First and UnionLogo Design Contest

#1 Text is not strong enough and the ampersand is too feminine. Need to bring out the strength o the text more. We also have an amersand on the website at fnu.serveronline.net and the logo would clash with this. I think no ampersands, unless it was very strong. We could change the ampersand on our site to an and.

#2 Text is stronger and colors are not bad, but not quite right yet. (Please check out fnu.serveronline.net.) The tagline is more prominent and offset which is nice. The way the First stands out and moves the eye to the tagline is good. The icon dominates the text and may be too much.Think writing, content + web.

#3 Font should be more modern, emphasizing the First is important. If an ampersand is used it must be very strong and fully integrated into the logo. The tagline is clear, so that is good. The icon is not too large or overwhelming, but it needs to have some meaning. The icon in #2 relates to the @ symbol which points to the web, so that is a little closer. This one looks closer to a bank, which is a danger with our name, another reason to emphasize the "First". Think text and creating meaning out of text.

#4 Way to dominate a focus on the ampersand and separation of company and tagline is too much. Not enough focus on the textual, the center icon dominates.

General comment:
Here's some text based logos (an icon is still OK, not pushing entirely for text only, but that would be OK as well)

http://www.logodesignteam.com/blog/2008/11/do-text-based-logo-designs-look-less-elegant/

Iris, Honda, Miramax are interesting here and somehow the text is cohesive and unified in all the logos. None of the ones here relate to content, but each brings the flavor and sense of what the company does.

http://web2list.com/logos/
Here Pageflakes, Bloglines, Word Press, Flickr, but not ruling out the others. These are modern, not overpowering or over the top web 2.0 (which is fading), but also point to what the company does.

We emphasize content, and content designed for the web, and content that has meaning, then we integrate that content into the websites that we build. Meaning is key, so the logo must be meaningul.

#5 The colors and ampersand are interesting and the tagline is clear. The ampersand may still battle with our website at fnu.serveronline.net.

The icon is too dominating and doesn't connect to the meaning of the tagline. The text treatment is also interesting, but does not tie into the meaning either.

For example take a look at http://gizmodo.com/ . see how the logo text reminds one of a robot or gadget and how the tagline nestles in. Connect the form to the meaning, in this case the meaing is "first, content..."

"eg: word press, flickr, bloglines pageflakes, you'rs is a more abstract name and personally I think you don't get what you do from your name until you read the tagline..."

Thaks, that's a good point and why the tagline is part of the logo. Some of the other logos on the list like "Meebo", "Kiko" "30" or "box" don't make it clear about what they do.

The reason I like #1 is because it emphasizes "First" and moves down to the tagline. letting the "and Union" trail off and become more quiet. Using "and" instead of "&" also helps the First become emphasized and not counterbalanced with the "Union"

"...this is where an icon can come in handy to back up the offering."

yes, an icon is OK!

https://logotournament.com/contests/contextual

These concepts are closer to what we are looking for.

feedback, please?

I'm leaving the entries up to show the "best so far", however, please note that the direction hasn't been found yet.

Please check out fnu.serveronline.net or the https://logotournament.com/contests/contextual
tournamnet. Think meaning in terms of "content". The selected font modern,but relating to content, the logo or icon conveying a meaning or feeling of content or interrelation ship between content and the web.

more thoughts on the current logo at fnu.serveronline.net

Consider using this as a starting point, working with kerning, adding an abstract icon that speaks to content, context meaning, a font that sings a bit as in the context contest.

I'm leaving the entries up to show the "best so far", however, please note that the direction hasn't been found yet.

Please read the comment above this one.

#34 & #35 work conceptually and visually, moving in the right direction!

The top 2 in https://logotournament.com/contests/grupo_crea are a good example of working with text only

Thanks everyone, a wide variety. I'll try and provide specific feedback on each one in about 45 minutes

#67

What drew me about this first is the font, it has an elegance, especially the FIRST.

The line is nice because it moves the eye, but it may be too strong a cut, like a divider.

The line takes ones eye to the tagline, but the tagline may be too hard to read from there.
I put this at 1 because I like the FEELING of it, but the concept isn't quite there yet.

#53 and #66
leaving up because they are exploring the centered icon on top. There is perhaps too much emphasis here on the "First" in the icon, looking for something that emphasizes content.

took #53 and #66 out because there are other centered approaches with icons and there are already a lot of variations now.

#62, #67, #71, #64
may have revisions coming, I'll wait a bit before commenting on the new ones.

One request I've put in is for someone to improve on the existing logo at fnu.serveronline.net

As a reference see https://logotournament.com/contests/grupo_crea which shows a lot of textual variations and is similar to our current logo, but much better.

Please give it a try if you have the inspiration.

Thank you.

We are having in internal discussion and trying to pick a clear logo direction at this stage. I will add further comments tomorrow (one of our members is in a different time zone)

THANKS for all the revisions and help clarifying our logo.

HI Everyone,

Thanks very much for all the entries.

We thought at this point we needed to pick a clear direction and we have as you can see by the remaining entries.

We want:
text to create the shape of the logo
text to stack
tagline to stack and be equal
a thin border around the logo as a container

take the clarity and definition of #111 up a notch
play with colors that might match the website (firstandunion.com)
open to other ideas within this specific concept

elegant, cohesive, strong

We also want

Urban
Smooth
Clean
Strong

Thank's very much for all the new entries. I'm on US PST and will comment back in the morning. (about 9 hours)

I must go out for a meeting, thank you for all the entries, I will get back with comments as soon as possible.

Thanks,

Rick

Just back from my meeting, I'll start working on feedback, thank you for all the great entries.

Notes from an interested observer...
You may be over-directing the process. Let the designers explore more for you.
Otherwise I fear you'll end up with a police-sketch equivalent of a logo.
Just my 2¢ worth. Nothing but good intentions. :-)

Thanks, A-ha, I'll give it a try.

Thank you very much for all of the entries. I'm amazed at the variety from such a fairly narrow set of criteria.

Beause of the volume, I'm losing the capacity to track messages at the specific logo level.

If anyone wants more feedback other than the ranking process, please let me know here or send a private message.

Thank you.