[Project Complete] Due: Oct. 27th - Dressage Business Logo (Equestrian) - $200

[cvbox]

(Admin code added by Palmer - 4FH088522T1888744)

Ok here is the specification of a logo for a new dressage and livery yard:

I am helping the proprietors set this business up and had some fantastic results from the great designers that work in the Design Outpost last year that I thought that I would help them out with the design of another great logo to give their business a professional edge.

I cannot find the list of questions that existed about a year ago that offered a very good template to set designers going so shall set about answering my own:

What does the business do?

It is an equestrian business, which specialises in the training of horse and/or rider in the art (sport) of dressage. Ranging from young horses just beginning their education, to horses competing at the highest level in the UK and abroad. Training is also available for riders competing at all levels of the sport.

(Dressage can be a pure sport or the initial requirement in the three phases of eventing).

For those of you that do not know what dressage is there is a good description that can be found on Wikipedia at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dressage

The horses that are under training at this yard are at the top end of the sport some valued in the region of £250,000. They are exceptionally well cared for, athletic, competition horses, aiming for the top of their sport. (looked after in the same way as you would a human athlete, for example they all receive training, physio, massage, dental care, all are nutritionally assessed as individuals, all equipment is specific to the needs and size of the horse - so all very specific and precise for each individual horse)

The riders who train with the proprietors are also looking for training at the highest level, clients range from those who wish begin competing to those riding for their country at the most advanced levels.

Some of the horses are owned by non riders and competed on their behalf by the proprietors, the owners take pride in owning and watching their horse compete and reach the top level of the sport.

This is a very competitive sport and can be very expensive; clients expect the very best in professional service and standards. This is what Darryl Thickitt Dressage offers.

The Name of the Business?

Darryl Thickitt Dressage – Darryl is one of the proprietors and he is the USP of the business being one of the UK’s best young riders, and a member of the British Potential Olympic squad.

So what needs to be communicated?

A sharp, memorable, visual image which will be identifiable with this graceful sport and Darryl Thickitt Dressage.

Although I do not wish to influence you in any direction I believe if you are not aware of the sport you may find it useful look at dressage horses and riders on the web, then for an example take into account some of the equipment used. Having looked at other people involved in the dressage business their logos are particularly uninspiring and mostly amateurish font and colour combinations. The logo of British Dressage is at http://www.britishdressage.co.uk/ and is about the only one that is known, obviously this can be used for inspiration only and cannot be confused with our business.

The name of the business needs to be included and while it is Darryl Thickitt Dressage Ltd we would not need the ‘Ltd’ in the logo since it will be included as appropriate in any formal company correspondence. The business is positioning itself at the top end of the sport. It may be possible to have two variants of the logo – DTD and Darryl Thickitt Dressage.

What will the logo be used for?

It will be incorporated into the company’s communications such as business cards, letterheads and invoicing etc. as well as the website. It may be included in time on clothing and vehicles.

Format

Ideally we will require the logo in a form so that we can adjust and size as required – Adobe Illustrator is used by a friend of ours and should be ideal.

What about the proprietors?

Two very professional, dedicated and enthusiastic young men, who are extremely passionate about the business in which they have always been involved. Now venturing out on their own so this is a new business.

Colours and design?

Again I do not wish to close prematurely and therefore do not wish to be prescriptive about colours that we do or do not like. I think that the feedback that will be provided as we go along should provide a good steer to the designers that decide to enter this competition.

Timetable.

The business will be open for business on 1 October 2006 so this competition is a little at the last minute. It more important to get a good logo than to have it exactly on time so therefore I have tried to be as generous as possible with the timescale in order to get loads of quality entries. We are therefore closing the competition on 29 September.

Anything else?

The proprietors have very intermittent access to the internet so the feedback will be delayed. We will probably have to print out the results and send them to them for detailed feedback. While we do not believe that this will adversely impact on the process it needs to be known.

Any questions – just ask – ask them direct to michael@colyer.me.uk for a speedy response – I will post both the question and the answer on the forum so that everybody can see it.

Best of luck with the design competition. I know that there will be some great designs out there.

Michael

[shnickerdoodle studios]

One from me...

Thanks,
Deanna

[Blesseville]

http://www.blesseville.com/do/dtd1.jpg

[cvbox]

Hi,
Many thanks for these two great contributions - I will get some detailed feedback from Darryl and will post some feedback in the next 24 hours.
Other designers - please feel free to contribute.
Michael

[Senter]

Ill have something when I return to town.

[cvbox]

Many thanks for the first two contributions. One of the things that we wish to convey about the business is that it is something a little bit special. It is very easy to design a logo by finding a piece of clip art of a horse or a dressage horse and add a typeface. Indeed this is something that the competition does and I am afraid that these first two contributions look as though they are of this ilk. While it sounds a little condescending and perhaps slightly insulting to you as professional designers it is possible that both of these designs could have been produced through membership of a clip art service.

A horse is not a given although this does not mean that the winning design will either include or not include one.

To try to assist your inspiration some items associated with top level dressage are top hat (smaller in height than standard), white gloves, tail coat, dressage whip, spurs and a general impression of elegance. (Dressage is often compared to ballet, for its beauty and grace, as the horses are said to dance, hence the saying ‘dressage in the rain is like ballet in a bog’!)

The overall impression we are looking for is a logo possibly interweaved with the name, rather than separate from the name. It must look professional and have a WOW factor that a standard word art logo fro the local riding school can not achieve.

[Just J]

It is very easy to design a logo by finding a piece of clip art of a horse or a dressage horse and add a typeface... While it sounds a little condescending and perhaps slightly insulting to you as professional designers it is possible that both of these designs could have been produced through membership of a clip art service.
As an FYI... All designers at Design Outpost are original and hand drawn. Using clip-art in a logo would be against copyright law so that cannot be used by any designers here.

With that said, I'm sure the above designers take it as a compliment that their work was compared to that of clip-art. Additionally, I'm sure that your point was noted and the designs that are shown to you in the future will be less "clip-artish" and more tailored to your liking.


Thanks,

Jason
DO Moderator

[Titania]

http://titania.myown.com.ar/do/titania_dressage.jpg

[Paula23]

:)

[Paula23]

Thanks!

[nhr]

Hello again, Michael:

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b92/nhrdesign/DO/DarrylThickittDressage_nhr.png

Thank you.

[BlueCherryGraphics]

v1

[cvbox]

Many thanks for these designs - there will be feedback on these at the end of the weekend.

[Artemii]

Hello! :)

[cvbox]

Many thanks for all the entries – here is the feedback and encouragement that I hope will spur you onto a winning design (no horse pun intended).

Deanna

Many thanks for this design – the two elements look too indistinct and not connected to each other. While the previous comments on clip art are obviously unwarranted this is the impression that is given. Please consider some of the comments on the other designs and consider something that may embody these.

Medigraph

Many thanks for this design. While the outline of the horse is well drawn the same comments as noted above are apt in that the two elements do not appear to be connected to each other in that they appear separate. Again please consider some of the comments that are applied to the other designers and consider submitting something that embodies these.

Titania

While the horse is most definitely a dressage rider I am afraid that the circle design does not appeal. While it is undoubtedly a good design I am afraid that it is unlikely to be a winner this time.

Paula23

Your first design is flowing and we like it. While the spelling of the surname is incorrect this is something that is easily fixed. Unfortunately the image of the horse is that of a show jumper rather than a dressage rider. The dynamism of the logo is good.

Having considered the logos that include horses the proprietors of the business consider that each of the designs have been ‘seen before’; that is not to say that they are unoriginal but when considering the dressage teams that exist on the Continent which have logos almost every single one includes some sort of symbology of a horse and are all in a similar vein to your two designs – they now consider that this is a little too obvious and does not necessarily differentiate themselves sufficiently.

NHR

Your image of the top hat is great although the whip perhaps needs a little work to look a little more whip like rather than the cane that it looks like at the moment. We like the elements that you have shown but would like to see them worked into the logo lettering a little more. The D and T need a little more prominence rather than the typeface where all the letters are the same height. Perhaps these comments could be reworked into a new design.

J Johnson

We like the typeface that you have used and the lower case letters seem to work – any future design that anybody does – please do not be afraid to do alternates with the capitalisation or otherwise. A little prominence to the D and T may be appropriate although they do not necessarily need to be capitalised.
We do not like the stylised horse’s head that you have drawn.

Artemii

I am sorry but I am afraid that we do not like this design – I am not too sure how we can provide constructiv feedback on this. The layout of the type is good although the font is too curly.

In summary:

• The horse is probably out although not totally rejected.
• We like the top hat, whip needs attention.
• Consider other paraphernalia as noted in other comments.
• Capitalisation options on Darryl Thickitt can be explored.
• A highly stylised font (J Johnson) is cool and differentiates.

Thanks again for the submissions and the work. The competition is still open.

[nhr]

My revision:

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b92/nhrdesign/DO/DarrylThickittDressage2_nhr.png

Thank you very much.

[abby]

Project Update: The project deadline has been extended to Oct 27th.

[cvbox]

Many thanks for all the quality entries so far. The deadline has been extended due to unforeseen circumstances in the business, the most notable of which is that the telephone line has not been installed yet and therefore the broadband Internet is not yet connected. The proprietors of the business want to be absolutely certain that they can choose the right image and also offer feedback on the designs.

The competition is still very much open so please read the specification and the feedback so far to see whether you may be able to snipe the prize.

Once the business is connected to the Internet then it may be possible that the deadline will be brought forward although we will give five days notice.

[Paula23]

A few more ideas :)

[Paula23]

Thanks, Paula

[cvbox]

We are almost there!

I am stuck between two of the designers namely NHR and Paula23. We like the top hat in NHR’s design but not the whip and we like the font used of Paula23.

I think that what has happened is that Paula23 has not wanted to step on the toes of NHR by plagiarising the design of the top hat and vice versa with NHR not wishing to take the font design of Paula23. This is probably the reason that the reins have appeared as a piece of riding paraphernalia in the latest design of Paula23.

Unfortunately there can only be one winner so here is my suggestion to the two of you (or indeed anybody else).

The design of a top hat as a fairly generic item is not purely the property of NHR so therefore I suggest the following:

Paula 23:

Please consider a design with a top hat (although not exactly the same as NHR) with maybe some white gloves instead of the whip. These two items will undoubtedly complement each other. Please consider some other colours too?

NHR:

Please try something similar but with a less angular and severe font. I am afraid that the whip in its current form does not work. Black hat and white gloves could be a great combination.

Anybody else:

The competition will close shortly – any submissions will be considered.

Hope that this helps.

[Paula23]

Here are some designs using your Top Hat suggestion.
Since you had listed it in Message 6 as inspiration, and it had yet to be incorporated into any designs, it is within
the rules for all designers to use it.

[Paula23]

Thanks, Paula

[cvbox]

Paula,

The design with the hanging hat is brilliant. The proprietors of the business absolutely love this as a design concept. Before we officially close on the competition I wonder whether we could see a couple of small variations:

Some different colour variations
Perhaps something in the background to bring it all together such as the rampant horse in your version 2 or something as simple as the shape which he is neutral.

Sorry for the late response but we are very very very very close here.

[Paula23]

Hi,
Here are a few layouts incorporating your suggestions.
I can adjust the colors on any of them :)

[Paula23]

..

[Paula23]

..

[Paula23]

Thanks, Paula

[cvbox]

Hi there Paula

Many apologies for the delay. We’ve now taken over this from Michael and we have only just got our internet connection sorted.

We love design no. 5 with the top hat hanging from the ‘D’. Not too keen on the gloves/saddle designs. Is it possible for you to incorporate a dressage style whip to this design? (the original whip design was more a a showing whip than dressage)

With regard to colour we like the red & black that you have used in design no.7 and would like the whip to be in black also.

If you can send your ideas across to us ASAP then we will get straight back to you.

Thanks
Stephen & Darryl

[Paula23]

Here are a few different dressage whips.
Who knew there were so many :)

[Paula23]

...

[Paula23]

Thanks, Paula

[cvbox]

Paula,

First of all we are really sorry that it has taken so long to come to a decision and to provide feedback for you. The business has been very busy so have had little time to worry about the logo.

We would like to go ahead with the top image in version 13. The shaded top hat is great.

A good friend of mine uses Illustrator so we are hoping that this is the package that you use - he can work from that when designing stationery etc. for us.

If you need to email him then it is michael@colyer.me.uk - he will also be able to deal with the detail.

Sorry again for the delay.

Many thanks.

Stephen and Darryl.

[Paula23]

Files have been sent!

Thanks Again, Paula :)