Topeka Swing DanceLogo Design Contest

I 'll try something that is blend better.

Thank you, more races are represented in our logo now. However instead of such a dark color could you try a chocolate brown? That should match the yellow better and hopefully it won't draw the eye so strongly and seem a bit out of place.

We did have one request to show more racial diversity in the women’s legs. Right now it looks like all the women dancers are white women. If you have a few minutes could you find a way to shade one of the pairs of women’s legs so they could be the legs of someone of a different race (without making the legs the same color as the shoes)? We want to be sure everyone of all races feels welcome and included by our logo.

Thanks!

We have a survey out now, we will pick a final designer soon.

K fix.

Thanks!

Topeka with a K :)

OK.

Also could we see this with the font from submissions 95 and 96?

This is still a very strong contender because of its versatility.

The placement of the women’s shoe still looks odd even when the logo is small. Could you play with that so it has a more balanced look but the shoes aren’t mirror images of each other?

Nice!

Would you be willing to do a version of this with the font from your designs that didn’t include the circle?

I took another look at it on a smaller screen and I disagree with myself, I think the women’s shoe is tilted a little too far. Height differences between the two shoes could also signify jumping or bouncing.

Like the tilt of the shoes, it makes them look like they are dancing even without movement lines.

The inside of the circle still feels crowded to me. Can the shoes be further apart from one another? They still look like they're crowding the capitol behind them.

Like that the top of the capitol dome goes through the circle, helps with spacing inside the circle.

I prefer when the legs are below the lettering rather than below the dome. When the legs are below the lettering I imagine the people's upper bodies are hiding behind the lettering. My brain can't make sense of it when the legs are below the dome, I just think, "Where did their upper bodies go? Why are half people dancing in up in the air in front of the dome?"

We don't need the "Est. 2019" so what would it look like if you enlarged the capitol dome to fill the upper space, then the legs were below the lettering (possibly strategically breaking the outer circles)?

I'll make the changes asap.

Regarding this design: My colleague and I chatted about it last night and we had some thoughts on how to tweak it to fix some of the spacing issues (it feels crowded to us). (We're also having a big debate of dancers versus shoes in general. I think we'll figure that out in the open part of the contest.)
• Move the capitol dome up a bit and allow it to poke through the circle (like you did on one of your more recently submitted designs)
•Take away the movement lines from the shoes completely. Instead to show movement have them at different heights from the "floor" and different tilts from one another so they're not so parallel/mirror image of each other
•The three lines are growing on me, let's stick with those for now.

It feels crowded in the middle of the circle. We don't need the "Est. 2019" if that gives you more space to move the shoes lower.

And the shoes don't need to be right on that grey floor, there's lots of jumps in swing. They also don't have to be parallel with each other.

(Anybody could be dancing with anybody, or they could be doing solo jazz.)

Also like arrangement of the dancers, now it is a mixed gender group rather than couples. Great!

I like that the figure of the capitol dome is breaking through the circle on this one, too, it subtly draws attention to that feature and allows the figures inside the circle to be bigger.

This feels a big crowded trying to fit everything in the circle.

Thanks for continuing to play.

We prefer the design with the legs coming out of the letters rather than the dome.

We still like the shoes, too, they were very fun, so keep those handy. (We are debating whether we like the shoes or legs better.)

Cool font, I do like how the words are all the same size on this one, giving them equal importance.

I'll make some changes tommorrow.

Thank you for continuing to play with this! I always enjoy seeing what you create.

Legs are fun! Could we split up the dancing pairs so it's not implied that guys and girls are dancing together in couples, but just that people of both genders are dancing?

Also would you be willing to try eliminating the big circle and using this font and the various images you've been working with to create a horizontal rather than circular logo?

(I really love your stuff by the way! However we weren't getting a lot of other quality submissions so we did extend our contest to allow us to have more than one designer we loved in the final stages.)

Love the colors and the vintage feel of all of your logos. Simple, elegant, sophisticated. Very nice.

Let's try minimizing the movement lines, it's looking a bit busy.

Also could we try a horizontal take on these ideas rather than containing them in a circle?

Also I think the shoes can be dancing independently of one another. Let's try letting it look like they're being worn by two different people dancing separately from one another.

(By the way, thank you so much for trying so many different iterations of this design!)

What if the Topeka Swing Dance either moved up or got bigger and the feet were what was on either side of the word Topeka? What would that look like? (It may not work, but right now the feet are blocking the dome a lot.)
And could you bring the other shoe back, too?
Here's some feet in motion to pull from: https://happyfeetstudio.dk/classes/lindy-hop-charleston-shag/

Thank you!

If it helps for inspiration our dances come from the 1920s, 30s and 40s. (The lines make me think more 1950s.)

I'll try some changes as soon as possible.

Spacing is good without the tag line.

Also the capitol dome is so great! Uniquely Topeka, anyone from here will know exactly what that is. Wonderful job on that!

The movement lines around the shoes are a little more cartoonish than we’d like. We want to keep it a little classier (while still playful). Is there another way to suggest movement? Not have the shoes be such a mirror image of one another? Have them at different angles or tilts so they look like they’re being worn by dancing people? Other ideas?

Also is there something other than the three lines to put on either side of the Topeka? (It’s making me think of a car show or diner.) If you have other ideas for that space (especially ones that imply movement or flow) that would be cool to see.

I'll try some changes as soon as possible.

Love the personalized capitol building!

We’re not set on our tag line yet so could I see a version without the tag line? (That will give more space for the shoes & capitol building, they look a little crowded right now.)

Could you add something to put more movement into the image? A way to show that the shoes are dancing instead of sitting still?

I'll try some changes as soon as possible.

•We are open non-human dancing images. Dancing letters, dancing legs/feet, dancing shoes, a dancing capitol building, etc. We do not want dancing animals.

•We are open non-human dancing images. Dancing letters, dancing legs/feet, dancing shoes, a dancing capitol building, etc. We do not want dancing animals.

We do not want a man and a woman dancing. If there are full figures dancing in the logo their gender, age and race all need to be ambiguous. In our group we have women that dance with women, men that dance with men, etc. and people of all ages and races. We want to portray that inclusive community. That is very important to us!

The word Topeka needs to draw the eye, right now it's the last thing I read. Topeka Swing Dance should all flow together.

We do not want a man and a woman dancing. If there are people dancing in the logo their gender, age and race all need to be ambiguous. In our group we have women that dance with women, men that dance with men, etc. and people of all ages and races. We want to portray that inclusive community. That is very important to us!

The skyline is too metropolitan for Topeka.

Like the use of color and simplicity.