Thank you for your submission! I like the feeling of this one, but when I am thinking whimsy, I am thinking less cartoonish and more along the lines of mid century modern, josh agle, cocktail, atomic whimsy.
btw, just took a look at your work on here and I really like a lot of your designs. That recent restaurant one is fantastic.
Also, you have a few, that while they aren't what I am looking for here, they do convey a type of whimsy I like. They are your logos for Curb Side Casserole and Ruby Red.
Yes, much more along the lines I was thinking! Love the wave behind the house. Can you remove the three boards? It just an image that is so popular its used everywhere and become a little iconic I think. Maybe just one board? Or some other fun, simple element (or nothing..). And I like the surfer, but am curious what it looks like without and to put a little "play" in that wave instead. I really have no idea what I mean by that... :)
Thank you for the revisions! The wave looks great. I like the font and banner on #18 but I like how the font on #17 is contained within the circle.
Maybe try a taller banner and fit the words on two lines? then place it in the middle of the "sand" so that parts of the sand circle still show through? Here's a taller version of that banner shape http://ranchredo.blogsome.com/images/motel2.jpg
I really like the banner as its an element I could pluck away from the graphics if needed!
I think I found the image you provided the link to.. I did a little detective work based on words in the link. Please let me know if #20 is what you were looking for. Thanks, Don
Yes, yes, exactly. I love it. Thanks for sleuthing that out. I am going to sit on this for a little bit. No immediate feedback comes to mind yet...maybe more on the weekend. Thank you so much!
And (this is the part where I get annoying) I would be interested in experimenting with a slightly different green. Something a little more avocado-limey. I'll try to find a palette of what I am talking about...
HI just checking in as the contest winds down. Your entry is still my favorite, I will likely have some slight tweaking, but no rush as it can happen during the two day thingie as well.
A couple of things I am interested in tweaking is that I do like the font of #40 but like how #35 stood out a little more. Wondering what we can do to #40 to help. Maybe stretch the space between letters a little so that the end stick past the banner a little more? Larger black outline/shadow?
Other small design tweaks would be to throw a little playful bend in the tree (to the left). This shows the wind in the right direction for that wave! Also thinking about tucking in the middle of the banner just a little more.
Hi & thanks for the latest feedback. I am currently away from my design computer, but I will get right on these changes as soon as I get back (approx. 6pm CDT). Thanks again, Don
Thank you Don. I like the bendy tree and the revised banner, but I think I prefer the letters close together like in #40
Now that we are in the home stretch on this, I have a few details I would be interested in seeing in a separate version. Could you add a white trim to the house? (our location is green with white trim....). If you need to remove the stripes on the house to help offset any busyness, feel free. I'm not exactly sure where on your little house to even add the trim, but anywhere that makes sense to you, works for me.
And, just so I can compare, we are using some Google Open source fonts on our website. If those fonts are easily available to you, I would be curious to see what those fonts look like on this. Could you do the "LIttle Green Surf Shack" in Mouse Memoirs and the "Santa Cruz, CA" in Open Sans?
#58 & #59 Here are the revised designs, please let me know what you think. I also added a slight curve to the top of the roof to make it just a little more playful. I took a look at your site, very nice pics, they makes me wish I wasn't sitting here in 20 degree Chicago weather!
I cheated and snarfed both designs and checked out how they looked on the website (don't worry, I took it back down before anyone saw!). That matching font won. SO I have ranked #59 at #1. And I am out of things to change on it. I like it just exactly the way it is. I like seeing the evolution from design #4 to #59. Very cool to see it come alive.
I will likely close the contest early tomorrow sometime as I don't expect any designs to capture what we've got here.
I'm showing two designs to my partner and some friends tonight. There is one other design in the tournament that I want to show to others to make certain we are going in the right direction with this. But I am anxious to get started on our website so we hope to make a quick decision.