- Very strong standalone icon. - Great for ID'ing your brand. - Unique from the swimming stick figure type icons that dominate the swimming industry. - Abstract use of the OW with a wave.
Really like where you are going with these logos. #117 | #116 when you first look at it, the "W" appears before the "O". Could the wave ("W") be shifted slightly so you visualize the O first then W. #76 | #77 the waves are constrained inside the "O" which makes it seem we are boring and not dynamic and we don't think out of the box, etc. Could the waves somehow flow outside of the O slightly to show more openness and free-flowing.
I think shifting the O to the left as discussed above will solve the "mazda" dilemma. I will completely rework both designs as per your feedback. As well as add new concepts.
I do some work for surf and SUP companies...so I have several concepts on the drawing board that will work well.
Thanks for your latest submissions. My partner is momentarily unavailable to comment, but for me, I like the shallower wave of #141, since open water swimmers would never swim in big waves, like in #143-#145. I really like the colours you have used in #142 and #78, and I also liked your idea of putting a wavy line through the word pictorial as in #115, although it was a little too subtle in that example.
#141 is there a way to incorporate the wave (the "W") more into the "O". The O is very prominent but the W gets lost. Perhaps change the O from grey to a blue? Just something to make it less prominent. I like the blue colors you used in #117. Can the font also be more bold. #142 looks good but the wave is too big and scary for a swimmer! Can it be toned down a bit.
And if the "W" in #141 can look a little more like waves or perhaps swimmers' arms.... ? Or perhaps the far right part of the "W" has more of an upstroke?
Updates added....Thanks for the great feedback. Its a huge part of the process. One thing I like is the forward movement implied by the wave. It's a very progressive message.
Paul, We have appreciated your work and have identified you as one of our finalists. We also have some further suggestions. #187 and #188 have fairly "sharp" waves that that we think can be softened, as we want our open water swimming environment to look inviting, not daunting. As well, we wondered if the "O" in the icon may match the "O" in the wordscript, which is slightly more oval. Perhaps the roundness may be best preserved if it stays the orange color (and thereby emulates the sun), although, if it was gray, as in #188, it might look more congruent. And if #187 is modified so that the icon is to the side of the wordscript as in #191, we wondered if the white "W" line in the icon could be somehow continued in the wordscript as a lazy wave through the words... Thank you for your consideration.
Thanks, we can connect again tomorrow. The line through the word pic is very subtle--can you enhance that somewhat? And the waves still seem pretty pointed, can they be closer to either #78, or even more rounded?
#225 #226 Thanks, the waves look much better. When you first look at the logo you see an M in the dark blue instead of the W in the white. Is there any way to change the colors of the wave so the W is more prominent?
#234 looks good but an M looks more prominent than the W. I don't like how the W looks like in #227 as it looks disconnected. Can the top thick wavy line be the W in #234? I like the orange/blue combination but we need to be careful as the blue and orange colors are similar to our competitor here: http://www.blueseventy.com/. I like the round O icon and round O in openwater
#325 #236 # 237 look good. Can you make the O in OPENWATER round like the icon. Also can we see #236 with the icon to the left side with a wave line in the words like you did in #210 #208
Do you mean the line that outlines the top of the wave? (Like #245) There actually is no gradient in the water It is just a lighter version of the blue and orange. It is the same effect as used on the "w" in the icon. I felt it tied the wordmark and icon together.
Every other attempt at putting the wave in the wordmark has left me feeling it didn't work well when acting in unison. #240 seemed to make them coexist well.
That being said, different sets of eyes will perceive things differently, and the most important set is yours, and the goal is to have the design meet your needs and not mine, that is why I appreciate the feedback that you are giving. It gets the design to the right place for you.
We are overall very happy with your designs. Our first two choices are examples of the need to vary the design somewhat for different colored backgrounds, and of course there will be occasions where we have to reduce it to all white or all black. Perhaps you could provide an example of your logo as white on a dark background, or back on a white background. Of incidental note, we sell a personal swim buoy (at swimbuddy.ca) that is a bright orange. Any suggestions for how best to modify the colours to still be seen on that background? Or are we resigned to all black or all white?
As well, at the end of the process, can we get 2 or 3 versions of your logo to deal with the different backgrounds that it will have to be put onto?
I am not really sure of how much of a concern it is from a copyright infringement point of you, but we would appreciate your thoughts on how close these designs are to one of our competitors and how their products are marked up: http://www.blueseventy.com/collections/2012-accessories
From a copyright perspective, I see no issue at all. There's is actually very similar to many companies that have a bit of a yin/yang feel to them. In fact I imagine that was conceptually involved in the crafting of that design. Yours is clearly a wave cutting the "O". There is absolutely no comparison from a conceptual perspective. The third color (Darker blue) can help as well. Similar industry marks will naturally share some shape and colors that are relevant to their industry. (Surf Companies are known for this)
Yes. Generally we do several color variations for the winning design (They are sent via personal email) after the "official" design is selected and approved here. (Only one file gets uploaded through the actual in house file exchange thus the need to forward the variations to you via email).
I will upload some variants on the dark background when I get a minute later today.
Paul, Thanks for the newest renditions. #250 and #251 look good as black and whites. Regarding the colors of #248 and #249, I wonder if you can try a couple of things, one of which is to eliminate the gray from the logo to reduce the overall number of colors. Since water is darkest at the bottom and lightest at the top, could you do a logo with the wave W as a light blue, and the bottom of the O as a dark blue? Or have three progressive gradients of blue as you have in #246? Kind of a combination of #242 and #247. I think we overall prefer the darker orange--much more distinctive than the previous orange-- that you have used in #248 and #249, which stands out well on both light and dark backgrounds.
Another suggestion is to try the words OPEN WATER in the two shades of blue as opposed to using the orange. And another suggestion is to try making the line through the wordpic as orange, although I suspect that may be too busy. In fact, I think the only time we would use this line through OPEN WATER is when the icon is somehow separated from the word pic, although I do not see that happening very often.
Paul, We are happy with these last two, and are happy to name #253 our winner. It would be great to get copies of #252, #251 and #250 as well as one of your word pics with the wavy line through it, such as #245 or #189, although we may find it too busy to use.
Great work! And thanks for your responsiveness. It would be a pleasure to contact you for future projects!
Thank you guys so much. Always appreciate kind words. I have uploaded the final file for you. I will need an email to send you the additional files. (The site only allows the winning file to be uploaded through it's servers)
In summary:
1. Accept Final File (closes the process and transfers the copyright to you, as well as releases payment to the designer.) 2. Send me an email to: paulhtilly@gmail.com so that I can forward the additional files to you. 3. Enjoy your new brand identity!