Merchant NationalLogo Design Contest

Thanks Erik #1 for the submissions. As soon as we get some additional submits I'll contrast what I like/don't between these and the ones to come.

You did remind me however that I believe we'll probably be going with a logo that treats the "M" in a powerful and attractive way (maybe even a bit creative, but not too fancy) as the central aesthetic feature of our mark. I personally believe that most people, however indecisive and unobservant they may be, do have a sense of when someone just slapped together a logo vs. when there was real attention paid to one (by an expert such as yourself).

So I thought of an "M" in an open circle (against white background), don't know why, and maybe shouldn't distract you with this, but I have the London Underground Tunnel sign stuck in my head. There is something so damn elegant, compact, and utilitarian about that friggin sign! I especially like how they use the red "O" as background for so many different signs; it could say "UNDERGROUND", or "KINGS CROSS", or "MIND THE GAP", etc. I don't think the "O" and the blue strip across the center are plays on the word London Underground, but instead a purely stylistic choice.

Anyhow, it's "Merchant National" (vs. "Nation") fyi. Thanks again for the submissions.

Christian Hunter
Austin, Texas

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Hey again everyone,

So this contest could be closed early (or at least decided early), like in the next 24 hours, so I appreciate your early involvement.

Thanks for "treating" the "M", but I think we're looking for a more traditional style, perhaps the M could be one solid color (I chose color favorites from the palate in this brief, but go ahead and get creative there if you think you have what might be an interesting color. I've seen it used by some of my associates as an orange/copper M (maybe a Helvetica type font), and the rest of the text was grey (which looked "tolerable", but could use some work). In that instance and similar ones to it, the M really struck me as the meat of the logo/mark we'd ultimately like to have. So not to bore y'all with a request so basic, but there are so many variables still in that scenario: should it be an "M", against a white background, off-white eggshell, blah blah, + there may be something to actually putting it in a thick circle, thin circle, etc?

Thank you again all for your participation, I promise to make this as quick and decisive as I possibly can. Thanks,

CH

WANT: spartan-but-classically beautiful

Hey all,

So just an update, I rearranged based on new submissions. Not in love with anything and still think we need a theme shift back to what may seem WAY too basic: I'm thinking we should treat the "M", not "fancy" (please read the contest brief...unless I didn't articulate myself properly we aren't looking for anything with a lot of detail).

No colored backgrounds (probably not even in design elements like a circle around the "M". I'd prefer to use a lot of negative space (white) here. Not sure if there should or shouldn't be a circle around the M (or the accents (like #21 Jackflash did), but know that those as they are wouldn't work (too far from the M, still a bit too fancy, etc).

In the ideal, we'll get a design that's, simple (with obvious attention paid to detail), classical, and yet still appear tech-savvy.

I know that's not easy, but I believe some of y'all are just about to turn the corner on this one: when we love something, that's it, contest over, probably within next 24 hours.

Thanks,

Christian Hunter
Austin, Texas

Oh, and one More thing: more thanks to #21 Jackflash, I can tell you're really thinking about this. I appreciate your courage in selecting the "N" for treatment (instead of the "M"). While that design is too fancy, I'm open to the use of any letter (or letterS, though the idea of combining letters seems SO OLDSCHOOL to me, however, y'all are the pros, maybe it could make sense), we're flexible, we just want to see it make sense aesthetically!

Last thing, I don't know if it's worth it, but maybe have a look at the London Underground sign. I'd just be so friggin thrilled if someone could convey all the power and simplicity vested in a mark like that into ours. Even though I don't think something as colorfully powerful as a London city sign would work for our mark, I'm open to what you the professional thinks. We're open!

LAST LAST THING: There is a SMALL but double digit possibility that we'll ultimately go with just the letter "M" in some treatment as our mark, there is something very powerful in the look of a copper colored Helvetica (thick) "M" juxtaposed against the 12pt text of someone's e-mail signature or something like that...we will be simplifying the look of our site at Merchant National to a very Google'sque style shortly, so...just a possibility I didn't want to rule out.

Thanks,

Christian Hunter

Hey all,

Closing the contest today at about noon central time (I think it's -6GMT). Wanted to encourage you to put out whatever you think we should see and consider before then (if you're running a bit behind, just let me know and we'll figure it out).

Last thing is this: I think there's an opportunity for you Jackflash with your #56 entry to tweak it slightly for a much more attractive (to us anyhow) option: I was thinking perhaps you could make the "3 strokes that represent the M", a bit smaller, and have less an angle (maybe no angle). Lastly, would it be possible (and aesthetically viable) to treat the "N" of "National" with a similar 2-stroke mark? May be the dumbest thing I've ever recommended, but what about stacking Merchant and National and using two colors to represent both the "M" and "N"... probably getting a bit too specific...

Good luck, thank you for your contributions.

Christian Hunter

Hi,

I've just downloaded final data (central version) in EPS and JPG into Logotournament. Please accept the data and let me know what else would you need.

Thanks for your response.
Regards
Simon