Hi lexlogo, for #29, I'm personnaly not a fan of the all red and the font used is too common. I prefer teh font you used in #10 or even #3 (the note on the font I had made was only targeted at the font used in #10 for the word "IMPORT").
As mentioned, I have to work with my partner on this, who is more set on the container idea and wants to explore it before we make a decision.
The quality / rendering of the vectorial design is still great though, consistent with your other designs.
Fresh feedback from my partner: he finds your #29 and another designer's container design definitely on the right track, but "too discreet" (his words ;-) ). His suggestion is basically to have something like your #10, but with a container instead of the crate, but still using the multicolor gradient of #10, with the pirate head on the container larger / bolder / more visible than in #29 (proportionally to the container), and the same kind of font as #10 for the word "PIRATE" (just see if you can replace the font used for "IMPORT" in #10 by another, possibly thinner and slightly more modern font, that's just my personal taste).
Both of us love your #10, but he's just set on the container idea, there's no talking him out of it for now... ;-)
Just so you know, strictly from an aesthetic point of view, my personal favorite is actually your very first entry #3, but since we're going to position ourselves as super low cost, unfortunately the all brown scheme is too classy / luxury like for us. Too bad...
I swear to God, I just spent over 45 minutes carefully thinking about and typing VERY detailed feedback on this latest great design. And then this whole Michael Jackson business must have clogged up Internet traffic and f***** up my connection to LT (Twitter actually also went down for a few minutes, unbelievable). When it finally came back and I tried to reload with the POST request, my session had timed out.... So, no courage to retype the whole message right now, and I must say, although I never thought I would, I'm a bit in shock... M.J. is dead... I guess that's how my parents felt when Princess Diana died ;-)
Long story short: as always, I need to validate with my partner, but:
1) I absolutely LOVE the container: the sunrise gradient, the rendering quality, a true gem, nothing to add, nothing to be taken away if you ask me 2) I have some very precise suggestions / ideas for the font work 3) I have a couple suggestions for general direction and possible evolution
I'm off to bed. Please wait for more detailed feedback tomorrow before doing anything else. But overall, wow... I'm really impressed.
** Container: I personnally think it's perfect, but my partner thinks the pirate head is still not "punchy" / "percussive" enough. Let's see what you can do. Maybe just darken it a bit, or use some sort of effect to make it stand out more. I don't know... If nothing works and we agree it ruins it, we'll just revert to what you have now. But I have to at least entertain his comments...
** "PIRATE" font: Needs to stay all caps I think. Definitely bolder. I think the one from #10 and #23 works better. Or even the one there in #32, but all caps, and bolder (if possible). Or it could also be something else. Whatever you do, keep it a script font though and make it bold.
** "IMPORT" font: I like the contrast provided by the fact that it's smaller and a different color. But I think the proportion needs to be more like #23. It's proportionally too small in #32. I also like the way you had it stretched all across the word "PIRATE" in #3. Make the color definitely something vibrant / punchy. The red you had is pretty good, maybe just a bit brighter / louder.
Another avenue worth exploring is the use of some of the standard "pirate" fonts like on http://www.fontspace.com/category/pirates - In that case, I'm not sure if mixing two fonts and sizes will work. I'll leave that up to you. You may even need to change the disposition of the font relative to the container (maybe, maybe not though). Again, whatever your choice, make it bold and punchy. Maybe something like Blackbeard ? It might bring back back some of the "old fashioned" pirate feel and provide a nice contrast with the modern container.
Overall, I would say that we have the "Trustworthy / legit" brief point down, just by the quality of the container element. We're now missing the "Good deals" element. Definitely think "Good deals !!!", bold, loud, punchy, "oomph", "bam", percussive (Ok, I think you get the point lol ;-) ). I've actually updated the sliders a bit if that helps at all.
The "products from around the world" part is not as important, and maybe that's where an additional element such as background scene (stuff like sea, port or dock, pirate ship, island, sun.. whatever) may bring that exotic feel. The use of an emblem or medalion may work very well for our purpose. Take a look at http://fi.businesstech.fr/index_en.html (yeah, I know, I ripped off templatemonster on that one) - specifically the little medallion in the upper right (not sure what to call it). I know it's commonplace and you see it everywhere in so-called "web 2.0 designs", but it works and I think it has a bit of that "in your face" / promotions / good deals feel. I'm not saying to reuse that element, but just what it communicates. But we'd want something even louder than that.
Maybe working in a slogan could help. I didn't specify one in the brief initially because the only thing is that I have to think of something that works in French. In English it could have been "Good deals... one container at a time". Literal translation would be "Des bons deals... Un container à la fois". But that sounds a bit awkward in French for some reason, I'd have to figure out a better variation on this. Feel free to work with it if you like though, including the english version you prefer. We can always change the phrase to something in French later, the length / no. of characters will be about the same.
OK, I know that's very long. I hope it's not too much feedback in one shot. Do let me know...
I'm leaving the office early today (around 5pm my time, which is 11am for you) to go to a beach party around the Cannes Lions advertising festival, so I won't be online until I get back much later tonight.
Thanks again for all the great work so far, we're definitely on the right track.
Hi Richard (I've followed & added you to friends, I hope you don't mind me calling you by your real name),
Still not quite it on the font... My partner asked if you could just do a mix between #10 and #32. Keep the exact container from #32 (not #37) and the exact font (same color, same everything) from #10.
Also, please check my comment on the general board for additional general information.
An additional idea (but if you could still do the simple #10 / #32 mix, that would be great). Ysonmez is receiving the same information to make it fair:
Below is a link to an idea we like. Fair game to make it yours with your own touch or even adapt it into another idea it may generate in your mind.
One small note: I've updated a bit the "Modern / classic" slider. We still want it to overall look modern, but we want a little bit of "dream" and maybe some measure of "traditional pirates" feeling.
A slogan has been added to the brief: "Good deals... one container at a time". An appropriate french translation will be provided by the end of the contest.
Looks good. Many thanks for that last version. Though for some reason, it doesn't look the same as in #32 - It's flipped of course, but the gradient looks different (darker ?) and we lost the little thin stripes on the skull.
Other than that, it has a nice punch and my partner will probably like it.
#82 is really nice. The general flow works well. I like the font for the slogan. Maybe no italic on it though. Nice job on smoothening the skull drawing and for the overall better "polished" feel. It's possible that my partner may like a bit more yellow and saturation like in #10 or #23 however.
Still something bothering me about the font though. Hmm... that particular one is too "Asia" I think. What if we just tried a nice bold sans-serif font ? Whatever you pick, it needs to stay high impact. Also, I think in the end we want to keep "pirate" and "import" at the same size (we don't want to suggest unconsciously that we're more about pirates than import ;-) ). And maybe just "working" the font a bit in some way.