once more feedback for a logo please

Nikolas · Wed 08/01/2014 20:28:31

Hi all,

I'm almost ready to start a kickstarter campaign for a project titled "Beauty & Hope in the 21st century".

So I've called my graphic designer, to ask her to make me a logo for this project. Something that can be used in a banner, as a title in the CD, in the music score, etc.

And she sent back quite a few attempts (most done in a hurry is my guess). So I'm posting them in need for feedback.

I feel that the "classical" ones (like the very last one (bottom right side) is not too suitable for the project.

Any comments, please?

SeaOtterGamer · Wed 08/01/2014 20:45:57

As far as personal opinion goes. I like the fifth one in the second column. I like the contract between the two fonts and the spacing on the second line.

Nikolas · Wed 08/01/2014 20:47:37

I agree, but the "in the 21st century" shouldn't really be a 'subtitle' as it appears to be with such a big difference between font sizes. *I think*.

Thank you, of course!

Stupot · Wed 08/01/2014 21:30:01

The same one stood out to me. At least, the 'Beauty and Hope' part is nice. The rest doesn't really match it.

I also like the top one of the 4th column, although it's the least banner-like of the lot. How about having the 'in the 21st Century' part to the side of 'Beauty and Hope' rather than underneath it. a little bit like this:

SeaOtterGamer · Wed 08/01/2014 21:42:57

Quote from: Stupot+ on Wed 08/01/2014 21:30:01
The same one stood out to me. At least, the 'Beauty and Hope' part is nice. The rest doesn't really match it.

I also like the top one of the 4th column, although it's the least banner-like of the lot. How about having the 'in the 21st Century' part to the side of 'Beauty and Hope' rather than underneath it. a little bit like this:

Ooh, I like this idea a lot as well. It's different, and puts a bit more emphasis on "in the 21st century" because it doesn't have it as a 'subtitle'. Although the first one reads more like "Beauty Hope & in the 21st century". i would g with the second one though, not a bad idea

HanaIndiana · Wed 08/01/2014 22:23:56

I like the same ones... the fifth one down in the 2nd column. It looks more unique to me.
And the first one in the last column is my favorite, as long as the ampersand is moved to the left side.

Anian · Wed 08/01/2014 23:00:46

If it's meant to be a part of the title, looking at all the lettering, I think you might have had a miscommunication, since that doesn't really come across in any of the fonts/logos.

Also, you might want to say what the project is about (maybe a theme or something) before asking people to say which one they prefer. That said, the 5th in second column does look nice, in the second row there's lots of spacing left between letters, I'm sure she can accentuate it a bit more. In any case though, I'd stay away from 3rd and 4th in the second column, that looks very much like Papyrus font and at this point it has a "reputation" in design world similar to Comic sans, as in it could be used for stuff like Yoga centers or something, but even then there are better alternatives.

Nikolas · Thu 09/01/2014 06:59:52

Thanks for all the input so far.

And you're right anian.

This is a description of the project:

3 illustration artists have created 9 illustrations based on the theme provided (beauty and hope in the 21st century). Then 9 composers of my publishing house have composed works for solo piano, that will be recorded, video taped and produced in CD, DVD, Double vinyl, high quality artbook and the music score itself. The art of the 9 illustrations will be rather prominent.

So here's 3 of the 9 illustrations (each one from a different visual artist):

Creating the Space

The Butterfly Fixer

Voice of the People

So the logo will be used pretty much everywhere: In the music score, in the cover page, in the CD, in the DVD, the double vinyl, in the kickstarter campaign, the pitch video... everywhere... :-/

Again thank you guys! You're awesmoe!

Weston_Kaunk · Mon 13/01/2014 10:43:36

Quote from: Stupot+ on Wed 08/01/2014 21:30:01

I think she kept the "in the" on a separate line because if you have your logo lined up like that commonly --with the seconds people use to read logos-- there would be a percent that read it literally. "Beauty in the Hope & 21st century" the bit after the 21 isn't so crucial because people are trained to read the bits that follow after numbers like that, but if you include "in the" on the same line as Beauty it will be read as a part of that line.

Any one on the 2nd or third column would work for what you want, though I don't know how much they'd work with you art. In light of your art personally i actually wouldn't pick any :/ She's basically only offered you five layouts and just (far as i can tell) changed the font. The kind of art you have there and what it seems you're going for she should be designing a new font. A standard font on a unique image takes away from the image. Plus (if she had access to the art) the thumbnails she sent back should have some examples of the layout in use on the album cover, not divorced from the image. :/

Even if it's a pro bono gig all she needed to do was use the morph tool(assuming this is in illustrator, should be with a font) and morph two of the fonts you like. Just take each letter, vector it, then morph it to whatever number (prob 15) and line up each morph trail and you have 13 original fonts to mix and match from. Would take like fifteen minutes tops. Once you got your font she could spend a skype shared screen or meet with you and mess with layout and her ideas for ten minutes, just having a cut of the font over the artwork and move it around until your content. You can still keep a simplistic font style for easy reading, but it'll instantly become more dynamic and distinguishable from the "I use Microsoft word" everyday fonts, can't believe I'm using this as an example but here. http://wideeyedsmiles.deviantart.com/art/GasmaskCover-265235491 is an example of a font morph I used. I used a typewriter and comic sans maybe..was a long time ago, don't remember the second font, I was going for a "in need of repair/apocalyptic typewriter" then I just re-sized bits and grabbed letters from the different outcomes of the morph and mashed it together until I felt it had the look i wanted.

Snarky · Mon 13/01/2014 12:30:00

Yeah, pretty much all the samples look like signs for a hairdresser made in the 1990s. Papyrus? You got to be kidding me! (I also tend to think the title is too long and doesn't flow very well, but that's on you, Nikolas.)

I wasn't aware of the font/vector morph approach, Weston. (Really need to learn Illustrator properly.) That's a cool trick that I'm sure will come in handy. Now I can square the amount of time spent picking fonts!

Thanks! Really!

Nikolas · Mon 13/01/2014 18:54:33

Thank you guys! I appreciate all the input.

I'll be honest that the "DOVE" fonts send me running away, but the edited logo that stupot did (or the one that it came from) grew on me, so at the moment I'm tending towards that.

However I will be showing her this thread, in case she gets some more inspiration...

Darth Mandarb · Tue 14/01/2014 13:41:13

The main thing that seems off to me is that the title is, "Beauty and Hope in the 21st Century" but the way it's grouped (and using different fonts) creates too much separation with the words and it doesn't feel like the entire thing is the title of the work. Also, the "&" symbol emphasizes this by grouping just beauty and hope together further separating "in the 21st century" and making it seem a sub-title rather than part of the whole.

Also, and this is just me, "Hope and Beauty" (instead of "Beauty and Hope") flows off my tongue much easier... but I'm not sure how far along you are with all the preparations (I figured if you don't have the logo yet you aren't too far along!) so if it's too late to make a change like that just ignore me on that one

Hope it helps!

Snarky · Tue 14/01/2014 14:36:06

If you're trying to find a nice font, you might want to have a look at the MyFont Newsletter. The ones they feature tend to have a little more personality and stand out a bit more than your average "standard MS Word" font.

Intense Degree · Tue 14/01/2014 15:59:09

The only thing I will add is it might be a good idea not to make it look too much like another famous music publishing company's logo!

It's just the initials and "&" on the same line in some of them, made me think of Booseys straight away.

Nikolas · Wed 15/01/2014 03:55:05

Well...

Unfortunately I'm rather far ahead to go back and change the title now. All video has been shot and I'm editing right now, so there's no chance to go back (even though I personally prefer the Beauty and Hope rather than Hope and Beauty).

The use of & instead of "and" is fine and it's a title of a series of works rather than of a publishing house, so it's perfectly fine. Not to mention that the main logo of the publishing house, holds an "f" (music font) which is only characteristic to most publishers and classical music related companies (Fabber Music, Classic Fm, etc)... But it's fine, since it's so far apart from anything else and you cannot copyright a sign no matter who you are.

Now, Darth, while what you did fits the specific illustration (and another couple, not seen here), the rest of the illustrations are so vastly different that the same logo won't fit. As I said it will be used everywhere: The CD, the double vinyl, the music score, the art book... Possibly a DVD (if everything goes according to plan), thus I need it to be a bit more generic I think.

You are awesome guys! Thank you for all your help thus far!

Nikolas · Wed 15/01/2014 11:52:26

While we're at it, and excuse for pushing on...

I want to release parts of the 9 illustrations (cropped, for example the butteflies above this very ugly guy in the illustration shown here), as teasers... And I want to credit each illustrator, along with the title of each illustration.

So a simple text below each teaser...

Any ideas on what font I could use (always keeping in mind that each illustration is different and they come from 3 different people with hugely different aesthetics).

Thank you kind people!