every active captain has a compass...no need to offend anyone with this design, universal to everyone who's attracted to your site...and would look sharp on hats, shirts, mugs etc.
Thanks for that design. It's an interesting start. The compass is a good symbol. I'm not crazy about the font. The symbol looks like a watch to me and "time" isn't a good symbol. People on their boats are trying to get away from time and clocks - they want time to stand still when they're on their boat!
Remember to keep "guidebook" in the back of your mind. That's what we're trying to convey. It's as if you're traveling to a place you've never been and want something to give you the places to go so you can chart your own journey. Right now every boater uses paper guidebooks. We want them to switch to using our online service as a guidebook.
My partner thinks #23 look whimsical - sort of funny in a way. To her, that's a good thing and she like it. She thinks the rest of it looks like a postage stamp though. Cute and whimsical might be a good direction - you seem to have an eye for that.
I like that you're thinking in multiple directions. The buoy is a nice image.
I don't like the inside capital C with the lower case starting a. I think it should either be activecaptain or ActiveCaptain. Different bolding, perhaps, could differentiate the words too. The starting lower case "a" seems to make the word look weak to me.
I'm not against something more abstract too that somehow makes you thing about an interactive guidebook.
The buoy does have a meaning of direction although there's no such thing as a blue one (they are mainly red or green showing left and right side). A buoy is also a marker for a dangerous area.
Lots of new things! You're working really hard on this and I want you to know that I notice it.
The sextant is too complex. It's also a very old type of device. Less than 1% of boaters even know what it is for. We want to be much more modern than that.
The prop is a problem symbol because of sailors and sailboats. I hunted around for different symbols and tried to find someone who handled that type of thing (sailboats vs motorboats). Most logos stay away from the issue (or lean toward sailing and the wind). Here's one that tried to balance it: http://www.yachthavens.com/
We had a long discussion here this morning about the logo, etc. We're thinking that I gave some bad direction with the whole "guidebook" thing. It's making logos that are getting too complex and not very nautical looking.
Of your designs, #30 is the one we still like best - we keep coming back to it. Perhaps that should be developed a little more. Maybe a little more abstract - font changes, etc.
Both of them give the feel of being "active" and both would look really nice on clothing/hats.
I'm not sure if giving examples like that is a good thing or not. I'm new at this! Please let me know what types of feedback you need and I'll try to be responsive.
here is a unique symbol of movement and waves. i'm hoping to understand your vision better from what you recently mentioned to me. will work on #30 also...i like that one too and also keep going back to look at it. your feedback is always important, whether you like the design or not...i'm here for you and want to make something special for your company.
The new ones (#61 - #70) don't really grab me. I'm still drawn to #30. Every time I look at that one I like it more. I just rated the first few and put that one as 2.
If you're inspired by some other ideas, please do it! Otherwise, what else could be done to #30 to make it grab even more? I know that the font needs something. I don't like the lower case starting "a" with the inside capital "C". I think the straight light streaming lines might be too unrefined (I can't think of a word to describe what I mean - I'm sure you know what I mean). If you make changes, please leave #30 up so I can compare it.
Think about the wave part - is there a way to make that "modular"? The reason that #44 is currently first is because those two wave parts can be added to other symbols to tie them back to "ActiveCaptain" - like for our upcoming store and resources section. It could also be used as part of iPhone application icons. That makes the logo attractive to us because we can tie other graphic elements back to the site logo.
Thanks for all of the effort you're making. I really appreciate it.
I still like the buoy of #30 best although the "lights" there still look rigid. The new style of buoy (#86, etc) looks to me like one of those wobble people with a headache! I don't get buoy from it.
The logo on a hat has to fit into a rectangle. It has more width than height so yours is being stopped by the height element making the text too small to read. Yours has better contrast right now. Yours definitely looks like a buoy on the hat.
something totally different. in response to your sample designs you sent me, this has a wavey motion like theme. would look great on a cap etc. open to feedback of course.
Great design - I like the new idea. The balance between the size of the image and the text is perfect for the hat. If you looked at the other hat samples, you could see that your buoy stood out the best (but you couldn't read the text) - the bubble one was the best all around image to see at a distance. Your new design is that same balance between image and text and will look good - so that direction is good.
I'd suggest thinking about the image. Right now it looks like a person in a kayak. We have some kayak users but it's less than 5% of the total. I'd suggest looking at those two sample links I gave of the waves and the sailboat in the wind and make something of your own out of those ideas. Keep the aspect and sizes like this new design because there's no question that works best. I've taken a few of the other designs and put them onto the hat and it's always the same result. The size and text of #97 is the right model. We just have to get the image right and appropriate. I'll put up some other hat images tomorrow.
In addition to the previous comments, I put #97 on a hat to look at it. Those proportions are pretty good. Don't be afraid of sticking with just 2 colors. It's OK to bring in a 3rd contrasting one - all of the designs are looking pretty low contrast with that gray/powder-blue.
#100 is a really good idea. You've managed to pull in the guidebook without making it look like a huge book. The image is too small - stay with the proportions of the buoy - look at the hat image and you'll see why. I think this image is perhaps something to build on. I had given up on the book thing until I saw what you did here.
My previous comment wasn't typed right - I meant to say to that shouldn't feel that it HAS TO be 2 colors. It can have more.
I definitely prefer sanserif fonts. It's a software developer thing I think. It just looks stronger to me. I'm happy to have my mind changed though! The font you're using is pretty nice - I wouldn't change it yet especially if you like it. I think the kerning is too wide or something - it looks spread out to me. Although perhaps that's what you like about it.
you might really like this, would look great on a hat and on your site....i can definitely change the font...but like you said...it really looks nice even though it's not a sanserif font...easily editable though.
i looked at the hat images again...and the colors look really good...i changed the font and added color to it...is this the right direction for you? colors look really good for your hat, i'm pleased with this so far
i'm so pleased with this design, i will figure out a way to get a hat from you even if you don't end up picking it ;) here is a sample with the hat color background...very sharp!
birds are guides, in my design, the birds even look like an abstract form of a guidebook...this desing expresses "Active" and it looks great on your cap! Now your feedback.
Thanks for all of the new ideas - really good things.
I went to a dinner party last night and everyone was fascinated with LogoTournament - no one knew about it, etc. So they all wanted to see the designs. Most of the people there are boaters (for the most part, we live on an island in Maine although there's a road to it - still, most people have boats). Everyone likes the sailboat but the comment that everyone made was, "I thought you worked with all types of boats?". I think the sailboat is a problem dominating the logo so much.
Other comments:
I like the font of #127. Someone else made the Active part slightly italic - sort of makes it seem, well, active. That might be something to experiment with.
I like the colors. Thank you! They're a nice addition.
Don't put the image on the tan background. It makes it harder for me to put on the hat to compare. I'm also mostly interested in seeing it on a white background for the web site. It's a great idea to try it on that background but make sure I have a white one to work with if possible.
That wave/sailboat image is a really good one - keep that because some sailboat company will want that! I think for our image, think about waves and the ocean. Or figure out some way to bring another motor boat into the image. Is there a way to use the waves to make other waves or an ocean? I like the motion that the symbol shows - maybe there's a way to make it feel like the ocean? That's what everything thinks is the best non-boat-specific image - moving waves, adventure, slight danger, etc. There's this internal idea about the "three waves" of what we're doing. That's an internal thing but if there can seem to be three waves, there'd be an interesting background story for the image. That isn't critical though.
I like the birds. I think it's a clever abstract tie to the book. Very clever. My partner thinks that the birds seem religious and doesn't like it. I'd suggest keeping them and trying something else with them. Is there a way to make it look less religious? I'm not really sure what she means by it myself.
Let me know if there's any other type of feedback I can give. You're really doing an amazing job.
so i rearranged the birds here in this design, because i understand the "religious" look your partner was seeying. This design here reminds me of dolphins jumping out of water and not only that...i tried to keep the "guidebood" look, maybe these are pages in the book...the motion like movement of my design brings you the "active" and keeping the colors because i feel it needs it. i've italicized the word also...I really want to bring you a symbol that is unique to your company, so when your clients see this, they will think it's more than cool.
something a bit different...including a "universal looking" boat everyone can relate to..and waves...if i'm not on the right track i'll try to work on just waves of some sort. thank you.
OK, good idea but #142 is looking too cartoon-ish to me. I don't think that "Active" and "Captain" should be split. Keep going with those waves - I do like some of where that's going.
No, you're not totally off at all. I'm glad you're experimenting. Let's see if I can give you some impressions...
#150 is a good idea. It just looks a little empty. I understand those symbols are waves (and I like them) but why are they stacked? It just doesn't seem like a complete logo - it looks like parts put together.
For #148 and #149, the sun looks odd to me. The waves are interesting - you must see that too. Trust me, I wish I had the vision to see what should be there. I tend to make things look too complex.
Think simple and on-message for boating, etc.
And I agree with you about the sailboat image #122 - it's wonderful. My wife wants a hat like that no matter what! But it has the wrong reaction with other people. Trust me - hold onto that one and when some sailboat company wants a logo - you spring that one on them! There's a nice "movement" aspect to the design while keeping it a sailboat. It's really nice.