'm having a bit of a time coming up with a concept for this design challenge. If anyone can help I'd really appreciate it.

Client wants a logo for their interactive web services company, (progressive andhigh tech).
But they want it to portraya warm,approchable haven of security. They want the client to feel that they will be treated with respect and understanding.

Dilema: name of the company is OASIS, and they want palm trees. Client is sure that they don't want their logo looking like all the other high tech logos out there. My first thought is that they are trying to incorporate too much into the logo, but they are pretty insistant that I try it their way.

Anybody have any good ideas on how to marry high tech with warm and fuzzy without getting so busy that you can't reduce the thing to fit on a pen?

Thanks,
ControlZ

"I run the show and I'm a whole theater in myself"
Mary Ellen Pleasant

[morea]

that's a toughie... let me think on it for a bit and hopefully un-stick my brain so I can contribute.

I haven't lost my mind... it's backed up on disk somewhere.

[Broacher]

Oasis...long etymology there... French, Latin, Greek... 'a place to dwell'.

Hmm... palm trees. Date palms? That's the classic. In many religions, it was the 'datepalm' not the apple tree that was the source of original temptation for Adam and Eve. The 'tree of life'.

The desert oasis is an island of shady rest and habitation surrounded by a hostile, unforgiving and harsh enironment. So you want to translate that metaphorically into web servers and data security solutions. Physically, the image of oasis is very dependent on the contrast of scale: a relatively small island of comfort in a sea of inhospitability. The word conveys that image by association, but visually you need to work within the constraints of logos, and logo scaling limits. Hmm... What if you took the 'O', and plunked it right on top of a very busy, aggressive 'texture' of aggressive, threatening words like spam, viruses, etc. etc., all jumbled up to make a pile of sharp twigs of letterforms-- selectively cropped and arranged of course. The 'O' would be maybe a third of the way up and across and a third wide as the background. The counter of the O (the inside shape) would be where you put the full word, 'Oasis'. But wait a sec, what about those damn trees your client wants?

Okay, we'll shift the view from overhead to ground looking up, through the protective mesh of palm leaves keeping the outside out... maybe the palms make a protective arc and in the foreground is a pool of water, and the word... no, no-- too complicated.

How about the other side? Peeking in through those bold but distinctively shaped palm fronds forming an opening to reveal the oasis? Sorry, not much here either. Just thought I'd kick it around a bit, but it seems like I'm coming up a little dry...

Water, water!!!

[ControlZ]

Yes, exactly my problem. Now try and reduce your first brainstorm ideato fit on every kind of media imaginable. It's a tough assignment! Keep it coming though. Some of your imagery sparked some thoughts and helped me visualize it a little better.






ControlZ

I know it's a tough idea to grasp, but for the love of God stay with me.

[flashlight]

What if you put the palm tree aside for a bit, and play with the rest of the stuff: security, tech, etc.

Try making lists of words around the concepts, then randomly selecting a couple of words and putting them together. It's a useful tool (and kind of fun) for unsticking the brain.

First thing that popped into my mind upon reading broacher was 'home'. Security + oasis = home, or home base, or something like that...

I am Almost Cool (http://www.peterflaschner.com)

[tubdesigner]

go with just a few leaves from a palm tree,
take the ideas they gave you and simplify it

[Broacher]

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0060584009/103-5339019-0364642?v=glance


Saw this book cover tonight while stopping at the town library on my way home (where my wife works).


Note the simple substitution of the 'I' with the palm.


Might try that with the 'I' in OASIS?

[ControlZ]

I've got a few designs down on paper. Maybe I'll post them here when I get a fourth done to see what you guys think. Thanks for the suggestions, they helped me move forward and let's hope in the right direction.


Thanks!



ControlZ

I know it's a tough idea to grasp, but for the love of God stay with me.

[3howards]

i think maybe something simple like this would work:

http://www.3howards.com/images/oasisidea.gif

'Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.' -- Isaiah 5:20

[ControlZ]

Well, here are the finalists. What's your pick?


I'll post which one the client picked after I see which one designers feel works best.


I'll be adding color later, but my policy is that every logo should work in black and white first.


Thanks for your input.



ControlZ

I know it's a tough idea to grasp, but for the love of God stay with me.

[morea]

I like #1... #2 made me think bad thoughts. Then again, I have mental problems.

I haven't lost my mind... it's backed up on disk somewhere.

[MarkXero]

I like #1 best too, although I'd simplify the top of the tree a bit - not sure how it'll look on a small scale (business card etc.) #4 looks good too, although it's probably not what the client wants, from what you've already said. I'm not sure it's warm and approachable. #2 is too 'tourist information' for me (maybe that's just a UK thing) and #3 doesn't gel as well as #1 and #4.

Team Xero - invisible to radar (with any luck) (http://www.teamxero.com/xerum)

[Broacher]

Yep. One's got the KISS of simplicity going for it. Though the 'INTERACTIVE' slug is kinda lost. Maybe there's just not enough 'black space' between the top and bottom lettering-- especially as OASIS is resting right on top of that black bar. Also, the width of that black bar is so close to the stroke width of the top letters (and the tree trunk)... it needs to be resolved somehow. And those bullets... is there a good reason why they need to be there? What if interactive went lc? Then you'd be able to make the x height of 'interactive' bigger-- if you could work out the ascenders of the 't's... merge one into the trunk? Nah. I dunno. and you went from a rectangular 'bar' to something with more organic character -- like the gentle swish you've got in the last one? Might be a case where you could work the curves over the ascending strokes of the t's? I dunno.. wait a sec. Excuse the unrefined crudeness here, but I'm thinking of something like...

[Adamosity]

I'd have to say no.1, i actually quite like the way the 'interactive' type is composed, may be a smidgen more black so the type isn't so cramped in the black bar.... besides that its pretty cool.
Oh I agree with MarkXero too, the palm tree needs a bit of a trim in its detailing.

[Wonder Woman]

I agree with Broacher here. Number 1 is the best, but that solid bar along the bottom is a bit harsh. The more organic and flowing shape broacher has put in agrees with the feel of the logo more. Try doing it that way, or making it slightly deeper and put the text inside it too.

Have you got any ideas about the colours you are going to put in? It works really well in black and white, so I was just wondering about what your colour thoughts were?

Searching for creative juices

[ControlZ]

And the Winner is.....


although I argued considerably to go with a variation on #1, they chose the busiest and coldest of the series and went with #4.


And after a dozen or so color variations and suggestions, they went with the traditional oasis in the desert look. It just goes to show you that sometimes you just can't beat a good design into the clients head. They want what they want. Period.





http://www.graphicdesignforum.com/emoticons/cheers.gif It's these kinds of jobs that make you want to drink.
Thanks for you input and encouragement!



ControlZ

Quick, insult me while I'm numb.

[ControlZ]

By the way, this is the one that I tried to talk them into in the end but they wouldn't leave their city behind.



ControlZ

Quick, insult me while I'm numb.

[MarkXero]

#4 looks good too, although it's probably not what the client wants, from what you've already said.

just shows how much I know eh? /emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif

Team Xero - invisible to radar (with any luck) (http://www.teamxero.com/xerum)

[ControlZ]

Well, as the cookie crumbles...you have to cover all the bases with these kinds of clients. I'm not saying #4 was bad, just not the dirrection I would have taken them. What's funny is they called me yesterday and want to consider silver now because they read somewhere that silver is a tech color. Duh!


"But you didn't want a tech logo," I reminded them.


"Well can we try it now?" they insisted.


I, of course, said, "no problemo," as I reached for the bottle of rum.



ControlZ

Quick, insult me while I'm numb.

[MarkXero]

Ah - clients who know their own mind. Don't we just love 'em?

We got a job weeks ago - a complete mess of six pages of random stuff which needed formating and designing into a 2-sided thing. So having interpreted their scribbles I came up with something, sent it off for checking / editing. A week goes by before the edits come back. Edits done in a couple of hours and sent back to them. Another week. same again. And again. And again - all our work done within a couple of hours, all their checking takes a week at least.

Then last tuesday it's suddenly 'oh, and we need 2000 of these printed by Friday. We'll get the final edits to you today'. On wednesday the edits come in. Our printers pull a miracle (week before Christmas and all that) and pick up the disc on Wednesday, get proofs to us Wednesday afternoon, deliver the printed and drilled result before Friday lunch. And just as we're putting the boxes in the car to take to the client, guess what? Phone call from client - 'Sorry. There's a mistake on it. Where it say less than it should say more than.'

Whole job in the bin.

Fan-bloody-tastic. how do some of these companies keep going?

Team Xero - invisible to radar (with any luck) (http://www.teamxero.com/xerum)

[Invader Xan]

Y'know, I hate to go against the grain, but (having only just read this thread), but the bottom half of the one they chose, does seem rather more approachable. The tight tracking, together with the extended (rather than condensed) horizontal scaling makes it seem a lot more... comfortable. Less lofty. I agree though that the city's uncomfortably busy. Maybe the juxtaposition gives it added impact though, huh?

Sorry my opinion's rather late, but perhaps if you'd tried that text style with the same sort of motif you used in logo 1, it may have swayed their decision...
Just my two cents.


Clients are troublesome creatures, at any rate! =)

'Imagination is more important than intelligence'
-- Albert Einstein

[ControlZ]

Oh, I feel for ya MarkXero! I hope you had a signed off copy so it didn't come out of your pocket.


As for my client, I tried the silver and it just didn't blend with the tropic feel of the green Oasis and blue wave, so he went back to the simple tan background. It's his now, to do with as he pleases. It will simply never see the pages of my portfoliohttp://www.graphicdesignforum.com/emoticons/icon_redface.gif .


Thanks for all your input gang.





ControlZ

Quick, insult me while I'm numb.