Haught CodeworksLogo Design Contest

Nice start guys. I'm going to try to make comments daily (maybe even twice daily if there's enough activity).

On colors, my wife has suggested that going with warmer colors might be best for the logo. She suggested a color that suggests activity, productiveness and speed. Not sure how big of a deal that is but I'll throw that out there. I'm guessing that colors can easily be changed for the leading logos so just go with your gut for now. Who knows what will work?

I definitely would like an icon with the name that most designs have so #3 would be out for that reason. One thing I'd like to see more of is to use common imagery in the icon part of the logo that suggests craftsmanship, speed and software. It might be interesting to see how you can incorporate the letters HC into such imagery but that's not required. Here are some objects that have come to mind in the past: wood working tools (suggest craftsmanship), gear/cog (stuff that works), lightning (speed like mercury/hermes). One cool effect that I've seen was to create a mask/skin of 0s and 1s. A friend's logo has this: http://logicleaf.com/

Onto the designs:
#1 - the image reminds me of a wax seal of approval which is kind of cool. There's also a gear mechanism suggested in the way the letters fit together that seems interesting. I'd say the name is too small. I will definitely want to use just the image part of the logo here and there but when together I'll want the name to be more balanced in size.

#2- the image is too abstract and thin for me. I also don't get a strong sense of craftsmanship, speed or software.

#3 - the typography seems cool but I had a hard time reading it with a quick glance. The binary code is pretty cool and I like that though I'd rather see it incorporated into the icon part as you did with #4/5.

#4/5 - I like many of the elements of these two. I prefer the two color approach of #5. I'm slightly leaning towards #4 HC inside the image over #5 but I'm not sure either strongly convey craftsmanship,speed,software. Like the use of binary. The typography of the name is probably the best so far.

#6 - gives a sense of The Hitchhiker's guide. The name seems stronger with the black border. I don't think the image conveys my message though, maybe this is too playful without giving a sense of craftsmanship.

#7/8 - the icon part is clever but I'm not getting a sense of what Haught Codeworks is about with it. Not sure about these two colors together.

#9 - clever use of the track for Rails but I don't actually want to tie my logo to Rails as I do more than that and eventually may not offer Rails development. I'd rather see Haught and Codeworks balanced in the name portion.

please TRY and rank all designs. It lets designers know more of what you want/don't want.
Thanks,


Jay Eph Designs

Sorry about that. I probably should have been ranking everything earlier on. I'll rank the remainder in the next hour or so.

Rails? Sinatra? Merb?

What do you guys focus on?