Company logo help please

[nowaysj]

Quick edit there.

[stappard]

That was my point, it's used so often because it's so good. Overused obviously and lazy, but it still has merit.

by that logic comic sans is a great font

they're just clean fonts but they're uneventful. They're like wearing blue jeans and a tshirt to a fashion show.

nothing wrong with jeans and a tshirt at a fashion show if they fit correctly

[Molzie]

It's all about how you use a font.

Papyrus and Comic Sans are terrible fonts and they both can eat my ballz but you can re-work the Helvetica typeface and make it look different/original.

[pkay]

That was my point, it's used so often because it's so good. Overused obviously and lazy, but it still has merit.

by that logic comic sans is a great font

they're just clean fonts but they're uneventful. They're like wearing blue jeans and a tshirt to a fashion show.

nothing wrong with jeans and a tshirt at a fashion show if they fit correctly

[the acid never lies]

Hey ninjas, to make a short story shorter my uncle and his wife are starting a tanning salon and volunteered me to make their company sIgn...(I am getting paid though) the problem is I have no idea where to begin. I've been at this for close to a month and have scrapped everything I've tried because it looks more fitting for a website than a sign. If anyone has any tips I will he eternally in your debt...or atleast until April

On a side note i'm thinking of changing my name to Fat Man and using the slogan "my bass isnt the onlly thing that's fat..."
I am American after all lol

Maybe if you had lied and simply left out the fact you are getting paid more people would be rushing to do it for you

[Dutchstep]

start with a mindmap
always

[the acid never lies]

My sister told me we're not meant to use the term 'brainstorm' anymore because it is offensive to epileptics.

She talks some right shit sometimes.

[Pada]

pkay say you've never seen helvetica before, what are your thoughts on it?

[Pedro Sánchez]

It's not what you use, it's how you use it i.e. you can use helvetica, get the proportions appropriate to the space it's set in and get the kerning right and it can suit the purpose for which it's intended.

[Filthzilla]

Helvetica is god!!

[koro inu]

Helvetica use doesn't have to necessitate a poor designer.

In the internet age it's become very generic and overused. Luckily I do very little print media, but if one of my artists turned in a piece using something like impact, helvetica, comic sans, etc I'd send it back to be redone.

idiocy. sure, comic sans sucks dead dogs balls, but helvetica is a great utility font. entire legions of information design has been based upon it, and if you use it correctly and reference it properly it's like anything, it works if used well. And if you take a world view, it's been the most prevelant font in information design in europe for donkey's years because it's so clear.

design snobbery can do one imho. if the solution fits, leave the chin stroking at the door imho.

in regards to the logo, subcontract it to me. i'll do it. not being mean but if it's taken you longer than one day to come up with something, logo design probably isn't for you.

ethos of business: family/friendly or corporate? that will dictate the style
company name: also important.
logo: has to reinforce the brand. a logo is not a brand. find the brand ideals and then work from there.
colour: make it in one colour first. this is the lowest common denominator, and with cost rising, single colour prints may end up being used to save money.

hope that helps.

[__________]

Very lazy design technique and a reason it's usually only done by photoshop heroes.

Well unless you're responsible for designing logos for world-class corporations, I'm going to disregard what you have to say about design. Writing off a font is stupid. That's like not using an 808 kick because its a 'very lazy production technique'.




I could go on...

[nowaysj]

Now if we could just get casio to take over halliburton, we could litter the middle east with sk-1's.

[CoreyGoesRawr]

Sub contract the job to a Graphics Designer
?????
Profit

I do like the way you think.
thanks for all the feed back everyone I've been out of town so I haven't got to check this until now.

[incnic]

the thing si fonts are ghey and anyone who think sthey are cool is gah and its general;yl a shit job
i hate fonts

[koro inu]

no nic fonts hate YOU

[DFRNT]

Here's a tip...

Most important question:
1 What are the business goals behind "doing the logo"? If there's not a good enough reason - then why bother.

- presuming there's a good reason (like, I dunno - awareness of company would work for the time being - I'm just being obtuse really) then you've got a few other questions to ask before you even let pencil touch paper.

1 What's the logo for? Where will it be used? What sizes?
2 Who are the company? Where are they based? What values and business ideas do they represent?
3 What's the company's mission statement - what are their long terms goals?
4 Who are the tagret audience? (crazy-important)
5 What sort of logos and branding to the target audience already relate to?
6 What are the competition doing? Will your client be better? how?
7 What's their budget?

After all of those have been answered - THEN you can start to consider some ideas - chances are by this point, you'll already be raring to write down some ideas.

Mind-map someone mentioned - think of values, things that represent the companie's values - things that represent what the company do. COnsider the type - will it be an existing font, will it be one already associated with something? Will it be a custom type job? It might even be free of type altogether.

Start to sketch any ideas that come from the mind-map - regardless of how silly they may seem - they'll lead to other ideas.

You'll start to formulate a few strong ideas - one or two may stand out quite a bit. THis is the stage I'd take it to a computer.

Work up the design - start trying variations, look at positioning, different sizes, color.

A logo should work in 1 colour if it has to - so colour, although important - should be left till now, or later, since shape, form, size, type and other stuff takes precedence.

Once you have a few ideas fully formed - you'll be able to go back to them with them - as well as your research, and justification for each.

Either that or choose 1 option and present it as "the best solution in your opinion" so they don't have a choice, and create some sort of frankenstein's monster logo with all your options joined together.

Then sit back and reap the rewards of a job well done.

Incidentally jumping straight to signage sounds like there's no brand in place - this should be sorted before you make a sign. sort the brand - the tone of voice, how customers percieve you, before you decided to whap up a sign and mess things up.

Hope this helps.

[hayze99]

Damn dude, props on the serious advice.

Mine is, USE DIAVLO.

USE IT FOR EVERYTHING

http://www.exljbris.com/diavlo.html

[TSH-Tim]

Look at the Facebook logo = simple & works very well

[koro inu]

for facebook, yes.