I’m pretty new to logos. I have really been pushing myself lately with a kind of challenge. Just would like to know if this is up to standard or what improvements I can make?
Thanks
Awful. Lines too thin. Unreplicable on various substrates. Wouldn’t reproduce well at smaller sizes. Colour is not great. Wouldn’t know what it was from a distance.
I assume / hope this is not a live job for an actual company and just an exercise to learn.
I agree with Smurf and I’d also add; Don’t design logos in isolation. Learn what they are, as part of a brand identity. Logos as a standalone graphics are fairly vacuous eye-candy – or not. Logo design is the ‘new black’; the Rock ’n Roll du jour. Unless you plan on making a career (clue, you won’t) in the bottom-feeding world of crowd-source sites, then learn the craft and learn it the correct way.
I assume you are still young and not yet at the point of higher education. I’d suggest, if you want to do it seriously, get yourself educated and head in that direction. You have a lot to learn (we all did once) about what logos are, typography, colour, production etc, etc. Don’t let this put you off.
We see so many young people coming through here, with a similar approach. “I designed this cool logo. What do you think?” and you know with that approach they are destined to be hobbyists. Do it properly. Find out if you have an aptitude and an ability. The formal education process will determine this. The market is currently saturated with have-a-go-heroes who think design is cool, but haven’t the first idea of what it really is about, beyond designing ‘cool’ logos. The ones who last the course are the ones who learn what visual communication is all about.
It is a fascinating subject and one you can spend a lifetime learning about – and still never know everything. It is a hard, long slog. Worth it, but it comes with long hours and tight deadlines and the odd-all-nigher thrown in!
In the short term, learn from the best. Read as much as you can about the world’s best designers. Don’t learn from peers on crowd-source sites. Read, read and read some more – until you are obsessed. You have to have a passion to see you through the hard slog. It can’t just be a ‘cool’ thing to do.
What is your background? What piqued your interest in the first place?
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Do you see how the outlining has closed in the letterforms. Don’t do that. It’s the mark of someone who knows very little about typography.
If you want to outline letters, either set the stroke to the outside (and remember to outline that stroke as a final step,) or stack the lettershapes (either literally or using the appearance palette to keep it editable) so the actual font is on top and the form underneath has an offset path. Remember to convert all text to outlines in a logo.
The other thing that says “beginner” is the stretched kerning. It looks like you have a different tracking for “Staco” than you do “properties.” At least the S and T seem to infer that.
Your lettering is way to close to the borders and jammed into a space that makes it claustrophobic. Especially when you have a thickly stroked inner border and an outer border wider than the space given the lettering.
The color is subtle, not a lot of contrast going on there.
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My response has become typical not only on this forum, but many others. The throw together a logo in a design programme and see what happens approach.
I didn’t mean to be so short, but I was on my mobile phone, and that usually hinders the reply as autocorrect corrects the correctly spelled word to another word - a whole other issue with autocorrect, but it makes typing a 5 second message into typing a 1 minute message.
Anyway - as I said, all too often is it just thrown together in a design programme.
I can’t really remember the last time someone posted to the forum some hand drawn sketches of 5 or 10 logo ideas to get a direction.
Usually starting away from the computer is the best bet - no distractions. Go sit on a park bench overlooking some houses, or the area the real estate is in - go and research the area, the houses, the look and feel of the place. Has it any lakes, estuaries, monuments, landmarks that are synonymous with the area that the Real Estate is actually selling in.
Real Estate logos are a dime a dozen and all look relatively the same - half house swoosh underneath.
Logo can be personal - if it’s a mock logo - you can take it any direction you want. Go overlook the city from a mountain pass, take a photo - draw lines and sketches from the photo (in pencil on paper).
You can make a really cool logo by not sitting at the computer.
The computer is the last stage. In black and white.
Adding colour to the finalised logo (or logo ideas) is the final stage.
But it’s clear from your attempt you don’t understand the mechanics of logo production, from printing techniques to online issues. And it’s the mechanics that will make or break it. Having an understanding of do’s and don’ts is vital.
To be honest - at the moment it looks like a Monogram for a Mansion complex, that would see embroidered on hankerchiefs and Spa Day Robes etc.
I don’t even know what Staco Properties means - I put it into Google Translate and it didn’t know either.
All I know it’s something to do with properties - does CJ own Staco Properties? What are they - houses/commercial/industrial/condos/apartments/boat houses/underwater properties/restaurants???
It’s quite vague - and a logo shouldn’t leave you vague - it should leave you assured of what the brand is, what it does - especailly starting out.
There are logos we all know, ingrained in our life, CocaCola, Nike, Samsung, Apple - none of their logos tell you what they do. But their original logos had idealogies and beliefs behind them.
Samsung evolved from agricultural roots - not many people know that. But the logo needed to evolve as they established themselves in electronics.
Hope this information is better than the original - but it was designed to get you motivated and think more mechanically and not computeral.
Thanks a million - and yes, I am motivated - cheers!
Lisa, I hate to pile on, but this is not ready for prime time. To me, it looks like you were just messing around with Illustrator and this is the result. I don’t get the sense that this was derived from any purposeful action. Nor do I get the sense that you have a firm grasp on typography. Design is much, much more than being a software operator or even a software operator with an eye. Sorry; back to the drawing board.
Just what is the name of the company – CJ, or Staco Properties? … or CJ Staco Properties?
You’ll get it to where it needs to be!