Software Product Logo $100

[sloban]

(Admin code added by Palmer - 984650A)

Hi all! Below is a description of one of two logo contests I'm kicking off. I am not coming to the table with a lot of preconceived notions - I am open to the designers' ideas and I will try to be prompt about answering questions and providing feedback. -- Scott

CONTEST: Software Product Logo
PRIZE: $100
DEADLINE: 11/14/03

NAME: LowCarb Edge or LowCarb EDGE (note: "edge" means "advantage" in this context)

INDUSTRY: This logo will represent a diet, nutrition and exercise-related web-based application and site. The application is primarily about [A] providing tools to track one's progress on low-carb diet and exercise programs (e.g. Atkins), [B] provide a support community for participants through online forums and [C] provide tools to support other aspects of the user's life (e.g. calendar, reminders, to-do lists, shopping list, etc.).

MARKET: predominately women, age 18-55 (core 35-50), English-speaking, primarily in the U.S., Canada, U.K. and Australia

KEY IDEAS/PSYCHOLOGY:
- Community
- Energy
- Peer Support
- "Kitchen Desk" (the idea of sort of a homemaker's base of operations in the home) - but this is a simile, not a metaphor :-)
- Trustworthy/Dependable
- Value through Quality (I.e. "this is worth paying for")

USAGE: WWW site and application branding, MS Office documents

DESIGN GUIDELINES: Logo should try to build a gestalt that includes the name. Freely use color etc. to express yourself, but logo must hold up acceptably on 256-color displays. Prefer vector format for MS Office that converts cleanly to a raster bitmap (GIF or JPG encoding) for use in the the application. The use as a branding element in a web-based application is the primary use and a contest to design UI templates for this site will be coming up. A winning logo will keep this in mind. Think about the logo's use on a main/home/landing page that features the full logo and about reflecting some visual element of the logo on each subsequent page of an application to tie them all together. This could be a shape, typography or even a color, I guess.

[Bill]

Here's a start...

[sloban]

Hi Bill,

Based on my feedback to your entries so far in my other logo contest, you know that I like your general approach to the design using negative space to suggest the figure and the use of large color masses to establish figure-ground. In this case, however, more is less. The addition of a third color actually detracts from this design, making it more difficult for the eye to form the image from the shapes. It is especially busy in the text. Second, the figure looks a little chunky. Whether or not this is completely apropo :) , the impression made by the image should be highly positive, even idealized. I see that the mask needed to be expanded to fit the text, which is itself crunched in too tight to try to make it fit.
Can I suggest you try narrowing the figure mask or using a different image as a mask? At the same time, a different solution for the text will be needed, the text is too closely kerned.

Thanks! -- Scott

[Mark]

Here's my go at this one. :)

[Raja]

hi, something fun :)

[AlexKogan]

Raja, this one is rather radical :D

[Raja]

I dunno, I like fat chicks :)

I thought the idea of 'protien' stomping out 'carbs' was a bit radical myself. :wacko:

Alex, let's see what you got, mister.

[graphxguy]

-Scott
Here's my submission for this logo.

Let me know what you think.

Thanks.

-Stephen

[AlexKogan]

Alex, let's see what you got, mister.


I'm in it... Up to my neck... :(

Maybe I should try using the head? :bash:

[AlexKogan]

<!--QuoteBegin-Mike Wazowsky+--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (Mike Wazowsky)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> That's it, I'm out of ideas. We're closed. Hot air balloon? Too expensive.
Giant slingshot? Too conspicuous. Enormous wooden horse? Too Greek![/b][/quote]


Here's my $1/200.

[Raja]

<!--QuoteBegin-Alex_Kogan+Nov 7 2003, 03:40 PM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (Alex_Kogan @ Nov 7 2003, 03:40 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> <!--QuoteBegin-Mike Wazowsky+--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (Mike Wazowsky)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> That's it, I'm out of ideas. We're closed. Hot air balloon? Too expensive.
Giant slingshot? Too conspicuous. Enormous wooden horse? Too Greek![/b][/quote]


Here's my $1/200. [/b][/quote]
paid a visit to Mr. Langdon, have we? ;)

[AlexKogan]

We didn't pay, we just visited ;)

Seriously, the visit was kind of subconscious. Besides, one of my first ideas was killed by a google search: http://www.donellis.com/@design.html


That search opened my eyes: I didn't know how many things in this world could have edges, some of them completely edgeless in normal life. Like "Biker's Edge", "Eagle's edge", "Pillow's edge"... :huh:

[sloban]

Bill,

I am absolutely in love with your design! Stylish, retro and feminine (my only concern is that it may be too feminine). I have no suggestions for evolving the design in any way. I've spent a couple of hours fitting the sample into miscellaneous and sundry web templates that incorporate some preconceived notions that I have about the general look and feel of the target web site/application. The difficulty is a clash of styles. One of the major preconceived ideas I have about the design of the site is the use of minimalist photographic images of a person or people to emphasize community. I will post a couple of general examples - see the banners at the top and the "porthole" The photographic style just clashes with the clip-arty style of your design.

I'm looking for a logo that will fit well stylistically into this general type of site template (although with better colors and not so busy, to be sure). :rolleyes:

Thanks, Scott

[sloban]

An example of photographic elements in a template (1 of 3). (Just the banner.)

[sloban]

An example of photographic elements in a template (2 of 3).

[sloban]

An example of photographic elements in a template (3 of 3).

[sloban]

Hi Raja!

Please take this with the smile with which it is offered ... the fat chick didn't make it. Sorry! :P

-- Scott

[Raja]

LMFAO

:lol2:

[sloban]

Stephen and Alex - good ideas, but I'm looking for something more evocative of the key ideas/psychology for the application site. Stephen, your design will work great for a generic IT, web or development shop. Looks really good. Alex, the very edgy Edge :-) won't resonate with my target market.

Thanks! -- Scott

[Mark]

I assume I was totally off the mark on the last one, so hopefully this one makes up for it. :)

Mark

P.S. The dead chick is priceless! :lol2:


(Reason for edit.. clicked to soon before adding attachment.)

[sloban]

Mark and Jon,

Great minds and all that! These two entries I think are moving more towards where we'll need to be for this logo.

Mark: cutting carbs . . . clever! Took me a couple of beats to realize it wasn't a feather, though. You have a real way with using imagery elements to suggest a context. Grain has an elegance that broccoli just can't approach, doesn't it? :) But all joking aside (just for the moment) the graphic element is kind of light/loose, as is the entire design. I think the lightness and fine detail will make the logo get lost on a web page, where it is visually competing with many other elements.

Jon: this one is more promising for the logo's use in a web application, I think. The heavier graphical element - while not as evocative as Mark's - has the potential to lend more weight to the overall design. But the design overall is rather light, too.

One real big plus to Mark's design is the readily identifiable graphical element - the head of grain. This element could be pulled out and worked into graphical elements on subsequent pages of the site/application to help unify it. That being said, the swirl shape in Jon's lends itself to similar use.

I really like the colors Jon used. And I'm OK with the base 2-color palette. But as an exploratory exercise, I'm wondering if ... let's see, I've got a color wheel around here somewhere ... they are approximately the web-safe colors #FFCC00 and #006699? Try adding #990066 (burgundy-ish) to the palette, and maybe try switching #006699 to #009999 in this 3-color palette. I'm looking for a littler heavier/tighter presence, but don't want it to get too busy or lose the elegance. Hope this makes sense.

Thanks so much! -- Scott

[Mark]

Here's an expansion on the previous. ;)

[sloban]

I've found a photographic image that almost perfectly expresses the feeling that I want to express through the web site/application and obviously the logo plays a big role in supporting this gestalt. -- Scott

[sloban]

Mark, thanks for the evolution of your design. It does carry much more impact now. But I think the additional detail is moving in the wrong direction for what I want the logo to express. I think showing something to negate it (the grains in this case) is probably really tough to pull off. I showed your first design around (and nobody else thought of a feather :blush: ), but most people thought "but that's wrong!" in response to recognizing the grain.

Jon, I like the addition of burgundy. I played around looking for a solution that provided the color psychology I am looking for, while having more overall impact. Could you try along the lines of the one I've attached (which seems slightly out of balance maybe???). Maybe stroke the "Edge" to make it a hair more weighted??

Thanks again to both of you! -- Scott

[AlexKogan]

Here goes the not that edgy edge :)

[Mark]

Here's another go.

[sloban]

Super idea, Alex!

I want to preserve the combined "LowCarb" word (but I couldn't give a good reason why), so #2-G isn't the direction I would want to go. The vertical curve shape in #2-A and H is more evocative of a slimming waist. Between 2-A and 2-H, I think the design of H is superior because it has a path for the eye from top to bottom. The color of the "LowCarb" text seems too light to me, though.

Now, the ones with the horizontal curve, #2-B, C, D, E and F: I don't think 2-B is working because the eye is trapped in the "edge" part. And I don't think following the curve with the text is working in D. I think I like the design of C and E the best of the whole set. The single-color background for the "edge" seems to work better ... very clean flow throughout the design. The "LowCarb" text is still a problem, though.

I've attached an idea: move to a blue like #006699 to better balance the tans and use the same color and full density for both the background and text. I tried an italics text - not sure it's the best solution. I think that in my attached idea the "LowCarb" text is kerned a little too closely, but I don't have many fonts to play with.

You want to see what you can do with this? Get this to come together along the lines of my idea and I think it'll be a finalist.

[AlexKogan]

Hi there, Scott! ;)

here goes the first round - the horizontal one (I'll send the vertical version soon).

It's made in a 3x6 matrix form, the three columns stay for three different fonts (I've tried more, but I ended up with these three) and rows stay for different versions.

The upper part of the table has the background as it was in the original version, and the lower part has it flipped horizontally. I've tried this because when her err.. well, bottom part (which is somewhat more protruding than the other one) looks to the right, it gives the image an overall positive impulse.

The three versions in each one of the two parts are just diffferent degrees of penetration between the typography and the graphic element at the bottom. Namely: touch, partial penetration and complete penetration. The last one adds the vertical flow to the image, I decided to try it.

The normal style of serifs fonts brings up that agressive and heavy "w", while Sans Serif fonts seem to broke the unity of the design, so I stood with serifs and used italics which have softer shapes and besides add another dynamic line to the design. I've searched for fonts with relatively big x-height to increase the font weight with respect to the word's width. Personally, I prefer the "c" column version, which appears more balanced and soft.

So... :blink: here it goes:

[sloban]

Cool Alex! Thanks! I'll look at these. Just wanted to say not to worry about the vertical version, this is good stuff.

[sloban]

A2 is perfect. :tup: Hold that thought ...

[sloban]

Jon,

This one (attached) is the one. Just tweak the colors slightly: the gray is RGB #EEEEEE, the blue is #006699 and the burgundy is #990066.

-- Scott

[sloban]

This is down to two finalists now: Alex and Jon. I will make a decision on one winner (tomorrow?) when Jon's final modification as per my request is done. And just to let you know, after a winner is declared, I will be making an offer to buy the #2 design, as well. You guys did great work! -- Scott

[AlexKogan]

Scott :)

While I'm holding* the thought, here's a couple of details I'd like to clarify:

#4-1 is the 3-A2, without changes.
#4-2 has the first "e" welded to the "d" (it wasn't in the a2 version, so I thought you might want to check this out).

#4-3 has the d's serif within the blue camp, which makes the vertical stem not that rigid and smoothes the visual trace.

#4-4 has both the welded "e" and the "d" serif.

Cheers! :)

* the letter "d" was missing in the original post. I wouldn't want to "holing" the thought, at least, consciously I wouldn't :)

[Michael]

Sort of :off:

I've just got a contract for a new Carbless food company over here in the Uk.


:)

[AlexKogan]

Michael, did they take a "before" shot of you? :whistle2:

[sloban]

Thanks to everyone who entered this contest! Unfortunately, I can pick only one winner. As I mentioned in an earlier post, the entries by both Jon and Alex are my finalists. While it is more of a text stylization, the final entry by Jon is the one that best expresses and serves my objectives as described in my initial message and as expressed through the sample templates and photo that I posted later. His design will best fit my needs for the web site/application and I am declaring Jon the winner.

That being said, I want to highly compliment Alex. His submission is more of a true logo and represents a good, tight design. It offers more of the kind of instant recognizability that a good logo should have. I will be contacting Alex directly about his design #4-2 in the next day or two. I hope that we can work out a mutually acceptable price that will allow me to purchase his design, as well. I think it would look just super on a polo shirt, mug or mouse pad.

My compliments to all the designers. For those who posted entries early and did not get a chance for whatever reason to respond to requests for evolution, I'm sorry for calling the contest early, but I've found what I need and didn't want to prolong the contest and cause extra work for everyone.

Best regards, Scott

[Mark]

:tup: Congrats guys! :tup: Nicely done!

[AlexKogan]

Awww, Jon, that's the second one you've cut me on today :)

Way to go, pal! ;)

Scott, it's been real pleasure working with you. For someone who (supposedly) isn't a designer, you know just a little bit too much about design ;) I wish all clients had this clarity about their objectives. Let's look forward for another contests of yours ;)

As for the logo, of course I have no objections, but I'd have to ask Palmer about how this is done. I'm not sure if it has to be done through the site or not, and as I'm recent integrant(sp.?) and still haven't won a contest, I still have a somewhat vague idea about mechanics of the payments.

So, Palmer, how do I proceed?

[Palmer]

Whatever price you work out he sends to Design Outpost through the following page and then I pay you...
http://www.designoutpost.com/post.htm

Thanks :)

[AlexKogan]

Thanks, Palmer. That's what I thought would be the correct way.

Scott, is it all right with you?

[AlexKogan]

Oh, Mark, sorry I didn't notice your post :) Thanks, pal! ;)