So you know: I'm now putting most feedback on the main page for the contest, so you can see feedback I've given other designers. This is to avoid me repeating the same things over and over, and to save you time because it gives you more insight into what I like.
I'll still check the designers' pages now and then to see if I have any messages.
The concept here is the message within a message, confidence, self-assuredness beyond the material being delivered. There is also a slight sense of dimension to add visual interest.
Hi Artr, You're not the first person to misspell Costabell! Hope you had a good meal.
I've put feedback on the contest home page.
Intrestingly, most people have got so caught up in my liking "a flash of red" that they're ignoring other colours. But I like the turquoise. Red gives a good sense of urgency and action and excitement. But the turquoise is more scalable, so that in handouts and company literature, I can put important words in teal, can give text boxes an aqua background, etc. The turqouise seems more flexible.
In contrast, highlighting words in red could get annoying, or look like an overdue bill. No way will I have a pink background for text boxes - it's hard enough for a petite female to get taken seriously, without having loads of pink!
BIG & IMPORTANT: My company name is Costabell Ltd. It's not Costabell. The "Ltd" is essential to the name, because it is a legal requirement. Could you please submit your top logos with Ltd included?
You have feedback awaiting you on the contest home page!
BTW, I like the freshness of your ideas. There's not a single one where I've thought "noooooo". So far, every one of them elicits a "hey, that's *interesting*". Keep up the good work.
feedback en route - wait at least 10 minutes and check the contest home page, please!
So you know: I have had some disturbing feedback that "the quotation mark series" looks like the logo of a proof reader! I'm going to gather more opinions - perhaps it was just the person I quizzed.
This may make you smile: I showed the top 5 logo concepts (and variations) to a homeless guy I'm letting live in my basement (it's a long story) and asked Geoff which set he thought was by a t-shirt designer. He chose correctly. (And he's an engineer, not a man given to aesthetic appreciation.)
If I ever need a t-shirt designed, I know exactly where I'm going.
Wasn't sure you wanted people to "like" as much as see a bit more of who you are. You are now LIKED. You may note if you go to my page on Facebook that BeardBoy is humorous seeing that I turned 60 last weekend. My t-shirt designing is more of a hobby than logo design. I've been designing for my entire career, first in a graphics/advertising firm and lately a publishing company.
Oh, it's lovely to be Liked. I wanted to let designers get more insight into what I do and who I am, if they thought it would be useful for them. But getting more LIkes is great - I started the page less than a month ago, so am hungry for more Likers.
Ok, not BeardBoy. BeardSpringChicken.
Your change of font is prescient: just got feedback saying 66 looks too cold and computery, which 171 resolves. And I was myself starting to wonder whether 66 gave a false impression that I'm in the computer business. Unfortunately, 171's font isn't one I care for. 171 as a whole doesn't hang together as well as 66 does. If there's a way for 66 to be less computery, still hold together, still be interesting and eye-catching, still have a whiff of fun but focus on the "reliably corporate" - then that'd be fab.
185: I'm wary of this. Part of it is that it offers endless possibilities to graffiti artists. But more than that, it implies me talking, instead of more two way communication. Or could it imply that all I have to say is vacuous?
171 certainly loses the computery feel that 66 had. It also helps me realise that part of what I liked about 171 was the shape of the speech bubbles. Also, the 171 bubbles to me look like balloons at first glance. Is it possible to have the bubble shape of 66, with a font that is less computery but that still marries well with the bubble shape?
186 and 187. This is about to sound insulting. It's not meant to, I swear. Here goes: both of these look as if I could have come up with them myself. (Which I couldn't, I am perfectly aware.) Reminds of when my ex was making and trying to sell wire Christmas ornaments. They were beautiful and everyone loved them, but no one would buy them because they looked too easy to make.
185: since you asked, I'm not keen on the font. It's a little spikey and messy. The A and E are unfinished in that they aren't closed (the lines don't quite meet). It looks "dashed off" rather than elegant. My impression is that it's the handwriting of someone who is strong-willed, in a hurry, and doesn't finish things. Whereas I'm a perfectionist. (Since you couldn't tell that already.)
66 is still your best contender. I'm concerned it looks odd or unbalanced without the strapline. People probably already think "odd or unbalanced" when they see me, so I don't wish to reinforce this impression. Can it be tinkered with so it looks fine strapless? Still would like to see the font softened, just so it's less square and reminiscent of computers
After massive amounts of weeding out, I'm down to three logo concepts and six logos. One of each is yours: 228.
As part of my weeding out, I made each logo smaller and larger to get an idea of how it scales. 228 went all furry in large scale. Is that something that would or wouldn't be ironed out of a final logo vector file?
Vector files are always better for rescaling. The file size they use for entries here are relatively small bitmapped images. Finals from vectored files or even larger Photo Shop versions will be much better.
I love the freshness of 228. It says "different, engaging, sparkling", which is one of the key messages. It gives a strong nod to two-way interpersonal communication, which is close enough to nailing the key message about the art and science of psychology.
Now we come to the credibility/businessy/professional factor. (Bearing in mind that a lot of my clients are financial institutions. Think "staid" rather than "maverick".) I showed 228 to one of them and he curled his lip. He said the quotation marks are around nothing, and should be farther apart.. an interesting point, to be sure. Yet I'm aware that if the speech bubbles/quotation marks are right on the ends, it could start to look odd, or look as if the message is "Costabell just talks about herself". *IF* it's not too much trouble, could I please see a version with the " " farther apart?
Still wondering how to make the speech bubbles and the font hang together better, without getting into round bubbles or square letters. What do you think: Slightly more rounded bubbles? Resized bubbles? If it would hang together more neatly without the "Ltd", it's ok to get rid of it. (When I said before that logos must have Ltd, it turns out I was dead wrong. Mea culpa.)
249 and 250: I like these, preferring 250 (over 249) because the bubbles gel better with the font in 250. Horrified to realise that the more spread out " "/bubbles lead to the word "stab" suddenly jumping out of CoSTABell. In order to avoid stabbings, would it work for the first set of "" to be over OS and the second set to be over BE (I'm thinking to make it look definitely and deliberately asymmetrical, rather than having it look crooked or unbalanced!)? Or other solutions that you can think of so it's STAB-proofed? Would it work to have the bubbles under Costabell, or would that start to look like - gasp - udders or feet?
228: could the bubbles be nudged a little lower so they're closer to Costabell, without looking off-balance or stupid? Or longer tails on the bubbles? Where I'm going with this: make the bubbles and Costabell hang together better. At the moment, it's slightly as if the bubbles and the font are separate entities rather than part of the same logo.
If you want to: I have printed out a set of the speech bubbles. Send along the word Costabell in various fonts that you think might do the trick, and I'll hold the speech bubbles over them to see if there are any fonts that I think are serious contenders. (Just thinking to save you the bother of speech bubbling each entry.)
In the spirit of transparency: at this point, the contest is neck and neck between you and Bellido. (Nong is sliding into third.) Bellido's concept addresses 1 1/2 of the key messages and yours addresses 2 1/2 of the key messages - which seems to put you into first place. But Bellido's is a safer bet: there's some tweaking required, but I feel 100% confident that he and I can achieve the finished product. With your logo concept, I am not yet at the "we'll definitely get there, it's just a matter of how we do it" stage. If I can get to that point, I'd be thrilled and I think you'll win the contest.
All of which is my way of saying that I am not jerking you around with these requests. If you weren't in very very serious contention for the number 1 spot, I would have done what I've done with other designers: gently told them off-line so they don't waste their time.
What I currently see as the main questions that can put your concept into number 1 position: * In order to help crack the key message of "professional, results-focused, risk-free choice": How can we ensure the logo hangs together well, so it's all of a piece and looks polished and professional? * How can we make sure that unfortunate sub-words such as Cost and Stab aren't highlighted? * How can we ensure that the font is one I like (or at least like enough to live with), that's versatile enough that it'll be easy to create a House Style around it, that gives the right messages (slightly different, timeless, not too girly or too harsh). Ah, and a recent piece of feedback I had: and that's not one of the Mac basic fonts.
PS: I think the "bubbles" looked better farther apart; it's just the word "stab" that is causing hesitation. So I asked you about moving them around more, with it being ok if they were asymmetrical as long as the logo as the asymmetry looks deliberate and polished, not like just unbalanced and wrong. When you're looking for where the "" can be placed: please remember that if it helps the balance to have the Ltd on the end of the word, then you can do that!