Here I am to ask a question that's probably been asked a million times, but I'm on the verge of pulling my hair out with this darn thing... I simply can't seem to find a good way to find a good way to match a logo with the name, I'm hoping some of you much more experienced designers could give me a few tips on this.

 

First off, this is for a personal (and somewhat random) website, so it doesn't need to be a clean-cut corporate style logo. Since it's for a personal site, I've chosen a few elements that relate to me personally... I had a motorbike accident a few years back in which my left arm was paralysed from the shoulder down, I have a very random and 'out of the box mentality' type of lifestyle, and I'm currently trying to teach myself how to speak Japanese.

 

Anyway, I settled on the name 'katate' with a handprint for the logo side (a direct translation of the name is 'one hand'). I had also contemplated using 'katate de', which means 'with one hand', but I suspect the 'de' at the end may confuse people with the url, possibly mistaking it for a Dutch site.

 

The problem I'm having now, is trying to match the two parts together. I've attached one of the better ideas I had for the name typography and handprint for reference, but I'm not sure if the end result will look anything like these.. I had an idea to find a more square-style and heavier font, and put a white handprint inside a dark box, matching the size of the box to the height of the text, but I haven't done more with that idea yet.

 

Anybody got a suggestion to better match this name and logo..? I'm not asking anybody to do the work for me, just looking for a few ideas.

 

 

Edit: I've taken off the two images I originally had attached, and put two others up; neither of these 'ideas' took more than 15 minutes to create, so I suspect they're far from perfect. Lol. But any thoughts...?

Edited March 25, 201115 yr by ZaLiTH

You have a good story and imagination for logo creation. I like the 2nd one. I like the font style, but I can sugget you to add one bright color. I think black make you logo really sad. I also can advise is not to use 'katate de'.

You have a good story and imagination for logo creation. I like the 2nd one. I like the font style, but I can sugget you to add one bright color. I think black make you logo really sad. I also can advise is not to use 'katate de'.

Thanks.. To be honest, I do wish the inspiration for this came from something a bit less depressing, but life threw me a big lemon, so I'm trying to make the most of it.

 

I also prefer the second one's font, but I also like the way the handprint looks in the first one... Choices choices... As for the colours, I'm trying to design the basic logo without using colours just yet. The theory behind this is pretty simple; if I can get it looking good without colours, then I can use that as a base and use colours to simply enhance it.

 

Although, I did think of having the end result with different colours for the name and slogan, perhaps this would give a better impression of the end result. And it works pretty well on a dark background when inverted.

The theory behind this is pretty simple; if I can get it looking good without colours, then I can use that as a base and use colours to simply enhance it.

This is definitely the correct way of designing logos.

 

Personally I like the font of the second one & I quite like the icon of the first - see what they look like together.

 

Good stuff!

 

**EDIT**

 

In fact...

 

Edited March 25, 201115 yr by Bomb

This is definitely the correct way of designing logos.

Thanks... I may not be the best at this sort of thing, but I do read a lot and do my best to remember and practice the good tips.

 

Personally I like the font of the second one & I quite like the icon of the first - see what they look like together.

 

Good stuff!

Lol... This is most definitely a facepalm moment. I didn't actually think of simply combining them to see what happens. I'll most likely play around with sizing and lining up different areas a bit, but I definitely like the way that looks. Thanks Bomb.

 

 

Edit: Well, played around with the size/position of elements, and came up with something pretty decent:

 

While I was doing that though, I had another idea...

 

Anyway, the larger one is obviously not going to be used at this size, but it's the layout and style that matters more to me right now. So.... 'Logo idea 4', worth a bit more work or should I scrap it? I figure with the handprint and name inside the 'container', it leave more room for error with different backgrounds. Besides, it's still easily identifiable when it's tiny, which is a definite bonus. Actually, I guess they all are... Hmmm...

Edited March 25, 201115 yr by ZaLiTH

I have to say I liked it more without an icon for the logo. You can use an icon in certain instances ie a favicon or something, but I don't know that I would use one for the logo over all. I thought the hand looked good just being next to the text. Very good design either way.

Tell ya what, mate. Get rid this pseudo handwritten font – the logo looks cheap due to these cloned "a" and "t".

I think it would be better if you wrote word Katate by your own hand on the paper, then scanned and traced it in any appropriate imgage editor.

 

Palm looks great.

I don't like the background to the last one, but I like the layout the best. Try using the same layout but with black icon/text and no background.

 

I agree with the handwritten font comment. It's not bad, but seems unrefined.

 

You definitely have the right method for logo design. Keep working on it.

Tell ya what, mate. Get rid this pseudo handwritten font – the logo looks cheap due to these cloned "a" and "t".

I think it would be better if you wrote word Katate by your own hand on the paper, then scanned and traced it in any appropriate imgage editor.

 

Palm looks great.

I had actually thought of trying that, but while my handwriting is better than your average doctor's would be, it's not exactly good either. Besides that, unfortunately I don't have access to a scanner, so I don't think that will work..

 

I don't like the background to the last one, but I like the layout the best. Try using the same layout but with black icon/text and no background.

I also like the layout, but the only problem I have is the height... It's just too tall to be used practically in my mind.

I had actually thought of trying that, but while my handwriting is better than your average doctor's would be, it's not exactly good either. Besides that, unfortunately I don't have access to a scanner, so I don't think that will work..

 

'Bad' handwriting just might add the zest of individuality to the logo, becoming its unique feature.

You could write the inscription on the paper and then, for lack of scanner, draw it manually, point-by-point, in any vector editor, using the paper with drawing as an example (like some secretary who types text looking into manuscript).

You also could try to change outlines of the text created with a pseudo handwritten font.

Just a quick update for those who care: I have finally decided on a logo design.. I'm keeping the logo and name in b/w with nothing more than a very light bevel effect and transparency.

 

 

I've moved onto designing the site layout and colour scheme if anybody's interested... Have a look here.

i'd seriously drop that bevel on the logo. it makes it look like a logo from the early 90's. think the main font is quite hard to read. also not sure it complements the tagline font

I'm with Al - drop the bevel. Try letterpressing instead on the white BG.

i'd seriously drop that bevel on the logo. it makes it look like a logo from the early 90's. think the main font is quite hard to read. also not sure it complements the tagline font

I'm with Al - drop the bevel. Try letterpressing instead on the white BG.

 

Hmmm.... It looks pretty cool when it's on a site-like-background (see the link in my previous post). I suppose if I use the logo by itself off-site (which is not likely to happen, but you never know), then I'll remove the bevel. I was trying to get a 'stamped-into-the-background' type of feel with a small inverse bevel effect, is that perhaps what you mean by 'letterpressing'?

 

I did also try quite a few different fonts for the name and tag line (currently have nearly 600, about half of which are free for commercial use), but I kept coming back to Inkburrow and Sansation in the end..

Hmmm.... It looks pretty cool when it's on a site-like-background (see the link in my previous post). I suppose if I use the logo by itself off-site (which is not likely to happen, but you never know), then I'll remove the bevel. I was trying to get a 'stamped-into-the-background' type of feel with a small inverse bevel effect, is that perhaps what you mean by 'letterpressing'?

 

I did also try quite a few different fonts for the name and tag line (currently have nearly 600, about half of which are free for commercial use), but I kept coming back to Inkburrow and Sansation in the end..

 

Yup. Instead of bevelling try a small, sharp inner shadow at 90 degrees.

Yup. Instead of bevelling try a small, sharp inner shadow at 90 degrees.

I see what you mean.. At times I prefer to use the 'bevel and emboss' effect simply because it's more friendly to the small/thin sections of a shape. To me it seems easier to work with..

 

I'll play around with it over the weekend and see what happens. I don't have internet at home, only place I have access is at work, so I might only reply again on Monday...

Ditto (tritto) to what Alzer and Renaissance-Design said: definitely it would be better to get rid the bevel.

Alrighty then, that's now two 'advanced' and one 'web guru' way more experienced in designing than me saying the same thing. Inner shadow, it shall be.. Bevel, it shall not. (Why is there a Darth Vader smiley, and a Republican Soldier smiley, but no Yoda!?!? )

 

Unfortunately my job is not web design, it's "help manual author", so I'll fix it up over the weekend. Perhaps a couple beers will help me find a better font too, I seem to be the only person who likes Inkburrow..

After quite a bit of playing around with the inner shadow and different sizes for the logo, I'm starting to think I should actually scrap that idea completely.. No inner shadow or bevel.

 

Instead, I went for a very different font, and a slightly different layout. I think this one looks better all round than the others I've played with so far... After I look at this enough, I might find the name is a bit too extravagant for me, and perhaps not quite legible enough, but I do think the general 'feel' of the logo is a bit better.

that looks like it says Rafafe. its very hard to read. i suggest go to logopond and look at how people approach the structure of there logo's then focus on font etc.

http://logopond.com/search/?search=hand

that looks like it says Rafafe. its very hard to read. i suggest go to logopond and look at how people approach the structure of there logo's then focus on font etc.

http://logopond.com/search/?search=hand

Thanks for the feedback, I was half expecting something like that though.. I have actually looked through those logos before (although there are a few more now than the last time I looked). I do understand what you were referring to with that link, but the original idea was to focus on the text and just have a hand-print to enhance the name, instead of text to fit a picture.

 

This idea seems to be going in the wrong direction now though, so if I get a chance tonight, I think I'm going to see what other ideas I can come up with..

This idea seems to be going in the wrong direction now though, so if I get a chance tonight, I think I'm going to see what other ideas I can come up with..

Yay... I'm quoting myself again. Lol.

 

Anyways, I did have one little spark of inspiration last night. I decided to try a few variations of 'katate' without the handprint, I can quite easily incorporate the handprint into other areas of the site as part of the theme instead of the logo.

 

This version uses the Kanji symbols for 'katate' as a very light backing to the name and slogan. Looking at how this turned out, I'd say trying to use the handprint in the logo just isn't working out as well as I originally hoped.

 

This is better than the others, right...? I even cleaned up the font a bit, the 'a' letters had an extra corner on top that made them look like an 'o' instead...