...a play on patches of land and patchwork with a strong reference to catering. Your mission and intended demographic are reflected in the tagline. Your feedback is most welcome...
Hi RetroMetro Steve #1! Thank you so much for your submission, I LOVE how you captured the seasonal aspect and I can look at that picture and clearly know this has something to do with food. Your tagline is great, as well. Now for the part I don't particularly like as I highly respect artists, as I know I don't like it when someone doesn't love my food. The one piece I'm not feeling is the cake stand with the dome (I know there's a more accurate name for this serving vessel, but I'm not a stuffy classically trained French chef, so I don't know the technical name)--I'm also not sure how well it would translate stitched onto a chef's jacket. While you have perfectly captured a lot of stylistic characters, something with a more modern touch would be most welcomed. Thank you, again, you really listen to a client's requests and input and translate it extremely well.
Thanks for the look and specific feedback! I wondered how the food server on the foot would go over - I've removed it in this version but the design still 'reads' catering at a glance, which I feel is important. I've offered up an alternative layout and font, not because I necessarily think these are better but rather, just to show options and versatility. (Keep letting me know the specifics of what you do and don't like.) I'll also work on a version for embroidery. Cheers, Steve.
You're losing the seasonal aspect by going with one or two colors. Save your energy with that regard. I do like the new font. Still not loving the covered dish thing. I'm sorry, it looks great, but feels room service-ish. Would work for our home meal delivery service that we do, but want to have an image that reflects our youth, I could see this working well for a more mature company maybe, which we are not. The name Patchwork comes from a few inspirations: patchwork from garden=patch, which you get and is reflected with the wheat, fish, apple and the fact that my husband is a patchwork of tattoos, having some 15 of the (just an FYI). :) We had a thought that the blue and fish works great, we get it and I think other people will, too, but wondering if a crab would be possible as Marylander's (we're in Baltimore, Maryland) go ga-ga for Blue Crab, which is famous around here. I will be making crab cakes for the rest of my catering years to be sure.
Thank you for your new #1 ranked design. You got the crab in there which is great, I like the sunburst or orange slice with the new plate design which is a big improvement over the cake server. Not wild about the new font as it's a little too fancy, didn't mind the type in entry #3 and don't think the brown or blue typeface is working for me. I don't want to add another color and don't know if this is going to embroider well on a chef jacket. Feeling a little stuck, but really like it a lot. Let's digest a little on this and see what comes to mind. Thank you for all your intuitive talents.
There is a new tagline more suggestive of the green aspect of your business model and I have created a replacement for the apple, standing in for all things fruit/vegetable and also a ready symbol of environmental friendliness.
I should point out that while this is a content-rich graphic, it is in fact, just four spot colours. It will therefor, print easily and predictably and will translate well to any medium or colourway, including modern-day computer-aided embroidery. (btw, there is a typo in the other tagline.)
I don't know if you are receiving my colleague comments, I'm assuming so. I would pay particular attention to what Halle is saying re: I like the typography of the 2nd choice and I love the concept of the 1st choice--love the patchworking on a plate of local resources.... I think this idea could be worked thru a bit more to come across as a more modern look...maybe the icons are a little cleaner, more modern graphics, maybe relook at the colors...but the idea is GREAT. the cursive lettering is a little much-almost too feminine and reminds me of the swirling ivy around the risers conversation we had today :) Halle's opinion is well founded as she deals with marketing and brand development. After the .eps handoff, she will eventually be part of a new dialog of carrying your awesome logo through to my website and other marketing materials.
I'm in full agreement of giving this a modern edge as we do modern cuisine and going local and green is a modern old fashioned concept and while I'm the owner and I'm a woman, I don't think a feminine font is necessary, something more fun???? and above all, easy to read, but not as easy as Helvetica. Seen the documentary on that typeface, good stuff!
Thanks for the continued specific feedback. (btw, I don't see your friends list feedback) I've adjusted the colours to be slightly more muted and cohesive. I've offered an alternative text treatment with a font that skews less feminine and more fun. It is still very clear/readable. I've also simplified the wheat and made the leafy graphic a bit airier.
Thanks for the recent updates. Like the easier to read font. Can't decide on the new colors on account of the pea green, though does give a more modern feel. I like how you've cleaned up the wheat. The new three leaves looks more like a wind turbine and we don't have that option right now or it would be easy to agree/describe/relate, but love how you're trying to incorporate the green element! Also like the larger plate, which brings me to the question which is easier to work with when giving the graphic to other users so that nothing is lost in resizing? I also liked how the wheat grew up into the sunshine section of the plate in #6. Not sure how I feel about the new asymmetrical element. Arg, so hard to decide!!! You have so much talent!!! Thank you so much!!!
a new colourway option... As for the arrangement of the quadrants, while the wheat rising into the sun is a nice feature, I feel there is better balance in this arrangement - there is symetry in the asymetry, if that makes sense. The two roundish shapes (crab and eco-leaves) are kitty-corner as are the two more linear elements (sunburst and wheat sheaves). And the 'patchiness' is augmented by having the verticals separated from each other.
As far as retention of detail and such when handing off materials to others (printer, for example), there will be no problem whatsoever as you will be getting both vector and raster versions of the artwork (from me or any other designer on LT). The vector version ensures your mark will scale to any size for any branding application without loss of detail. Also, as I pointed out earlier, this design, while being content rich (it tells a story, so to speak), is really just four spot colours. You will be able to switch out any or all of the colours at will as your needs dictate. In fact, it's a great way to 'freshen up' after a few years without actually having to go with a re-design.
Thanks for the corrections, a few more and I think we'll be done. The leaves are easier to read as leaves and I like the darker green, thank you. If we can clean the leaves graphic just a tad to add a little more easier read and get those and the crab back onto the plate so they're not falling off the plate, I like the cleaner plate line on these two. I also like the varying wheat heights on entry #14 more, adds a little more interest to me for some reason.
If you can also try another font, I really like the font from another designer's entry #4 and like how the catering is stretched out. My husband prefers your font better, but I think the other easier to read and afraid that any areas that are too thin, when embroidered onto a chef's jacket may not come out looking right.
I hope this isn't too much of a pain for you. I think we're almost there! Feels like tweaking a recipe, touch more salt, splash of this, fresh chopped that. mmmmm, delicious!
nothing wrong with stirring the pot! :) A big, big thank you in advance for your stirring skills!!! I really love how this logo draws me in and tells a story as you point out. I think this is going to be well received, a bit unconventional in terms of logo development standards (all I keep hearing is simple is better, but I disagree), too bad this story is about to end. :(
It is true that 'simple is better' and I generally aim in that direction too. 'Simple' in the case of graphic design has more to do with utility as it does with sparceness. A logo that has graphic utility communicates well and handles with ease. This design communicates the various talking points of your brief and mission statement, but it does so with resorting to gimmicry or superficial effects and therein lies the simplicity. There are no gradients, no transparencies, nothing beyond what is needed to 'tell the story'. And because it is so 'simple' in this way, you will find it easy to leverage across branding necessity and media types.
...and just to illustrate the leveraging point, you could for example, when mousing over/hovering over a section of a greyed out version on a web page, cause it to become highlighted/coloured and with a click thereafter the viewer would click through to the next page of relevant material (discussion of, say, seasonal menu items, your company mission statement, local resources, etc.).
Hi Steve, I need to read your comments before I look at logos....der-d-der.
Looks good, I think the stem on the right leaf needs to be pulled out some so that it's proportional to the rest of the leaves stems, as pulling out makes it more like a leaf.
I'd like to see Patchwork stretched out just a tad, maybe in a slightly smaller size. It feels too scrunched together and catering could be a pitch smaller than Patchwork, also stretched just a tad.
Almost home, rounding the final turn..... You rock!
Oh crap, before I forget, we need to flip the knife and fork. Proper place settings (while I don't agree, I think it ridiculous, but I have to go with convention), are knife on the right, fork on the left. So sorry, I didn't mention this earlier.
Still need to work on the lettering, catering is coming off loud compared to patchwork to me. can we revert patchwork size back to original in #1? Can we add any spacing between lettering and reduce the font size of catering so it reads a little smaller?
about to head off to bed...actually do like the rework on the typeface, just would like to see a little more space and smaller font size on catering piece...lay with a bit and we can wrap this up with a bow.
I can't thank you enough for all your hard work, sorry I've been a little late for all the little tweaking requests.
I should point out, btw, that to complete your contest you will need three different designers i each of the top three spots and the top ten spots will need to be ranked according to LT rules. Each designer you choose to place in the top ten will earn a couple points to their overall community ranking and they will certainly appreciate that.
Thank you for adjusting the patchwork and catering typeface. You're going to kill me, think we need to up the size just a scootch as it seems disproportional to the plate now. But you got what I was getting at, maybe even a touch more spacing...I'll leave that up to you based on the increased font sizes.
Thank you for adjusting the patchwork and catering typeface. You're going to kill me, think we need to up the size just a scootch as it seems disproportional to the plate now. But you got what I was getting at, maybe even a touch more spacing...I'll leave that up to you based on the increased font sizes.
Hi Steve, This is Jacki's sister. She is in the kitchen today, but wants you to know everything looks great. You had the design right the first time with the fork on the left and knife on the right. She is very sorry for this. She states that she is good to go with this and any further tweaking, she will work with a local designer on it. She wants to thanks you a bunch, enjoyed working with you, and you are very talented artist.
Wondering, hoping you may get this, I have a big event on Wednesday and would LOVE, LOVE, LOVE to use your new logo to get some on the fly business cards and marketing postcards printed (it's an Agriculture Resource Center opening event, gots to make sure all my farmer peeps know about me), the site I'm ordering from is asking for these specifications:
biz card full bleed (which I don't think we have to worry about)
3.54" x 2.05" 90mm x 52mm 1062 x 615 pixels 300 dpi
postcard: (fb)
5.59" x 4.33" 142mm x 110mm 1677 x 1300 pixels 300 dpi
and if I can have a couple smaller sizes for use on letterhead.
Do you have recommendations on software I could use to adjust to these specifications myself to save the pain in your butt as I'm sure you're ready to get paid and move on to your next projects. Feeling guilty that I may have taken more time than I deserve, which I'm feeling especially sensitive to as my big gig this week started out as a paying gig and is now...um, paying me $10 an hour. :)
Everyone LOVES this new logo!!! Can't wait to show it off! Big Hugs and THANKS!