Spire AdvertisingLogo Design Contest

I'm going to get crackin' on this tomorrow, but before I do I just want a little clarification on what kind of spire you're looking for. My interpretation of a spire is just sort of a monolithic object that's usually large and rectangular shaped, maybe even coming to a point. This can look rather plain (although I'll try to make it simple enough so as not to overwhelm the image, but engaging enough to not be a big rectangle). My general question is this: If you had to choose to put one of the following in your logo, would it be the Washington Monument, or one of the towers from the Cathedral of Notre Dame? Just wannna know where to go with this. Input would be appreciated. :)
P.S.
Do you have a website where I can look @ your current color layout?

Hey everybody, thanks for all the entries. I'm new to logo tournament... this is my first time hosting a contest. I'm impressed with the number of entries that have come in, and I've ranked a few, but wanted to share some feedback to help give more direction. Here are a few thoughts...

1. I definitely want something that shows a spire in the image. Nothing too abstract or hidden. The nature of a spire is that it stands out, so hiding it in the lettering is counter-intuitive.

2. I've tried many designs on my own where the spire replaced the "I" in the word spire, and I don't think I'm going to like that. Not sure why. I hate to box someone in if they find a fresh way to make it work, but that's my current thought.

3. I think the shape of the Spire is important. Draw influence from buildings like the Chrysler Building or the Empire State Building in NYC... both are rectangles, with the "pointy thing" on top. I think I'll like spire objects that encompass at least part of the building beneath it... #11 and #33 have begun to touch on that idea.

4. Not only the shape, but the texture of the spire is important too. It may need some 3D depth to it. See my original comments about turning it slightly.

5. Letter10Pro, I like what you did in #25 from an artistic perspective. I think I'll ultimately lean toward something more literal, but I'd definitely like to see more from you. Same goes for #31 from baiskee.

6. One more thing... I hesitated to show you my current logo, because I don't want to box anybody in... but I guess at the end of the day, I should give you as much info as I can for everybody to run with. See my logo at http://www.SpireAd.com

I'm realizing there are multiple meanings for "spire." Here's the spire I'm talking about, from an old-school Webster's dictionary:

A tapering body that shoots up or out to a point in a conical or pyramidal form. Specifically, the roof
of a tower when of a pyramidal form and high in proportion to its width; also, the pyramidal or aspiring
termination of a tower which can not be said to have a roof.

I'm really impressed with the number of entries already! I'm also impressed with the quality these are starting to have. The rankings should start to show what I like. I'm paying more attention to the illustration of the spire than the lettering at this point, knowing that we can tweak fonts later in the contest. However, part of the reason I have #79 in first at this point is because it's a quality illustration AND I like the overall balance of the logo and the lettering. Keep up the good work everybody!

Hey how do I change my entry without having to go to the end of the line ????

hey everybody. Thanks for all the submissions. it's been a crazy second half of the weekend, and I probably won't be able to update rankings until late Monday evening (Eastern GMT -5:00 Time) but there's a lot of good looking stuff.

One more general observation >> I see several who are really starting to nail some cool illustrations of the spire. I think the next thing that will play into the mix of my rankings will be textures. Subtle gradients and glows that give it that web 2.0 edge, without looking too trendy. Established, but fresh. I've noticed that many very OLD brands (see http://www.quakeroats.com) have a fresh look to a long-term brand with subtle textures. See what ya'll can do!

Lots of good stuff came in Tuesday. That said, I think all the logos occupying the top spots look too much like banking or financial logos. Now perhaps that's a flaw with my name or desired mark. But one thing I'd like to see is for these logos to "warm up" a bit. It needs a friendly, approachable look. The original top three goals in the brief are:

1 - We will help your business stand out (the spire metaphor)
2 - We are friendly people who care about our customers.
3 - We are established. (A proven system, and we aren't going anywhere)

We've got 1 and 3 covered well. We need more friendliness. It may be the frequent use of all capital letters. It may be the icons, even though I like the look of the top icons. But I think we need something a bit warmer, less like a banking logo. Without going too abstract on the icon, or too trendy (which becomes outdated) on the fonts.

Good luck everybody! Less than 24 hours to go!

Several designs have started to wrap the bottom of the spire in a circular shape of one form or another. I like many of these ideas, so long as the spire "stands out" of the circle at the top. That said, here's a challenge to build on that if anybody wants to take a shot at it.

My current logo is here:
http://www.spiread.com/images/spire_logo.png

If anybody can find a way to creatively tie the current logo in where the circular shapes surround the base of the spire, that MAY be cool. Note -- the first designer to do so cannot claim others are stealing their idea. I am making the request, and I designed the original logo concept. This is just an idea - it may not look right, but there would be something appealing about keeping 1 or more elements from the old logo, while adding a spire, but only if it could somehow be done without clutter.

Designers,

Thank you to everybody for some great entries! There are a lot of creative people on LT!

Quick update...

The contest ended, and I narrowed it down to the top 3. However, I've asked each of them for a couple tweaks, so I extended it 2 days to make it easy for them to submit those changes.

The rest of the concepts are not in the mix to win, but if anybody wants to submit a completely different idea in the next 2 days, feel free - it could still move to the top. NOTE TO OTHER DESIGNERS: the top 3 have some very similar elements, but don't think you need to mimic those designs. Something completely different probably gives you a better chance of getting to the top of the list.

Thanks again.

Are my current submissions worth developing?

Are you serious CH? So the contest is over? Why is it still up then? Alot of people are creating designs and submitting them. Including me, but I know now that my designs are not going to even matter. What the heck?

Thanks for the ribbon!

Go Pinoy!

Drew:

That's not at all what I said. The contest officially ended on 7/15, I had it narrowed down to 3, but had not declared a winner. I opened it back up again for 2 more days, and -- as I explained on the public comments -- I invited others to submit ideas. I was just saying to other designers in essence -- "don't keep submitting color or font variations of an idea you sent prior to 7/15, because I've narrowed it down to 3 from that batch of entries." I made it clear that new ideas were welcome.

Your work was/is not in vain. Plus, you'll note that I've been more than fair in ranking these. Pretty much everybody who submits an idea that meets the criteria of the contest is getting ranked. The new designers' entries will all end up getting one or more ranked too. So if I misled you or anyone else, sorry.

Thanks,

Jeremy

I want to thank EVERYONE for the great work in this contest. Choosing a winner was no simple task.. there were a lot of really fantastic designs, and you were all a pleasure to work with.

I have chosen baiskee's #165 design to win the contest. He really nailed the look I was looking for, and I am very excited to roll this out as part of our new brand. Congratulations baiskee!

Thanks once again to all of you. This was a positive experience for me, and I will definitely be back - and will be referring my clients to this site for their logo designs too.

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