NurseCentral.com.au Logo - $100

[Deejaypee]

(Admin code added by 2Square - H824224C)


NurseCentral Logo
$100 - Required by 26 March

Deadline: 26th March 2004

Usage: This logo will primarily be used for a yet to be designed website but will also be used for electronic documents, letterhead and brochures. Please produce 2 variations of the logo, 1 using the words NurseCentral (in that format) and a 2nd one as NurseCentral.com.au so it can be used in variations for different uses.

About NurseCentral: NurseCentral.com.au will be an Australian Nursing Industry portal site which will provide nursing specific news, links, discussion forums, resources and merchandise as its main business. It will operate in a similar way to other country’s nursing portal sites such as allnurses.com and nursezone.com.

Therefore, it might be useful to look at those sites particularly, to avoid any similarities.

Target audience: The primary demographic are nurses. The average nurse in Australia is a 40 something female. However I do not want to disenfranchise the younger and older nurses and the male nurses.

Points: Areas of focus for the NurseCentral are: Community, discussion and fraternity. I don’t really have any good ideas about what would make a great logo for NurseCentral – hence coming to you guys.

Further thoughts: It would be nice if any font used was free (or at least affordable) as we may use it in other areas of the website / online documents to further enforce branding.

It may be helpful to know that the website is expected to lean towards soft and warm colour scheme without actually haven chosen a colour scheme yet, so its open slather.

Copyright: It is expected that copyright of the image will be assigned to NurseCentral.


Looking forward to a great contest with lots of innovative ideas :tup:

[MOZ]

Here's some from MOZ

[Deejaypee]

Hey MOZ,
thanks very much for kicking off the competition. :tup:

You're not really going in the right direction unfortunately, but I do appreciate your first contribution.

I am really looking for something that represents the Points I put above - ie - community, discussion, fraternity. They are hard concepts to convey so it might end up being more abstract or just a nice treatment of the words.

I would like to steer away from medical imagery per se.

cheers

Darren

[Julie]

Here's my first attempt...I have another idea I just thought of, so I'll be posting that soon.

Thanks!

Julie

[Julie]

Here's the second.

[Deejaypee]

Hi Julie,
thank you very much.
I'm not really keen on using the nursing cap imagery or the cross as it is too medical. The two heads is interesting as it does convey a good message.

As I expect nurses will be away from work mostly when accessing this site I dont want it to appear too medical. But I appreciate your contribution, they do have a nice feel. :)

Darren

[Julie]

Hey, Darren--I'm going to keep working away at this one :) Now, I did a little research and found that a few nurse organizations represent themselves with hearts, so I imagine they have an affinity for them. Of course, if you use a heart, and no medical symbols, then you have the possibility this could be taken as a place for nurse dating site.

I don't think you want that.

So...I used three heads here and a tiny, tiny heart, representing the community and their dedication to healing.

What do you think?

Julie

[Paula23]

Here are my submissions.All fonts used are pretty much standard. If you dont have them I can easily send them to you at no charge.
Thanks!

[Julie]

OK--how about this?

Julie

[Deejaypee]

Thanks for the new submissions.

Julie - I think you might be right with the heart symbol being linked to dating sites - certainly dont want to give that impression and as a stand alone logo (ie on a mug or something it sort of gives that view)
I'm not opposed to the heart, but it would have to not look anything like a dating site.

I quite like where the second one is going, particularly with the different colours. Perhaps trya purple instead of red and see how that goes.
The heads arent quite right but it has a better feel.

Also - I didnt really notice before because I was off the hat idea - but I do like the look of the logo sitting behind the text which you used for one of the nurse hat ones.

Paula - thanks for joining in :)
I prefer where the second one is over the first.
I quite like the imagery of the dotted line circling the words - that works quite well. I'm not keen on the heads you've used though - it could look ok without those. Could you try bringing the words together and using a couple of different colours on them.

OVERALL THOUGHTS: An idea I have had is that nursing often uses lamps as a bit of a theme harking back to Florence Nightingale doing her rounds with a lamp - so that may spark something for someone.

I'm pleased with the progress - thank you so much, please keep the ideas flowing :)

Darren

[DesignGeneral]

here is my entry ;)

feednack will be appreciated.

thanks

[Deejaypee]

Hey - Fast work DesignGeneral - thank you :D

It took me a little while to work out that the image was a lamp :huh:
Maybe you could come up with a styling that was more obvious at a glance, that would be good.

I do want the words Nurse and Central to be joined as NurseCentral. And I have discovered that I would like an interesting font.

Hope that helps with more development and ideas.

thanks

[DesignGeneral]

This is the lamp model that Florence Nightingale used ;)

let me know what u think about these revisions.

thanks

[Deejaypee]

DesignGeneral - of course you are right that Florence Nightingale is credited with using a lamp like the one you describe. I prefer it with the better detail you have manged, particularly in the black one. :) Is it possible to get a yellow glow sort of how you have the gray in there at the moment?

Not keen on the font - sorry :( probably something a bit rounder would appeal more.
But thanks heaps so far!!

A few nursing bodies use an oil or candle lamp holder or variations of in their logos. As long as these werent too closely copied it could inspire others.
http://www.icn.ch/
http://www.twna.org.tw/eng-012.gif
http://www.giftsofhealth.net/generic2.html

I'm not fixed on this notion - but would like to explore it if someone is inspired by it.

[DesignGeneral]

I'll be back :)

[DesignGeneral]

I'm back ;)

[Deejaypee]

DesignGeneral - good to see you back :)
that font is certainly much rounder - I would like to see the Capital N and C retained.
Is it possible to use the all black lantern and add some yellow to it, rather than the all yellow ones.
Its a bit hard to describe, but I think it might look good if the horizontal lines remained black, but the gray shading you've used to represent the glow was replaced with yellow.

thanks very much.

[DesignGeneral]

like this?

[Paula23]

[QUOTE]Paula - thanks for joining in
I prefer where the second one is over the first.
I quite like the imagery of the dotted line circling the words - that works quite well. I'm not keen on the heads you've used though - it could look ok without those. Could you try bringing the words together and using a couple of different colours on them.






Here are the revisions and some new ideas. :D

[annia]

here is an entry from me :)

[Deejaypee]

Hello again,

thank you for some new ideas and designs :D

DesignGeneral Of those, I like the third contribution best, thanks. I dont have any more suggestions about that design at present but I am happy to review further mods or new designs. Thank you!

Paula You have come up with some quite varied designs.
I like the second logo colours, and would like to see it in the NurseCentral.com.au format.
The purple disc idea has some potential I think. I would like to see how you incorporate NurseCentral.com.au into it. Also the leaf (Maple I'm guessing) doesnt have any real association in Australia. Maybe you could try the lamp shape in there instead?
I like the bottom lamp logo the best of those two ideas. Could you again lose the Maple leaf imagery, and I would like to see the lamp put behind the text. I do like that font - does it have a lower case as well? Because I would like the words to join and be separated by the Capitals and maybe colour change because I want to be able to market as NurseCentral.com.au off the site. Thank you for the variations :)

Annia Welcome to the fray!
The designs you have come up with are nice and clean looking. Unfortunately I am trying to get away from pure medical symbolism which the red cross has, so not keen on that aspect. But would like to see some other ideas or variations. Thanks

I will be away in the country for the next 2 days, so wont be able to comment again until Wednesday, but please dont let that stop the contributions :tup:

Good work so far!

[Paula23]

DJP,
Here are the edits you suggested. I used the upper/lower case font in the "lamp' logo,added australia as the silhouette.Let me know if you need any other changes.I'll be happy to make them! :D

[Deejaypee]

I'm Back - thanks Paula for your revisions.

A bit of feedback I've got from some nurses is that the lamp looks a bit too much like a genie lamp. Maybe you could try making it look white porcelain instead of metalic? Also, I would probably prefer it not being so much a feature of the overall image. The text could become more prominent and I think lose the text shadow so it becomes clearer. - Thanks very much for persisting.

TO EVERYONE:
I am wondering whether a train station sign type image might be worth a try. To give you an idea of the shapes I am thinking about you can look at

http://www.kapstadt.com/Unterkunft/backpac...N_LOGO_jpeg.jpg (http://www.kapstadt.com/Unterkunft/backpackers/Trainlodge/TRAIN_LOGO_jpeg.jpg)

Or something along the lines of the image attached - (sorry to offend you by providing such poor design skills :P )

Hopefully that inspires some more responses.

Thanks - Darren

[MOZ]

MOZ is back

Heres another attempt WIDE OPEN!

[Michael]

Paula23 please can you resize your last entry, 580px width max ;)


Cheers

[Deejaypee]

Hi Moz - very interesting.
I'll have to think about feedback a bit - I've just got back from a meeting and its sleep time here in Oz :)

I like it, and I'll think further about specific comments - thanks very much.

[Deejaypee]

Hi everyone,
I am really needing to make a decision very soon.
Paula, are you still interested in providing the revisions I suggested, I would like to see them?

Moz - could you please try a figure that is standing with legs together (the current one is looking a little too athletic :), but the open arms is pretty good ). Also, could you round the corners rather than having them cut-off - thanks.

If there are any further entries on the way, could you please let me know. Otherwise I will shortlist and then work with a reduced list to get to a final result.

thanks a lot.

[Paula23]

Yes,sorry for the delay I will get the revisions back to you by tomorrow.
Thanks!

[Paula23]

Here are your revisions. If you need any more just let me know.
Thanks!

[MOZ]

Here's MOZ revision

[Aaron]

Here's my concept.

[DesignGeneral]

;)

[Deejaypee]

Thank you Arthouse and DesignGeneral for your latest interpretations.
I will now go back and consider all the entries and either decide a winner or narrow down to a couple for final tweaking.

I need to have some discussions with my partners, but will respond later today.
Thanks very much for all your entries :)

Darren

[Deejaypee]

Ok guys, thanks for your patience :), we are getting close.

Paula, can you please do a couple of revisions for me.

Focussing on a combination of Items D and E. What I am after is a version in the style of E with some of D elements. ie - could you make the overall feel of the logo lighter by using a lighter font - as in D and forward flowing and lighten the overall border.

I would also like to see how it looks without a border at all.

Also, could you minimise the red to just the circle are and make less full, sort of like the style of http://www.kapstadt.com/Unterkunft/backpac...N_LOGO_jpeg.jpg (http://www.kapstadt.com/Unterkunft/backpackers/Trainlodge/TRAIN_LOGO_jpeg.jpg)
but not quite as open.

Instead of using NurseCentral.com.au under the logo, could you incorporate just the ".com.au" into the bottom red are of the circle.

Lastly, could you use the Blue from F in the horizontal bar to see how that flows.

Quite a few changes I know :blink: , but I would like to see those things if possible before making a final decision.

Thanks

Darren

[Paula23]

Hi,
I thought I would get these edits posted before I go to bed. let me know what you think.
Thanks,Paula

[MOZ]

and MOZ's revision :rolleyes:

[Deejaypee]

Sorry MOZ, I didnt realise I hadnt given response to your last revision - very rude of me :blush:
I'm not keen on the border following the text shape as its too busy. What I meant by rounding the corners was to actually flow in a circular shape on the ends and in the middle.

Arthouse Sorry, not really going in the right direction as I am trying to stay away from pure medical imagery such as crosses.

DesignGeneral Thanks for trying to incorporate that shape into your design. As I stated earlier in discussion with some other nurses I was surprised to learn that not many of my colleagues have the same identification with lamps as I do, despite a number of nursing organisations using them in some form,so I am steering from that idea now - sorry.

Paula Thanks for those latest - I like the colours of the top right best, (I dont think we'd get away with using the middle left :) )but would like to see the top right with just a 1 or 2 pixel border and with no border and also with the text leaning as per the middle left one. Could I also see it with the red only in the circle and not around the horizontal beam.

Thanks everyone - I should declare that I am leaning with MOZ and Paula23 to not waste your time - unless of course, anyone else has a last minute idea :)

Great work

[Aaron]

I did have one last-minute idea, since you were referring to the train sign concept. My thinking would be that Nurse Central as a physical place, hence, utilizing signage. So, I came up with a street sign idea. Let me know if you want to see any edits.

Thanks for the opportunity.

[MOZ]

DUH! Sometimes I take directions to literally! Your not rude...just busy

I'll fix it
MOZ

[MOZ]

Here you go Darren

Revised as requested. Please note colors are not final, just there for contrast
please let me know how you would like it changed

Take care mate
MOZ

[Deejaypee]

Thanks Moz,

the yellow works pretty well, but does need the border I think.
Could you please lighten the border thickness on the bottom one and in the font as well - it all seems a bit heavy.
And if you could reposition the central image so you can fit ".com.au" in the bottom of the circle (fairly small) that would be good too.

thanks a lot

Darren

[Deejaypee]

Arthouse - thanks for your new contribution.
It has quite a nice and simple appeal - I cant think of any changes I require at the minute so will include it in my contemplations :)

Thank you
Darren

[DesignGeneral]

I'm working at something. I'll be back in few min :)

[MOZ]

<!--QuoteBegin-Deejaypee+Mar 29 2004, 12:39 AM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (Deejaypee @ Mar 29 2004, 12:39 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> Thanks Moz,

the yellow works pretty well, but does need the border I think.
Could you please lighten the border thickness on the bottom one and in the font as well - it all seems a bit heavy.
And if you could reposition the central image so you can fit ".com.au" in the bottom of the circle (fairly small) that would be good too.

thanks a lot

Darren [/b][/quote]
Just to get it right....

1. Keep the yellow without the border ADD .com.au

2. On bordered one make border thinner NEW LIGHTER FONT? ADD .com.au

recap Use the lighter font on one with thinner border

Did I get it right :blink:

Any other color schemes?

MOZ

[DesignGeneral]

here we go ;)

[Deejaypee]

<!--QuoteBegin-MOZ+Mar 29 2004, 08:12 PM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (MOZ @ Mar 29 2004, 08:12 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin-->Just to get it right....

1. Keep the yellow without the border&nbsp; ADD .com.au

2. On bordered one&nbsp; make border thinner&nbsp; NEW LIGHTER FONT?&nbsp; ADD .com.au

recap Use the lighter font on one with thinner border

Did I get it right :blink:

Any other color schemes?

MOZ[/b][/quote]
MOZ
Sorry, I'll be clearer.
1. Dont adjust the borderless one - we'll just work with the bordered one.

2. Otherwise your interpretation of #2 is correct.

In terms of colour, I am thinking of using a lightish purple/blue as the site background so it will need to work with that, but I'm not too fussed about colour as that can all be altered relatively easily if we have the layered psd files.

Thanks

DesignGeneral
Some interesting designs there - I would be interested in your thinking behind those (if any ;) ) which may help me perceive what you were thinking. The first ones have some nice motion in them and appear to be abstract of a head, which kind of works. The bottom ones are interesting although I cant apply any meaning to them relevant to the site.
I am not keen on pursuing the colour combination of red, black and yellow because in Australia it is strongly associated with Aboriginal imagery which can be misconstrued here, particularly because it is not an Aboriginal site.

Thank you.

You guys are all making it difficult for me, just when I thought the interest in this one had expired :P

[DesignGeneral]

another idea. ;)

[DesignGeneral]

Just saw your comment regarding to color scheme, here is a different option.

I will explain my thinking behind those designs :)

[DesignGeneral]

here we go...

the 1st design is an abstract nurse head placed in the central circle ;)

the 2nd design tie together the elements (central point, subtle cross, the wheels mean connections, community, nurse ready to help) hard to explain this :bash: I hope u got an idea

the 3rd design is a sun that's mean, hope, warm, help, light. U know "where the sun enter is life and health". B)

that's it :tup:

[Deejaypee]

Kewl, thanks DesignGeneral - I got #1 :)

#2 doesnt really work for me, but I quite like #3.

Could you try and get a small ".com.au" on there that fits neatly please.

Thanks

Darren

[DesignGeneral]

ok, I'll be back in few min :)

[Deejaypee]

No rush :)
I'm off to bed now so I'll catch up in the morning. -_-

[DesignGeneral]

here we go ;)

[DesignGeneral]

this is the 1st in the new color scheme.

[Paula23]

Let me know if you need anymore. Rganks,Paula

[Paula23]

And a few more options :)

[MOZ]

MOZ revisions

Hello here's the changes requested. Please note that if chosen, I will completely rebuild
making sure all in balance and such

Tweaking these version quickly sometimes makes them go a little off balance

MOZ

[Deejaypee]

Thank you all very much for your latest revisions.
We are now overdue, but I have kept the contest open because you were coming up with some great variations. :tup:

I now have to decide a winner - and after many discussions and long and arduous thinking we have decided to go with Paula23's design. :D

I really appreciate all of the contributions from the other designers and we did like one from each of you, so had difficult choices to make.

Paula - could you please do a couple of final revisions.
In the group of 5 we are going with the bottom left and top right variants.

Could you please bring NURSE and CENTRAL together in one word using small caps with the N and C larger - like "NurseCentral".
Also, on the top right version, could you remove the inside border from the circle and make the outside border just a bit thinner.

Thanks very much

Darren

[Paula23]

Awesome! I'll get those revisions done and posted for you. I'm not sure if we're suppose to move this to the revision section or not.I'm sure they'll let us know.
Thanks again! I'll be back momentarily!

[AlexKogan]

Congrats, Paula! :D Great work :D

Moving to the Revisions Forum.

[Paula23]

I see the revisions I posted didn't follow me over here. Here they are. Please let me know where I can send the files to.
Thanks Again, Paula

[Deejaypee]

No Problems Paula - thanks.
Actually I was after the lettering to be in small caps, rather than lower case. I cant replicate that here I dont think. But with large N and C and small capitals for the rest.

Also, now that I see it blown up, the "m" in com looks like it should be tilted a bit, or maybe its the "o" so that it flows better around the curve.

In the top version, could also remove the inside border from above the blue area - thats a bit harder to explain, but I'd like the border to only go all around the outside of the logo in a consistent width.

(I'm finding it very hard to explain clearly what I am after - so I hope that you understand :P)

thanks

Darren

[Paula23]

Hi Darren,
I hope this is what you were conveying.I'll be happy to make any changes you see necessary.Talk to you soon!
Thanks,Paula

[Deejaypee]

Yes, thanks Paula,
very close now :)

Is it an optical illusion or is it uneven where the blue meets the red? It looks like the blue encroaches into the red a little.
-Could you just give me about 5 pixels space (on the current size) between the E of nurse and the C of Central. I realise that that spacing is consistent but it appears a little crowded.
-the "m" of com could probably do with a little more rotation. (is it bigger than the c and o or is that an illusion too?)
-could you also remove the shadowing from all the text please

I will also just have my partner have a final look, but otherwise I think you've nailed it :)

cheers

Darren

[Paula23]

Hi Darren,
You are right about the area where the red meets the blue,it is an optical illusion.I toned down the red a tad to lower the contrast of the 2 colors meeting. If you want the original red I can easily change it back.The c,o,m are the same size ,I rotated the m, and the o, and I think it looks more natural now.
I adjusted the spacing between the E and C, and rewmoved the shadows from the letters. Let me know what you think at your convenience.
Thanks,Paula

[Paula23]

I'm still seeing to much of a bleed when I post it on here.I decided to deepen the blue to see how that looks. :)

[Deejaypee]

Thanks Paula,
sorry to be a pain about this, but when comparing the first one on this page to the last, it is obvious that there is some left over shadow. Putting a ruler over the blue - it appears that 1 pixel of dark colour impinges on the red.

I prefer the original red colour.

If you can fix that shadow, please do, if not then please send the completed layered psd file and the font to me at darren@dbinformatics.com.au

Excellent work, I appreciate all your revisions to get it right :)

regards

Darren

[Deejaypee]

oops, I think you got in before me on the last post :)

I think stick with the original colours.

thanks

Darren

[Paula23]

I'll get those Photoshop files sent to you. I also haveAdobe Illustrator and Corel Draw 9. I'll also send the art in an eps. format which is vector based. Alot of printers and such will request this type of file if you deal with them down the road.
Talk to you shortly.
Paula

[Deejaypee]

Thanks Paula,

Files received - contest complete
I am very happy with the result.

Darren

[Paula23]

Great, Thanks Darren! It's been a pleasure.
Paula