Band Logo: Roses From The Ashes

[monkey0506]

I've been working on designing a logo for my band...okay so my band is me and a couple of friends that don't play any instruments...but...hell...I write songs and I sing...so...screw you.

Hehehe...anyway...we'd like to start a band, and we have a name, a drum set, and a singer/songwriter, but that's about all we have. Except I've been working on this logo. I know it needs some more work, but I figured I'd post it here to see what you all think:



(Thank goodness for ImageShack --My webhost seems to have deleted my account ahead of schedule :'(--)

Anyway, before you go clicking that I should warn you that the full-size image is 1004x1296 pixels, so don't go loading it unless your internet connection can handle it

I know that the top-right corner, the edge of the rose is crap but that's easy enough to fix.

But any C&C is welcome. Some things I'd specificially like to note include that the rose image in the background was hijacked from here to which I quickly applied a poor hue/saturation adjustment, however if we pretend that it looks stylized and that it was therefore on purpose we'd all be much happier 8); "Ashes" looks somewhat to be made of stone or some such. I was attempting ash, but my original plan to make it "dust-in-the-wind" style ashes fell through when I realized I had no idea how to achieve that effect, and neither did Google. Also it appears to be glowing a lot; and, finally, the black outline doesn't match up properly everywhere, specifically where the 'f' loops around the 'A', but the method I used was a lot nicer than trying to pixel in a proper one by hand.

So....with all that said...what do you think?

[MashPotato]

I don't want to be harsh, but the legibility and layout could use a lot of work:

-Legibility: the font is a complicated one, and so is the background, making a very busy picture.  It's very difficult to read the text.  One way to help this would be to adjust the colours; in my opinion, the red and green do not look good together.  Both colours are fairly desaturated and dark, and the green seems to fade into the red

-Layout: adjust the spacing and size.  "from the" appears more prominent than "Roses" or "Ashes" because it is just as big, in the centre of the picture, and is taking up the most space.  Because of the way the font is, "from the" also appears to be much farther from "Roses" than "Ashes".  It might make things easier to make all the lines as separate layers, and adjust each individually.
Since the R and A are very complex, you might have to shift things around such that everything is not centred as well.

If this is going to be a logo, I would suggest scrapping the background altogether and concentrating solely on the text until you are happy with it.
I hope you are not insulted by my critiques, because I mean for them to be helpful and not mean.  Good luck with the band! ^_^

[monkey0506]

I think it's wonderful that you say the green seems to fade into the red. That means I've done my job.

As far as the "from the", it's at its natural alignment based on the size of the font. I ensured this by creating one text-layer, typing:

Roses
from the
Ashes

And then creating three more text-layers (one for each line) and aligning them properly so that each line is on its own layer, and is also aligned properly vertically and horizontally.

And perhaps it's not considered "good design", but the "busy"/"clustered"/"difficult to read" look is really exactly what I was aiming for. It kind of adds to the meaning.

So...thanks for all of your wonderful comments. But really everything you commented on was by-design.

And BTW, I absolutely love this font.

[ThreeOhFour]

I would have to agree with MashPotato. In all band logos I've seen, text is priority, with maybe a little logo-ish design to convey the image thing, but no real backrdop. Take this for example - the Bullet for my Valentine logo came straight to my mind as the name styles are similar, with the Nouns at the start and end, so I typed in. I'm not saying that this is how a logo should be designed and that all logos should look like this one, but I am saying that this logo is designed well and is nice on the eyes.



A couple of things that caught my eye were how the V is the centre point, how the less important words are in a different colour, and how the font remains elegant and dark without going over the top with complication.

[monkey0506]

Well that just reminds me how much that's not really what I'm aiming for. I guess I sound kind of like an asshat asking for C&C but then just telling everyone that, no, it's okay I already have it how I want it...but...really...I'm not looking to change the design. I designed it the way I wanted. I have my reasons, and I understand how it wouldn't work it...well...most other situations...but...this situation is very special.

Really I was hoping for some C&C more on the text than the background. The background's unimportant. In situations where it's not needed or it takes too much away from it I'll lose it, but this way I'll have it for those situations where I want it.

[Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens]

If you maintain the current background your logo is nigh unreadable, which I sincerely doubt is intentional-- and if so it simply makes no sense to me.  What precisely did you want c&c on, since so far you've rejected suggestions that I'm sure would improve the piece overall?

[ManicMatt]

Yes, please do tell, I'm as baffled as ProgZmax on this one.

You don't want people to know what your band is called? "Hey I like your band, what 's the name again.. something ashes!"

*Roses from the ashes get a record deal*

Customer in HMV: "Hmm lets see, where is that band's album?" *Looks in the direction of the band's cd* "Hmm no it's not here, I can't see it anywhere!"

You see what I'm getting at?

[SinSin]

change the colours of the first three words that may help

[2ma2]

There is a difference inbetween naïve values and deliberate naïvism, and pardon my saying so, but your piece lacks both. It may sound hard, but when trying to break the "rules" you need to know your rules well enough to be able to break them. And this piece comes out amateurish in all the bad ways the word can provide, and frankly none of the good ones.

[EagerMind]

Really I was hoping for some C&C more on the text than the background. The background's unimportant.

If you take another read, you'll see that MashPotato and Ben304 both offered suggestions on how to change the text. And the background is important if it makes your logo unreadable, as it does here.

Also, I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss Ben304's sample logo. I think it looks quite professional and is a good example of how to incorpate a visual element into a name. I'd recommend googling other bands and looking at their logos to see what different techniques have been used.

I think the Guns 'n' Roses logo might be a particularly good example for you. My memory of it was gothic script with crossed pistols on a bed of roses. The reality is a bit different. Despite the fact that the name is completely separate from the graphic and uses a very simple font, it leaves a lasting impression of a rather more complex design.

As far as the "from the", it's at its natural alignment based on the size of the font ....

These two examples (took about 10 minutes) are also "technically correct" (aligned vertically and horizantally) yet have been "stylized" to shift emphasis away from "from the":

     

I'm not making any great claims about these, but hopefully they'll give you some basic ideas.

... "difficult to read" look is really exactly what I was aiming for.

"Difficult to read" is not a serious design choice. It's like saying, "I'm going to design a game with bad game play." A logo may certainly be artistic, but ultimately its purpose is purely functional and singular: getting people to see and remember your name.

[Chicky]

I think it's sexy Monkey. But make the 'from the' bit smaller.


I like what you did with the o being all rose coloured and stuff. Genious.

[Rincewind]

Mm, I do agree with what the others said - The rose background does make the whole thing way too cluttered, and I would suggest a more simple design, without the background. A simpler, more stylized would probably be better, methinks.

However...

ultimately its purpose is purely functional and singular: getting people to see and remember your name.

...I'd say that depends on what kind of band you play in, actually...

[ManicMatt]

Wow, that's probably death metal or doom or something! And I can't make heads or tails of it! It's a completely useless logo woohoo! Looks pretty though. For a cluttered technical mess.

[2ma2]

I made such a logo for a death metal band called Nordskjalf. Readability is not the primary function for a logo in these scenes, the text tranforms into a mesh of decoration, but that example is just mindblowing. I think I can see an 'v' in the middle..

[Tuomas]

Haha, cool. And the name, (I believe it's this) Mistigo Varggoth Darkestra, is something you'd never look for in the first place. Actually it cant' be that because I'm certain I see the letter S 2 times.

[EagerMind]

Way to shoot me down, Rincewind. 

Yeah, I looked at that thing probably longer than I should have and got "Bloodwing" out of the first line. Then I looked at the name of the image: "Mistigo Varggoth Darkestra." I was pretty close , but even looking at it now, I still don't see it.

Anyway, to keep this somewhat on topic: I'll admit (grudgingly) that in certain circumstances there are unreadable logos (rules are made to be broken, right?). But hopefully the difference between Rincewind's example and what monkey_05_06 did are clear. I wouldn't necessarily suggest attempting a logo like Mistigo Varggoth Darkestra's unless you really know what you're doing!

[biothlebop]

Haha, cool. And the name, (I believe it's this) Mistigo Varggoth Darkestra, is something you'd never look for in the first place. Actually it cant' be that because I'm certain I see the letter S 2 times.

It does say Mistigo Varggoth Darkestra. The A in Varggoth is flipped upside down and the T's seem to be so too, or then they are just ugly. The last S-looking shape on the upper row is actally a H.

On topic:
I don't think it's a bad idea to give all of the words the same size/importance, it gives a poetic feel to the name of the band, like somebody was reading the phrase aloud.

[ManicMatt]

Has anyone noticed Monkey hasn't said anything here for ages? I get the impression they aint going to listen to our advice...

[monkey0506]

One day isn't really ages... :o

But mostly everyone's saying I need to completely redesign this crap. So...we'll see.

[Buckethead]

One day isn't really ages... :o

But mostly everyone's saying I need to completely redesign this crap. So...we'll see.

well you should, all you did was cut out a rose and put some text on it