Please help me decide on my final logo?

[dino_nguyen]

P.S. Why is there a ‘post limit’…? I understand that its there to stop spamming. But protect user… uhm… I am confused. I really am.

Anayway! Back to topic…

To be honest, I don’t look at many other logos and big brands. It deludes my abilities to be creative and all I see is ‘oh, big brands and shapes’ and ‘Oh, that logo doesn’t even look like art’. So in my own way, I prefer hands on experiment, a lot of repetition, refining and pushing myself to grasp the logic behind ‘trials and errors’. I also draw and design everyday and my mind is very active. Yes, I tend to stack my designs and artwork from simple to complex. Also, when it comes to design, my mind tends to go overcomplicated. From there, I just simplified them through many cycles of repetition.

At the moment, I am trying my best to refine the lion logo. So far, it’s looking okay and going in the right direction. Its also an improvement from the previous revision. What I am trying for is ‘less pointy corners’, less shape piled together. Not only that, I scrapped a few other things which Just-B and Steve_O said and suggested.

So far, I love design 4 and 5. What do you think? I am trying to incorperate ‘free-form’ lines and curves to make it like ‘paint’ taking its shape. I also increase the thickness of the lion’s jaw for scaling-down to small size.

Looking at fonts, I tried to go for something that matches with the lion. So I ended up using a brush type font… something which doesn’t have fancy strokes or anything that will overtake the lion.

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@pluto

Stack 3 Design came from three things.

First, the word ‘Stack’ - I stack my design through repetition and from trials and errors. As said in previous paragraph, I draw and design everyday!

Second, the number 3 was taken from ‘Lair360’, my old identity. The No.3 also means “all was given” and contains “the beginning, a middle and an end”. It even said that No.3 means something complete and good.

Third, Design – I do design. That is what I love to do. Also yes, I work on other types of art, graphic design and photography. So, photography? I use that as support for my art and design project.

Dino

[HotButton]

I’m sorry man, but to my eye, the evolution of the lion has gone in the wrong direction. All the strength normally seen in the angular sculpt of a lion’s face is missing. I can only imagine this lion is underwater and a moment from drowning (or toothless), given that wavy lip line and weak eye. Considering the lion’s tenuous significance in relation to “Stack 3” to begin with, IMO you’re going backward.

[dino_nguyen]

I am going to try and limit my post. This forum has a limit to how many I can post.

I am trying to go for ‘less is better’ approach. Also I will fix the eyes. Still working on it in the background…

Sigh… a lion in the water? Design 6 and 7 has less pointy lines and it mimics paint in some sort of ways (liquid form). Its not trying to convey drowning and underwater…

Second, I am trying the ‘free form’ approach to convey that I experiment with art and enjoys designing from a different perspective.

[Jakub_Trybowski]

Currently your lion’s mouth looks like this:

You shoud change it and make it non-wavy.

The best way to improve your logo design skill is to study the best designs in the world and understand what makes them great, as there’s only so much you can figure out on your own.

[Eriskay]

Looks to me like a dog bursting through a flower.

[dino_nguyen]

Here are my revision. I updated the eyes and reduce the wavy lines (as much as possible) of the lion which @Jakub_Trybowski suggested. Not only that, I added some teeth / fangs (not sharp-pointy ones).

Regarding the 1st design, it looks not bad. But I prefer design 2 and 3 as it convey free-form and resembles ‘paint’.

[Jakub_Trybowski]

OK.

Now try to make the lines of the face as thick as possible. Also, make the eye and the nose solid.

[dino_nguyen]

Hey there, I converted the eyes to solid red. I also made the mouth as thick as possible (not too thick - just balance)… it looks much better when scaled down to small size! Thank you!! I was planning to make the mouth thicker and you beat me to it.

So far, it looks very nice. It looks more ‘simple is better’. Also, I tried to make the manes solid red. However, it makes the logo looks too flat. Made it darker, it loses the shine even more. So, I kept the red shade concept.

Does it look okay?

Dino

[Steve_O]

I wasn’t crazy about the starburst-looking mouth on the original lion, but these are a step backwards. The type in this latest iteration is also a step backwards. Sorry.

[Just-B]

@dino_nguyen

P.S. Why is there a ‘post limit’…? I understand that its there to stop spamming. But protect user… uhm… I am confused. I really am.

It’s the default anti-spam settings of the forum software. New forum members have a few posting restrictions. I’ve bumped up your user level a notch, so you won’t run into that problem again.

[dino_nguyen]

@Steve_O So you prefer the previous font and not the artistic brushy-feel font style? Also, the previous version which has an 3 in it, are you referring to the star burst… of that?

Also, I am trying to make the lion as ‘free form’ as possible and others suggest that my previous lion looks too pointy and has too many shapes. So I refined it, did a lot of repetition and try to simplified it as much as possible. Not only that, the font choice I chose was because I like to convey my ‘artisitic side’ and make it look like it was written with a brush.

From the other hand, the lion’s mane, I focused on free-form to try and make it look not too pointy and sharp. (A user said something about that)

[Steve_O]

@dino_nguyen

So you prefer the previous font and not the artistic brushy-feel font style?

Definitely. If you go with the brush font, you’ll be regretting it inside of two years.

@dino_nguyen

Also, the previous version which has an 3 in it, are you referring to the star burst… of that?

If you go back to your very first post, the options numbered 24 - 31, the mouth of the lion reminded me of a starburst. It did not read that strongly of a mouth. That one would still need work, but I think it is headed in a better direction that your latest iterations. Also, I would not recommend incorporating the three into the lion’s mane.

All of that said, and this is just my opinion, there is a disconnect between the name and the lion head (or wolf head for that matter). My personal recommendation would be to spend some time exploring and pushing the typographic solutions you started with.

[dino_nguyen]

Also, the font style was just an experiment. And yes, I did a lot of research into brushy fonts and compared it to the modern - clean font (which I previously used). Most of the clean font goes well - hand in hand on the website. It also goes well on business card and connects with other fonts used on other platform. Also Just-B strictly told me not to do that and I learnt my lesson. I will also avoid my errors.

Its been a while going back to intense design - work. I enjoy it and everyone is like a client and I tried my best to revise the logos to my best abilities.

“Design has no ending. It will always keep going no matter what you do.”

Anyway…

Will these logo be okay? This is my last alteration / revision. I will need help choosing my 3 final logos - 1A, 2A, 3A. Also, I will scale the lion properly when I am working on my website and refine it as I go. (Only repositioning and scaling)

I shall revert back to the clean font. Here is the update:

[Kaegro]

I think when I suggested curved lines, you interpreted it as “curvy” or “wavy” - Perhaps I used terms confusingly, but my thought was more smooth, simple curves like brush strokes, rather than paint blobs, to match the simple curves of your sans-serif font from earlier. Here, let me grab just a couple examples real quick:

Obviously I’m not telling you to use these images directly, but you see how the majority of the lines are smooth, simple curves, but they still have defined end points? That was the style I was trying to suggest.

[dino_nguyen]

That curved line-style from that lion is overused. I prefer being different… but the brush… maby one more variation wouldn’t hurt. Let me experiment and see what I can do. I may as well go to my design storage and get out some paint brushes and oil paint (oil paint is expensive!)… the hell with it. May as well go for it and use it.

Thanks!

[RedKittieKat]

If you are looking for different you accomplished that.

I would love to see some pencil sketches.

[dino_nguyen]

Hello there!

Here are some of my sketches and doodles, RedKittie. Also, what do you think about this everyone? I was trying to make it like ‘paint’ with a true free-form - more like organic. The colours are all solid red. No shades!

Here are some doodles and drawings… or sketches?

[Kingteni]

i love no. 30 and 31, feels right. Quick question? was the font distorted or stretched?

[dino_nguyen]

Hello there! I would like to thank everyone for their time and their help. I now have a logo. This means I can start working on other projects, rebuild my portfolio and work on my website. My previous portfolio on DA is a hot mess and doesn’t stand out. Even worse, DeviantArt isn’t a good platform… support doesn’t even care. But got recommended to Dribbble + Behance to archive my work to reduce loads on my main website. Supports are better and they are very helpful.

Currently, I am now working on archiving my Stack 3 Design logos and updating my website. I also need to work on my other web-pages.

Many thanks to: @Just-B @Steve_O @Jakub_Trybowski @Kaegro

Dino

[Jakub_Trybowski]

Try Behance.