Amateur Logo Design - Opinions?

[Apple Ink]

LR in gradient (as in the silver-gray background) and the boxes should be smaller (much smaller actually) Maybe you could try splitting the words and fit a part in adjacent ones!

and why just a gray-tone! Why not a black-white contrast! You can have a big black box on the top right and LR on it with white! The rest are alternate black and white with contrasting text on them!

 

[SwiftLives]

I hate to say it, but I'm not seeing a significant progression of the logo. You seem to be stuck using the lowercase rounded font (bauhaus?), and frankly, it just isn't working.

Imagine your logo on a large sign outside of a building you're designing. Will people be able to read it passing by in their cars?

Also consider how the logo will work on something as small as a business card. Will you be able to read the text in the logo when it gets shrunk down that small? Will you be able to differentiate the L from the R in the logo?

Try some variations on your logo. Try a different lowercase font. Try all caps. Try small caps. If you're having trouble getting outside the proverbial box, scrap this logo completely and design something else. Then come back to it.

You've got some great fundamental concepts. But the details still need some work.

Here's one super-quickie variation:

 

[LERsince1991]

and why just a gray-tone! Why not a black-white contrast! You can have a big black box on the top right and LR on it with white! The rest are alternate black and white with contrasting text on them!

I ... don't ... know lol, I really don't know why I've been using greyscale, black and white is much better for this lol. DUH *hits head*

SwiftLives
The font I changed to was 'Asenine'... I think i'm just naturally attracted to this style... What font did you use for your quick example? mind if i try that?

Its weird and bad... when i have an idea its very hard to change the idea, quite stubborn with myself. I end up just changing the part that's not the problem or defending my designs against people and that's not good. Then keeping the problematic design...

Thanks for the feedback again, yup your version looks good, more simple and universal as it can be applied to anything.

I have a question I have recreated that layout but having the LR in a square looks odd because there's space each side of the LR, Then if i make it a rectangle to suit the shape of the LR it looks odd again. When I squash the LR down it looks odd... cant win, Do you think this looks good? (I will settle for alright at your standard )

Now I can picture this one on some forms, business cards, signs, banners, etc... Quite like it
Cheers.

 

[ezekielrage_99]

My family had an extension on the house adding 50% to the size and I helped design it, I wired the electrics in the 'media room', turned out well
I redecorated my room when my parents were out, took me a week and everyone's pleased with the finish, another skill to add to my collection.

That is the DUMBEST thing I have heard in a long time. There are things people shouldn't do themselves without proper certified training. Medicine, electrical, plumbing and teaching are the ones that rate high on my "get a professional" list.

A wise electrical engineer I know told me "one flash and you're ash".

But back to the logo, I'm sorry but I really don't get what you're trying to achieve with your design. It seems as though you're doing what most clients do and that it get married to an idea that doesn't really grow the identity and absolutely flog it to death.

My best advise would be look for designs you like, critique them and find what works and what you think would work for yourself.

www.logolounge.com is a great source of inspiration.

 

[LERsince1991]

Done?

Well I've changed it a bit more and I'm pretty happy with it now.
One things for sure its improved a good amount and I've got to grips with software and got a small slice of understanding of logo design.

What do you think now?

Edit
The second one was the one I meant to upload, the one with caps.

 

[SwiftLives]

http://www.logopond.com is also another superb source for inspiration.

Its weird and bad... when i have an idea its very hard to change the idea, quite stubborn with myself. I end up just changing the part that's not the problem or defending my designs against people and that's not good. Then keeping the problematic design...

I hate to say it, but that's not going to get you very far at all in the world of design - especially architecture.

Never be afraid to completely scrap a design and start over. Sometimes a design or element that you're fixated on and are afraid to change turns out to be a building block for an even better design.

If you truly want to spend the time to make yourself a professional logo, then I strongly encourage you to spend the time exploring the relationships between all of the logo elements and forms. That includes the font, weight, letters, and any icon you create, just to name a few. And that is a commitment that can take weeks, if not months. With the rare exception, even the most simple logos were developed over many months.

If you want to be taken seriously as an architect, you're going to need a professional logo - not one that looks like it was homebrewed. And if you don't have the background in logo or print design, you really should consider hiring someone who does.

Personally, I'm fascinated by architecture. But my background is in graphic and print design. I'm not about to sit down and draw out a blueprint without any background in the field of architecture.

You've got some great ideas, but your lack of experience and understanding of logo design is really going to be a difficult hurdle to overcome.

Either way, I wish you the best of luck.

 

[LERsince1991]

I hate to say it, but that's not going to get you very far at all in the world of design - especially architecture.

Never be afraid to completely scrap a design and start over..........
.............
.......

........Either way, I wish you the best of luck.

I like that comment!
And I agree with it all.
I wasn't about to be a professional logo/graphic designer clearly lol

I am so so SO fascinated by architecture and also a lot of other aspects of design. I realize that me being adamant to keep a design rather than start again is a huge problem and ESPECIALLY for architecture, but I will overcome it. I think it happens because I think about a design for weeks, months or more before I even start to draw so the first design on that page, the majority of the time, is the final design, just without the tweaks.

When I start work as an official designer/architect I will make sure I have a Logo that was designed professionally. This was a good learning journey and was well worth it anyway. I feel that the logo I have at the moment will be sufficient to use on my contact cards, website and projects until I move on.

I plan on using my final project at uni as my first real building project and then my home. It will be like a landmark for me and be perfect for me, imagine having a design you've worked on for 7 years appear in front of you, 30ft high and 100ft wide.
That's the best part, being able to touch your final design in real life... so exciting

god... I've nearly been up for 24 hours, its 5:13am here in England, My body clocks like 4 hours out from all this design flowing in me been like this for the past week!!!

Thanks again SwiftLives.
Luke R.

Edit
Oh and I've added about 5 logo design websites to bookmarks for another time.
http://www.logolounge.com/ seems to come up the most from peoples comments
http://www.fuelyourcreativity.com/50-kick-ass-logos-for-inspiration/ I found this one interesting