Honestly, at first I did not get it, but now that you mention it, the chess piece is a novel concept. Let me take another look at it. I like your creative thought on that, thanks!
Perhaps a modernized version of a traditional chess piece sans the shield might be easier to see. Also, a variation of the color would work as well - perhaps something lighter?
We really like the concept and have ranked accordingly; however, I think it might be more doable if we looked at the knight without the circle/shield. Perhaps just the silhouette? Also, looking for a more elegant font for use with our name - there are some good examples of what we liked in the top ranked items in the contest.
I really think you are on to something with the knight - it just might take some work to get the rest of my folks comfortable with it. I hope you will have the time to be able to work with me on this.
- we have to make sure that our logo can be printed b&w as well; thus, the gradient coloring can be problematic.
- can we play around with the Knight silhouette on top, on the side with a divider "I" between it and our name, etc. Also, thinking about color concepts that might play well with this approach might be red/black, blue/green, black/silver, etc.
You nailed it with these new entries! Very solid work.
Let me ask about the graphic - is it something that is owned on a software application or elsewhere? My question is whether we would need to purchase a licensing fee or change it up a bit to make it our own?
I like the look and the colors. If you have a free moment, perhaps we could try the exact same logo (entry 77) in a dark/steel blue or some other color of your choice? I would like to walk this new look through with my partners.
I made a few more variations and see how it works in dark backgrounds. I just saw your comment and will work on a blue steel version....but that will exceed your 3 color limit, isnt it? You dont have worry about the license. I worked on that like a horse - no pun intended.
Entry 88 is exactly what I was thinking about. Very, very solid work. I am really excited about this look and will show all of the knight looks to my partners.
I really like where we are at. I think both 88 and 77 are solid. We ultimately would use a variation of both depending on the background color. For instance, we would use 77 for white backgrounds and a variation of 88 for dark backgrounds.
At this point, we are going to try to determine if we like the blue or black look better. If you have any other color options or variations of these two logos, send them our way and we will discuss them later tomorrow.
I think we are pretty much sold on the knight approach; however, is there a way to move the knight's head upward so that there is more spacing between the head and neck? Sort of like you did with entry #65. At first glance it is not easily recognizable.
We also really like the way entry #87 pops with the blue background; however, with letterhead, etc. that is probably not going to be feasible. Is there any other way to make entries #77,88 and 99 "pop" more?
We are very appreciative of the time you are putting into this for us!
...furthermore, I think I really like the blue color associated with entry #88.
In reference to my comment above, in addition to trying to move the knight's head up or something else to make the image more distinguishable, can we consider increasing the size of the knight a bit - but not as large as that found in entry #78. Perhaps halfway between 88 and 78?
Is there any way to make the logo reflect "newness" a bit more. I like what the knight piece represents; however, is there any way to marry a newness factor into the strategic and tactical nature of that piece? I don't know if it is an additional color outline or an addition to the piece itself. Thoughts?
Here you go. A couple more variations of the knight/horse chess piece. Without the reins and head up. The gradient added more pop to the logo too. Let me know if the size or the colors need to be adjusted. Thanks!
Aremmai, thanks for the lates. I think Entries #121 and 119 look the best; however, I am still finding it hard to distinguish the knight itself. Is it possible to sharpen the outline of the piece? I tend to gravitate towards the stand alone look found in 121 because the 119 version probably relies on the gradient you referenced above, which can be extremely difficult to recreate on collateral materials, letterhead, business cards, etc.
Can we try to work off of 121 - either enlarging the figure, adding a sharper outline to the piece and going with the dark blue color found in 119? Not trying to be difficult - but I think we can come up with something really special on this path!
emphasized the hair, eyes and face contour a bit.The color has been changed too to a flat (no gradient) dark blue and the knight was also increased in size. Let me know if this works.
Also, I think gradients are fine as long as the element is in vector format. I do not see it as a problem in business cards or letterheads. Anyway, it is good to be on the safe side using flat colors. Gradients can be added later as an effect in media such as websites. I see the knight clearly now, what do you think? Thanks!
Aremmai, thanks for the effort. I guess I am still hoping to get the clarity of edges found in your Entries #65 and 78 on this latest version of the knight. There still appears to be a great deal of white within the piece itself (i.e. near the eye and ear areas). That seems to work when we have the blue background, but is hard to focus on without the blue background (box).
What are your thoughts? Is this particular knight too difficult to make crisper? Will we lose the genuiness of the piece?
Oh, I thought you would like those accents emphasized. I was going the other way...Anyway, I did clean it up and refined the curves. How abiout the hair accents? Are you ok with that? Thanks.
Thanks so much. I want to give my partners as many different variations as possible when we go through these tomorrow. I think I personally like the cleaned and refined version a bit more, but majority rules!
So now the fun part of tweaking things a bit...if you are game!
Ok, how about we stick with the knight on 136, make "new" the same font and size as that found in the earlier versions of 77/88 (i.e. "new" is not larger).
Also, can we play around with the coloring just a bit - again, to give more options to look at by the team. Perhaps on entry 136 trying it with the black used in 77 or the light blue found in 93 or even the red in 99?
We might even consider playing with the tagline and "new strategies" name color theme a bit - if you think a two-color theme (not counting the star divider) would be interesting.
Thanks for your patience - hopefully you are having some enjoyment with the process! I have also sent you a pm.