[Project Complete] Sept 7th - "Beehive" logo - $300 Deadline for submission

[LongboatHarry]

(Admin code added by Palmer - 54T53694UN762111N)
Second winners $ (4KT23822AL247230B)

Beehive logo project brief

Project Scope
Logo for new software product - "Beehive", $300

Deadline
Deadline for submission - 7th September
Winning design accounced 9th September

Project Brief
We are developing a software product. This has just gone alpha, and is to be released quarter 2, 2006.
We are starting the marketing plan, and have agreed on "Beehive" as the product name.

About Beehive
We will have to maintain a fair degree of secrecy regarding the product Im afraid, but we hope this brief will be sufficient. If you require any more specific information, just ask.
We have chosen a single word product name, in the vain of "Basecamp", "Copilot", etc. The thinking is to have a name that is a "metaphor" to the product. The metaphor has to be easily understood by the target market, as well as being a word that our customers will "enjoy saying" and consider "cool".
So, Beehive is a metaphor for our product, and is a word we all like and feel our customers will like as well. It also offers up a rich vocabularly (queen bee, worker bee, honey, etc) which we use within the software.

The metaphor
For now we are going to see if we can get away with saying nothing about the product. Instead, we will say why beehive is a good metaphor for the product. We hope that by explaining the metaphor, you should have enough information to give us a great logo.

Beehive is sold to our customers as a service. Hence our customers rent the use of the software through a montly subscription.
The customer uses Beehive to "build something".
Beehive gives the customer both the tools she needs to build the "something", as well as access to skilled professionals to perform the work. This is the fundamental selling angle we will be using, and must be reflected in the logo. To repeat: Beehive gives the customer access to software tools to "build something" as well as access to a wealth of specialists to actually perform the build.

In the beehive metaphor:
The "Queen bee" represents the customer.
"worker bees" represent the skilled professionals that are used by the customer to get the "something" built.
The "Beehive" represents the virtual structure in which the queen bee and the worker bees work. This is the software itself.
"Honey" represents the business reward that the custom gains for using the Beehive software.

Fundamentally, the logo MUST demonstrate "collaboration". The single most important concept is that the customer can sit back and let the worker bees do the work, under their control (as the queen bee).

The logo
As for the look and feel of the logo, thats very simple. The Beehive software uses icons from the "Aqua Land Max" icon collection, from Fast Icon.
The logo should look like it is part of the logo set.
http://www.fasticon.com/aqualandfull.html

The deliverables
We need 3 versions of the logo:
1) Logo with the text "Beehive"
2) Logo without text
3) Miniature 16 x 16 version of the logo. This will be used, for example, as the favicon for the Beehive site. Depending on the complexity of the logo, this could be a mini version of either the entire logo, or an easily recognisable part of the logo.

We use Illustrator CS and Photoshop CS. We would prefer the logo in vector format.

[LongboatHarry]

Quick note. We have said that the logo should look like it belongs to the Aqua Land icon set. However, dont worry if you cant match the style exactly. As long as it "doesnt look out of place" alongside the icon set, that is okay. Saying that though, the closer you can match the style, the better.
Cheers.

[Palmer]

This was posted in the public forum and I moved it to the private one. If you want it moved back let me know. Thanks :)

[LongboatHarry]

Hi Palmer,

We thought of putting it in the public forum as the logo is for us, not for a client of ours. We thought maybe it would get more interest in the public forum? If you think it will get the same interest in the private forum, its fine to leave it there. Otherwise, we would prefer it back in the public forum.

[Michael]

Moved back :)

[Palmer]

Hi Palmer,

We thought of putting it in the public forum as the logo is for us, not for a client of ours. We thought maybe it would get more interest in the public forum? If you think it will get the same interest in the private forum, its fine to leave it there. Otherwise, we would prefer it back in the public forum.
Not a problem, I just wanted to make sure it wasn't posted publicly by accident. Best of luck! :tup:

[LongboatHarry]

Thanks guys :)

[Artemii]

Hello! :)
Here's my entry.
Artemii.

[Kassi]

Hello! Here's my idea. The symbol I have created is a bee in the shape of a single honeycomb (beehive/honey) for the body, with a crowned head (queen bee) and some accents on each end of the wings to signify motion (worker bee).

Many thanks,

Kassi :)

[LongboatHarry]

Wow, thanks guys :)

Fantastic entries in record time! Just let me get a coffee and I'll get people to look at them and get some feedback to you.

[LongboatHarry]

Artemii
Thanks for being first in with a great entry.

For
----
- Love the cell shading and choice of colours in the logo
- Love the idea of the honeycomb cells showing "collaboration"
- Love the effect of the text. Great colour against the logo
- Love the spacing of the text - very dramatic

Against
-------
- Not sure about the circle linking the cells. Doesnt seem to work and not sure what it adds
- Needs to somehow be "less ambiguous". For example, the black and white version loks like 3 3d boxes stacked together, which loses the beehive metaphor

Thanks again for the great work.

[LongboatHarry]

Relevant
Thanks for the wealth of great entries. Very appreciated.

For Version 1
-------------
- Love the bee on the "i".
- Great colours on the logo
- Nice idea with the stylised beehive logo

Against Version 1
-----------------
- Not sure about the tall "h". Does it represent something?
- Not sure about the white space in the beehive behind the tall "h".

Version 2
---------
- Cool colour again
- The font is "almost" great.
- The overall effect is quite dramatic
- The bee is quite "threatening" - not sure it matches the happy font though
- Very very simple - and like the idea of isolating off the worker bee as thats what the Beehive product is all about

Version 3
---------
Dont like this one as much. The bee is hard to identify in the circle.
However, love the idea of playing around with the text. Some of our favourite logos are "just text", like Flickr.

Thanks again for the hard work.

[LongboatHarry]

Kassi
Again, thanks for getting a great design in so early.
Really love the design actually. Very creative and professional. However, it doenst feel right for the product.
Its a really happy and fun design. Nice and simple. I think the problem is:
- The colours are too "corporate". They would suit an insurance or banking product more perhaps
- The logo, although great, is too complicated. We need the logo to shout "Beehive" somehow, and not try to be too much.

Thanks for the hard work.

[LongboatHarry]

All,

We've been thinking about our brief again following the great entries that have come in.

We feel that because the beehive metaphor is so strong, and so well describes our product (once you know what it is!), we dont need the logo to be anything "too clever".

So, forget what we said about "the logo must show collaboration", as that will probably make the logo too complication or clever and distract from the metaphor.

Thanks
Matt

[Artemii]

Thank you for the feedback, Matt! :)
The dark circle behind the cells represents collaboration between them.
But once you asked us to "forget what we said about "the logo must show collaboration"", I'll post a revised version very soon.
Artemii.

[Artemii]

Here's the revised versions and two new variants of black&white version.
Artemii.

[LongboatHarry]

Hi Artemii,

Thanks for the very quick revision.

Again, love the colours and the logo placement and text spacing are very "dominant". Looks great.

Much prefer this version without the circle.

The black and white version on the right looks great now as well.

Great work,
Cheers

[dbenton25]

Hi Harry,

Here's a design concept for your logo that remains very true to the design style of the icons you presented. I know you aren't concerned about the logo matching them exactly, but I thought I'd give you the option.

If you like it, or want to see any revisions or changes, please don't hesitate to ask.

Thank you,

Dave :cool:

[LongboatHarry]

Hi Dave,

Thanks for entering a fantastic submission. And thanks also for coming up with a design that matches the icon set. The match is great :)

We really love your beehive. Its instantly recognisable as a beehive. Great colours and great aqua effect.

We think the bee is perhaps a too wasp-like. Worker bees are quite similar to wasps. Could you make it a bit more honey-bee (friendly!) looking? Only a touch though - we arent after anything too "breakfast cereal" packet.

Not too sure about the font. I love to get the typeface absolutely spot on, and am happy to pay any licenses as necessary.

With the graduated fill in the text, is there any way to make it more stylised and "aqua-like". Not sure exactly what I mean here myself!

Thanks again for the great entry and hard work :)

[LongboatHarry]

Dave,

Just an idea...

What do you think to having the bee wrap around the beehive? Im thinking the FireFox logo here...

Let me know what you think.

Cheers

[dbenton25]

Hi Harry,

Thank you. I'm glad you like my submission. :D Attached is a version with a much more accurate honey bee. I did a Google image search for reference. Also, I used a less condensed font for better readablity and I revised the gradient fill with a subtle highlight and drop shadow to match the "Aqua" icon look better.

I tried "wrapping" the bee around the hive, but I just couldn't get a version that I felt worked well enough to present. I know what you mean, and I like the Firefox logo too, but I think a fox more naturally wraps around thangs that a bee. The bee simply looks distorted rather than stylized.

Please don't hesitate to ask if you like to see any other changes or revisions.

Thank you,

Dave :cool:

[LongboatHarry]

Hi Dave,

Thanks for the fantastic revision :)

The bee is great. Spot on. Friendly and fun, but without being cartoony. Love the detail in the wings.

Love the font. Again, looks great.

I know what you mean about the bee not lending itself to being bent around things... Is there anything else we could do with the placement of the bee? At the moment, it looks slightly too much like "a picture of a beehive and a picture of a bee" instead of "a picture of a beehive with a bee". Does that make sense?

Thanks again. This is definitely our favourite logo so far.
Cheers

[dbenton25]

Hi Harry,

Before I begin working on another design, I want to discuss other concepts with you. I'm struggling with your last revision request because unless I scale the bee down significantly, the image will not read as a "bee and its hive". My current design wasn't meant to realisticly depict this. Rather it was meant to depict two relevant overlapping symbols. I know you want an image that will scale down to 16x16, but if I scale down the bee so that it is realistically proportional to the hive, It will not read well at 16x16.

Keeping in mind that I can draw both the hive and the bee from any angle you want, do you have any ideas that would better match your expectations? I had an idea to draw a bee collecting pollen from a flower, but since the procuct is named "Beehive" I think it is very important that a hive is the main graphic symbol.

If you like the design as it is now but have any specific ideas about how to revise it to achieve what you are looking for please let me know. If you want me to try another concept, let me know, I'll be glad to create another design for you.

Thank you,

Dave :cool:

[LongboatHarry]

Hi Dave,

I think I worded the revision request quite poorly Im afraid. Its not so much that I want the bee to be interacting with the hive (which would mean scaling the bee down as you say) - which I think is what you thought? Its more that I would like the placement of the bee on the hive to be slightly less flat. Just rotate, curve or something to make the bee slightly more dynamic on the hive ? Im not 100% sure what I mean at the moment (got a 2 day migraine!), so I will keep coming back to the logo and puzzling it out. Basically, the logo is amazing, but theres _something_ not right at the moment. I may be being a pedantic idiot though - again, need to spend more time looking at it.

Other than that, the logo is fantastic. The only other change is that the yellow at the top of the text tends to fade into the white of the page. Could this be darkened?

Thanks for the offer of doing other designs. However, I agree with you that the beehive looks great as a central theme, so I dont think its worth going in any other directions.

Cheers

[LongboatHarry]

Dave,

How about the following:

1_ We need to have eye-contact with the bee
2_ The bee should be more side on and slightly curved to allow for 1_ above, and also to make it more dynamic

Let me know your thoughts on this,
Cheers

[LongboatHarry]

All,

Are there any other designers interested in entering?

Cheers

[DesignGeneral]

Hi Matt,

I'll try to have something for you before the deadline :)

Cheers,

Adrian

[dbenton25]

Hi Harry,

I'll give it my best shot.

-Dave :cool:

[dbenton25]

Hi Harry,

Sorry for the delay, I've been busy servicing some of my other clients. Below, please find the latest version of my design with the revisions you requested. Hopefully, the position of the bee more closely matches the look you are after. Please don't hesitate to ask if you'd like to see any further tweaks.

Thank you,

Dave :cool:

[Ratbaggy]

a concept still in development.

more to come

[Ratbaggy]

and an icon-like hexagon, and another font variation also in development

[LongboatHarry]

Dave,

Thanks for revision four. Thats pretty much exactly what we had in mind. Its great to have eye contact with the bee!

The only issue now is that the bee needs to stand out more from the beehive, as at the moment his tail section of the body tends to disappear into the beehive. We'll leave this though until final revisions if your entry wins.

Again, thanks for all the amazing work and the patience with the revisions.

[LongboatHarry]

Ratbaggy,

Thanks for entering the competition. We love logos that are based around the text. E,g, flickr, Amazon, etc. Version 1.0, the second one down is fantastic. Really original, and love the icon to the right of the trailing "e".
Your font is fantastic as well. Really love it. The only issue is it is slightly hard to read. Leave any revisions however until final revisions if your entry wins.

Regarding version 2.0, love the font and the colours in the hexagon. Actually, the colours are beautiful! Makes me hungry just looking at them! Not sure about the logo however. Not quite obvious enough what it is.

Again, thanks for the entry and the hard work.

[Ratbaggy]

My pleasure Longboat.

*fingers crossed*

[LongboatHarry]

All,

Thanks everyone for the fantastic entries. As ever, the quality and originality is 110% alround.

The competition is now closed for entries. We will argue amongst ourselves now for a couple of days, and announce the winner on Friday.

Thanks again,
Matt

[LongboatHarry]

All,

Winner will be announced tomorrow morning. Was ill on Friday.

Cheers

[LongboatHarry]

Wiinning Announcement

Thanks to all the designers that entered the competition. Your work was very appreciated.

Anyway, we have decided on 2 winners.

Each winner will receive $300 (the additional $300 has been sent to Design Outpost).

The first winner is Ratbaggy for his version 2 of the Beehive logo (the hexagonal icon). We love the simplicity of the icon, and the yummy honey filling. The bespoke font is cool too. Congrats.

The second winner is David for his version 2 of the Beehive logo. David, we wont be using this as the Beehive logo. Instead, we wish to use the beehive and the bee separately as two icons within the application. So, could you split the beehive and bee off as two separate images?

Is this okay with you you two? We have several revisions, but we wont post these until we know you are happy with this announcement.

Cheers,
Matt

[Michael]

I can confirm that the funds have been deposited

Congrats to the both of you :)

[Ratbaggy]

no revisions?

[LongboatHarry]

Ratbaggy
---------
No revisions.
We will need the following:
In vector format:
1) Just the icon
2) Just the text
3) The icon together with the text to the right of the icon
4) The icon together with the text below the icon

Thanks for the great entry,
Cheers

[LongboatHarry]

David
-----
We will be using the beehive and the bee separately as two icons with the application.
We will need the following in vector format:

1) Just the beehive from version 2
2) Just the bee from version 2

We will do the icon sizing ourselves from the original.

Would you also be able to provide simplified versions for use at small icon sizes? It is mainly the bee that we feel may not work at 16x16. Just remove the detail from the wings and stuff like that.

Thanks for the great entry and your committment to the competition.

Cheers

[Ratbaggy]

I am unable to attach files using the "Send Email" function of these forums.

do you have an email address for file delivery?

:)

[LongboatHarry]

Hi Ratbaggy. I have PM'ed you with my email address. Cheers.

[Ratbaggy]

Matt, I have emailed the artwork as requested.

Thanks

:)

ADMIN: Artwork sent.

[LongboatHarry]

Paul,

Files received and verified. Great work. Cheers

Admin
Please dont close this competition off yet as there are 2 winning designers. Cheers

[dbenton25]

Hi Harry,

I did miss the announcementt! My apologies. All is fine with me and I'll take care of the revisions.

Thank you,

Dave :-)

[LongboatHarry]

Thanks Dave. All files received from both designers.

Thanks all for the great work.

Over and out.