$125 Contest - Logo/Business Card

[Shannon]

(Admin code added by Palmer - 796810A)

Hi all -

Citipet is a small NYC based dog-walking/pet-sitting company that has just undergone a name change and now we're looking for a new logo and a business card with a cohesive look.

The look should be professional but fun and the logo distinctive - remember that this logo will be on not only the cards but in print and on t-shirts as well. We're also looking to create a relationship with the designer as there may be projects down the line that will require a consistent look (letterhead/website/posters/flyers.)

We've included our former logo as a jumping off point but don't feel constrained by it - if we wanted to stay with that look we would have.

The cards should include the following info:

(name of company) Citipet
(type of business) Dog Walking and Pet Sitting
(name of owners) Shannon Torres-Shannon & Jason Torres
(phone number) 917-529-2920
(URL) www.citipet.com
(email) info@citipet.com

We expect the designs to be very hi-res, ideally presented as a photoshop file (to allow for sizing later), with the size requirements of the t-shirts accounted for. As this is Citipet's first designoutpost foray we've kept the price to $75 but we can promise a better rate for future projects. We're happy to discuss the projects and add comments or suggestions as we go.
Deadline is Monday June 14th.
Thanks for your interest - any takers?

[ElKootcho]

Are you after Photoshop files specifically? You'd probably be better of with vector files (ie Illustrator) since it's easier to limit the number of colors and it's usually MUCH more expensive to print 4-color t-shirts.

[Shannon]

Hey ElKootcho,

Nope. I don't NEED photoshop files, I was just thinking in terms of a master file format that we could edit for sizing or greyscale issues. Illustrator files are just fine. Thanks for replying.

[jmberra22]

Hi Shannon, I was wondering if you had a specific style in mind for the logo? Do you want something playful or more professional? Thanks.

Jackie

[Shannon]

Hey Jackie -

I'm looking for something more professional. Something cool and clean. Playfulness is always nice, but not cutsie, please. We don't mind an image of a cat or dog or pawprint or something in the cards themselves, but not something that overshadows the logo. Maybe a text logo with ears and a tail (or something less cliche.)

Hope that helps define it more.

Thanks

[Palmer]

Designers please note that the prize money has been increased to $125.

Good luck :tup:

[jmberra22]

Here is my first attempt...more to follow. Any feedback is greatly appreciate. Thanks.

[jmberra22]

Hi Shannon, here are two more entires. Thanks.

[jmberra22]

Possible business card design for 002. There are a ton of color possibilities, so if you have any favorites, just hollar and I will make the changes. Thanks.

[ElKootcho]

A few questions:
1: Do you have any color limitations or will this be printed as 4-color?
2: Is the business card going to be full-bleed?
3: What format do you need the business card delivered in (Quark, PDF, Illustrator)? It may help to get a template from your printer.

[ElKootcho]

My first

[Shannon]

Hey Guys -

Thanks for all the hard work and questions so far. Let me do my part by answering one at a time:

ElKootcho -

There are no color limitations. We'll print whatever needs to be printed the way it's presented. As for the business cards being full bleed, good question - I hadn't thought of it. The answer, though, is yes they will. We plan to use Vistapint who's specs are as follows:

Cut document dimensions (the size of the actual business card) are:
Business Cards: 3.43” x 1.93” (87mm x 49mm)
To allow for the bleed area, your full document dimensions are:
Business Cards: 3.54” x 2.04” (90mm x 52mm

As for file formats, I prefer a hi rez psd file and a hi rez tiff file, but illustrator files should do fine as well. For a business card photoshop template from vistaprint just click here (http://www.vistaprint.com/vp/images/template_files/VistaPrint_BusinessCard.psd)

Jackie -

Really impressive so far. Good looking stuff. I don't want to comment on each and every detail so I'll just give the broad strokes.

Design 1 - attractive but not us. Love the layout of the vertical card, tho.
Design 2 - attractive but too cute. Again not us. I do, again, dig the vertical card layout, tho. I like the way the lettering at the bottom splits the colors.
Design 3 - definitely the way we're going. Like the dog and cat silhouettes. I'd like to see the lettering bigger and better centered (i know its less artistic and apologize) and perhaps a different color or even different font. Also, I'd like to see the colors in general be more vibrant and eye-catching.

In case you hadn't noticed I dig vertical business cards, so that's the way to go. I really like the vert. card from the first submission, but as I said, the logo's not right.

Thanks again for all the work. Looking forward to completing this project and you guys are making it easy. Cheers!

[Shannon]

ElKootcho -

Really nice. Love the look and the cards are great. Just a few things:
1. Can we put a cat in as well? I know it's nitpicky, but we're really trying to differentiate ourselves by focusing on pet sitting. For this same reason I'd love if you invert the words "Dog Walking" and "Pet Sitting" to make pet sitting come first.

2. The full name is going to have to read as Shannon Torres-Sharon as well as Jason Torres. Please be sure to place Shannon before Jason.

3. I'd love to see a second design that might focus on being in the park more than being in the city (i know, "CITIpet" but we're trying to say "get your pet to feel like it's OUT of the city for a day") . Maybe even a "central-park-with-city-in-the-background" kind of thing.

Nice work over all. Can't wait to see more.

- Shannon

[ElKootcho]

A more modern look

[ElKootcho]

Originally posted by Shannon@Jun 2 2003, 08:45 PM
2. The full name is going to have to read as Shannon Torres-Sharon as well as Jason Torres. Please be sure to place Shannon before Jason.
Gotcha. Just so you know, your original post reads "Shannon Torres-Shannon & Jason Torres". So I thought it was either "Shannon Torres" or "Shannon & Jason Torres". But no problem, I'll fix and repost.

[ElKootcho]

I fixed the name miscue and added a cat. I'll work on a park version soon.

[Shannon]

Hey ElKootcho -

Sorry for the typo, thanks for pointing that out.
Really like the second design. Clean and elegant. I'll have to discuss these with my partner at more depth, but if you've got the other park version and added cat version I'd love to see them.
I know it wasn't part of the "contest" so feel free to ignore this question, but how would you make the second design into a letterhead? Would you just put the logo at the top of the page as is or would you adapt the logo as it is on the business card, using the green background and inverted colors along the entire header? Just curious as I'm liking this alot.

Thanks

[jmberra22]

:D

[jmberra22]

Hi Shannon, Here is another idea. It's fairly clean and to the point. Business card to follow... Thanks.

[jmberra22]

first biz card example...

[jmberra22]

possible letterhead...

[ElKootcho]

Originally posted by Shannon@Jun 3 2003, 01:58 AM
J¸?L?otcho -

Sorry for the typo, thanks for pointing that out.
Really like the second design. Clean and elegant. I'll have to discuss these with my partner at more depth, but if you've got the other park version and added cat version I'd love to see them.
I know it wasn't part of the "contest" so feel free to ignore this question, but how would you make the second design into a letterhead? Would you just put the logo at the top of the page as is or would you adapt the logo as it is on the business card, using the green background and inverted colors along the entire header? Just curious as I'm liking this alot.

Thanks
I'll work on the park look tonight (Los Angeles time). Tuesdays at my real job are super busy :rip:.

As far as letterhead is concerned, matching the card with the solid green background would look fantastic IMO. If you want to spend the cash for full-bleed letterhead. That can get pretty expensive. Another alternative would be to watermark the city graphic in a huge size. I'll post some examples.

[Shannon]

Originally posted by jmberra22@Jun 3 2003, 09:44 AM
:D
Jmberra,

My husband is handling the contest and he'll be making the final choice here, but I had to post and tell you that I absolutely love the one with just the dog's head and tail. It's probably not quite professional enough but it makes me smile every time I see it. I've checked in a few times today just to look at it. Thanks so much for your work.

I hope I posted correctly, I'm not familiar with this format.

[Palmer]

Originally posted by Shannon@Jun 4 2003, 12:54 AM
I hope I posted correctly, I'm not familiar with this format.
You can do whatever you want, you're the boss ;)

[ElKootcho]

Here's an example of what can be done with letterhead. These are just a quick rendition but it should give you an idea.

[jmberra22]

Hey Shannon, I will work on some more like the one with the head and tail...what do you think about the other entry, with the cat and dog head and the cityscape on top of the word CITIPET? I tried to keep it clean and simple.

I will work on some more and post them in a bit. Thanks.

[jmberra22]

here is one with the tail, head and a cityscape. Thanks.

[Shannon]

Hi Jackie and ElKootcho-

Please excuse me if I approach you both in the same emails, It makes it much more convenient. (I feel like Charlie from Charlie's Angels. "Hello Angels...")

Jackie-

I wanted to thank you again on all your designs and on doing the letterhead mock-up for us. Definitely above and beyond the call.

Of all your designs we're liking the orange and purple cityscape with the dog/cat silhouettes the best. While it's true, Shannon does love the head/tail combo, we recognize that its probably because it looks like our dachshund, Mac, but it's a little too cute for our needs. Please don't knock yourself out by submitting any more with the head/tail combo.

We also really liked the "bone in a circle" logo as well, but the cityscape suits our business best. While we want to keep it light and not too austere, we definitely want to appear as a real, and formidable business. Image is everything.



ElKootcho -

Really loving both number 2 and number 3. If I had to pick one right now it would be a toss up;
number 2 because of the clean lines and bold color (love the leterhead ideas)
number 3 because of the attractive graphics and because I know it plays well to potential customers.
In fact, I regret having to have added the cat at all because, while still attractive, it definitely worked better with just the dog. The issue is that we're trying to attract more pet sitting and cat business and without the cat image we look like "just dogwalkers."


In truth, you've both nailed something in your designs and I think they've gone to their logical conclusion. Any more tinkering would ruin the integrity of the original ideas. So I guess at this point I'm asking for anything new that you've been working on to be presented. That way we can make whatever changes we need to make and if you'll give us a day or 2 we'll make a final decision.

Thanks guys, again you've both been great. Palmer's got great people on this service.

Speak to you soon.

Jason Torres.

[ElKootcho]

Originally posted by Shannon@Jun 4 2003, 10:52 AM
Palmer's got great people on this service.
Thanks for the kind words. I know the ALL designers here work hard to deliver quality. Here's another similar to the green one above but with equal dog/cat and a "notice me" business card.

[jmberra22]

Thanks for the feedback and comments!! This last design is a combination of these logos I have been working on and an idea I had for another logo contest. Thanks again!

[Shannon]

Hi Guys-

Thanks again for all your submissions, including the newest ones. They're terrific. i just need a small favor right now to allow me to better decide :

ElKootcho -

I was hoping you could you do me a favor. I'd like to see the business card and logo from 02 with the exact same layout, just using the orange and the dog/cat logo from 03. Thanks for the trouble.

[ElKootcho]

Originally posted by Shannon@Jun 4 2003, 06:34 PM
ElKootcho -

I was hoping you could you do me a favor. I'd like to see the business card and logo from 02 with the exact same layout, just using the orange and the dog/cat logo from 03. Thanks for the trouble.
As thus?

[Shannon]

HI All-

If anyone cares to throw their hat into the ring as we ponder the outcome of this contest, please do so. The deadline is techically another week away so we can make the time. (No offense to Jackie and ElKootcho - thank you both for your fabulous design work. )

[Shannon]

Hi Jackie and ElKootcho -

I want to thank you both for your submissions. Your professionalism and strong design sense made this both an easy process to be a part of and a very difficult one to choose a final winner for. In the end one design won us over and that was ElKootcho's Dog and Cat on a citiscape (ElKootcho 02.) Thanks for all your work, Jackie. I loved three of your designs but just had to go with my gut as to what would stand out the best. Thanks again.

Elkootcho -

I was hoping you might be good enough to do a letterhead mock up of that design for me, as well. I'd love to have the complete "look" down. (Thanks again for being such a good sport about the letterhead designs.) Incidentally I loved the green and last orange design but had to opt for what my customers would most identify with (Someone actually said "hey, i love the orange cat with the black shadow." Missed the dog entirely - savages!)
As I'm new here, what's the process now? I'd like to get those files (illustrator and tiff of the cards, logo and letterhead.) I can't wait to see the logo on a shirt (we use khaki "zoo-keeper" shirts.)
I'm sure we'll have more work for you in the immediate future as we're re-doing the website and will need to keep the look uniform. I hope you're up for working with us again.

Thanks again for all your work.

Jason Torres
Citipet.

[Palmer]

Congratulations Kootch :tup:

Jason, you can just contact him by PM or email and work out the details for the transfer of files. He'll send you whatever you need.