Hey guys,

 

any hints or tips to improve my logo design. I like it obviously but want some general opinion.

Is there anything I could do to make it better?

 

 

thanks in advance

 

robbie

well the line between looks a bit plain. Also, on the "Website Design & Development" text, try adding a small drop shadow

thanks Ash, I'll work on the revisions and re upload later.

 

I liked it but new there was something missing to make it that bit better.

hehe, im not saying that my suggestions will make it the best logo on the web, but will make it look more colorful. A lot of cients see solid grey as a dull color. Play with some grey gradients, then add a drop shadow of 1px distance and 1px size.

I would suggest trying a different font for "cheshire", the "media" looks nice but doesn't contrast well with "cheshire". I don't think the difference in weight is enough to differentiate the words either. I also agree with Ash on the line thing, it's too thick. Have a play with different font sizes, cases and space between letters for your "web design & dev" part too.

 

Obviously, if you like it, stick with it and don't listen to me Just a few things to try.

 

Goodluck,

~evu.

Hey guys,

 

any hints or tips to improve my logo design. I like it obviously but want some general opinion.

Is there anything I could do to make it better?

 

 

thanks in advance

 

robbie

 

I think the fonts both are very awkward and unrefined. A thin sans-serif like that should be graceful and balanced, but for some reason I don't see either of those qualities in the font. I'd swap them out for something similar but more refined. What faces are you using there?

 

Conceptually it's pretty straightforward, would work well in print and monotone and would probably be legible at small sizes.

 

I'm not a big fan of taglines with logos in general, but since "Cheshire Media" is pretty vague it is a good idea to have. The tagline would probably not scale to small sizes very well. Just something to consider.

 

The color is technically fine, but in my opinion it's one of those red-oranges that can't decide if it's orange or red. Again, nothing WRONG with it, I just don't particularly care for it.

 

The line between the text is way too thick. As-is, the first thing my eye is drawn to is the big black line, the colored text actually has less visual weight (though it's pretty close).

 

No drop shadows on logos. Ever. I'd suggest avoiding all shadows, glows, gradients, etc. in logo design. The only exception would be gradients to polish up a logo design after you make it look good in flat color. When you implement the logo in print/digital format you can add a (very subtle) drop shadow to make it pop later, but design it without.

 

Definitely not trying to come across as discouraging. It's a decent logo as-is but keep at it and you can turn it into something great.

Edited March 16, 201115 yr by porkchops

 

No drop shadows on logos. Ever. I'd suggest avoiding all shadows, glows, gradients, etc. in logo design. The only exception would be gradients to polish up a logo design after you make it look good in flat color. When you implement the logo in print/digital format you can add a (very subtle) drop shadow to make it pop later, but design it without.

 

 

Would you say this includes a faux drop shadow? Like when you duplicate the text for instance, nudge it down a tad and place it behind? Vector based ofc, no blur.

 

+1 to what pork says btw.

 

~evu.

Would you say this includes a faux drop shadow? Like when you duplicate the text for instance, nudge it down a tad and place it behind? Vector based ofc, no blur.

 

+1 to what pork says btw.

 

~evu.

 

Yep, I would ignore using drop shadows all together (even 1px text-shadow type effects) when working with a logo.

 

There is a large cabal of Graphic Designers who are against using effects with logo design, but I think there are cases where a subtle drop shadow or gradient can add much-needed depth to a design.

 

If you need to add an effect in a specific usage, say on the header of your website or a print flyer to make it 'pop', then by all means do so, but do that in Photoshop/inDesign instead of the vector file. In many cases effects are just abused, so I think it makes the most sense to avoid using any of them with logo design until you get a perfect black and white or flat-color logo design.

I'm sure I've seen good examples of black/white base logos from big companies with drop shadow, shame I can't think of any though, maybe you're right lol.

 

Agree it's easy to get wrong and hard to do well though.

Thanks Porkchops and Evu. I am gonna work on some improvements and then post it up.

 

The font? It's a font I had knocking about on my PC. I was having trouble finding a font that was like it. Any ideas?

 

Thanks

Robbie

Thanks Porkchops and Evu. I am gonna work on some improvements and then post it up.

 

The font? It's a font I had knocking about on my PC. I was having trouble finding a font that was like it. Any ideas?

 

Thanks

Robbie

 

Since you are creating an identity for yourself, I'm going to leave you to pick a good font (but I'll be happy to critique your choices).

 

I'd look for fonts at:

 

www.fontsquirrel.com/

www.theleagueofmoveabletype.com/

new.myfonts.com/search/tag%3Afree/fonts/

 

Most/all of these should be free. Find something that fits you but is refined. There are a LOT of crappy free fonts, so finding one that is refined and balanced (while still looking creative and professional) is tricky.

well the line between looks a bit plain. Also, on the "Website Design & Development" text, try adding a small drop shadow

 

 

aaaaahhhhhh.....dont add a drop shadow. seriously.....

Just a small point but I think the grey line seperating "Cheshire" and "Website Design" is a bit thick - looks a bit clunky. Try it a bit thinner.

Even better, put a drop shadow on it (j/k).

Edited March 17, 201115 yr by Gibson

My poor attempt, hope you don't mind

 

My poor attempt, hope you don't mind

 

hey, thanks that's nice. The only thing is I was wanting to use a sans-serif font and an orange colour.

 

Well here are a few different versions of the above.

 

I have changed the colour of the "cheshiremedia" to a more orangey orange and I have made the grey line thinner and chosen a few different fonts. These were the ones out of loads i tried that looked best. See which one you like best please, and as usual anything I can do to improve them further.

 

Thanks

Edited March 17, 201115 yr by RobbieD90

looks nice so far GJ

...I was wanting to use a sans-serif font and an orange colour.

 

Any particular reason? I don't want to get too pedantic but it seems like you just wanted to make an orange, sans-serif logo. A good logo should have reasoning behind every decision.

 

The four attached logos are looking really good. I still think the font choices are a bit awkward, but the fonts in #1 and #4 are pretty solid. The condensed tagline in #1 looks like it was thrown in as an afterthought. I love the tagline in #4, but the glyphs don't really impress me in the logo itself, the shapes of the letters aren't suited to being that large. The thin font you used for #1 is rather interesting in the "media" but it doesn't hold up in "Cheshire" very well.

 

The orange is great, gives me that lively, energetic feel that makes me excited about the business. The weight of the line between the logo and tagline is good in all four.

 

Great progress, keep at it! Try mixing up the font selection for the top and bottom of the log. You might find that you don't need to use the same family for logo and tagline.

Any particular reason? I don't want to get too pedantic but it seems like you just wanted to make an orange, sans-serif logo. A good logo should have reasoning behind every decision.

 

Its just what I liked, I like the roundedness of the sans serif fonts and orange is going to be the colour scheme when I start to put together the actual site.

 

The four attached logos are looking really good. I still think the font choices are a bit awkward, but the fonts in #1 and #4 are pretty solid. The condensed tagline in #1 looks like it was thrown in as an afterthought. I love the tagline in #4, but the glyphs don't really impress me in the logo itself, the shapes of the letters aren't suited to being that large. The thin font you used for #1 is rather interesting in the "media" but it doesn't hold up in "Cheshire" very well.

 

The orange is great, gives me that lively, energetic feel that makes me excited about the business. The weight of the line between the logo and tagline is good in all four.

 

Thanks, porkchops I am going to work on the "cheshiremedia" bit a little more. I'll post it up after I have finished.

 

Thank you so much for your help.

Its just what I liked, I like the roundedness of the sans serif fonts and orange is going to be the colour scheme when I start to put together the actual site.

 

Yeah, I hear that. If it were a client logo I'd probably harp on sitting down and picking a color that really means something, but with personal logos going with what you like might actually be a better idea (since your logo should capture the essence of you).

 

Thanks, porkchops I am going to work on the "cheshiremedia" bit a little more. I'll post it up after I have finished.

 

Thank you so much for your help.

 

Happy to help! Looking forward to seeing what you come up with. You might consider finding a premium font for the "Cheshire Media" portion of the logo. I find that a lot of free fonts have some minor problems with the glyphs that are exacerbated at large sizes. Premium fonts tend to have glyphs that are refined and suitable at all sizes, and more importantly, work well with eachother. Just a thought. Might be too much of an expense for a personal logo.

Edited March 17, 201115 yr by porkchops

Thanks mate, I'll see what I can come up with

Good idea, Mteam. Something like Cheshire Cat Smile...

Number 2 is my favourite.

Number 2 is my favourite.

thanks bomb, i didn't realise that you were so close. Where in Crewe are you based?

 

Anyway, here is my latest effort. Lets hope this one hits the mark.

 

 

Once i have got this finished i can move on to the design of the actual site.

 

Cheers guys.

looks much better mate.

 

I could suggest trying to put your "web design and dev" in caps and making it a little smaller but you may have already tried that. Or maybe changing either "cheshire" or "media" to grey.

 

Usable now though I would imagine

 

~evu.

thanks bomb, i didn't realise that you were so close. Where in Crewe are you based?

Quite near the train station, where are you at?

Quite near the train station, where are you at?

 

Only about 20 minutes away, I am in Winsford.

Don't worry at my rate of development I am hardly going to be competition, for another 40 years or so.