Hey I need a suggestion. I am currently making a logo for the cloud service firm startup, I have to provide minimum 3 logos. I have created a logo in which I have used cloud. Now, I want to make different logos for the cloud service. Now the problem occur I cannot seem to figure what are the object can I used other than technology aspects like computer, USB, cloud etc. In other words what general things I can use in this logo. Any suggestion will be appreciated.
IMO you are thinking about it the wrong way. A lot of companies âexistâ or operate âin the cloudâ. Google, Netflix, Wordpress, Spotify Just to name a few. What, from a branding standpoint is the company trying to communicate with their branding? Security, ease of use, simplicity, stability, etc. Your logos should help communicate that brand essence, not simply a cloud.
The Google, Netflix and other clouds firm are not only dedicated to the cloud area. As we see the logo of these firms they are not made in any type dedicated area of the company rather than general logo which can adopted in all areas. In my case the startup of which I am creating a logo currently focus one area which is cloud based services provider and nothing else. With that information all I can think of cloud and other any other technology sector which can be used in the creation of the logo. As for general things I am unable to understand what can be used in the service which is exclusive to cloud and nothing else.
Then think outside of the cloud shaped box. Does their company name imply any imagery? Would a word mark suffice? Any number of options on what to do with a logo image⊠(note, ideas are what designers are paid for so not a lot of them will be offered. Itâs YOUR JOB to come up with ideas.)
Thereâs no reason a plumber needs a toilet in his logo. No need for a cloud service to have a cloud. It isnât really a cloud anyway. Itâs a network. A very large pile of cables and hardware. Not very cloud-like IMO.
Then why is Nike, a sports equipment company, so keen on using an ice hockey skateâs blade as its logo?
I must qualify: This is my TIC talk. (TIC = Tongue in cheek)
Youâre still not digging deep enough. You say that they are just a cloud based service provider. Thatâs still vague. They have to provide some sort of service. I mean heck, Dropbox, Box are cloud hosting companies (neither use a cloud in their logo), then there are companies like BackBlaze an iDrive that provide online backups to the cloud.
What is a âthey are just a cloud based service providerâ. What is the service they provide? Multiple services can be provided âin the cloudâ what do they want their users to think about them when using them. Stable, playful, unique, personal, etc.
Or as previously said, perhaps the name itself can lend itself to a visual solution.
I still stand by my statement that you are pigeon holing yourself simply by thinking âcloudâ.
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nike is a hockey blade? Thought it was a sneaker toe.
Didnât say the plumber couldnât use a toilet. Just that he doesnât need one.
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Iâm pretty sure they use toilets â just like the rest of us. They might be plumbers but theyâre not uncivilized. 
The key service which the cloud based start up is providing is cloud based attendance and payroll system. I feel like I should I mention this information before.
what do they want their users to think about them when using them. Stable, playful, unique, personal, etc.
I feel like these things will be thought after the logo has been decided that what shapes, objects will be used in logos afterwards it will be thought about the stable, playful, unique what are the best for the logo and for what is target for.
It took half a second for it to hit me.
Shapes, colors, typefaces, etc., all have personality traits and convey different emotional qualities. For example, rounded corners make things seem less formal. Red is more aggressive than blue, which is more calming.
An object in a logo is fine as long as thereâs a way to draw it that conveys the right personality and emotion.
Sometimes, like with this cloud services problem, maybe there isnât a good object that represents their service. Maybe you need to come up with something that is just suggestive of what they do. A cloud might not have been a bad solution if it werenât for it being way too obvious. Blue and white might be suggestive of clouds, without being so literal.
Come up with a list of adjectives or personality traits that would best describe this company. Donât try to find objects that represent those things. Instead, create something that suggests the personality or the essence of those traits.
Nikeâs logo is always a good example. Itâs a swoosh that suggests speed and the sound of the air as a runner swooshes by. It makes no attempt at being a picture of the runner or the shoes that runner is wearing.
The industry term for a shoe logo is âstripeâ. And the Nike stripe is officially called a âSwooshâ.
Nike was originally called Blue Ribbon Company, which I thought was the original idea of the logo being a ribbon⊠but maybe not.
Nike is the Winged Goddess of Victory, so maybe it was supposed to represent a wing? But at the time the company was called Blue Ribbon, I donât know at what point it changed to Nike during the logo development.
Interestingly a cigarette company called Newport had a very similar logo.
According to the legend and the logo creator
Davidson started the process by sketching a range of options on tissue paper, which sheâd then lay over a drawing of a shoe. When review time came, she presented 5 or 6 options, none of which had the executives completely sold.
Sheâd have liked to go back and refine some of them but fate had it that there were production deadlines to be met and so the checkmark was the winner. Phil Knight commented, âWell, I donât love it, but it will grow on me.â Such is the authority of that mark that in 1995, the âNikeâ was dropped, and the Swoosh became the singular brand identifier.
Start by researching cloud servicing logos?
Usually a great place to start to see what others are doing.
Dropbox is a cloud storage service and itâs logo is a box.
Definitely a lot do use âcloudsâ so you probably wonât differentiate yourself from competition.
And who is the leading competition in the same area? Who are the companyâs competitors? What are their logos like?
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Feel so bad for Carolyn Davidson - $35 for a mark that would be worth a ridiculous amount of money now. 
In 1983, she did get a swoosh embellished diamond ring, which is apparently worth $1,00,000 in todayâs money.
$35 would be worth about $240 in todayâs money. I suppose at the time it wasnât bad for a logo design. But she did also work at Nike for a number of years, presumably paid a fair salary.
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Ahh thatâs not so bad then, but wouldnât you be dejected to have done a job for basicly drinking money, only for that mark to become as pervasive as Nike?
How often does it happen though? That story is notorious in the design world.
Thereâs value to a business in good logo design. And if companies donât see that value they wonât pay fees associated with it.
I think Graphic Design is the only industry where you say to someone, that will be 8 hours work, so itâs 8x hourly rate. For them to say, thatâs WAY too expensive, itâs one of the most annoying parts of this career.
I got my car serviced and it was ÂŁ75 for the part. But it took 2 people, and 4 hours work (8 hours) as the part to be replaced involved dismantling parts of the car to access it and to put it back together.
In design, if I say, ok the stock image is ÂŁ20, the design template layout will cost 4 hours work - and then if youâre happy with that I can finish the rest in 2 hours work.
Itâs ÂŁ20 + 4hours + 2 hours = ÂŁ20+6hours work.
They just donât get it. I donât go into a restaurant and order Kobe Beef and then argue the price.
Design is one of these industries that is in the shitter because people charge too little, undercharge and undermine the professional world.
Sure, I can go to a friend who dabbles in cars to get him to fix it, but it will longer and I canât be assured of his quality of work in putting the car back together, plus they have no insurance or fall back if things have gone wrong.
Or I can go to any restaurant and get a ÂŁ20 steak - but if you want a Kobe Beef steak and offer the restaurant ÂŁ20 youâd be shown the door, or where to wash the dishes for a month.
Moral of the story - do not undervalue design work. You are the expert - you are the source of good quality prime beef, you are the mechanic, you are the skilled worker.
Charge appropriately and fairly, but donât undercharge, and certainly do not overcharge.
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She was compensated with a few hundred shares of Nike stock about a decade after she created that logo (high estimate was 500 shares.) Varying estimates put the value of that stock somewhere in the vicinity of $1Million dollars.
The ring, apparently, was presented to her along with the stocks at a recognition event in her honor. Iâm not finding it was worth $100,000, but still it was described as a âgold and diamond ring.â
I guess the legend will live on with tales of grandeur and conjecture to the point of purple monkey dishwasher!