Jackknife Creek Land & CattleLogo Design Contest

Can we see the ears on both the cow and calf tipped up a bit? And maybe if we could see the other ear on the cow it would help too. Still something about the head on the calf...maybe the face is a bit long yet?
Glad you added in the other foot though, that works well, and same with the white line on the cow's flank. Thanks!

Yes, to all the requests. I'll upload new versions shortly. Thanks!

Marcelo

Just got back in. Thanks for the info, it helps start to narrow down. :)

Or maybe the grass is just too tall, or a darker colour would be better...something haha

Would it be a thought to use some white lines for added definition and dimension on the animals? Like on the jawline and where the legs meet the body?

I think we like this pose the best, like where the calf is positioned relative to the cow as compared to #75

I think the grass kind of gives it a feeling of too short of legs, we prefer the original way. Thanks!

And maybe if we could see a different wheat..it's a bit difficult to tell what it is, maybe something bolder or less detailed?

I think we'll stick with the full animals. Thanks!

Like this font! Not opposed to you still trying out new ones, but I think this is our favourite so far.
And the darker brown colour scheme is nice too. Not a huge fan of the colour on the calf, maybe just a darker shade would do it though? Like the colour of the cow for sure!
The cow is looking good! I think maybe on both of them the ears need to be tilted up a bit or something...if you look at the silhouette in the brief that might make more sense.
The calf still needs work though. Maybe try adding a tail, and giving more definition to the front legs, it kind of looks like it only has one front leg. And then I think try shortening the face up maybe, the head looks like it might be a bit too big.

Hello Cara,

I raised the cow's and the calf's head as well as reduced the dewlap.

I was not sure if the color change is what you wanted, but that is an easy change. :)

Would you like me to try different font options too?

Thanks

Marcelo

I think probably the best bet would be to revise the cow and calf, then the wheat, and then start trying different colour schemes. Thanks!

Got it, I can now see all the comments the same way you mentioned. I guess I've been away from the site too long. LOL.

This will make it easier, I think, but please let me know later if I missed anything.

It's a holiday weekend here, but I'll be around, so I do all the changes.

Please let me know your preferences that I should try first such as #49 with the Land & Cattle of #48 (with wheat turned more), and color variants...

Also #48 with less detailed faces and wheat turned...

Enjoy your company and just get back to me when it's most convenient.

Marcelo

No problem Marcelo! We're having company over tonight so my responses may be slower as well.
Yeah I can only view the comments if I pull up an individual entry. The only other way I've found is if I go to the page that shows all the entries you've submitted, there is "Comment Activity" on the top right which is sorted chronologically I believe. If you'd prefer me to direct message you some comments so that they are all together I can do that.
And yep, we're based in Alberta!
That's great to hear, we appreciate you being so open to all of our little changes and requests!

Hello Cara,

I have my kids "back to school" night tonight, but I'll go through the comments and make all requested changes.

I have not been on this site for a while and they changed the comment area. ON one side it nice since the comments reflect the entry in question, but I'm also finding that it's difficult to read all the comment in one area. Is it the same on your (contest holders) side of the website. Maybe I just haven't figured it out correctly. Anyway, I'll go through the feedback and work on the changes. If I miss anything in the next round of uploads, just let me know.

I'm in California, and I'm guessing you are in British Columbia or Alberta based on the times we seem to be on-line and how quickly this feedback has been working out. It's great to be in almost "real-time". Please keep in mind that after a contest is over we are allowed to communicate directly with the client (that goes for all designers here), which makes slight tweaks and details easier to convey. :)

Thanks again.

Marcelo

BTW - Don't worry about "nitpicking" (I prefer to call it "helpful"), besides, that's what we're here for.

I purposely extended the dewlap and kept a heavy neck to define the silhouette as that of a beef breed and not a dairy cow. But of course, aside from recognizing a nice steak, I may not catch the correct nuances of the cow. So I depend on the "nitpicking"... can't stand when a company is icon is not the animal they think is being represented. (Like showing a Mule Deer for a company named White Tail... both deer but different appearances.)

Would we be able to change the colours up some too? There's a bit too much orange undertone or something. Like what would black and a deep deep barn red look like?

Prefer #48

Like how you have the wheat down by "Land & Cattle"! Makes the top look less cluttered for sure. I think maybe it needs to be tilted up a bit more upright though.
For the illustration, maybe a more similar style to #49, like perhaps take out the detail on the eyes and nose, but leave around the head for definition?
We're still wavering between which we like better - the whole animals or these two heads, sorry haha!

Definitely like this design better now that the cow is flipped! Great work!
We still have a few requests on some tweaks to the illustration if you're open to them: If you look at the cow and calf silhouette this might make more sense - I think the head on the cow needs to maybe be moved up and back some, or the dewlap (like under the chin) needs to be trimmed some so the head has more definition. And (this is nitpicking haha) but maybe the back foot could be moved back some so the distance between the two back feet is halved or something.
For the calf - the head needs to be lifted as well I think, so that it has more definition. I'm not sure if it would be a possibility to add some white lines around the jaw to give it some more definition? Your call on that haha!
Would we be able to see a version with the wheat down by "Land & Cattle" like on #48? It just doesn't quite seem to stand out enough yet.
But really liking this overall!

Prefer designs that include the creek

But this font on "Jackknife Creek" is quite nice too!

I think the font for "Jackknife Creek" used here is the overall favourite

I think we like the font for "Land & Cattle" best out of the recent revisions

Also like the shade of the cow and calf in #32 :)

Prefer #42 with the colour, thanks!

Sorry about that Marcelo, but I'm hoping you should be fine because it's just images of animals, it's not like your concept for the logo can be copied.
Anyways, thanks for the new designs! This illustration is definitely better, we like the pose better. It seems overall though that we're leaning towards either #42 or #44 - perhaps they just have a simpler feel to them is what is drawing us. Thanks for all your work!

Really like the colours on the cow and calf here! Now that we see the new pose, we're thinking maybe it conflicts with the wheat too much, having the wheat at the tail like you did originally rather than the shoulder was probably better

Like this concept! It's definitely resonating with the majority of the group. I think the wheat colour needs to be adjusted some so that it stands out better.
We like the structure of the illustration, like how the heads look, good job there. As far as overall feel for the logo, could we see something more similar to #44 how you have it two-toned? Or perhaps just less detail on the drawing to simplify the logo overall, sorry!
And I think we like the original creek you had as well, with less bends in it :)

Hi Cara,

Thanks for the feedback. I just noticed that new images. Unfortunately, now that the images are up, they may open up the floodgates to turn the whole contest into a copyfest since others are bound to use the same sort of image. :( Hopefully, I'm wrong.

Marcelo

Hi Marcel, definitely closer! We really appreciate all your hard work on this!!!
I think the calf would need to come forward to the shoulder more.
I hear what you're saying about the silhouette, I never really thought about that before. I added a clipart silhouette to the brief that has a totally different pose, but one we would be fine with. There is also one that is silhouetted but two-toned, which may be an option if you think, but we aren't crazy about it; maybe if the shades were just ever so slightly different it would work though, not sure what you think.
I also added a picture of a cow/calf show pair that has a good pose, and a drawing that is a very different pose but we still like the pose quite a lot.
I would still bring the cow's hoof forward, as you'll probably see in the reference pictures I added to the brief

Hi Cara,

Here's a rough drawing, just to get the pose right. Is this closer to what you are looking for? I will need to to simplify this for a logo to use more solid colors. I have to be careful to not a full silhouette because I need to show the calf outline distinct from the cows outline. Some silhouettes don't work because they blend together. (That is why, as you mentioned, some clipart does cattle's muscular structure does not look right. )

Please let me know about this pose or if you would like to refer me to a photo of a preferred pose that would be work too, I'd just refer to pose and create a new drawing.


Forgot to mention, does the cow's hoof still need to be moved forward? This is the same cow, but because it has more detail it may look different. :)

Like the cow and calf vs. the bull, but the drawing does need a bit of tweaking, sorry! Would you be able to show us a version of a solid red pair and see how they look? And this is probably a huge pain but often the calf is in front of the cow rather than behind when doing a profile. I think that front foot on the cow would need to come forward more as well, and the head and neck on the calf would need to be changed some...maybe some more definition on it, so it's more separated from the body? I think the head on the cow is good though. Let me know if you want me to add some pictures to the brief if that would help any!
Other option is if you think a line drawing would work with this concept at all, we'd be open to that too
And since the cow is smaller than the bull from #17, would you be able to downsize the wheat too? I think the ratio of animal to wheat was good on #17
Overall definitely like it more than #17! And like the darker colouring for "Jackknife Creek", definitely makes it pop more, but still keen to see the different fonts you've been trying.
Another thought we had is how it would look with one other colour in there somewhere...only I don't know where or how! Just throwing some ideas around :)
Thanks for all your hard work!

Hi Cara,

Sorry for the delay. I had to figure out a pose than redraw the cow and calf. I'll still work on the other versions but I want to get your approval on the illustration. Please let me know what you think. Thanks again.

Marcelo

Hi Cara,

I'll be working on a cow and calf today. Also will try a variety of fonts. Please feel free to ask for any mix-n-match if you like. For instance the font of one on the design of another... and so on. :)

Thanks again.

Marcelo

Ranked similar ones

One thing that draws my eye on this one is that "Jackknife Creek" stands out well as compared to #17 when we look at it next to the others and they're smaller sized. Maybe it's the colouring? Like if we changed "Jackknife Creek" on #17 to the darker brown or something. Thanks!

Like how this one has the images behind the lettering, gives it a more cohesive feel

Thanks for the info on the font! That makes sense. I'll try and look for some that we like, but I can't promise anything - sorry!
Again makes sense on why you chose the bull, but I think we'd be safe with a cow and calf, as long as you don't mind a bit of feedback on the drawing as we go! The drawing of the two heifers attached in the brief is really good quality if you need something more to go on. And we appreciated how you incorporated our breeds into the drawing - nice touch! That being said, we are also fine with just a solid colour cow as well - especially if it gives the logo a cleaner overall feel but we'll leave that up to you!

No problem, I just thought I'd throw it in in case. Thanks for all the feedback, it helps gauge what direction to move in.

Thanks!

Marcelo

Will try variants. :)

For know I used the grain that I drew. A better option would be to make simple grass and let the viewer just get an idea of the grass being there. I've used this style sucessfully in previous logos (I might have some sample showing in my portfolio or my actual website portfolio - you can access it through my profile page.)

The caveat for this design is that the only way it looks good at all sizes is by using a heavy font that allows the letters to be clearly seen as well as any images superimposed.

I'll keep grinding away. :)

I agree, the blue was not doing it for me either. However, it good to throw some things into the contests that helps in opening a dialogue.

Thanks for the feedback, I try a few font versions. Just FYI, the reason I went with this font is because it's compressed. Jackknife Creek is pretty long, and with a compressed typeface it allows the words to be as big as possible without getting overly long. However there are plenty of other compressed fonts, so we can try more. If there is any font in particular that you know the name, just let me know and I'll try that too. :)

I'll try the cow too. The bull was my first choice since it's musculature is easier to tell beef from dairy cattle. (At least to my untrained eye. ).

I saw there is other feedback, so I'll look at it and address it as I read it.

Thanks!

Marcelo

Could we change the colour to something darker? Maybe a dark green or navy perhaps?

I think the ones that are just our name are better than these with the initials, and the light blue isn't a shade that really appeals to us

I think we prefer the other styles that aren't emblems. Thanks!

Really cool concept! Little bit concerned that the crop in the bottom wouldn't transfer as well if we put the logo onto clothing or something if we want to do that in the future.

Love this concept! We really like how you've incorporated beef, wheat, sun and a creek but it's still not too busy! Awesome awesome awesome! We were wondering if maybe instead of a bull, what it would look like with a cow and calf? We'd also like to see the font for "Jackknife Creek" changed to something else...still a blocky style though I think. Like the font on Land & Cattle a lot though!

Hello Cara,

Here are some preliminary ideas. Your thoughts and/or suggestions would be great.

Cheers!

Marcelo