Hi,
Is our logo still of this time and a good representation of our brand ?
About us: a Dutch non profit organization “Stichting Oorlogsslachtoffers” (War Victims Foundation) that does historical research on (former) field graves and military research on military war victims.
Because we are in need of new business cards I wanted to check if our logo is stil of this time.
I hope you will take a look and share your opinion.
Thank’s … best regards and keep healthy
Richard
I suppose your logo could still be of the time.
Quite curious why the use of 4 colors and one of those being orange but I haven’t done as much research on this topic.
In terms of what the logo does, it appears as if people are staring at a memorial wall or cross (war grave). The logo probably is meant to be taken literally. I don’t really get research vibes from the logo.
Welcome to the forum! 
I’m going to be completely honest and say on initial impressions, it looks to me to be maybe a window company, the mark is actually very similar to the Microsoft Windows logo.
I definitely don’t think “War Victims Foundation” (or anything associated with war for that matter) when I see the mark.
To answer your question: I think it could be improved, but whether or not you should spend money and go through a rebrand I think depends on whether you think it’s important - is it important to you?
Thank you all for the feedback !
I did not design this logo myself RedKittieKat, bought it on a logo-site and after that I changed the colors and added the text. The colors I picked are within our site that is whit the same colors Billyjeanplxiv.
I just checked the Microsoft Windows logo, I get what you think Pluto, as also your comment about the window company.
Yes, it’s important to me en to be honest I visited a cheap logo-designer site last month (yes I know, but because it’s a non profit organization I did not want to spend to much money) and got 4 “logo’s” that a 2-year old could make.
Can you advise me where I can best start for, for example, a logo contest for a reasonable price, and what is a reasonable price for a logo design?
Thank’s again!
A 2-year-old might be able to draw an approximation of the Apple and Nike logos too, but they’re still good logos for reasons a 2-year-old wouldn’t appreciate. A good designer will think through the entire problem and create the logo that best fits the organization, its objectives, its audience and will deliver something that is both practical and effective — even if the final logo is as simple as a Nike swoosh.
Good designers typically stay away from contests since we do this for a living and expect to get paid for our work — creating work for a contest that only holds the possibility of getting paid doesn’t buy groceries or pay the rent.
It sounds like you don’t want to pay thousands of Euros for a complete brand package and written guidelines to go with it, but you do want something that’s appropriate for your non-profit. A better alternative to the contest sites would be Upwork.com. You can place a job post there and designers will get back to you expressing interest. At that point you can carefully look through their portfolios of past work and choose the designer to work with that best fits your needs. This avoids the contest part of it, lets you choose someone based on their past work, and it will likely still fit within your budget.
Just-B,
Thank you for the upwork link, I did some searching today and there are a lot of designers, I also did find two other sites in the 200,00 - 300.00 USD range so maybe that would be another reasonable option also.
Maybe I should indeed listen to Pluto who thinks that the logo could be improved…
Even finding a designer in your local market could be of benefit because they would understand your area, language, and tropes to include or avoid.
Ask yourself what is the end goal for the non-profit and have designers brand around that.
A logo is merely the surface of an identity. Your logo doesn’t need to shout what you do to the world that’s the job for additional content.
@SOS The next question you should ask is: how important is this logo to you?
Because when someone comes to me and says: I have a real business problem and I want to spend $300.00 on it, I don’t think that’s a real problem.
In order for someone to do a redesign properly, a designer would need to spend a lot of time talking to you about what your organization does and understanding what it stands for and it would seem disproportionate to spend your time and theirs for this amount of money.
When someone comes to me and says that they don’t have a lot of money to do something, my first inclination is to say: let’s not do it… It’s not important, wouldn’t that be your inclination too?
And I would caution you about getting anyone to do for that price, becuase you’ll likely arrive at a similar place to where you are now. So I would save your money and spend it somewhere else in your business where it can make a real impact.
Out of interest though what’s your printing budget?
@Billyjeanplxiv I’ve never thought about it like that…
When someone comes to me and says that they don’t have a lot of money to do something, my first inclination is to say: let’s not do it… It’s not important, wouldn’t that be your inclination too?
To be honest, I get these requests every week and they are all answered as I do my research unpaid and depend on donations. That is the reason why I am looking for a price-conscious solution.
Printing budget will be minimal as I only need business cards, the rest is all digital.
Today someone pointed me to two sites that have many back guarantee, I’m going to check these later today.
Which is why a €50 logo from a crowd-source site or the results of a competition is never going to achieve what you want / need. Even though you are a non-profit, you need to generate income. For this you need the services of a professional designer; a qualified communicator. In the same way, you wouldn’t attempt a project that is within the remit of your organisation using someone who did history in school and ‘likes old stuff’. You would base a professional, qualified and competent historian.
What is your brand worth?
I understand where you are coming from but it only concerns a clear recognisability of the foundation through the logo. In addition to a competition, I go and see if there are designers in my area, a conversation with a designer can never hurt. Thanks again for the comments!
You need to understand, if you have decided new marketing campaigns or introduced something new in your business, then I would recommend you to represent that change from a brand new logo design as well.
As a consumer, I know it’s hard finding the right person and feeling comfortable about making the right choice. When I need to call a plumber or an auto mechanic, I’m in much the same boat. I just look at the reviews, hold my breathe and naively pick someone.
So if you do reach out to a designer, most every good designer will have a website that includes a portfolio of past work. Be sure to look at that work before making any commitments.
One day I find the time to do one! Somehow it is the one thing that constantly drops to the back of the queue. I was determined to get one done this year. You’d think lockdown was the perfect opportunity. Not a chance. Still too much on to get even close. Shameful really.
I should probably rephrase what I wrote to “Many good designers will have websites.” There are certainly a good many exceptions.
So let’s see, while being isolated in the countryside to avoid an outbreak of the plague, Issac Newton developed calculus, discovered that light was composed of a spectrum colors, and developed the beginnings of his law of gravity. But admittedly, even he did not have a website, so don’t beat yourself up too badly. 
I didn’t mean it that way, as though I’d taken offence at your comment. Besides, I’m not a good designer. I just draw pictures for a living, then stick them to the fridge.
Being stuck out in the country to avoid the plague is where any similarity ends. I can’t even do calculus! He was a Brit, I guess, so I’ll claim reflected glory wherever I can!
Sorry Naheed, I missed your feedback… thank you, I thought the same but it more difficult than i thought.
Just to be clear, I was only joking around. You knew that, right? I happen to know you’re an incredibly good designer, and I’m not joking around when I say that.