Thank you very much for the kind words and inviting me to your contest! :) My first entry contains the zeppeliner consept.. Hope you like it and I will be happy to modify if you have any other suggestions for colors, fonts or layout etc.
Where we are at is working to find a icon that will work on at 50x50px and that offers the latitude to scale up to poster size. Have a few promising candidates but still looking.
The images that seem to work are balloons, flying figures, arrows and zeppelins. The idea is to align with feelings of lightness and being freed from info overload. Any other ideas would be welcomed.
Embedding or hiding a "G", "Up" or "Geddup" in the logo has merit, though we are not stuck on the idea. One of the reasons #12 works is because of the contrast between the G and arrow.
Hope that helps and w look forward to any thoughts you might have. Rohan
Thank you very much for your feedback! It helps a lot :) I have submitted another version with the consept of the hot air balloon lifts the U up and away..
Please let me know what you think and if you like it, ill be happy to continue working on the design/ font etc. :)
Exactly - it's a retail business that lives in the real world (i.e. up to poster scale in shops and clubs), but is predominantly mobile based (hence, the app icon). It's a challenge...
Another approach on the app icon - The hot air balloon with the U is actually trying to leave the little app box heading for its freedom into the blue light skies ;)
Just spent some time googling images of hot air balloons - there is plenty of scope to play with the image over time. It's also got great movement. And is very definitively in sync with the feel of Geddup. In short, it's really good. Thanks...
I do agree that you will have a lot to play on with this icon.. Both in 2D and 3D. Please just let me know if there is anything more I can do for you, if you want to see any variations on color, font etc.
Got plenty of positive feedback on your design. Everyone loves it - and the balloon escaping the icon box was a favourite.
For variations, without taking away from the lovely lightness of the image, could I get you to try multiple colours in the canopy (is that what you call the balloon part of a hot air balloon)? Not sure it will work but would be interested in seeing what you think.
One other thing that could be good to see is what it would look like as a silhouette. My guess is that it would need the wordmark and the balloon for it to be recognisable. Maybe an alternative in this scenario would be to have a G on the canopy?
Finally, we would like to explore fonts. We have uploaded a file into the contest brief folder that has some we like - they are all taken from fontspace.com under the tag 1920's. If you have any ideas about alternatives to the font that you have used, it'd be good to see some comparisons. Certainly, the lightness of the font that you have used is perfectly complimentary to the balloon image, so not suggesting that it must be changed.
Thank you, Im very happy that you got positive feedback on the design :) I will make some variations based on your comments and upload them as soon as finished!
Meant to say Anne - we would like to try adding a byline "Free your time" to see how the fonts etc work with Geddup and the image. If you are okay to try this that would be appreciated.
I got some time in between here so here comes first variation based on your comments:
As a silhouette - #258
Ps. I have done some work on the balloon to make the parts equal and more perfect to eachother. Just let me know if you prefer the old one or the new one.
Thanks for all these. If you have the time could you create a version of #258 with the old balloon (#147) and with the new balloon (#263) - the extra line done the centre works in the B&W silhouette but not so much in colour.
Just trying to work out what is happening visually - somehow the extra thickness of the lines can make the canopy look like the segments of an orange (if you know what I mean). I now see that there isn't an extra line at all for the most part - ie. your original designs has the same 5 lines. Interesting how the effect can be quite different with such a small change.
I missed your question at 5.11pm above. I think if we just had #263 with the tagline added from #258 that be great. We'll move that to number 1!
The outstanding question then is whether it is better to have thinner lines. They tend to make the balloon more delicate - and in the colour versions tend not to jar (on my screen there is a small distortion shimmering effect when I move down the page.)
Im thinking that it might be easier if we focus on form and lines in black first, and when that is perfect we can explore with colors.. What do you think?
I think we have enough to work on for now anyway. I'm meeting with my colleagues today, so I'll get there feedback - hopefully we can make a decision and then get into final design choices.
You are more then welcome! Its really a pleasure to work with you and your contest! Its night time here in Norway soon, but Im online again tomorrow for revisions if you have any from after talking to your partners :)
Met with the guys - they like your balloon. Two comments that came up: 1) We would like to see warmer colours (oranges) - blue is too corporate and cold for the business. 2) One of us hadn't got the balloon until it was explained. They had seen a pencil drawing a balloon shape - ie. the triangle between the U and balloon formed the nib. Crazy thing is once they said that, we all saw a pencil. Could you have a look at that.
Thanks for these. I think we have enough to make a decision (note that the LT clock is wrong, it should read 1 day and 3 hours... they are working on it).
We are split over the balloon and dandelion.
In short, both are really evocative of the business. The balloon probably offers more scope for variations. The dandelion is very zen. There is some resistance about having the balloon linked to the 'U' and concerns that the balloon tied to the text takes too much space.
Your app icon is what does it for me (#142) - the balloon escaping the frame is really clever. I also like the U being lifted at an angle out of Geddup (#143).
Not sure there is more that you can do. The only missing element is the 15x15 favicon. Maybe a glimpse of how that might work would help.
I'll keep you posted - we are awaiting on some iterations on the dandelion that should clear things up. Thanks Rohan
Thank you, I was actually thinking that my design might be able to be split from the text if nessecery as an icon (something like the app icon maybe) beside the GEDDUP text.
Just let me know if you want me to do some variations of this or if thers some tweeking on the existing design that you want to see.
In the meantime I can do some thinking on the favicon :)
#325 has lost some of its ballooness. It is rounder and with fatter lines looks heavier. Also, we see less of the basket - which maybe needs a texture of its own to help identify it?
I prefer #147 - overall it is more refined. The neck of the balloon is slender. The feeling of escaping from the box more pronounced - maybe because we see more of the basket (visually the escape is already well progressed).
Does that help? In short, I'd like to see thinner lines between the segments of the canopy and a more tapered neck into the basket. And maybe more of the basket - perhaps making it thinner again.
I see your point :) Im having a lot of balloon files on my mac, so I think I made it from the wrong file.. I have uploaded a new one, on this I used the old balloon and only changed colors and filled the basket.
How does this look now you think - #330 compared to #142 ? I feel that the one in orange even look a bit lighter then the one in blue?
I'd like to get the balloon more refined, more textured. As a start, I've loaded up some balloon images into the briefing folder.
Design A and Design B - show different types of real balloon designs. One thing that stands out versus our balloon is the connection between basket and balloon. The other difference is that even in the wider panel version they squeeze in one more panel on each side. What is interesting to consider is how to add texture to the canopy. The thinner panels clearly give more latitude.
Design F - is a beautiful image in our favoured colours. This might be a good design to model our balloon off.
Designs E and D - are just included to show different designs. There was another that was kind of interesting that had an art deco design climbing up its canopy, but I figured it was better to leave it to you to take the lead if we were to explore other shapes.
In any event, what we'd like to do is to make sure the shape of the balloon works (and in this sense, it is probably sensible to abstract directly from the actual physical design). And then agree on a design scheme that is both beautiful and practical.