Seeking opinions on logo

di11on · 08-02-2014 6:10pm #1

Hi All,

I'm trying to choose a logo for my business - I'd love your thoughts. With Boardsies help, we've already narrowed it down to 2 and would love your thoughts...

Vote here!

Axwell · 08-02-2014 6:23pm

Done!

Just based on the comments I put on the other post about the E in the orange logo getting lost id have to go with the green one. Its hard to change the orange one to make the E more visible and also as per one of your comments it does look more 'electrician' with the plug.

di11on · 08-02-2014 6:35pm

Axwell wrote: »

Done!

Just based on the comments I put on the other post about the E in the orange logo getting lost id have to go with the green one. Its hard to change the orange one to make the E more visible and also as per one of your comments it does look more 'electrician' with the plug.

Thanks for your comments - appreciate you voting again.

di11on · 08-02-2014 8:08pm

I totally made a mess of this poll... I thought you just had to choose a rating, but you have to place them in order! What sense does that make? Silly Polldaddy :-)

Edit - all now fixed! Thanks for all the responses so far!

Mrs OBumble · 08-02-2014 10:05pm

As well as the logo, have you thought about what your icon sized representation will be (assuming there's some sort of social media presence for the company, you will need one). It's not so obvious from the first option.

Hercule · 08-02-2014 10:09pm

the 2nd option is far too close to the BP logo, in both style and colour scheme - I imagine you might have some grief with people thinking it was something to do with BP (or if they are a particularly letigious company you might find yourself getting grief over their trademark)

daymobrew · 09-02-2014 10:15am

Axwell wrote: »

Its hard to change the orange one to make the E more visible and also as per one of your comments it does look more 'electrician' with the plug.

I didn't see the 'E' in the orange logo.

Kenny Logins · 09-02-2014 11:49am

daymobrew wrote: »

I didn't see the 'E' in the orange logo.

Did you see the arrow in FedEx, the A to Z in Amazon...?

di11on · 09-02-2014 4:47pm

Actually, that gives me a good idea. The difference between, say, the Fedex Logo and the ER/plug design is that the arrow in the fed ex isn't ciritcal to getting the message that it's Fed Ex, but just makes it cooler...

So I'm thinking, if I could make a plug in the negative space between the E and R, that would be pretty cool... I'll see if the designer can come up with something,

daymobrew · 09-02-2014 11:49pm

Kenny Logins wrote: »

Did you see the arrow in FedEx, the A to Z in Amazon...?

Only now.

sawdoubters · 09-02-2014 11:54pm

http://www.tanadolautogas.com/img/energy-reform.jpg

Kenny Logins · 10-02-2014 12:11am

di11on wrote: »

Actually, that gives me a good idea. The difference between, say, the Fedex Logo and the ER/plug design is that the arrow in the fed ex isn't ciritcal to getting the message that it's Fed Ex, but just makes it cooler...

So I'm thinking, if I could make a plug in the negative space between the E and R, that would be pretty cool... I'll see if the designer can come up with something,

I do like the plug aspect, but it says electricity to me, not energy.

di11on · 10-02-2014 10:01am

sawdoubters wrote: »

http://www.tanadolautogas.com/img/energy-reform.jpg

Thanks for that Saw... I like the idea of the good ol' three pinned plug suggestion with the E.

@ Kenny - Electricity is ok... so longs as it's subtle

This is what I'm thinking of:

http://www.energyreform.ie/nbrcontent/ER_new8.jpg

Disclaimer: I'm not a designer, I just lashed that up myself to see what people think of the concept!

di11on · 11-02-2014 12:19pm

Here's a refinement of the plug in negative space concept for anyone that's interested:

http://www.energyreform.ie/nbrcontent/er_new_9a.jpg

Kenny Logins · 11-02-2014 12:54pm

I think I preferred the much simpler ER (with the negative space plug).

Call Me Jimmy · 11-02-2014 12:58pm

No you are 100% on the money with the plug, you just need to simplify the type, yer trying too hard with the R in my opinion to provide the curves and hence using really mismatched type. The curves are not necessary, use more square shapes in the center to get the effect, ye could round the edges of the square but don't use that type or curves like that it effects the silhouette negatively imo.

But that is the right direction having the plug.

I know that type is good because it is indicative of a consultancy but the center isn't ballsy enough, the skinny connectors make it look tentative.

di11on · 11-02-2014 2:27pm

Thanks for the feedback guys...

It's very tricky to match the fonts and get the plug effect at the same time... to get the plug effect, the R needs to have Serifs but the E needs to be straight. I've tried with straight serifs but to get the right thickness of the plug, you need to stretch the serifs too far and they don't look like they're part of the R any more. I'll keep playing and see what I can come up with.

Thanks again everyone for the comments and for voting - it's very helpful.

di11on · 11-02-2014 3:53pm

Call Me Jimmy wrote: »

No you are 100% on the money with the plug, you just need to simplify the type, yer trying too hard with the R in my opinion to provide the curves and hence using really mismatched type. The curves are not necessary, use more square shapes in the center to get the effect, ye could round the edges of the square but don't use that type or curves like that it effects the silhouette negatively imo.

But that is the right direction having the plug.

I know that type is good because it is indicative of a consultancy but the center isn't ballsy enough, the skinny connectors make it look tentative.

Are you thinking of something like this?

http://www.energyreform.ie/nbrcontent/er_new_10a.jpg

Call Me Jimmy · 11-02-2014 9:50pm

Well the point I was trying to make was that the outer parts of the fonts shouldn't need to accomodate them making up part of the plug, there is essentially a blank canvas in the middle so ye can make a plug shape, then once you have it connected somehow the far left and far right of the E and R can have any font if ye understand?

I was a bit bored today and I was trying to pull off a graphic design i'll throw it up because ye never know what'll make ye think of new ways of looking at it! My point is: ye can build around the plug, like below (very rough idea)

Kenny Logins · 11-02-2014 10:28pm

I really think this is the best one.

cgarvey · 12-02-2014 2:27am

Kenny Logins wrote: »

I really think this is the best one.

Agreed!

I think you're over-thinking the "R", and making a complete balls of it, in the process.

di11on · 12-02-2014 9:29am

cgarvey wrote: »

Agreed!

I think you're over-thinking the "R", and making a complete balls of it, in the process.

The whole point is to try and have the plug in negative space rather than the E since the E is more important and the plug less so.

So you think this:

Is better than these?

Graham · 12-02-2014 10:25am

di11on wrote: »

So you think this:

Is better than these?

Much

None of them are particularly to my taste but the logo part of 2 and 3 look amateur, the mixed typefaces just don't work. I would go with any of the concepts from your original survey before 2 and 3.

di11on · 12-02-2014 7:57pm

Call Me Jimmy wrote: »

No you are 100% on the money with the plug, you just need to simplify the type, yer trying too hard with the R in my opinion to provide the curves and hence using really mismatched type. The curves are not necessary, use more square shapes in the center to get the effect, ye could round the edges of the square but don't use that type or curves like that it effects the silhouette negatively imo.

But that is the right direction having the plug.

I know that type is good because it is indicative of a consultancy but the center isn't ballsy enough, the skinny connectors make it look tentative.

Hi Jimmy,

When you say 100% on the money with the plug - do you mean the plug in negative space as in, say

or the E in negative space, as in

?

Call Me Jimmy · 12-02-2014 8:37pm

di11on wrote: »

Hi Jimmy,

When you say 100% on the money with the plug - do you mean the plug in negative space as in, say

or the E in negative space, as in

?

I was referring to the plug in the negative space. I felt it could really work and still do. But from a time perspective of having to build the logo around that it may not be worth it because I like the E in negative space one for a number of reasons. But the only problem with that is that the letter R obviously is dominant. You probably want the E to be, or at least have neither being dominant.

In terms of, theoretically if you have the graphic design knowledge and technical photoshop expertees the plug in negative space, if done perfectly would be my pick. But it would have to be done perfectly!

If you DO DO the plug in negative space its longest vertical line, where the plug meets the E has to be the central line. So the R should go out maximum the length of the E in the opposite directon. I would 'indicate' the R. So use most of the R space to establish (in the case of the above picture ) a symmetrical orange square shape that corresponds to the brown square of the E (including behind the two prongs I mean). Then work at indicating the with the remainder of the space.

My 0.02c

Call Me Jimmy · 13-02-2014 12:34pm

Also notice the bottom whitespace in the R, when indicating the R shape you can use the fact that it could be made look like a cable coming out of the plug, again in negative white space. That way you use whitespace in the R to strengthen the negative silhouette. To indicate the top half of the R you want to reduce or remove the whitespace and use just the orange shape of the top of the R, it may be enough. not sure how that would look but you don't particularly want to confuse the complete plug and cable image with an added white circle!

Trojan · 13-02-2014 2:37pm

If you don't mind sharing, what's the total spend on this logo up to this point been?

di11on · 13-02-2014 2:45pm

Thanks for that. Something like this? More symmetry and both letters based on the same font...

or

Call Me Jimmy · 13-02-2014 4:34pm

Exactly that is it.

Only thing I don't like is the actual shape of or drawing of the plug. The proportions of that need to be shored up, just so it is really appealing and the composition of it is perfect! What I mean by this is the angles of all the dges should match up nicely. Like notice the 'back' of the plug where it connects to the cable, there is a tiny diagonal line that is so small it just makes the image noisy. The rule with lines in logos imo is, to quote jennifer lopez, go hard or go home. Either indicate the line strongly or not at all!

The outer sillhouette is pretty much perfect. Use the curves in it as guides to draw and line up the back of the plug.

Imo you're onto the winner there!

Call Me Jimmy · 13-02-2014 4:55pm

Main thing is the curve connecting up abc.

This is just to show what I mean, I don't mean exactly the shape I have outlined!

di11on · 13-02-2014 5:23pm

Call Me Jimmy wrote: »

Main thing is the curve connecting up abc

Something like this?

Call Me Jimmy · 13-02-2014 6:09pm

not quite. let me have a go with tools later.

jmcc · 13-02-2014 9:29pm

The font choice tries a bit too hard to be cool. Perhaps Times Roman or some Serif font for 'Energy' and a Sans-Serif font (Verdana etc) for the 'Reform' might work well. Black, red and white are very difficult colours to use well without accidentally coming up with a rather Nazi style vibe.

Regards...jmcc

CountyHurler · 15-02-2014 12:01pm

I like this one.. :pac:

...................

Seriously though, I like this one.

But then I was never a big fan of orange..

cgarvey · 17-02-2014 12:47am

di11on wrote: »

The whole point is to try and have the plug in negative space rather than the E since the E is more important and the plug less so.

I think you might be placing too much significance on that, then. Unless you plan to never/rarely use the typed name alongside the logo.

If you do plan to normally use the typed name, then I think the subtleness of the E/plug works pretty well. Some won't get it, sure, but then they don't need to.

di11on wrote: »

So you think this:
Is better than these?

Yes. Much

cgarvey · 17-02-2014 12:48am

Trojan wrote: »

If you don't mind sharing, what's the total spend on this logo up to this point been?

It has the cut of a 99d! Not knocking them (horses for courses, and have used them a lot myself), but they're getting easier to spot!

di11on · 17-02-2014 10:50am

cgarvey wrote: »

It has the cut of a 99d! Not knocking them (horses for courses, and have used them a lot myself), but they're getting easier to spot!

We're not McDonalds or Pepsi... we just need something that's going to look respectable on a business card and on the cover of a report. Which is exactly what you're saying a guess :-)

Trojan · 17-02-2014 12:11pm

cgarvey wrote: »

It has the cut of a 99d! Not knocking them (horses for courses, and have used them a lot myself), but they're getting easier to spot!

It does. I'm pretty sure it was linked or implied somewhere above.

di11on wrote: »

We're not McDonalds or Pepsi... we just need something that's going to look respectable on a business card and on the cover of a report. Which is exactly what you're saying a guess :-)

Yep. I'm not having a go, just very curious how it might compare to hiring a local logo designer. I'd be interested to know how much you'd estimate in cash and your time has gone into this - care to share that with us?

devildriver · 17-02-2014 5:27pm

I think the plug idea has been overworked. It doesn't seem to fit in there comfiortably and forcing it is really making the logo look awkward.

Also the typeface for Energy Reform is horrible.

di11on · 18-02-2014 10:39am

Thanks for the opinions folks.

Seeking opinions on logo

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