My turn: logo critique

[manueld]

Just wanted to get some feedback on a logo comp I'll be submitting to a client for some feedback. Some background on the company:

Miller has over forty years of manufacturing experience in producing customized solutions for all of your ultra-violet ink printing applications in the commercial, packaging, tag, and label markets.

keywords: traditional, modern (i know almost an oxymoron), strong, professional

Have at it:

 

[Blue Velvet]

First, being an ink company, they'll have a strong interest in having a logo that will reproduce on anything and at almost any size. It must fit neatly into a postage stamp and remain legible even if by letterpress, screen printing or by thermographics, it must be easily reproducible in one colour and reversed out.

Specifically, what I don't like is the overlapping hues. They're intuitively wrong, because cyan and yellow overlapping do not produce magenta; a message that undermines the entire corporate mission statement. If they're overlapping to form an 'M' it's not clear enough. If you're looking at the type, you've kerned the letters on the top deck, but overlooked the word spacing; there's a bit too much air between the word 'miller' and 'ink'.

The solution I'd be thinking along the lines of is something far more fluid and contemporary, perhaps colour — think inks, drops etc — within a heavier sans typeface with a generous x-height.

 

[ezekielrage_99]

Sorry but the logo I feel that I've seen it before for other printers, it has a certain look to it. It's a perfectly reasonable logo but it could be so much more IMHO

If it were I designing the logo my first stop would be to see the competition's logos, I think it would be able to clarify the overall creative direction. Font, well the Serif font is classic and I can see why you've chosen it but I would go in a different direction like maybe Verlag or Mercury would be better oxymoron of a fresh but classic mix?

Certain key words stick out for me
- 40 years experience
- customised solution (personable)
- commercial

Maybe a "retro" styled logo is what is needed, a really nice crisp wordmark with that good ol' fashioned style that showcases the idea they are a classic experienced company.

 

[btbrossard]

Specifically, what I don't like is the overlapping hues. They're intuitively wrong, because cyan and yellow overlapping do not produce magenta...

I've seen quite a few large ink companies use gradients in their logos.

http://www.vansonink.com/

http://www.bsink.com/


For the logo itself, I prefer the color chip look. After all, color chips are what ink is all about. Customers showing up to a press check with their own Pantone chips is pretty common (even if their swatch book is 10 years old and looked as if was left in the sun for most of it's life)...

http://www.hostmann-steinberg.net/

 

[CW Jones]

My first impression of the overlapping colors is bad, BUT its a good starting point. I would try and do something else with the shape of the "ink" in the logo. I wish I knew what... maybe something that flows a little better? Again, not sure how you would show that but do a little research and see what you can come up with. Out of all the logos I like the 2nd row from the top where the company name is kind of in the middle of the blobs of ink. I like the balance of it and how it would look on either letterhead, or a website or buisness card. I think it would look pretty good once you get the blobs of ink into something a bit more flowing. I think unlike most logos on here, your first set isn't bad and your off to a pretty good start.

Keep us updated, I want to see where you can take this!
-Collin

 

[babyt]

as mentioned above the overlapping of the colors is not great looking, plus the colors are wrong..
if you REALLY want to go with color scheme of printers you could use the CMYK color scheme instead of the yellow, blue, magenta.
just a suggestion..

 

[Fa7mac]

If those to colors overlaped are supposed to simulate the letter "M" for "Miller" I can say the idea is pretty good but not well executed ( can't really tell at a first glance). Keep the idea but do it better. I really like the words how they are arranged but reduce the space between "Miller" and "ink"
It is a ink technology company so I think the colors must stay,

 

[manueld]

I've reviewed that first initial concept with the company, and have reworked the logo with their feedback as well as addressed some with the feedback received from other designers (here and other places). Would love to hear your thoughts before I present this next draft to them.

Specifically, what I don't like is the overlapping hues. They're intuitively wrong, because cyan and yellow overlapping do not produce magenta; a message that undermines the entire corporate mission statement. If they're overlapping to form an 'M' it's not clear enough.

That was one of the things that bugged me about the mark initially. They wanted the letter M as their mark while utilizing the colors C-M-Y (the K is used in the name). I tried several variants to try to achieve this and the first draft was the one I came up with that I liked the most from my concepts.

They did bring up the same issue that the M is not clear enough so I've tried to address that with this next round when I had an aha moment as well as the overlapping color issues.

If you're looking at the type, you've kerned the letters on the top deck, but overlooked the word spacing; there's a bit too much air between the word 'miller' and 'ink'.

I had initially less spacing between the two words but it was bordering on looking like one word when shrunk down.

The solution I'd be thinking along the lines of is something far more fluid and contemporary, perhaps colour — think inks, drops etc — within a heavier sans typeface with a generous x-height.

They didn't want to use a cliche for their mark (ink splatter, ink drop, colored registration mark) and unfortunately they specifically want a serif font for their primary name "miller ink".

Sorry but the logo I feel that I've seen it before for other printers, it has a certain look to it. It's a perfectly reasonable logo but it could be so much more IMHO

If it were I designing the logo my first stop would be to see the competition's logos, I think it would be able to clarify the overall creative direction. Font, well the Serif font is classic and I can see why you've chosen it but I would go in a different direction like maybe Verlag or Mercury would be better oxymoron of a fresh but classic mix?

Certain key words stick out for me
- 40 years experience
- customised solution (personable)
- commercial

Maybe a "retro" styled logo is what is needed, a really nice crisp wordmark with that good ol' fashioned style that showcases the idea they are a classic experienced company.

They specifically wanted a serif font for their primary name. Their major competitors (the list that they gave me) utilized a serif font in all caps for their names.

I definitely like the retro style but one thing they specifically addressed is that they don't want their logo to look "dated" and got the feeling from my conversations with them that they want something simple/classic/traditional/modern.

I've seen quite a few large ink companies use gradients in their logos.

http://www.vansonink.com/

http://www.bsink.com/


For the logo itself, I prefer the color chip look. After all, color chips are what ink is all about. Customers showing up to a press check with their own Pantone chips is pretty common (even if their swatch book is 10 years old and looked as if was left in the sun for most of it's life)...

http://www.hostmann-steinberg.net/

I actually ran into the hostmann-steinberg logo when I was doing research. They didn't list them as one of their competitors, but I wanted to get a broader range of what was out there. I think theirs is the only one that I liked out of a couple of hours of browsing through ink company logos.

My first impression of the overlapping colors is bad, BUT its a good starting point. I would try and do something else with the shape of the "ink" in the logo. I wish I knew what... maybe something that flows a little better? Again, not sure how you would show that but do a little research and see what you can come up with. Out of all the logos I like the 2nd row from the top where the company name is kind of in the middle of the blobs of ink. I like the balance of it and how it would look on either letterhead, or a website or buisness card. I think it would look pretty good once you get the blobs of ink into something a bit more flowing. I think unlike most logos on here, your first set isn't bad and your off to a pretty good start.

Keep us updated, I want to see where you can take this!
-Collin

Thanks, it's quite difficult to create a memorable mark that's not cliche in the industry but also delivers the same message as that cliche. LOL. I hope you like the 2nd interation of the logo.

 

[ezekielrage_99]

I definitely like the retro style but one thing they specifically addressed is that they don't want their logo to look "dated" and got the feeling from my conversations with them that they want something simple/classic/traditional/modern.

I understand where you're coming from with regards to the "datedness" of a logo but I think if done correctly it would look stylish and contemporary. This is a new burger joint called Grill'd that tried a similar concept, the branding connects the "classic burger" paradigm with new and different direction and IMO worked very well.

As for the serif vs san-serif, I'd try this font, it's called Archer

 

[NXTMIKE]

Maybe a "retro" styled logo is what is needed

I find that these logos go "in" and go "out" too much, aka too dependent on design trends. A real logo should be ideally appealing over an indefinite period of time, IMO, but i totally agree with your font suggestions.

 

[truehuman]

my two cents

Like the ideas so far but it's not gelling together well for me. Your text and visuals don't work together - they're separate entities operating on their own. I went through a similar ordeal, I mean job, a while ago.

I think adding some shape and 3D to your logo might help. The idea of the Pantone book might be a good start - getting the visuals aligned like blocks on a page. You can add in gradients or steps to the colours too.

I think shape and getting movement into the visual elements would really help!