[Project Complete] Review Website Logo; $300; Due Sept. 17th [CC122|L:Nov30]

[jfarmelo]

Admin code added by Abby - 6WT65799RP590462F

Design Outpost Creative Brief Worksheet

Project Summary:
What text should be included in the main part of the logo?
Service Grade

What type of product or service do you offer? We are an online site that will have homeowners review contractors. They will give a "grade" for the "service" they have received from a contractor, hence the name Service Grade.

How long have you been in business? Business just started

What do you hope to accomplish with your new identity? A professional, corporate image that can be trusted by homeowners and business owners

What are your long term goals? To be a great source of information for homeowners and business owners.

When is the deadline for final entries before choosing a designer? Monday September 17th

Audience Profile:
Homeowners who have income to spend on home improvements

Perception/Tone/Guidelines:
What type of logo would you like? We are looking for a simple, professional logo. The name Service Grade should be very readable. The logo is to communicate a solid, professional, corporate business that can be trusted. We need the logo to have very good printability in black & white and color.

Do you have any colors in mind for your logo? I think we should use very basic, primary colors. Nothing too fancy.

Do you have any specific images or icons in mind that you would definitely like to see incorporated into your logo? We do not have a specific image or icon. We are leaning towards an icon that symbolizes a professionalism, trustworthy, dependable company.

Communication Strategy:
What attributes would you like your logo to reflect about your business? That we are a professional, established, trustworthy, dependable company.

What is your tagline or slogan? We do not have one.

What is the overall message you are trying to convey to your target audience? That our site can be trusted to give good information on contractors.

Where will your new logo be used? On our web site, other web sites and extensively with printed material

Competitive Positioning:
Who are your competitors and what do you think about their logos? Angieslist.com is the main competitor. Their logo is more "cartoonish" than we would like.

List competitive URLs if possible
http://www.angieslist.com/AngiesList
We also like the worldcom logo.
http://www.biocrawler.com/w/images/thumb/0/0c/280px-Worldcom-logo.gif

What sets you apart from your competitors? We will offer tools for contractors.

Targeted Message:
State a single-minded word or phrase that will appropriately describe your company: Quality contractor reviews for homeowners. Great online resources for contractors

[Leclerk]

Hi!

http://www.logoholik.com/do/logoholik_servicegrade_01.jpg

[nwingate]

Howdy Folks,

I wanted to let you know that Jon and I are running this contest together and I'll be throwing in some suggestions and comments as well.

Below are a few logos that we like the design of and we hope it helps you in the deign process. I'll be adding more logos to this post as I find them so you guys will have a lot of good examples

These are just examples of what we like.... not something we want copied!

http://www.bbb.org/cimages/mainLogo.gif


http://img.search.com/thumb/8/8f/Worldcom-logo.gif/280px-Worldcom-logo.gif




http://whittierautobody.com/images/132_Valustar-Logo.jpg



http://web2list.com/logo/5000/368_1141958439.jpg


http://www.linkedin.com/img/logos/logo.gif


http://assets2.sparkpeople.com/assets/newprofile/la7_logo.jpg


Once again, we are looking for a logo that represents a "trusted source" for information. 2 - 3 colors. Bold and brandable.

Look forward to seeing what everyone comes up with. THANKS.

[nwingate]

Logoholik: I took a look through your homepage/portfolio and I really like what I see. I'm excited to see what all you come up with. :tup:

Thanks for the first attempt. The design isn't quite what we are looking for but let me give you some feedback so you know why and which direction to head.

The colors are a bit earthy and I think we are looking for something a bit bolder.

The design it's self is a bit simple. It's alright to have simple lettering if the icon (if one is used) stands out more but on this design the wording is simple and the icon is simple and small too. I'd love to see something with either a really strong symbol that conveys Service, Reviews, and/or Trust... or some really unique wording that stands for itself but doesn't look like it could be easily remade on any word processor.

We are also open to a seal type design or really anything you want to throw our way.

Thanks,
Nathan

[guetizo]

Hi,

http://pvdesign.com.sapo.pt/service/originall_service.png

[xpressions]

Hi,

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y185/nemagazine/servicegrade.png

[djaka]

:)

[Leclerk]

so, a star with chimney concept is not something you would like me to explore further? I went for clear message/clever design.

[Leclerk]

from another angle perhaps...

http://www.logoholik.com/do/logoholik_servicegrade_02.jpg

[jfarmelo]

Thanks for the entries. Let me give one general comment. We don't necessarily want to limit ourselves to the housing market, or just home improvement.

We will make more comments after Nathan and I discuss.

Thanks again!

[jfarmelo]

Logoholik -- I think the star has potential. I think the chimney is a little hard to see or understand that is what it is. I also think in your last logo, we should remove the circle around the star.

expressions -- I think we want to stay away from the using an icon/image to signify "grade". We would rather have something signify, service, or even an image that portrays dependability or trust.

djaka -- the icon is a little too limited to just the home and I think the shades of blue are a little too fancy.


guetizo -- I think the checkmark could have some potential, but think it doesn't need to be integrated into the lettering.

[jfarmelo]

Couple more guidelines:

1. One way to think of the image we are trying to portray is the better business bureau, but online.

2. Nathan and I like this logo. It's a good use of colors. The wording around the outside wouldn't have to be on our logo. Also I don't think we could use a hammer. Need another object that says service or dependable or trustworthy.

http://www.theedgee.com/Quickstart/ImageLib/MBT_seal_logo_(Small).jpg

[jfarmelo]

Logoholik...As Nathan and I discussed it a little more, we realized that the star concept might not work well. We are not using a star system to for grading service providers. They will receive a grade, A through F, but we really aren't interested in having an icon or image represent the 'grade' aspect of our site.

[castell]

http://www.visualadv.net/projects/50/17_prev.gif

[Blesseville]

:)

http://www.blesseville.com/do/sgv1.jpg

[Blesseville]

http://www.blesseville.com/do/sgv2.jpg

[jfarmelo]

Castell....

I think the sun could have some potential. I would integrate the sun more closely with the letter (maybe behind them) add some color to the letters. I'm also not a huge fan of the 4 color rectangles. I think the color should be integrated into the letters.

Thanks!

[castell]

http://www.visualadv.net/projects/50/17_prev_2.gif

[giant]

Here's from me... :)

[giant]

one more... :)

[giant]

one more... :)

[skyvee]

Hi! Here's one from me. Thank you! :)

[nwingate]

Thanks to everyone who has submitted a design. You guys do great work.
I don't think we have given you all enough direction because what were getting so far isn't what we are looking for. So, please read his post and we will try to clarify some.

Some More Direction



Objects


Let me clarify what our company will do. Our goal is to have consumers grade different services they have received. This may be a home improvement project, cleaning, auto repair, or any other type of service you can think of. We plan to start with home improvement and that will be our focus but we will be adding a lot more. Therefore a house is to limiting and really not what we are looking for. So once again...
NO MORE HOUSES PLEASE!

Also, there are two main ways most websites rate things. One is a 5 star system and the other is A through F system. We are Service GRADE and will be using the A through F (A, B, C, D, F) rating system.. just like what you got in school. Therefore the use of a Star doesn't really fit with how we will be rating people. So for those who are just reading the bold points:
NO MORE STARS PLEASE!

As you can see a lot of the designs so far have focused on either a star or a house and both of those concepts don't really fit what we want to do.

So, what objects would be good? Well, I can't say we have a good idea of exactly what we want and we are open to any ideas you have as long as it doesn't go contrary to what who we are like a star or house does. Just words done in a unique way are fine as well.
It's funny but the design we like the most is logoholic star/house design. It really is the unique/simple/brandable look we are after. Unfortunately it uses the two elements we don't want to see. Too bad.

Colors

We are seeing a lot of different colors some of which we like and some we don't. Since we are trying to move this contest along I want to name some colors that I would like to see. We really like the colors in the handyman club logo example that we posted so please try to use those if possible. We are open to other colors but some of the earthy tones we have been seeing aren't what we are looking for.
So please at least try...
Blue/Navy
Red/Burgundy
Black (if needed)

Effects

Last bit of direction here. We want our logo to be clean and professional without to many effects. So I would like to stay away from gradient and/or reflective effects. Thanks.
So once more for those who are just reading the bold points:
No Gradient or Reflective Text Please


Thanks a lot for all your hard work and we are really excited to see what you guys come up with next. Thanks for your time and effort. Hopefully this info can help you guys out in the process.

[giant]

Here's from me again... :)

[giant]

one more... :)
thank you.

[nwingate]

giant: Thanks for the designs... but not quite the clean respectable corp look we had in mind. Once again we aren't looking for any gradient or faded text.

Thanks.

[Fabian]

:)

[nwingate]

Fabian: I like the look of this one and will talk it over with Jon in the morning. We had discussed a check mark along with a seal and a few other ideas.

If you have any other variations that you can throw up that would be great. How would it look if the first letter words were capitalized?

[Fabian]

Thanks Nathan,here is the design with Caps for the first letters for comparison.

[Unorthodox]

t :)

[Leclerk]

Hi! Here is my second concept. Accent this time on service part.

http://www.logoholik.com/do/logoholik_servicegrade_03.jpg

Cheers,
Bojan

[nhr]

I am little late, but my deisign coming too...
Thank you.

[jfarmelo]

thanks for the posts...we will give feedback soon. Need to talk to Nathan about them.

[giant]

Here's from me again... :)

[giant]

one more... :)
thank you.

[nwingate]

We will try and post the feeedback soon but just an FYI... we are open to no symbol and just having some sort of stylized wording if that works best. It seems like it's hard to capture the concept of "service" in a symbol.

I'll try to post some examples later tonight.

Thanks.

[guetizo]

Hi Nathan,

http://pvdesign.com.sapo.pt/service/originall_service2.png

[Taldo]

:)

[skyvee]

:)

[Leclerk]

http://www.logoholik.com/do/logoholik_servicegrade_04.jpg

[giant]

Here's from me again... :)
thank you.

[Virgil]

Hello Nathan,
Here's my first idea, based on "medal" symbol.
Thank you,
Virgil.

[giant]

Here's from me again... :)

[giant]

one more... :)
thank you.

[nwingate]

Feel free to venture out of the blues and reds if you like with the words. We are just looking for something with bold colors instead of earthy tones.


I am little late, but my deisign coming too...
Thank you.
NHR... are you still working on a design? We are excited to see your concept :tup:

[Blesseville]

Another two from me.

http://www.blesseville.com/do/sgv3.jpg

[Blesseville]

http://www.blesseville.com/do/sgv4.jpg

[Taldo]

:)

[nhr]

...

[nhr]

...

[nhr]

...

[nhr]

...

[giant]

Here's from me again... :)

[giant]

one more... :)
thank you.

[nwingate]

:)http://www.designoutpost.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=89704&stc=1Could see this one with some different fonts. Something more bold. Thanks.

[nwingate]

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b92/nhrdesign/DOO/ServiceGrade3_nhr.png


Is there any way to make this look more like check marks and less like a military symbol (just what popped into my mind).

Thanks.

Would also like to see any other designs you have. THANKS

[nwingate]

I'd like if a few people could explore the idea of a check mark that arches over the word.



one more... :)
http://www.designoutpost.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=89784&stc=1
thank you.
Could you try this idea on this design? Try arching the check over the word and seeing what it looks like? It may also need to be a different color as well... not sure.

Thanks for the great effort!

[nwingate]

Hi! Here is my second concept. Accent this time on service part.

http://www.logoholik.com/do/logoholik_servicegrade_03.jpg

Cheers,
Bojan
Bojan... I really love the look of your designs. I love the first one you did and this one but the both seem to have elements that I don't want to use. The as one used a house and star and this one looks like wrenches.

Anyways... any other ideas? I'd love to see them :tup: Thanks

[nhr]

Is there any way to make this look more like check marks and less like a military symbol (just what popped into my mind).
Thanks.
Would also like to see any other designs you have. THANKS

Actually, both meanings was in my mind :) And 3rd - building.
Association with "grade".

However:

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b92/nhrdesign/DOO/ServiceGrade31_nhr.png

Thank you.

[nhr]

With diferent font:

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b92/nhrdesign/DOO/ServiceGrade32_nhr.png

:)

[nhr]

...

[shnickerdoodle studios]

One from me..
Thanks,
Deanna

[Fabian]

I'll be posting something new later today:)

[nwingate]

For anyone looking for ideas... the idea of a seal is still really in my mind. It's one of the better concepts that tells what we are about. Just a thought... thanks.

[Fabian]

I'll gladly work though some colour schemes with you.

[Taldo]

:)

[nwingate]

Here is a seal as an example:

http://citywidewaterheaters.com/db1/00046/citywidewaterheaters.com/_uimages/seal.gif

[xpressions]

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y185/nemagazine/servicegrade2.png

[Virgil]

Hello Nathan,
Here's my seal idea.
Thank you very much,
Virgil.

[Virgil]

And one wit a check mark.
Thank you.
Virgil.

[Virgil]

Another option :)
Thank you,
Virgil.

[Virgil]

:)

[Virgil]

Just type :)
Thank you,
Virgil.

[nwingate]

WE NEED MORE TIME

Thanks to everyone for the design work. We have decided that we need a few more days to complete this contest. I'm not sure who I should talk to about this but we want to give it until at least Wednesday depending on how things go and perhaps Friday if needed..

Sorry for the confusion everyone and thanks for sticking with us!

WE NOW HAVE A FIRM DIRECTION

We would like to see designs focusing on a seal as part of the logo. We are thinking the seal will be in the middle of the two words or perhaps to the left of the words. We would like to see designs with both done.
The seal its self will be used on other parts of our website that list what a person is graded and perhaps as widgets we plan to put on members websites listing their ranking so keep that in mind.

Here are some bad examples that I came up with... one using a design from above. Sorry, I am NOT a designer.

http://www.servicegrade.com/images/example5.jpg



Feel free to run with these ideas putting your own twist to them and giving us some creative alternatives (NOT JUST COPIES).

The seal it's self we want to have our name in, a place for a letter grade (such as A) and either the words RATED or REVIEWD as well.




Anyways, once again we are sorry for the delaying picking a winner and for changing directions but I think we really have a firm direction now and we will be able to narrow in on the winner soon.

Thanks!

[Virgil]

Hello,
Here's a revision, following your guidelines.
Thank you,
Virgil.

[Virgil]

Hello again,
Here's another suggestion.
Thank you,
Virgil.

[Virgil]

:)

[Virgil]

Another option, different typeface and placement of elements :)

[nwingate]

Thanks for the work Virgil.
Could you try a different font for the word Service Grade on the seal and make the red ribbon wider so the words Service Grade stand out more?

Thanks.

[Virgil]

Hello Nathan,
Sure, here's a change :)
Thank you,
Virgil.

[Virgil]

Another option :)
Thank you,
Virgil.

[Virgil]

And another one.
Virgil.

[Virgil]

:)

[xpressions]

I suppose you could have different color variations for your grades: A=Gold; B=Silver; C=Bronze.....

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y185/nemagazine/servicegrade3.png

[xpressions]

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y185/nemagazine/servicegrade3b.png

[BlueCherryGraphics]

MODERATOR'S NOTE: email sent to client 11/24/2007 [CC122|L:Nov30]

[BlueCherryGraphics]

PROJECT UPDATE: this thread has been moved to the Limbo forum.

Client, an administrator will be in contact soon regarding the status of your project.

[nwingate]

Jon and I will pick a winner in the next few days (before the end of the week). Sorry for the delay.

[nwingate]

I'd like if a few people could explore the idea of a check mark that arches over the word.


http://www.designoutpost.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=89784&stc=1

Could you try this idea on this design? Try arching the check over the word and seeing what it looks like? It may also need to be a different color as well... not sure.

Thanks for the great effort!I really wish that giant had tried this revision so we could have seen what it would have looked like.

[nwingate]

one more... :)
thank you.

http://www.designoutpost.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=89784&stc=1
If we can get this one revised as we asked I guess we would like to name it the winner. Can we get a few revisions?

Thanks.

[giant]

OH, so sorry, I didn't see that...
Really sorry...
I'll make the revision ASAP...
Thank You.

[nwingate]

Thanks!

[giant]

Here's from me again... :)
Thank You.

[nwingate]

I'm looking for the tail of the check make to arch over the words somehow and maybe stp over the a or d. Make sense?

[giant]

Here's from me again... :)
Thank You.

[BlueCherryGraphics]

Congratulations DJ.

This thread has been moved to Revisions.

Nathan, please post a note in the thread once you receive the finals.

Thanks! :)

[giant]

hi, Nathan...
Do you get some advice for me... :)
Thank You.

[giant]

Hi Nathan,
I was make the files and sent it to you...
and I make a PM for you.
Please go to the following link to find the message:
http://www.designoutpost.com/forums/private.php?

[BlueCherryGraphics]

PROJECT UPDATE: moved to Logo Project Archives.