Display / Critique Logos here!

jrossh21 · February 14, 2007

I am really trying to nail down a logo for our newly started photography business. I am posting here to get constructive criticism. I am by no means a designer and won't ever claim to be one. I honestly want to know what is wrong or what can be improved, or whole new looks - be as harsh as possible, it can only make me better. Our company is called J & J Photography and here is my latest design:

gmonkeh · February 14, 2007

If you want an honest opinion it's not working for me. There's too much going on and it's a bit bland.

Try lookin around at some well known logos and take what you like from it. It might help.

Lex

Malte · February 14, 2007

Is "&" or "and" in the business name? I think that's making it busy. The two J's can look quite good otherwise I think. Dropshadows can look a little cheesy in logos in my opinion. Atleast choose inside or out on the white "J". Try not overlaying the text. How about "Photographers"? I'm guessing that J&J is like Womack & Womack?

Malte

urbanaries · February 14, 2007

check out www.bamagazine.com.

just like photography, elements in a graphic design (like a logo) should have a visual, communicative purpose, not just "because I can do it/it looks cool."

Mike Lane · February 14, 2007

Also check out www.logopond.com for some inspiration.

jrossh21 · February 14, 2007

Thank you all for your honest input, I will definitely take it all in and come up with a different design. There is a "&" ("and") in our name, for me; Jeremy, and my wife; Jovanna. I'm going to be the main photographer, she's more of a business oriented person - so she's not actually a "photographer". I'm not sure if "photographers" would fit. I'll post back here with a design once I figure something out

Mike Lane · February 15, 2007

IMHO the drop shadow is too much. What is it you're trying to convey through this logo?

BillyVerden · February 16, 2007

How about a simple design?

Mike Lane · February 16, 2007

BillyVerden wrote:

How about a simple design?

The dropshadow and bevel is much too cheezy.

BillyVerden · February 16, 2007

Mike Lane wrote:

The dropshadow and bevel is much too cheezy.

I like the Cheese One better... lol.

Mike Lane · February 16, 2007

Ultimately it's about what you like obviously. But the raised effect really didn't scream out "logo" to me. It was more like, "I just learned how to use layers and layer styles in photoshop, yay me." And where the & was overlapping also had the bevel effect and that was just odd.

But I'm not going to pretend that I'm some sort of logo expert or anything. I'm having my own struggles with logos right now. There are some great graphic designers on this forum like Dee (who may chime in if she sees this) but for the most part, we're photographers. If you're looking for a better insight to your logo, I'd post it over on the forums at www.logopond.com. The peeps over there are all about logos and can maybe give you a few tips and some better comments.

BillyVerden · February 16, 2007

Well this is about as "No Cheese" as i can do... lol.
That logo site is pretty cool. Lots of cool Vector Graphics and cute
ClipArt. Thanks for the link.

FocusingOnFlorida · February 16, 2007

I like that last one. You'll want to avoid drop shadows as well because if you ever decide to get if printed "on certain things" they will have a hard tine with the gradient. It is very wise to stick with two colors as well. The black and with should be much less expensive when it comes time to print. (I know black and white are not colors.) You can alway go a bit fancier if a company supports a greater range of colors.

BillyVerden wrote:

I like the Cheese One better... lol.

FocusingOnFlorida · February 16, 2007

This one with the grey works well too.

FocusingOnFlorida wrote:

I like that last one. You'll want to avoid drop shadows as well because if you ever decide to get if printed "on certain things" they will have a hard tine with the gradient. It is very wise to stick with two colors as well. The black and with should be much less expensive when it comes time to print. (I know black and white are not colors.) You can alway go a bit fancier if a company supports a greater range of colors.

BillyVerden · February 16, 2007

FocusingOnFlorida wrote:

I like that last one. You'll want to avoid drop shadows as well because if you ever decide to get if printed "on certain things" they will have a hard tine with the gradient. It is very wise to stick with two colors as well. The black and with should be much less expensive when it comes time to print. (I know black and white are not colors.) You can alway go a bit fancier if a company supports a greater range of colors.

Thanks... yeah i agree on getting it printed with a drop shadow may make it tougher to get it done well. Black and grey seem simple enough. I Think.
Its not really my Logo btw. I was just goofing off in between editing my own photos. I don't need a logo as i only print my photos for me.
I'm a Non-Protographer... lol.

saurora · February 16, 2007

BillyVerden wrote:

Well this is about as "No Cheese" as i can do... lol.
That logo site is pretty cool. Lots of cool Vector Graphics and cute
ClipArt. Thanks for the link.

I like his one alot, Billy. Sometimes simple is best!!! Maybe I should have you design one for me!

BillyVerden · February 17, 2007

saurora wrote:

I like his one alot, Billy. Sometimes simple is best!!! Maybe I should have you design one for me!

Well thank you Saurora. It was a struggle but i got it down to the basics. Lol.
While i am no Logo designer thats for darn sure. I would help you in any way i could. Thanks.

Mike Lane · February 17, 2007

BillyVerden wrote:

Well this is about as "No Cheese" as i can do... lol.
That logo site is pretty cool. Lots of cool Vector Graphics and cute
ClipArt. Thanks for the link.

I like this one

W.W. Webster · February 17, 2007

BillyVerden wrote:

Well this is about as "No Cheese" as i can do

Can I have cheese with mine?

Art Scott · February 17, 2007

Ton's of partnerships, such as yours, uses the last name only as in ROBERTSONS' PORTAITURE
a local photog and friend of mine....he and his (now ex-wife) work this together....he is the photog and she does all the business (marketing etc etc etc)

Mike Lane · February 17, 2007

Okay, Hopefully you don't mind, but I'm going to hijack this thread to make it more of a (hopefully) come here to get your logo critiqued type of thread. Like I mentioned earlier, I'm no graphic or logo designer. I'm a hack, at best. But there are some good resources right here on dgrin that can help out with this kind of thing. And frankly, there are tons of pros in here that could use some hard work on their existing logos or they could use some help developing a logo.

So to that end, I'll be 2nd runner up with my new logo concept. Here's the low-down on what I'm trying to do. I'm working on building a good solid logo for my proto-business. The ultimate goal of my biz is to have 3 parts, photography, web-design, and graphic design so this logo should represent all 3 of those parts. I want to try to make the logo work for me way out into the future. So I'm trying (desperately) to avoid design trends though I am looking for a modern design. I want this design to convey simplicity but also creativeness. I think the graphic is or is nearly what I'm looking for, but I'm struggling with the font. Here are 3 different versions of the logo. In each the only thing that changes is the font. I can't decide if I should try to mimic the graphic, go for a modern-minimalistic sans-serif, or if I should contrast the graphic with a serif font.

In case you can't see it, the graphic is mls for "mike lane studios" (the l being the negative space after the m and the s is sideways). Also, I haven't settled down on a color scheme. The colors will probably be variable depending on where you find it so don't worry too much about colors just yet.

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Helvetica Neue is about as modern a sans-serif that I have in my (extensive) collection

Bauhaus has some definite echos of the logo graphic. BTW, I'm not necessarily sold on the thin "mike lane" and the thick "studios". I felt the need to get some contrast in there. Am I wrong about that?

I'm not really feeling the serif font. Should I be?

Jonathan R. Walcher · February 17, 2007

Well...while I'm here...
Mike, I Really like the graphic. I do wonder what it would look like if you squeezed the "mike lane studios" part down to where it fits underneath your logo. I'm thinking all one font and either all upper or all lower case. I dunno....my thought on logos is that if they're good, then you shouldn't have to "work" hard to spell them out...the explaination is secondary to the logo itself. And I agree with you on the serif.

Here is the most recent rendition of my logo...er banner..or whatever. It's currently on my business cards and invoices. I'm open to all suggestions.....

And the logo in use.....

Thanks and keep them coming!

jswhigham · February 19, 2008

Please critique my logo
This logo is for my corporate identity. I will have other logos representing my branding.

TIA,
Scott

denisegoldberg · February 19, 2008

Mike Lane wrote:

I want this design to convey simplicity but also creativeness. I think the graphic is or is nearly what I'm looking for, but I'm struggling with the font. Here are 3 different versions of the logo. In each the only thing that changes is the font. I can't decide if I should try to mimic the graphic, go for a modern-minimalistic sans-serif, or if I should contrast the graphic with a serif font.

Mike -
I prefer the font in your first example. It's simple, and it's clean. I like the logo, but I'd like to see it moved down a tiny bit from the top edge of the card. The placement was probably deliberate, but it looks like an error to me with it just touching the top edge of the card.

--- Denise

Mike Lane · February 19, 2008

denisegoldberg wrote:

Mike -
I prefer the font in your first example. It's simple, and it's clean. I like the logo, but I'd like to see it moved down a tiny bit from the top edge of the card. The placement was probably deliberate, but it looks like an error to me with it just touching the top edge of the card.

--- Denise

It's not a card, it's just a logo

Cards go in the other thread

DavidTO · February 19, 2008

urbanaries wrote:

check out www.bamagazine.com.

just like photography, elements in a graphic design (like a logo) should have a visual, communicative purpose, not just "because I can do it/it looks cool."

YES.

Specifically they have a pdf about how to make a logo out of letter forms.

As for the JJ logo, the last is much better, with the gray &, but the JJ needs work, IMO. I think that the two Js are blocky and imposing, not artful or inspiring looking. I would play with font, placement, size. The layout is so rigid and fixed right now. Blecch. It needs more of a dynamic, flowing feel, IMO.

DavidTO · February 19, 2008

Mike Lane wrote:

Here are 3 different versions of the logo.

Mike, definitely nix the serif font. It doesn't belong.

The others both have their merits, but they're kerned too loosely, IMO. I would manually kern each letter, and work on the words becoming units that feel like they belong exactly that way. They're a little loosey-goosey for me now.

As for the logo, I really like what you're going for, but it's not working for me yet. As simple as it is, it's too complex. There are too many things going on horizontally. They should line up more neatly, somehow. I'm sure if you fix that, then other things will fall apart for you, and I don't know what the answer is, but right now it's too jumbley.
It looks kind of like a deformed elephant.

denisegoldberg · February 19, 2008

Mike Lane wrote:

It's not a card, it's just a logo Cards go in the other thread

Oops, my bad! Sorry...

--- Denise

jswhigham · February 19, 2008

Please critique my logo

jswhigham wrote:

This logo is for my corporate identity. I will have other logos representing my branding.

TIA,
Scott

bump

jswhigham · February 21, 2008

Please critique my logo
Is this logo so bad that people are afraid to comment for fear of embarrassing me?
Or, is this logo so good that no one has any comment.

:confused

I'm not afraid of embarrassment, I just need some feedback.
Thanks,
Scott

jswhigham wrote:

This logo is for my corporate identity. I will have other logos representing my branding.

TIA,
Scott

darkdragon · February 21, 2008

jswhigham wrote:

Is this logo so bad that people are afraid to comment for fear of embarrassing me? Or, is this logo so good that no one has any comment.

Feedback - I don't think you should mix two radically different fonts like that. It's confusing and just seems jumbled. I'd suggest going with the same font for photography as you have for you company name. Perhaps making "photography" shorter and bold , not skewed though - with that serif font you'll need to keep the horizon line straight.

I like the "G" but it needs to be cleaned up a bit. It has a sort of "cut out" look on the rounded edges. Just zoom in with your editor of choice, select the 1px brush and get rid of the stray pixels. It will take a while, but will greatly improve the look of it.

Hope this helps.

Display / Critique Logos here!

Comments