Sorry to be harsh, but all of these logos are junk (apart from Coldsweat). If you want to project a professional image then hire a professional designer. It doesn't have to cost the earth if you find a recommended freelancer. You're just wasting too much time trying to muddle something together yourself.
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What do you think of my logo? Suggestions
- Thread starter waloshin
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Waloshin,
1. Begin every design project by seeing what's out there. Do a Google search for 'modern or cool logos.' Go to an Art Bookstore and buy a book on logo design. It will give you a broad and deep sense of what can be done from a design standpoint. Create a Pinterest type page of all the logos that speak to you. This will give you design direction.
2. Don't begin a design project in software, but rather on paper. The problem with software is that the limitations of the program will dictate your design and hem in your imagination. Why did you choose that font? Because it was appropriate or because that's what the program had to offer? Why did you choose that particular piece of clipart? Because it perfectly captured the essence of your business or because that was the only one they had? Free yourself from artificial limitations and just start doodling.
3. Write down the 5 adjectives that best characterize the virtues of your work. Think about these qualities as you look for inspiration or sketch out your designs or brief a designer that you are working with.
4. Brevity is the soul of wit and logos as well. An ideal logo is a simple unified image, not 10 words on 2 lines. Coldsweat is right, you need to distill to the minimum number of words. Either JW Archiving or just JW. The most important thing is the JW, cause that's you, so give it its due by scale and line separation:
5. You have a slogan but that shouldn't be confused with the logo. GE has a logo which may or may not be accompanied by the slogan, "we bring good things to life." The GE logo stands on its own and yours should be able to as well.
And once again, simplify; instead of the 7 word phrase "The gold standard in photo, document scanning" (I think that punctuation is off BTW), try 3 or 4 words:
6. What do northern lights have to do with your business? Unless your business is called 'Northern Lights Archiving' or 'Aurora Archiving,' this is just a conceptual tangent that will likely confuse the customer.
7. You're in business to make money so don't be afraid to spend money where it counts. You'll make it back in sales. Collaborate with a talented designer with a portfolio that speaks to the design direction you identified in step 1. Invest in your first impression. If you convey taste, craft, and effort in your presentation here, then you are likely to put the same care into your archiving service. Potential customers will feel no hesitation in reaching out to you for your skills.
Good luck!
7 IDEAS
1. Begin every design project by seeing what's out there. Do a Google search for 'modern or cool logos.' Go to an Art Bookstore and buy a book on logo design. It will give you a broad and deep sense of what can be done from a design standpoint. Create a Pinterest type page of all the logos that speak to you. This will give you design direction.
2. Don't begin a design project in software, but rather on paper. The problem with software is that the limitations of the program will dictate your design and hem in your imagination. Why did you choose that font? Because it was appropriate or because that's what the program had to offer? Why did you choose that particular piece of clipart? Because it perfectly captured the essence of your business or because that was the only one they had? Free yourself from artificial limitations and just start doodling.
3. Write down the 5 adjectives that best characterize the virtues of your work. Think about these qualities as you look for inspiration or sketch out your designs or brief a designer that you are working with.
4. Brevity is the soul of wit and logos as well. An ideal logo is a simple unified image, not 10 words on 2 lines. Coldsweat is right, you need to distill to the minimum number of words. Either JW Archiving or just JW. The most important thing is the JW, cause that's you, so give it its due by scale and line separation:
J W
Archiving
Archiving
5. You have a slogan but that shouldn't be confused with the logo. GE has a logo which may or may not be accompanied by the slogan, "we bring good things to life." The GE logo stands on its own and yours should be able to as well.
And once again, simplify; instead of the 7 word phrase "The gold standard in photo, document scanning" (I think that punctuation is off BTW), try 3 or 4 words:
J W
archiving
archiving
We set the standard.
J W
The archiving standard.
The archiving standard.
6. What do northern lights have to do with your business? Unless your business is called 'Northern Lights Archiving' or 'Aurora Archiving,' this is just a conceptual tangent that will likely confuse the customer.
7. You're in business to make money so don't be afraid to spend money where it counts. You'll make it back in sales. Collaborate with a talented designer with a portfolio that speaks to the design direction you identified in step 1. Invest in your first impression. If you convey taste, craft, and effort in your presentation here, then you are likely to put the same care into your archiving service. Potential customers will feel no hesitation in reaching out to you for your skills.
Good luck!
There is an old maxim in advertising and sales: Features do not sell; benefits sell.
For example... The new Thunderjet Ford convertible has tall elegant tail fins. Feature.
The new Thunderjet Ford convertible's elegant tail fins provide additional stability and safety at high speeds. Benefit.
A simple distinction that can be applied to most products and services.
For example... The new Thunderjet Ford convertible has tall elegant tail fins. Feature.
The new Thunderjet Ford convertible's elegant tail fins provide additional stability and safety at high speeds. Benefit.
A simple distinction that can be applied to most products and services.
Best and most invaluable, and generous advice I've seen here. If I knew nothing of logo design-- and came across this post, I'd be so grateful since this is already half the work done.
@waloshin I did some work for the record here in MacRumors. When you hire a designer she should do the following reasoning:
Since the main branding of your business is the coupling of the letters JW, these are a bit complex to work with as a couple since J has smooth curves while W is a very angular letter and could be misread as V or K. For your fortune, both are symmetric letters.
For a first try a typeface as Futura will show the symmetric structures of JW, another exploration is to use serif faces such as Adobe Nakash, Times New Roman, Vitesse and so on. As I show in the PDF attached to this post, Adobe Nakash is the best option for the serifs I tried because of the low capital J. Optically it shows a nice invisible line running from the descendent of the J all the way up to the middle upper part of the W.
Of the sans serif typefaces I tried the monospaced ones were the most interesting since the JW worked best in small sizes. Monaco and Witti were the most interesting.
For the final-free-logo-version-for-you, depending on the scale, I modified Monaco for the JW and the word archiving is written in Frutiger Condensed with appropriate kernings.
The designer should present to you different sized versions with spacings between words and bolder/lighter features depending on the design. Do not accept simple scaling of your logo; each size deserves to be worked properly.
Below PDF files
Since the main branding of your business is the coupling of the letters JW, these are a bit complex to work with as a couple since J has smooth curves while W is a very angular letter and could be misread as V or K. For your fortune, both are symmetric letters.
For a first try a typeface as Futura will show the symmetric structures of JW, another exploration is to use serif faces such as Adobe Nakash, Times New Roman, Vitesse and so on. As I show in the PDF attached to this post, Adobe Nakash is the best option for the serifs I tried because of the low capital J. Optically it shows a nice invisible line running from the descendent of the J all the way up to the middle upper part of the W.
Of the sans serif typefaces I tried the monospaced ones were the most interesting since the JW worked best in small sizes. Monaco and Witti were the most interesting.
For the final-free-logo-version-for-you, depending on the scale, I modified Monaco for the JW and the word archiving is written in Frutiger Condensed with appropriate kernings.
The designer should present to you different sized versions with spacings between words and bolder/lighter features depending on the design. Do not accept simple scaling of your logo; each size deserves to be worked properly.
Below PDF files
Last edited:
No.How about something like this:
Alternative:
Not sure if you've finalized a logo yet, but personally the variations of "JW archiving" too often read as "J Warchiving" to me. Do you have an actual licensed business yet? Or are you still in the planning stages? Your logo and official business name should be the same.
System based fonts are not overly exciting, IMO and there are plenty of high quality fonts sites out there, and even some sites that bundle 20 professional fonts for $30 every couple of months. Check out sites like MyFonts.com and DesignCuts.com (am I allowed to link those??) for more exciting and modern fonts than what comes packaged in InDesign.
Just be sure to read the licensing part to make sure you know how to translate it for business use, but as long as you aren't reselling the font itself, you should be largely fine.
System based fonts are not overly exciting, IMO and there are plenty of high quality fonts sites out there, and even some sites that bundle 20 professional fonts for $30 every couple of months. Check out sites like MyFonts.com and DesignCuts.com (am I allowed to link those??) for more exciting and modern fonts than what comes packaged in InDesign.
Just be sure to read the licensing part to make sure you know how to translate it for business use, but as long as you aren't reselling the font itself, you should be largely fine.
How about something like this:
Nope. Looks like Warchiving, and I don't know what that is.
It's the acceptable, vegetable alternative to cockfighting.
Am I the only one who doesn't like the name? Noone knows what "JW" stands for. I'd probably go for something like "DA" (as in Digital Archiving), or "ProScan", or "Professional Digital Filing" (PDF, get it? Get it? 
). Something that at least gives the potential customer a clue at first sight. "JW" could be anything.
). Something that at least gives the potential customer a clue at first sight. "JW" could be anything.@waloshin I did some work for the record here in MacRumors. When you hire a designer she should do the following reasoning:
Since the main branding of your business is the coupling of the letters JW, these are a bit complex to work with as a couple since J has smooth curves while W is a very angular letter and could be misread as V or K. For your fortune, both are symmetric letters.
For a first try a typeface as Futura will show the symmetric structures of JW, another exploration is to use serif faces such as Adobe Nakash, Times New Roman, Vitesse and so on. As I show in the PDF attached to this post, Adobe Nakash is the best option for the serifs I tried because of the low capital J. Optically it shows a nice invisible line running from the descendent of the J all the way up to the middle upper part of the W.
Of the sans serif typefaces I tried the monospaced ones were the most interesting since the JW worked best in small sizes. Monaco and Witti were the most interesting.
For the final-free-logo-version-for-you, depending on the scale, I modified Monaco for the JW and the word archiving is written in Frutiger Condensed with appropriate kernings.
The designer should present to you different sized versions with spacings between words and bolder/lighter features depending on the design. Do not accept simple scaling of your logo; each size deserves to be worked properly.
Below PDF files
Monaco looks similar to this: https://www.jackwilliams.com/
Am I the only one who doesn't like the name? Noone knows what "JW" stands for. I'd probably go for something like "DA" (as in Digital Archiving), or "ProScan", or "Professional Digital Filing" (PDF, get it? Get it?
I'm guessing it's his initials. While I agree with what you're saying, I don't think it's that problematic. And it may not be able to be changed at this point if the business is already established/incorporated (at least not easily). Initials make more sense with a personal name, rather than initializing "Digital Archiving" to DA. for a company name I tend to lean toward simpler, more memorable offerings. Say "Lastname Archiving" for instance.
The last name satisfies the "who?" and the archiving satisfies the "what?" It also better lends itself to getting a unique and simple url. Unless of course the last name is hard to pronounce or spell. Then I'd lean on a simple unique one word business name.
Oh dear, looks like no advice was followed. Perhaps the autumnal leaf is metaphorical.
I thought perhaps it was high concept, suggesting that old film was withering like an autumn leaf.
All joking aside, I think there was lots of great advice given on this thread. It's a shame that you've kind of ended up back where you started.
What are you talking about, the final version logo is stunning! look at that kerning and the blue underline artifact. Now that's what I call design with function! Moreover, the typography is perfect for this kind of homage to the clipboard art of the early 90's
IMHO the final version of the logo fits very well the website itself. Shame, after the initial feedback, I thought there were a few good ideas to actually create a professional logo.
This is a more abstract look that came to mind, whipped this up in Illustrator to see how it looks. Sorry if I'm late to the game :0
Graphic Design, like many things, is often best left to the professionals. My circle of friends is mostly made up of designers, and I've learned a lot listening to them talk about projects they have been involved in. Really the best way to approach things would be to find a designer, give them all the information you can about your business and what you are trying to convey, then get out of their way.
This. Mainly the last few senteces are so true. Clients are not professionals nor they have, in most case, any technical knowledge to help the design process. They should give you as much relevant information about the brand, corporate identity (if exists), the product, the goals etc. and that's it.
This thread has been amusing for the past year, like an episode of The Office (original or US) focused on graphic design and stretched out over an exchange of messages with weeks separating them. It's going to be sad to see it go.
Lotta great advice posted albeit in vain.
Lotta great advice posted albeit in vain.
This thread has been amusing for the past year, like an episode of The Office (original or US) focused on graphic design and stretched out over an exchange of messages with weeks separating them. It's going to be sad to see it go.
Lotta great advice posted albeit in vain.
I think it needs a proper ending - and I don't feel like we've had one yet.