Not that it really matters, but LOW PRICE is a compound adjective that modifies the words CLUSTER MAILBOXES. Compound-adjectives need hyphens, as in LOW-PRICE.
Somehow, though, I doubt a punctuation error in the company’s name will matter much to this contest organizing “potential client.”
I’m sorry. I thought I was here to receive objective criticism on my design for the sake of improving. I must have signed up for the wrong forum. You have a good day though.
I’m sorry. I thought I was here to receive critique, not amateur kindergarten insults. Why do you and others like you feel the need to insult someone who came on a forum looking for advice? I would understand your frankly shitty attitude had I given you lip first.
Are you critiquing the design or are you trying to insult me/be a child? If you’re going to be a child about this kindly keep you unsolicited comments to yourself. Thank you. 
That’s a good point.
Crowdsourcing contests don’t have a good reputation among professional designers. We don’t typically take on work without an assurance of getting paid. Any mention of contest websites here will get an immediate negative reaction.
As for your logos, this person’s keywords included literal, which is what you’ve built. However, I think a solution probably needs to be more than a stack of rectangles. On your last design, do the colors represent anything? I’ve never seen aqua and orange mailboxes. This person might not like it — it’s hard to know where he/she’s coming from or what’s really needed (another problem with crowdsourcing), but a little less literal might work better.
Thank you for your advice so far. However, using your own logic, shouldn’t you also expect a cut if it were paying gig? Btw the contest is over.
I was saying that there is a punctuation error in the name of the company but that the client probably doesn’t care. Anyone who cares so little about his or her business to farm out something as important as a business logo to a crowdsourcing contest, likely isn’t concerned about such things.
It wasn’t meant as an insult to you or anyone — just a statement of fact about crowdsourcing sites and the people who organize contests on them.
I understand where you’re coming from, but the response was a bit unnecessary. I agree with you. The contest has it’s flaws. You can’t ask the individuals what their company values are or what emotions they want their logo to evoke. One can only work with the limited information provided. I tried to work within the framework given. The color scheme was provided. As you hinted, I probably should have taken the liberty of choosing a color scheme that matched the brand. I’m self taught. I don’t consider myself to be a spectacular designer, so forgive me if the design falls flat. I do understand what you’re saying about the design solution though. Thank you.
I didn’t feel a need, nor did I intend to insult you. If you took it as an insult, I can’t control that, but at least I didn’t resort to characterizing anything as “kindergarten”.
When you post to an online forum, you get what you get, and it’s best to be prepared for something you weren’t expressly seeking. Your misinterpretation notwithstanding, when you read my post, you did indeed “receive critique,” and despite your failure to recognize it, you also got advice.
For my critique, I’d like to focus on your business practices rather than your logo design.
What you’re doing is called “spec work.” It’s work you’re doing for free, without any client engagement, with the hopes of getting paid. This is not professional behavior and it should not be undertaken.
Would you take your tax documents to three different CPAs and ask them all to prepare returns and say that you’ll pay whoever got you the biggest refund? Of course not; and, if you did, you’d be laughed out of their office. Participating in design contests is basically the same thing.
You shouldn’t do work for free, and clients shouldn’t ask for free work. It de-values the service and generally produces mediocre results at best. I’m assuming you hope to make a living as a graphic designer, correct? By participating in spec work, you’re eroding the industry you hope to make your living from in the future.
You came here looking for advice on how to improve your work. That advice is hidden in the admittedly snarky comments, and you spelled them out yourself in your last post.
Aside from the low pay or no pay aspect of crowdsourcing, as you mentioned, there’s no real opportunity to interact with clients, no chance to dig down deeper into their needs, analyze their businesses, inquire about their customers or look into their competitors. All you can really do is follow clients’ typically misguided instructions and less-than-good parameters that they impose on the problem — in this case, what seems to be an arbitrary color scheme.
In other words, there is no good way to improve a logo when it comes with these sorts of built-in limitations. All you can really do is follow the instructions and try to make it look nice. But that’s not what good logo design and good branding should be about. A crowdsourced, contest logo largely comes down to satisfying the largely unknown, naive and typically misguided whims of the client.
Was your use of the words “crowdsource amateurs” not meant to imply that I am one? Is that meant to insult? I expected mature dialogue, not you looking down your nose at me. Secondly, the words are what was requested by the individual. I couldn’t shorten it like HP or IBM.
I don’t live in the U.S., so tax returns really don’t apply to me. As much as I understand what you’ve said about crowdsourcing, have you considered that I may not have any opportunity or choice?
Okay. Thank you. Do the proportions seem off to you though?
As I already explained, it wasn’t meant as an insult, but if you took it as one, then for your purposes, it was one, it seems.
If you didn’t know how the pros on this forum regard crowdsourcing, now you do. Generally, it’s safe to say that the people on both sides of those transactions don’t get much respect here, pretty much automatically. Sorry about that.
Well, the overall proportions are compact and rectangular, which is good from the standpoint of the logo being flexible. I’m not sure if that’s what you were asking, though.
Like I mentioned, some of the first things I’d change about the logo are things you’re not in a position to do anything about or even mention, like the name or the taglines that don’t really mean anything. If it were me working directly with a client, I’d take this in a more abstract direction since a literal or stylized depiction of cluster mailboxes doesn’t lend itself to many interesting possibilities. But you’re sort of stuck due to the nature of the contest.
Even so, one thing I might do is to keep the name of the company separate from the logo, like the one below that I just grabbed off the internet. It’s a little hard to explain, but coming up with a separate typographical arrangement for the name that can be positioned in various ways adjacent to the logo often helps.
Having more than one “lock-up” gives a client the flexibility to use the one that works best for the job at hand. It also mitigates the awkwardness of trying to somehow make the type integral to the logo itself. In addition, it provides the opportunity for the client to completely separate the logo from the typography and use it independently when needed or, for that matter, to use the logotype separately.
Despite the built-in crowdsourcing limitations, there are still ways to go with this that could work. The options are really limited, but it still might be doable. There’s no way to mind-read a crowdsourcing client, though.
People often assume Graphic Designers make things look good.
Which is true in one sense however there is a lot more thought, critical thinking and research put into decisions. These aspects are fundamentally missing from crowdsourcing sites such as fiver.
Often times, clients think they know what’s best but if they really did…why cant they do it themselves? Time? Money? Not skilled in graphic software? Graphic Designers arent artists or order takers. On the contrary they are thinkers and problem solvers. That’s why clients should come to us - and not just for execution of half thought out whims. (which is what crowdsourcing provides…although sometimes money is money)
Good work can be done and its only just begun. You still have a lot to learn and the first step was asking for critique and feedback. While it may not go in the direction you have imagined there is a wealth of knowledgeable people here. If you want a step up above your peers or competition in your region stick around, and learn from your feedback (read & lurk). Post more critiques and get down to the nitty-gritty of design.
You just said people who engage in crowdsourcing transactions automatically don’t get much respect here. You practically indirectly admitted. Anyways, is it okay to automatically treat someone with disrespect as long as you think you have the moral high ground? What if a super religious person comes in here and starts speaking down to you because you’re an atheist? What if you’re black and someone decides they can treat you with disdain or however they’d like because they are the ‘superior race’? Is respect not a two-way street? During the course of my life, I have interacted with persons who absolutely demand to be respected, but they have no issue with disrespecting someone purely on the notion that they have the moral high ground. Ironic, huh?
They would be gone … and you are treading on that line.
You came in here … to a professional site. Folks here have worked long and hard learning their craft. They don’t do it for free … or nearly free. If you want to … great. Have a blast. But, do not expect anyone here to give you props for it. It’s a put down to the profession and it’s just using you. If you don’t understand that, there isn’t much else we can say. With that I’m closing this because I’ve heard enough. I think you get the idea.
Otherwise … Have a super day!