I am after some logo advise for a group I volunteer with - Soldiers Avenue of Honour Stakeholders Group (See prelim designs attached). Which design do you think is best? What improvements would you suggest? I also intend on branding the logo onto wood. Any advice would be much appreciated.
A quick summary of who we are:
Since 2015 as part of the Centenary of Anzac Commemorations, the volunteer organisation comprising of local residents, local school representatives, the RSL sub-branch and surf club members have been involved with the protection, recognition, and restoration of the last remaining, fully intact, (WWI/WWII) war memorial avenue in the Sydney Metro Area that was originally established in 1919.
There are lots of tiny details in the logo that just won’t hold up when printed smaller. The thin inlines in the smaller type are already filling in at the size shown here. There’s no way these things will remain legible when burned into wood.
You’ll either need to remove all these small elements or create at least two separate versions of the logo: one with all the detail when used very large and another that is greatly simplified, with far less detail.
All in all it has a nice retro vintage feel which is trendy these days, but it’s generally well done. Of the options the compass rose like star of the last one works best, however, there are a lot of very fine details that will get lost at a smaller size. To help it:
I would fill the laurel wreath shape and thicken up the center stem
Remove the inset lines/white in all the text but “soldiers” to make it solid,
I also think the swooshes are too close to the letters and the laurel. At this larger size they look generally ok, but once the logo is smaller it will need more breathing room
Center “of honour” like “freshwater” is
remove the flag distort on the “est. 1919” and the placement of that is a little odd because it separates “of honour” from the rest of the name
If it’s about soldiers, I’d suggest a stronger, more masculine, somewhat aggressive look and feel. Because this logo design looks too swirly and girly.
Here are some results from googling “soldier logos.”
I am not saying to copy these, nor to use any gradient-type logo errors, or that these are perfect logos… just saying, see how strong these are?
Not exactly my preference, but it seems that the volunteer group prefers the Anzac Diggers hat option the best.
I am going to use the same ‘OF HONOUR’ font for ‘FRESHWATER’ AND ‘EST. 1919’ and also make sure it is centered. While also, remove center white inlines.
Will also use the same ‘SOLDIERS’ font for ‘SOLDIERS AVENUE’ and will also work on the swooshes to make sure there’s some extra breathing room.
I take the point concerning detail - but I did want more of a nature feel as it is a tree-lined avenue.
I also take the point about it being too girly. I guess historically the avenue was established by the mother’s/wives/families of local soldiers that died at war and the context of the avenue is in a village.
I will post an amended version to hear all your thoughts prior to the final logo being made.
You need to think about your production end of this first.
Affordable branding irons are engraved. The more intricate the art, the more you are likely to pay for that engraving (they can also be cast too, but your level of detail puts that out of the equation.) The longer it takes, the more you pay.
A lot of places will upcharge you to “adjust” the art so it will be engravable. Things like stroke weight, distance between strokes, and counter size come into play if the engraving head can’t get into the relieved area (unless a laser is being used.) Sometimes the depth of the engraving is affected and your brand will fill in when used.
Doc, it used to be, the reason a man went into service was to protect home and family.
So you could probably say the families and village is somewhat important to them.
Harbordian,
Rereading the original post, if this logo is being used on anything outdoors where it needs to be legible from any distance, you need to rethink this a bit.
Also, badges are a trend that will end. They are currently in fashion, but they may not be 5 years from now. Don’t saddle your group with a logo that isn’t as timeless as that which you are trying to save.
PD, did you seriously think I was saying that soldiers’ families aren’t important to them?
I’m questioning whether the group is about the soldiers themselves, or their families. The look and feel of the logo should, in my opinion, more closely reflect the actual group and its mission.
So if it’s a group for soldiers, maybe it should be stronger. If it’s for their wives and kids, maybe more
Again, thank you all for the comments and feedback. Love the graphic design passion and knowledge you guys have.
I know I need some aspects straightened up, but thought I would share how it is going.
Reflecting on the comments and some within the volunteer group, I agree that it probably does not need the decorative floral element (and does, in fact, look like a stronger logo), so I included both one with and without.
Check your alignment of “of honor”. The R is higher than the O. Looks off balance.
The slouch hat seems out of place. I understand the symbolism but is it really needed? If so, the line art should be improved and the left side needs to dip down. Right now it looks like it folds up and looks more like an American cowboy hat.
The “them” I was talking about was this group. The logo appears to be for the group doing the refurbishing. It’s about one of the last remaining memorial avenues. It’s dedicated to the soldiers who lost their lives and those who installed the memorial in their memory.
There is an order of hierarchy in there that needed to be addressed.
I will see if I can arrange an artist friend of mine redesign the Anzac diggers slouch hat as well as other options. It may not be needed, but I guess I wanted something to connect with the Anzac element. I thought about including the Queensland Brush Box tree somehow (as it is the dominant tree species that was planted), but the original designs looked too ‘busy’ as the avenue of trees were shadowed in the background therefore restricting the legibility of the text in front.
A couple of questions everyone: Do you think it looks better without the floral decorative element? Should the font size of ‘avenue’ be increased (see below)? Does the slant/balance of ‘Soldiers Avenue’ look out of place? Would you re-install the centre white inlines to ‘Soldiers’?
