Logo Critique?

[RobertD63]

Hey there guys, I'm just looking for some simple feedback on a logo I'm doing for my school. A little background: In my digital design class, we have challenge to design a logo for our first Digital Design Expo. It has to use the colors below, and we are located in FL so that's why the L in Lee is the state just shaped a little more "L'ish".
Requirements
•Must say “Digital Lee”
•Must use some variation of the Royal Blue, Turquoise, and Lime Green Colors displayed to the right. Black, White, & Grey are also allowed.
I'm not so sure about the Florida turned upside-down. I might go back to the original shape of the state. As it is now, its skewed a little to look more like an L.

For refernce here is the logo without the skewed FL map.

As a last thought, I'm going to removed the white stroke on the cursors dotting the i's.

 

[fcortese]

Until you mentioned that the "L" was the state of FL turned sideways, I had no clue what it was supposed to be. So I am not sure how that will work unless you use an alligator- tail up mouth open and to the right in an L-shape and hope people associate the gator with FL. sorry 'Noles fans. good luck.

 

[RobertD63]

Yeah I had a feeling that, that would happen. I've updated the post with what it looks like with out FL being skewed.

 

[ezekielrage_99]

It's too complicationed, keep it as one font well kerned and you'll have a winner IMHO. All lower case san-serif font with tight kerning would look sweet

I would also work on the research, if you take a look at something like Logopond you'll get some great ideas (search digital )

BTW here's an example about how simplicity works. Good luck

 

[Blue Velvet]

BTW here's an example about how simplicity works.

Apart from the huge typo, a sure-fire winner with any client.

 

[techfreak85]

Uhh... the second upside down Florida looked kinda like a penis to me when I first saw it.

 

[CW Jones]

IMO your trying to do "too much" the little pointers for the dots in the "i" its fine, but then you add what looks to be Florida to the mix, it just becomes way too much. It also looks like 2 different typefaces just kind of slapped together with no real hierarchy or reason for being like that.

Just my opinion tho

 

[RobertD63]

Alright here is an updated version:

 

[Mr Kram]

worse than the original...

 

[darkplanets]

I'm not in graphics design, but I can venture to say that both concepts are a tad... cluttered.

One font. One kern. If you want to incorporate the mouse into the A, that's fine, but keep it simple. Keep in mind this has to go as a header for just about everything, so it also has to look good in black and white. I also can't say I enjoy that font, but I think that's more of a personal taste.

 

[THX1139]

Alright here is an updated version:

Well, it's a start. Get rid of the mouse pointer; it looks like a crooked tree icon and it's borderline cliche. For me, nothing else is working and you might want to get off the computer and get out the sketchbook after you spend some time doing research. Is it due tomorrow?

There is no process. I can ALWAYS tell when someone shortcuts the research and thumbnail concept process. I'm guessing that this "logo" was done in the computer and the OP didn't pickup a pencil to get multiple ideas developed BEFORE going to the computer.

 

[RobertD63]

Well, it's a start. Get rid of the mouse pointer; it looks like a crooked tree icon and it's borderline cliche. For me, nothing else is working and you might want to get off the computer and get out the sketchbook after you spend some time doing research. Is it due tomorrow?

There is no process. I can ALWAYS tell when someone shortcuts the research and thumbnail concept process. I'm guessing that this "logo" was done in the computer and the OP didn't pickup a pencil to get multiple ideas developed BEFORE going to the computer.

Im guessing your pretty wrong. Its required for us to sketch, and the sketches were all around the FL map being there. It looked fine there but in Ai its ugly.

 

[THX1139]

Im guessing your pretty wrong. Its required for us to sketch, and the sketches were all around the FL map being there. It looked fine there but in Ai its ugly.

Don't blame Illustrator... the problem would lay within your edit and refinement process if all those sketches you say you did produced this result. Take a look at that if you want to improve. Though, a bad idea that is refined usually turns out to be a refined bad idea. Or at the very least, it takes a long time to fix something that starts off bad.

Research > develop concept(s) > create sketches > refine sketches > choose direction(s) > sketch/refine direction(s) > pick final direction > refine > scan and refine in computer > post top 5 versions on MacRumors.

Your "design" fell apart somewhere along one or more of those steps. I'm guessing the concept part.

Good luck.

 

[bluetooth]

I basically agree with everything that has been said above. You need to simplify and when choosing a font, I would recommend a sans serif font for anything digital and definitely try to stick to one font.

I would also think that the mouse curser would make your company appear to be more computer based, I don't know, maybe it is but if not, you may want to incorporate something a little more universal like the digital "play button" triangle (off the top of my head).

Here is another quick example in addition to ezekielrage_99's. Although the elements are a bit cliche, it illustrates simplicity and how it could work with a simple, single font choice etc.

Also as others have mentioned, make sure your logo is clear and legible in both small and greyscale/b&w.

Sketches are also always the best place to start as others have mentioned.

(Click on image for a larger view)

 

[SatyMahajan]

I agree with everyone else above. Logos should be simple, legible.

When I saw the requirements, I thought digital. OK what describes digital. 0s and 1s, maybe have "Digital" along the path of a 0 and "Lee" along the path of a 1, but 0s and 1s are really binary and didn't strike me as "digital" enough. Then I though analog vs digital clock. Digital clock is perfect! This is the concept I came up with.

 

[Hermes Monster]

It's too complicationed, keep it as one font well kerned and you'll have a winner IMHO. All lower case san-serif font with tight kerning would look sweet

I would also work on the research, if you take a look at something like Logopond you'll get some great ideas (search digital )

BTW here's an example about how simplicity works. Good luck

This is much more pleasing on the eye, plus I know instantly what it's saying...well I would if it was spelled correctly

You just need to simplify your ideas, pick one aspect of the many you're trying to squeeze in to the logo and expand/hone that

 

[dacreativeguy]

Im guessing your pretty wrong. Its required for us to sketch, and the sketches were all around the FL map being there. It looked fine there but in Ai its ugly.

An iconic image, like the state of Florida, loses all meaning if presented in a way not consistent with its "iconic image". Displaying the state upside down destroys the meaning, just as displaying the McDonalds logo upside down would be confusing. You just can't take those kinds of liberties with such well known marks.

 

[dacreativeguy]

I basically agree with everything that has been said above. You need to simplify and when choosing a font, I would recommend a sans serif font for anything digital and definitely try to stick to one font.

I would also think that the mouse curser would make your company appear to be more computer based, I don't know, maybe it is but if not, you may want to incorporate something a little more universal like the digital "play button" triangle (off the top of my head).

Here is another quick example in addition to ezekielrage_99's. Although the elements are a bit cliche, it illustrates simplicity and how it could work with a simple, single font choice etc.

Also as others have mentioned, make sure your logo is clear and legible in both small and greyscale/b&w.

Sketches are also always the best place to start as others have mentioned.

(Click on image for a larger view)

haha! When in doubt, use a swoosh! Tonight we're gonna party like it's 1999!

 

[ezekielrage_99]

Apart from the huge typo, a sure-fire winner with any client.

Thanks, (call it dyslexia, didn't have the screen tinter on).... Just hoping those other client graphics for broadcast were ok as well

But it you're looking for good free fonts I would look here

 

[NathanCH]

I basically agree with everything that has been said above. You need to simplify and when choosing a font, I would recommend a sans serif font for anything digital and definitely try to stick to one font.

I would also think that the mouse curser would make your company appear to be more computer based, I don't know, maybe it is but if not, you may want to incorporate something a little more universal like the digital "play button" triangle (off the top of my head).

Here is another quick example in addition to ezekielrage_99's. Although the elements are a bit cliche, it illustrates simplicity and how it could work with a simple, single font choice etc.

Also as others have mentioned, make sure your logo is clear and legible in both small and greyscale/b&w.

Sketches are also always the best place to start as others have mentioned.

(Click on image for a larger view)

Yours is by far the best.

Ezekielrage's yours is good too, but it's just text. I think having a plain text logo is difficult to differentiate yourself.

 

[dejo]

I think having a plain text logo is difficult to differentiate yourself.

Perhaps, but adding a graphic element, like a swoosh, needs to say something about the brand, other than "me too; 10 years late".

 

[bluetooth]

Perhaps, but adding a graphic element, like a swoosh, needs to say something about the brand, other than "me too; 10 years late".

Yeah, I realize that but if you read my post you will note that I stated that the elements were cliche. The "millennium swoosh" is overused but it does have a universal theme of emerging technology and its dynamic movement can surround and transform disparate elements into a unified object. Still, it was really something I just winged off the top of my head without a whole lot of underlying thought...the whole point of the example was to show more the simplicity as well as the clarity of a single font choice and how it can work/flow with a single graphic element to unify the overall presentation. I hope that is what he gained from the example as that was the overall intention. Now I better go start preparing for Y2K.

 

[CW Jones]

An iconic image, like the state of Florida, loses all meaning if presented in a way not consistent with its "iconic image". Displaying the state upside down destroys the meaning, just as displaying the McDonalds logo upside down would be confusing. You just can't take those kinds of liberties with such well known marks.

This couldn't be more true. Distorting or rotating an iconic image (like Florida) is a design 101 no no. You must know the rules, before you break the rules.

 

[CW Jones]

But it you're looking for good free fonts I would look here

While there are maybe a couple good "free" fonts... IMO most "free" ones are total junk. They might look ok in some cases or to someone who isn't a designer... but when I see one used most times, the kerning in them, or x-height is all different and looks like hell. That's why they are free... if they would good, they would cost money (no in all cases obviously there are exceptions.)

 

[babyt]

Hey there guys, I'm just looking for some simple feedback on a logo I'm doing for my school. A little background: In my digital design class, we have challenge to design a logo for our first Digital Design Expo. It has to use the colors below, and we are located in FL so that's why the L in Lee is the state just shaped a little more "L'ish".
Requirements
•Must say “Digital Lee”
•Must use some variation of the Royal Blue, Turquoise, and Lime Green Colors displayed to the right. Black, White, & Grey are also allowed.
I'm not so sure about the Florida turned upside-down. I might go back to the original shape of the state. As it is now, its skewed a little to look more like an L.

For refernce here is the logo without the skewed FL map.

As a last thought, I'm going to removed the white stroke on the cursors dotting the i's.

two things.
the arrows above the i'S are pointing AWAY from the logo, not drawing attention to it.. would def change those..
really not liking the florida shape, as i didnt know what it was till i read the above infomation...floridas shape is not as recognizable as say, texas.