Stüning StoneLogo Design Contest

Just wanted to clear up a few things based on the initial set of submissions that we received.

1. We don't really like pastel colors. Our product is a unique luxury item and pastels don't usually work well.
2. We are not interested in having some generic clipart icon placed in the design just because we asked for it. If you prefer to take a wordart approach we are open to that. Just try to design something that represents our product.
3. We don't want to have any gradients, shadows or embossed elements within the logo. We're wanting a clean illustrator file, not a layered PSD.
4. Our product is not a type of stone pavement, it's something that is mostly used on walls.

Our product is new and somewhat "unique", so proper branding is very important.

Hello! Here are some hints for getting the most out of your contest as it progresses:

~~ You, the Client, are very important! Your active participation is the single greatest factor influencing this contest. Active participation by you, the Client, helps you get the logo design you want!
~~ What's active participation? It's updating the brief with more information for Designers to work with as the contest progresses, providing feedback to Designers on their entries when they're submitted, and ranking designs at least once a day.
~~ When you provide feedback to Designers, you increase the chances of getting the logo you want. More feedback = better results!
~~ Leave private feedback by clicking on a design. Feedback will be made public upon contest completion.
~~ Rank designs at least once each day -- this will encourage Designers to submit more entries!
~~ Ranking prevents your contest from going idle! Active contests attract more Designers.
~~ Ranking gets your contest noticed. Unless your contest is Private, 1st place entries are posted to the portfolio page: https://logotournament.com/portfolio
~~ Please note: if you're asking for a design that will require several hours to create, to attract Designers willing to invest that amount of time the prize should be at least $400-$500. All "Character" style logos fall into this category.
~~ Designers are not offended by "Not Interested." We'd like to know what you don't want so we can give you the design you do want.
~~ The first phase of the contest is the "Open" phase, and everyone can submit during that time.
~~ After your contest's initial "Open" phase closes, it will enter the "Top 5" phase; only the top 5 ranked Designers will be able to submit revisions at that time.
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~~ When "Top 5" ends, the "Judging" phase begins. The Designer of the 1st place design will be the only Designer who can submit revisions at that time.

More detailed information on how to get the most out of your contest can be found here:
https://logotournament.com/forum/general_discussion/914

You can also look in: https://logotournament.com/forum/contest_holder_discussion

After seeing the first set of initial concepts, I wanted to provide some general feedback.

- We prefer STUNING STONE (all caps).
- We like to have a bolder style of font face instead of a "thin" / "girly" font.
- We want to have an abstract iconic image on the left or right of the image (think of the sprint logo - nice font with some small abstract icon that is relevant to their industry).
- We would like to have 2-3 colors maximum used within our logo. We do not want to show colors from a rainbow or 10-50 colors. If you want to try to take an approach to fit our product add in some type of rock texture.
- Simplicity / clarity is preferred over some complex example.
- Keep in mind that our target audience is interior decorators & construction contractors / remodelers more than end consumers.
- Our product is more of a luxury product so we're wanting to have a quality logo created (no childish illustration / cheesy clipart icons)

Now to clear up a few things about our product.
- We do NOT sell paved stone (bunch of small little pieces of stone put together to form a shape). I'm mentioning this as some of the concepts have taken this approach. While we understand what you are trying to accomplish, this will only confuse our target audience.
- Our product is thin veneer rock (I STRONGLY encourage you to go see photo examples at http://www.stuningstone.com)

Just a few pointers to help anyone that might be sitting on the fence and unsure of the direction we want to take for our logo.

1. We want a nice looking font face that is easy to read. Nothing too bulky or with too many edges. It should be elegant and stylish but not too feminine (our target market is artistic - interior designers, home decorators, renovation contractors - as our product is really easy way to remodel a bathroom shower [3-4 pieces of our product covers a typical shower area and is installed FAST], [placing this around a fireplace is 2-3 pieces and 2-3 cuts], [putting it on a wall is 2 pieces glued to a wall].

2. We really love the package deal with the sprint logo that's use here in logo tournament as an example of abstract mark. This is essentially what we are searching for with the stuning stone logo. Because the u is stuning is a trema u this might be distracting some of you but when you're thinking of a concept think of how sprints abstract mark fits well with what they specialize in "communications".

3. We are not looking for cheesy looking swooshes, rainbow colours or a box with lines in it that has absolutely no relationship to our product or to our market / industry. Keep in mind also that the icon should not over power the name stuning stone. It should be there to simply support it.

4. Colors are SECONDARY for us. We prefer almost having black / grey presented until a concept is chosen, then we can finalize colours with him / her. Just seems that some of you are maybe limiting yourselves by presenting concepts that use 5+ colors. Our final concept will need to use a minimal number of colors.

5. The selling points of our product are:
- Flexibility. This makes it easy for people to manipulate and mould into shapes (you can curve it, install it like you would a piece of melamine... We have people that put it on top of doors, wood chairs, floors, office receptionist desk entrances, appliances such as fridges and also make custom furniture). Which means that its a lot easier to install in those hard to cover areas than other veneer stone products on the market.
- Lightweight. So you don't have to worry about reinforcing a walk because you're installing 800lbs of rock on it. Our product weighs 1/40th the weight of a traditional veneer stone wall because our product is a thin cut piece of rock that is moulded onto a thin piece of flexible fibreglass.
- Real Rock / Stone Texture. Unlike wallpaper that try's to imitate rock, our product is actually real rock. It doesn't look cheap and people always get complimented when they walk into a house that has our product installed. The typical reaction is that it is "stunning" (hense the name stuning stone - yes we write it with one n and a trema u... but you should get the idea)

Lastly it's probably important to understand our product a bit better so if you have no please look at the photos on our current website at http://stuningstone.com (yes we know the site sucks and there's not a lot of information but seeing it should help you see what it can look like - its really a unique product)

Our product is a REAL piece of rock / stone that is cut really really thin and infused into a piece of thin fibreglass / plexiglass. A 16 foot by 4 foot piece arrives in a golf bag box (so it arrives in a roll - you roll it out flat and it can be installed). You cut it with a pair of snips or a small saw so its really easy to cut and manipulate. You do not need any special tools to install it like traditional veneer rock. Our product is like installing a piece of very thin and flexible fiber glass.

One thing my boss would like to try to portray is a type of stone texture within the logo (not sure how this can be done while keeping the logo clean as we need it to be done).

hi we have reviewed the submissions to date and ranked our top 5 selections. I have messaged each of you who had concepts that we thought could be worked on. For everyone else, here's the general feedback of what we like / dislike. It will hopefully help you come up with something.

1. Nice font face. Nothing that's too thin / "girly". Nothing that is overly "thick" either (good balance).
2. We want the trema "U" to be in CAPS to make it stand out (so it's emphasizes on the word STUNING - like an over exaggeration on the word).
3. We want some abstract icon to be created that shows our product is a flexible sheet & has texture (this is challenging I know - we really LOVE the concept of SPRINT's logo - nice font & nice simple abstract icon).
4. We want to see this icon placed on the side of the name (left or right side).
5. We want the name and abstract icon to be proportionate in size (so the icon shouldn't be 5times bigger than the text - we want people to read the name and the icon to support it).
6. We want to have an abstract icon that shows that our product is a sheet / panel.
7. We want to show that it is flexible (big selling advantage) & that there is a rock texture.

Some of the submissions we reviewed were "cute", but they didn't say enough about what the product is / does (yes I realize this is quite difficult to accomplish but that's your job as professional logo designers - to convey our brand through iconic representation).

Thanks again for your participation in this contest. We look forward to seeing what you are able to come up with.