[Project Complete] PingCity.com Logo - $225

[joseph]

(Admin code added by Michael - A9027212H)

PingCity Game Servers Inc. (http://www.pingcity.com/) is an emerging game server hosting service provider aiming to shape and lead in the new market of online multiplayer gaming.

We’re looking for a unique logo to identify our company, and to convey our dedication to high-quality service and performance. The logo must be elegant, yet futuristic and preferably portray an image of PingCity being the center for high-end game servers.

The logo must resize (or come in various sizes), support various backgrounds, and print well. It will be used primarily on our web site, for advertising media, letterheads, and business cards.

It will be a plus if the logo looks good in black and white as well, but the primary use for the logo is web based.

Here are some ideas to assist you, they are not requirements:
- A city of gaming/servers
- High-tech, futuristic
- Energetic and dynamic
- High-quality and high-speed service
- Center of network gaming
- Community for online gaming

As a side note I would like to add that we have multiple projects that will be posted in the near future providing that this one goes well, and we will be interested in working with you again if you are able to perform well on this task.

[QuirkDesign]

This concept is tied to your keywords city, energy, and community. :)

http://www.quirk-design.com/DesignOutpost/pingcitylogo1web.gif

[Tyler]

:d

[joseph]

Thank you very much QuirkDesign and RadicalSEED for your submissions. However, this isn't quite what we're looking for.<o:p>
</o:p>


<o:p></o:p>QuirkDesign: The image that you used doesn't relate well to the business practice, or portray the image that we're looking for. For the text we would like to include "Game Servers" to provide more of a description of what we offer. Not required, but if our domain were to be included, for example by saying "PingCity.com", then that could be beneficial. We want a simple, elegant design though, which takes precedence over including the web site address.<o:p>
</o:p>

<o:p></o:p>RadicalSEED: The image used is creative, and does relate to the theme of our company, although it is a little too complicated. For the text I would prefer for the "P" and "C" to stand out a little more than the other characters. Since we don't have a space between the words it makes it more difficult to read, and we need to compensate to ensure that the name is easy to read. People should be able to see the logo in the corner of their eye, and remember what it said without having to focus on reading it. As suggestions for achieving this you can try to make the two letters slightly larger, capitalized with the rest lowercase, a different color, or the two words can be slightly different colors.<o:p>
</o:p>

<o:p>
</o:p>Although the image next to the name is nice, it is not necessary. If you can make the text alone look interesting enough, then the image is not required. The ideas of "<st1:place w:st="on">Ping</st1:place>", "City", and/or "Game Servers" could potentially be displayed through the use of a creative hand drawn font.<o:p>
</o:p>

<o:p></o:p>Once again thank you for your submissions, and please keep up with the good work!

[samoyloff]

http://samoyloff.com/0503pingcity01.gif

[joseph]

Very nice samoyloff, this one looks the best so far. It has that elegant design and feel that we're looking for, and I like the gentle colors used, although there are a few things:

- The spacing between the "Game Servers" text is a little too big; increasing the character size may help with that (use your judgement)
- I like the font, although something isn't right with the "IN" part, maybe just because the font uses a lowercase "n" as uppercase. It is very subtle, but I think that this makes the name a little difficult to read
- I like the way the image of the two buildings was added, although due to the round shape of these buildings they appear to be of religious origin

I would also like to add that since this logo is for a game server hosting company, a cool gaming style logo could work well, although it must maintain that elegant, professional look at feel to it, and not be overwhelming.

Another idea that can be used to represent high speed, low pings is to have a dot (could creatively use the dots from the "I"s), and make it look like it is moving fast.<o:p>
</o:p>

<o:p></o:p>Thank you for your submissions; keep them coming! :)

[samoyloff]

:) Thanks for your feedback. Here's the revised logo. Please let me know what you think.

- Alex.

http://samoyloff.com/0503pingcity02.gif

[joseph]

Thank you, the "PingCity" text looks much better, the "Game Servers" text looks better as well, but it's a bit too big. Maybe we could try keeping the font size as is, but vertically reducing the size of the font, because the width is good, it's just too tall.

The image unfortunately isn't the look that we're after. If using the "buildings" idea to create a city, then we would want this to look like a futuristic, high speed city, although the buildings that you're using look medieval.

Here is a sample of an old logo, which we decided not to use, that uses an interesting idea to represent high speed, low pings:

http://www.pingcity.com/sample.gif

For reference here is a copy of another logo that we decided not to use:

http://www.pingcity.com/logo.gif

[samoyloff]

Here's something clean :)

http://samoyloff.com/0503pingcity03.gif

[Tyler]

:D

[joseph]

Thank you for the submissions.

Samoyloff: That is an improvement, but it still doesn't look quite like what we're looking for. It doesn't have that cool futuristic, yet professional look that we're going for.

RadicalSEED: That is a significant improvement from the last one, and this image is much closer to what we're after. However, I'm not so fond of the font that you're using.

[joseph]

We have decided to increase the offering from $125 to $225, and extended the deadline from March 15 to March 24. This increase reflects our high expectations from our logo, and we hope to encourage more designers to participate.

We're really looking for something special, we want a logo that will stand out above our competitors, and demonstrate the quality of our service through the quality of our logo.

We want people to know that we're dedicated to high quality service, high speed game servers, and use (and develop) the most advanced technologies in game server hosting.

We would like to see more variations in the font style used. If the font drawn for the logo is creative enough then it can achieve all of our goals, without the need for an added image, although an image can still be included. For example, many game developers use only their name in a special font as their logo, which replaces the need for a separate image.<o:p></o:p>

Please be creative, but you don't need to focus too much on detail for drafts. If we like where you're heading then we will tell you what we do and don't like, and you can then focus more on the details.

Note: By "we" I am referring to myself and two partners that are also monitoring this thread, and passing their feedback to me.

[samoyloff]

http://samoyloff.com/0503pingcity04.gif

[samoyloff]

http://samoyloff.com/0503pingcity05.gif

[samoyloff]

http://xmazz.com/0503pingcity05a.gif

[joseph]

Samoyloff, these are very nice logos, and every time they get better, but they unfortunately don't match our corporate image.

....................


Our market is that of computer gamers, so we need a cool, futuristic logo. I have listed many different things that we're looking for, and it isn't possible to incorporate everything, so be creative and use everything that I said as guidelines only. My partners and I are also open to a different style of logo, which may better suit our needs, one that uses interesting text instead of adding a picture next to it. Here are some samples of this:

http://www.sega.com/
http://www.gamespot.com/
http://www.ebgames.com/
http://www.blizzard.com/
http://www.eagames.com/

[Tyler]

I'm back.

[samoyloff]

I've looked at some of the game industry logos and found out that they all are quite simple, but they have very strong impact due to the uniqueness and dynamism of the font part. I've sketched several ideas on paper and found the one attached to be the most close to the game industry leaders style. Furthermore, not only it is dynamic, unique and brandable, it also has a visual metaphor for ping, which is a tool used to measure internet speed by sending a packet to the server (the first i) and listening to the servers reply (the second i). The visual metaphor is very dynamic and shows speed, which means you're a low ping, fast service. I have also removed the "game servers" part, because I think it makes the logo a little busy and less dynamic. I've looked at several game industry logos and I think there's really no need to explain what you do in the logo, SEGA does not have anything like "we make games" in their logo, but everybody knows what they do because they have it everywhere. Most likely, you will use banner ads to promote your website, and you can just have some catchy text about game servers next to your logo, and everybody will know what PingCity is about. Anyways, if "game servers" will be built in into the logo, it will be too small for banner ads and microbuttons, so I don't think it's really useful to have it there. Please let me know what you think.

Thanks,
Alex.

http://xmazz.com/0503pingcity06.gif

[samoyloff]

http://xmazz.com/0503pingcity06a.gif

[joseph]

samoyloff, the last one is very nice. From the three variations I like the last one the most #pingcity_06a. It needs some work, but it could possibly be the one. Can we try increasing the spacing between the letters? The "I"s look just a little too thick, maybe we should try making them the same width as the other letters. Feel free to use some more graphical effects, or gradient colors. We do want the logo to print well, but most important is how it looks online, and I would be willing to compromise the print quality in exchange for a more attractive online logo. Would it look better if we swapped the colors of the "I"s? I'm not sure, but it may look nice. And finally, my last comment is about the colors used, I think the colors used in your last logo had a "cooler" feel to them.

[Mark]

:)

[Paula23]

:)

[samoyloff]

http://xmazz.com/0503pingcity07.gif

[samoyloff]

http://xmazz.com/0503pingcity07a.gif

[MyChicken]

:)

[MyChicken]

:D

[joseph]

Thank you everyone for your submissions, so far we're leaning towards the logo in post #19 by samoyloff. There is still a day left, so please keep them coming.

samoyloff, #19 looks nicer than the revised ones, but we would still like to play around with it a little because it isn't quite there, but it is very close. My partners feel that the "i"s are not clear enough, or that there is not enough spacing between them and the other characters, they also suggested changing the curve angles, or adding a dot to the "i"s. Another idea would be to make one of the "i"s upside-down, and then connect the dots of the "i"s to the base of the opposite "i", turning the dots into pings. I'm not sure if that will look good, it's hard to picture, but it is an idea.



Thank you!

[samoyloff]

:) Hey, it's a brilliant idea! I mean the dots representing data packets..

http://xmazz.com/0503pingcity08.gif

[joseph]

Today is the deadline, so we will soon be making a final decision, and it looks like we will be going with samoyloff unless anyone can impress us within the next 24 hours.

Thanks samoyloff, that looks much better. I discussed the logo with my partners and we have a few more ideas for you. The logo looks very nice, but it could possibly look better. The first is the width of the "i"s; it would be nice to make them a little thicker so that there is more of a distinct size difference between the start and end of the lines. The next concern is with the vertical height of the image, which may make it hard to fit in certain areas like ad banners. As it is we would have to shrink the image too much, making it very small, and leaving a lot of unused space. We like the way it look and I am afraid that reducing the height by modifying the arches may not look good, but we would like to see what it would look like. Maybe we will have to make a small variation of the logo for use in banners where space is restricted. Lastly, we had a lot of talk about colors, but came to no conclusion; everyone seems to like different colors. If you could sample the image in a few different colors then it should help us decide. I played around with the colors in Photoshop, and found that it looks equally as good in many different colors. Once again thank you very much!

[DesignGeneral]

Hi joseph,

Here is my ping city :)

Cheers,

Adrian

[DesignGeneral]

:)

[joseph]

Thanks Adrian, that looks nice... the second is better, I'm not so sure about those dots under the "i"s though. I still like samoyloff's more, but yours is close.

[DesignGeneral]

Hi Joseph,

You can see the dots under the "i"'s like next data packets to be sent.

I'll think if I can improve the concept. Let me know if you want to see any changes.

Cheers,

Adrian

[Mark]

One more for the road. :)

[DesignGeneral]

Hi Joseph,

Here is a variation :)

Cheers,

Adrian

[Fabian]

Hi,sorry for the lateness of my entry :blush:

[joseph]

Thank you everyone for your submissions. It looks like we're going to go with samoyloff, but we're still waiting for the requested changes before making a final decision. Thanks again!

[DesignGeneral]

Hi Joseph,

Here is another idea for you :)

Cheers,

Adrian

[joseph]

Hi Adrian, it's very nice and they keep getting better, but I still like samoyloff's the most. Your entry however is the first runner up.

[DesignGeneral]

slight variation :)

[DesignGeneral]

:)

[DesignGeneral]

another idea :)

[samoyloff]

http://xmazz.com/0503pingcity09.gif

[joseph]

I apologize for my absence... the past few days have been very busy. We would like to thank everyone that participated; we very much appreciate your efforts. The contest is now closed, and we have chosen to work with samoyloff. I must say that I was impressed by the quality of the logos submitted, and I look forward to using DesignOutpost again in the future.

[samoyloff]

Thanks for choosing my design! Please let me know if you need any revisions.

[joseph]

Yes we have a minor request, and fortunately my partners and I all agree on the same thing. We just want to use the old, taller style for the ellipse, but to keep the thicker lines as in the newer one. I think that's it!

Oh, and we like the original colors the most... your first choice was the best :)

[samoyloff]

http://samoyloff.com/0504pingcity10.gif

[joseph]

Everything is great except for one small thing, you slightly altered the positions of the dots for the "i"s. Can you please set them back to where they were before? This should be the last change.

By the way, do you by any chance provide a vector formatted copy of the logo?

[joseph]

Actually where should the dots be? If they were normal "i"s with the second just being upside-down. It may look better to move them in even more to match the size/style of the other letters. It's hard to imagine the difference without seeing it.

[samoyloff]

Something like this? :)

http://samoyloff.com/0504pingcity11.gif

[joseph]

Not exactly, I mean something more like this (attached image). Referring only to the position of the dots of course. This way it is more obvious that the dots are a part of the "i"s, and I think it is slightly easier to read.

The width of the ellipse in image 11 is one pixel too wide, I think it looks better when the width is equal to the width of the letters, but definitely not smaller.

[samoyloff]

http://samoyloff.com/0504pingcity12.gif

[joseph]

Perfect, I love it :)

[samoyloff]

I've sent a link to download the logo files via private message.
Your private messages can be found here:
http://www.designoutpost.com/forums/private.php?

Thanks,
Alex.

[joseph]

Thank you, I have received the files and everything looks good. We are very happy with the end result; thank you very much for everything.

We will definitely be using design outpost again!