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View Full Version : (Project Complete) $200 - Jan 14 - Pet Sitting Logo - River City Rover


Katfrench
12-29-2007, 03:50 PM
(Admin code added by Palmer - 61P55595PB848163E)

Design Outpost Creative Brief Worksheet

Project Summary:

I am growing a in-home professional pet care business. We currently do in home pet sitting and dog walking. However we will be expanding our services as demand increases. We may do overnights at clients homes or pet taxi or whatever the
market calls for.

What text should be included in the main part of the logo?

River City Rover

What type of product or service do you offer?

Pet Sitting and Dog Walking

How long have you been in business?

New Business

What do you hope to accomplish with your new identity?

I hope it becomes the identity of best pet sitting and dog walking business in Richmond, Virginia. I want it to be flexible to work with all kinds of marketing material.

What are your long term goals?

Oops, guess I gave that away already. To be the professional pet care service of choice for the pet owners of Richmond. To be employer that the best pet sitters want to work for. To have the best and most well trained employees.

When is the deadline for final entries before choosing a designer?

Monday, January 14th

Audience Profile:

Please describe your existing audience

My existing audience consists of urban boomers and gen x types with a fair amount of disposable income. They are active and spend time with their pets. They want their pets to be exercised when they can't be there and they want their pets to be well cared for in their own homes when they travel for work or vacation.

Who would you like to add to your audience?

More of the same. : )
I want to add more daily mid-day walks. I'd like to get more people in denser areas - for example several clients in one townhouse or condo development.

Perception/Tone/Guidelines:

What type of logo would you like?
I have a logo that would be a good base to work from though I don't want the don't want the designer to be constrained. You can see it at www.rivercityrover.com. The skyline is the Richmond skyline. I like the logo quite a lot except for one thing, it doesn't imply pets or pet services or dog walking (bit of a problem, eh?)
What I like about it is that it is urban. I like that it is "boxed in." I like logos that are constrained in a square or circle or rectangle (or whatever) and not just spilling out in a free form way. I like that it has the actual Richmond skyline. I like the pawprint. What I don't like is that it is too "serious." I think it needs a dog - probably a cartoon dog. I've seen some silhouettes with it and didn't really like them. It needs some fun. I want people to see it and know it has something to do with dogs.

Do you have any colors in mind for your logo? (if so, why?)

Black and white is fine. If we do color - I'm leaning toward what is trendy now - that lime green and purple or reds and oranges. If you go to the site you will see a bunch of bright colors - www.rivercityrover.com. My plan is to also bid out the site as I did it and know it is not good, but I do like color with a lot of white space.

Do you have any specific images or icons in mind that you would definitely like to see incorporated into your logo?

Like I said, I kind of have a cartoon dog in my head. I have a dog and would love if he could be the model for the cartoon dog. His name is Java. I'm not sure how to upload a picture of him. I tried, so it might be here somewhere...

I know ya'll have done a ton of pet sitting logos so I looked through a bunch of the projects and picked out somethings I liked for various reasons. Maybe that will help.

Julie did some cartoon dogs for Pawfessional Pet Care that I liked. They were simple and fun.

I liked what Bill from Penny Lane did for Watch Dog Pet Sitting. It was a bull dog type cartoon dog looking at his watch. I liked it because it was bold. It was constrained in a circle with the dog's elbow just coming out of the circle. It was fun and you would really remember it.

I liked what Kassi did for The Exceptional Pet.

I checked out the Downtown Dogs spa and liked a couple of things there. They have a similar look / idea.
I liked the logo that Tatiana did with the dog on the bench. I like the shape and the idea and the city. The dog is not what I had in mind. I'd like a plainer - everyday kind of dog - a less stylish dog. I like the other dog you used but that logo is more free form and that doesn't appeal to me as much.

Of course I liked what Unorthodox did - the bone and cityscape - both with the stars and without the stars - it is right up my alley - it's symmetrical, it's bold, etc - it works for the spa but I still think I need a dog. : )


Communication Strategy:
What attributes would you like your logo to reflect about your business?
Urban, bold, fun, maybe a little trendy

What is your tagline or slogan?
I'm still working on that.

What is the overall message you are trying to convey to your target audience?
We're here to serve the urban animal lovers of Richmond, Va

Where will your new logo be used?
Everywhere - business cards, brochures, car signs, all my forms, web site, t-shirts, dog t-shirts, mugs (all over cafepress?)
Hopefully, I can get someone here to design all this stuff for me!

Competitive Positioning:
Who are your competitors and what do you think about their logos?
That's not something I'd like to publish publicly.

List competitive URLs if possible
Other pet sitters in my area
www.wuffwalkers.com
www.bowwowkitty.com

What sets you apart from your competitors?


Targeted Message:
State a single-minded word or phrase that will appropriately describe your company:

Passionate about pet care and customer service

Katfrench
12-29-2007, 03:53 PM
I was so excited - sorry - my web address is www.rivercityrover.com

Titania
01-04-2008, 06:34 AM
i'm working on something for this, i'll post asap! :yes:

Katfrench
01-04-2008, 12:48 PM
Thanks! I'm excited to see what you come up with. I've seen your work and look forward to seeing your vision for this.

Artemii
01-08-2008, 12:48 AM
Hello! :)

Artemii
01-08-2008, 12:55 AM
v2

Katfrench
01-08-2008, 09:28 AM
Wow, knocked my socks off! I love it, but I'm not sure it is what I am looking for. The skyline and the rendition of my dog are awesome. I was so impressed by the detail. Here are my concerns, though.

I'm looking for something a bit more fun and less formal.
You are the expert and can tell me this, but I'm also concerned about how "complicated" it is. It is beautiful, but there is a lot of shading and detail that I'm not sure will show up on t-shirts, etc.
I want people to see the logo and know I do dog walking right away.

So perhaps a simpler version, with something that implies dog walking (which is a big part of the pet sitting).
Also (small fix) I don't want the tag line underneath since I'm not decided on that yet.
Please let me know if that is good feedback to help you understand what I am looking for.
Thanks!
Kat

Katfrench
01-08-2008, 11:45 AM
A friend of mine put it this way - the logo should convey...

"I'm a puppy in the city and I love River City Rover to come walk me" pant pant pant

Kinda silly, but yea, that's the main idea.

Katfrench
01-09-2008, 02:56 PM
I am grooving on the one with the dog with the leash in his mouth. That is getting close to what I am looking for. Is there anyway we could play up the skyline a little bit and perhaps make the font a bit more interesting? I like the font used on the entry above it.

Thanks!
Kath

Katfrench
01-10-2008, 02:37 AM
I like it!!
Let me show it to a couple of people today and get their reaction to it. Sometimes I get too close to it. For example, I love the skyline, but I know what it is. I want to make sure that someone looking at it for the first time gets it. I'll get back with you this evening. Thanks!

Katfrench
01-10-2008, 03:06 AM
My quick feedback is that I'm afraid we are losing the detail of the leash in the dog's mouth in the skyline. Yes, I know that is probably why you had the dog above the skyline in your original design. : )
Again, like I said, let me show it around. Maybe I can think of a solution. In the first design I think the skyline wasn't distinguishable and in the second it gets in the way of the dog a bit. Maybe it just won't work with the skyline. Let me see what I can come up with.

Titania
01-10-2008, 04:49 AM
i'm sorry i'm taking so long, i'm working on my sample for this project, i'll post asap! :yes:

Katfrench
01-10-2008, 05:11 PM
I showed logo 2 and logo 4 around today. Most liked what you originally came up with (logo 2) and they all loved the font that you originally selected. I think the skyline is getting lost behind the dog and I'm not sure someone looking at it for the first time would get that it was a city skyline. Since enlarging the Richmond skyline as it is interferes with the detail of the dog and the leash, what if you get creative with the skyline? If the Richmond skyline doesn't work exactly as it is, perhaps we can flip it (hey, it would look different from the other side of the river, anyway) so that the taller buildings are on the tail side of the dog instead of the face side. So, the challenge is to try and make the skyline a bit more recognizable as a city skyline and not overtake the dog. If the shape of the skyline needs to change, I'm okay with that.

Also if you have the time, I'd also like to see what logo 4 might look like with that skyline flipped (also to get the buildings away from the dogs face) and see if you can try the font from logo 2.

Thanks so much - the folks that are helping me decide were really impressed with what you have come up with. I think we are getting close.

Titania
01-11-2008, 03:24 AM
:d

Katfrench
01-11-2008, 05:19 PM
Relevant Designer,
I like Version 5 just as it is. The changes you made address all the concerns I had. I'm very happy with that design.
I've just selected a color scheme that I like and my next steps with you would be to play with the colors. I like the dog and the skyline in black. I'd play around with the text colors using the colors from this site.
http://kuler.adobe.com/index.cfm#themeID/111866
A site that I really like is www.urbanhound.com and you can see they use a similar color scheme as what I selected. They use red and orange for their logo text and it looks really nice.

Katfrench
01-11-2008, 05:27 PM
Titania,
Thank you for your submission. It is beautiful. How can I look at that sweet little face and not want to use him as my logo? Of course I do! However, as much as I love it, I don't think it is the right choice for all my marketing materials. I'm afraid of the detail and shading. I'm worried it won't work well on t-shirts and items like that. I want to be able to use color and also black and white. The detailed, shaded versions are awesome but the black and white logo loses a lot and I know I'd be using that one often. I want a lot of flexibility and I'm not sure I'd have that.

Katfrench
01-11-2008, 05:52 PM
Titania,
Up at Message 13 there are two additional images of Java (my dog). You can see a different view of him from those. It may be that you can see a way to create a simpler cartoon type version of him that would require less detail and would work better in a black and white version. I would love it if you had the time to try however I would certainly understand if that is not your area of specialty as I see that you definitely have a talent for creating realistic likenesses.
Kat

Katfrench
01-11-2008, 05:54 PM
Wow, superfast! Can I see those with the dog in black?

Katfrench
01-11-2008, 05:56 PM
Loving those, by the way!

Katfrench
01-11-2008, 06:14 PM
Yep, perfect. At this point, I don't have any other feedback to give you. :)
My project deadline is Monday. I'd like to see if Titania decides to submit anything else.
I'll post on Monday with my decision. Thanks for everything. I love what you've come up with and I've had fun working with you.
Have a great weekend. Talk to you Monday.

Titania
01-13-2008, 06:03 PM
Sorry i wasn't online on the weekend, just saw your message, i'll try to post asap! :blush:

Katfrench
01-14-2008, 04:10 PM
Titania, thank you so much for your entry. It was really cool.
I was really impressed with all the entries. This has been a really fun experience.

Relavant Studios, I LOVE version 10 of the logo. Thanks so much for working with me. I am so pleased with what you came up with for me.

I am not sure if we finish up in this area or if the project gets moved to a Revisions area so we can talk about formats, etc.

The black and white version is perfect. As for the color logo, I would like to have the text one color. I like both the red and the orange so maybe we could do one of each so I could decide later.

Kat

Katfrench
01-16-2008, 02:17 PM
I have received all files requested from Jon at Relavant.
I couldnt be more pleased with his work.

Kat