Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

logo design question/help

rweakins

rweakins

macrumors 6502
Original poster
May 3, 2007
312
0
looking for some creative insight from fellow designers. I'm designing a logo for the Glorieta Summer Staff. Glorieta is a christian conference center in the mountains of New Mexico. The shirt is for the summer staff section of the conference center and that staff participates in things like ropes courses, climbing walls, zip lines, paintball, etc. Looking for any ideas for a logo....

Glorieta Summer Staff. maybe something with the initials maybe a pictoral logo?
 
well i was thinking a little more businessy....maybe like this: like a mountain silhouette in the background with Glorieta Summer Staff under.
 
so scratch the business look. they say they would like an abstract looking logo. maybe a symbol or some lettering. Any thoughts?
 
i'm not trying to jump in on other people's conversations, but i've been a graphic designer for quite some time, and i must say that i've always leaned on others. It's not about stealing ideas, it's about working together to come up with a better one. Bouncing ideas off of one another. Having no one else's opinon usually leads to crazy, unjustified ideas. In general, for me as a designer, i don't know best, the client deosn't know best, other designers don't know best, and the target audience doesn't know best...all those things combined know best. Pefect example, i designed a logo, thought it was the perfect solution, showed to another designer, he thought it should be a little different, so i changed it a little bit, with his recommendation, and showed it to the client. They hated it. So i went back, altered it some more, showed it to that same other designer, he didn't like one of the shapes and thought the colors were too bright. I disagreed with the color thing, but i got the idea of it, so i showed it to the client again, and they loved it. It's about collaboration, and working together. Turns out, i showed the original one i did (that i loved) and everyone i showed it to thought it looked like a penis, i never saw that because i was too close to it. Could you imagine...presenting a penis to a client?

-je
 
i totally agree that using your resources is totally valid but at the same time i think in a way the one who knows right is the client. it may not be whats right to the designer or the target audience but the client is your employer so all you have to do is impress them really i think. obviously i haven't been doing this long but like it was mentioned earlier the knockout logo you design might not get picked over the throwaway one because it's all about what the client thinks will be best for them.
 
rweakins said:
i totally agree that using your resources is totally valid but at the same time i think in a way the one who knows right is the client. it may not be whats right to the designer or the target audience but the client is your employer so all you have to do is impress them really i think. obviously i haven't been doing this long but like it was mentioned earlier the knockout logo you design might not get picked over the throwaway one because it's all about what the client thinks will be best for them.
Click to expand...

The client is right some of the time, but not most of the time. Usually they're only right if you'd rather keep them happy instead of do what's right for their company. They aren't the ones with the expertise, that's why they hired you. Unless your goal is to be a production person and just put clients' bad ideas to paper, your job should be coming up with what IS right, and explaining to them why.
 
that's a very valid point. but personally how do you handle a client that is very specific on what they want in their product? even if it's not the best idea for them?
 
rweakins said:
that's a very valid point. but personally how do you handle a client that is very specific on what they want in their product? even if it's not the best idea for them?
Click to expand...

That's a tough one. I've struggled with this myself in the past. I've come to a point now where I'm frank with the client upfront and let him know that the project may not be a good fit for me and give him suggestions of more 'production' oriented designers. Now of course you loose the revenue associated with the project which always hurts. However, I find in the end the projects that from the start have issues on basic vision, continue to have issues in all aspects as they go on and in the end they rarely are fun and most of the time turn out to not be very profitable. Plus they usually don't do much to enhance your portfolio for getting future work ;)
 
the client...

rweakins said:
that's a very valid point. but personally how do you handle a client that is very specific on what they want in their product? even if it's not the best idea for them?
Click to expand...

my experience?...i divide my clients into two: those where i work as a production artist and produce "ugly" stuff..and for those that i design for.

As time goes on many times the client that "knows what they want" wonders why i do great work from others and not for them...then i explain to them.

It comes down to economics, as a "production artist" I charge hourly, for my design clients i do it by the project (and get a lower hourly in general....)

(and i keep my name off of their projects)
 
pelsar said:
my experience?...i divide my clients into two: those where i work as a production artist and produce "ugly" stuff..and for those that i design for.

As time goes on many times the client that "knows what they want" wonders why i do great work from others and not for them...then i explain to them.

It comes down to economics, as a "production artist" I charge hourly, for my design clients i do it by the project (and get a lower hourly in general....)

(and i keep my name off of their projects)
Click to expand...

love it! that's a good way of handling it.
 
rweakins said:
that's a very valid point. but personally how do you handle a client that is very specific on what they want in their product? even if it's not the best idea for them?
Click to expand...

Based on my experiences the BEST way to approach this is:
Give them what they want
Also, do what you think would look cool, and after you show them what they want just maybe say something like "This is what you guys really wanted, but while I was playing around trying to create this, I came up with these..."
Then present them with the stuff you created and what you think would look best...

Go for the "Awe" factor
Leave them saying "WOW!"
 
Those who think that all their ideas come only from their creativity and have no external influences are kidding themselves. All designs have influences whether obvious or not. Period. Articulating those influences are part of design.
 
This thread is now the number one google result for 'jesus zipline.' My job is done. :D

But seriously, sorry I don't have any actual ideas for you.
 
Good luck rweakins, I hope you give them exactly what they are looking for.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back