Opinions sought for logo ideas

[JDS]

I've been playing around on my Mac and came up with a few variations of a proposed logo for my shop. My wife suggested the shop name because of the framing niche that I want to start in.

Please look at the four variations and feel free to

vote on which one you like :thumbsup: . . .

tell me what you don't like :smileyshot22: . . .
make suggestions :soapbox: . . .
or even say no to all of them. :vomit:

My feelings don't get hurt (been a cop much too long!) although I quickly learned that my bride and I definitely have different tastes!

All input is very much appreciated.

Have a great day!

Jerry S.

[Framar]

I like the second one but I think you need to work on that slogan - "nothing less" ends up being a double negative - isn't that verbotin in advertising?

I really like the SF in the green field - that is an image that has staying power - but I would also work, I dunno, maybe a frame into the thing somewhere? So you will distinguish your business from house framers... A frame around the green block, or a frame around the whole thing???

Don't like the gold swooshy thing - looks like a halo (not that there's anything wrong with that!). But what does it represent - really?

Carry on!

[Ninja R]

I like the black stroke from the fourth one, but the layout of the second. I guess it depends on the advertising medium, though.

Could go either way with the gold swoosh.

I hate Times New Roman, though...just a personal thing. Maybe Garamond?

[Amy McCray]

Jerry, I like the black outline but the offset of No. 2. Bet you thought you had all the options covered, eh?

BTW, what software are you using? I'm working on a logo as well - w/ a Mac! But I think I need something other than the basics I have.

Amy

[Ninja R]

I know you asked him, but I figured I'd chime in.

I use Photoshop and Illustrator exclusively...Photoshop more for enhancement and manipulation and Illustrator for line art. I'll drop 'em in QuarkXpress or InDesign (or stick with an eps file in Illustrator), depending on which one I feel like messing with.

...but I realize these progs are top level and people probably don't have the cash to buy them or the inclination to learn their functions.

[TessaE]

I like the second.

[Bill Henry-]

I agree with Ninja and Amy; the black border will help separate the logo from the text and graphics in whatever medium you will plunk it in (yellow pps, newsletters, brochures, etc.). It will keep the logo crisp and keep it from “bleeding” into the rest of the text and getting lost.

The offset (as in #2) with the border would be more visually appealing to me, too.

Without knowing the history behind the gold “halo”, I find it a bit distracting.

Amy,

Illustrator is probably the best thing you can use for text in a logo. It is infinitely scalable and the kerning feature enables you to tweak the spacing between characters to fractions of a point (1/72”). And most commercial printers can use the raw “.ai” files directly without having to use a photo internegative which helps keep them clean and crisp.

[Ron Eggers]

I'd consider how your logo will look in black-and-white. You won't always have the color option or, in some situations, it will be available only for a much greater cost.

I like the first one, though it took me a while to figure out the difference between the first and second, probably because I was comparing them at 4 a.m.

You could probably do a psychological study on what type of personality prefers the left-justified text.

The halo/swoosh looks to me like somebody keyed your logo in the parking lot.

[Rick Bergeron - CPF]

In addition to what Ron said about single color printing, watch the small, narrow and/or short serifs. They are a printer's nightmare.... especially when downsized for yellow pages or newsprint.

[Framing Goddess]

There is nothing about your logo that says "picture framing."
There is nothing about it that says "creative."
I am not thrilled about the "nothing less" blurb, either. The word "quality" is overused in general, imho. In our business I would assume quality.

I would use the "Specialty" part as your slogan somehow.
I like how clean it looks, though, and the colors are fine.
I'd say you have a good start.

edie the generouswithmyopinons goddess

[Dave]

Of the four as presented, I like the first one.

For some reason the justification on the second one bothers me.

I feel all four are slightly crowded and would prefer to see a little more white space...not too much.

Love the "SF" box.

The swoosh in the third one is interesting and may work if the logo was expanded a little.

Probably my favorite would be the fourth if it wasn't as crowded. The border box works well to contain the graphic, but it again appears a little crowded to my eye.

Possibly a smidgen smaller on the type style and/or a little more white space between the "SF" box and the store name.

I agree the "Quality...nothing less" needs a little work. I like the thought behind it though.

Maybe:

"Where quality counts"

or, how about...

"To serve & protect" :D (maybe this one's already taken...)



Just my two bits...

Dave Makielski

[Baer Charlton]

Oooo, Dave you were so close......

Specialty
Picture Framing
"to Protect and to Preserve"

not that it would become a "cop shop"..... Framing for cops, sherriff, fire, military...... you'll starve. They as a group, are notorious skinflints.

I like the Gold swoosh.... but we live in Portland, OR and hear about every little swoosh that Phil Knight/Nike has sued into non-exsistance. Just a heads-up. and yes, he does have people who do nothing but look at business' logos and trademarks all day long.
How about the guy in Texas; one man carpet cleaning.... slogan was "just clean it"... since he started in the 1980s.... Knight got his van, business, home, bank account, and a fat judgement of garnish on anything the guy makes till he dies... :help:

[Patrick Leeland]

I tend to go with number four. I like that it is blocked in and has a border. I think overall more space would be a good thing, let it breath a bit. I am going to go against the putting a frame around it. Unless you are going to be the "regular" frame shop. It is a bore to me, to many folks use that and I find it to be passe. The same goes with the swoosh thing, it is done to death. And it looks straight out of the clip art. Try to come up with something original, afterall this business is based on design. Come up with something strong. If this works out you could be seeing this logo for years to come, be happy with it.

The slogan is not my cup o tea. It leaves an odd impression. I know this is not ground breaking, but something like "Where custom framing is our Specialty!"


Ron brings up a great thought, do check it out in black and white. That is how it will most likely run, or be seen the most.

Ok I am not creative today, maybe tomorrow

PL

[Ron Eggers]

I actually ran a radio campaign, for a very short time, with the tag line: "The Total Picture - Where the customer is always funny." John Ranes might remember that one.

My reasoning was this: Anybody with any sense at all knows they're not always right. Even I am wrong occasionally. It happened once in 1970.

But everybody wants to believe they're funny.

Sorry. You can't use that one. It's already taken.

[Grumbling Mike]

I vote #3
but above all no less no negative nono no?

[JDS]

Wow! You guys (and gals) are good!

Amy . . . I did everything in Photoshop 7.0. I have Illustrator but haven't got the knack of it yet. I even hired a high school whiz kid to give me classes on it but forgot everything after he left. I also have Indesign that I use for layout - I love that one!

Let's see if I can summarize:

1. The green box with the initials is a hit.

2. Work on the slogan - negatives are out and "quality" is overused - more creative

3. Reconsider the main font and give it more space.

4. The stroked box seems to be more popular.

5. The offset text seems to edge out the left justified text - and move it slightly away from the green box

6. Maybe ad a frame to show it's picture framing (That may not be needed. Although it will be labor intensive, I'm going to try to glue the business cards behind small cutout mats - at least until I realize that's a ridiculous idea)

7. The swoosh is not real popular

OK. Your input is great. Let me see what I can do with it.

Thanks a ton!

Jerry S.

[JDS]

OK, here we go.

I worked on the tagline a little but I still don't think it has "pizazz". Left the stroked box in - changed the font to Garamond - a little more white space - and the swoosh is gone.

With the tagline being longer I needed the space to keep from cramping the lettering under the main text. That's why I opted for the "Quality" to be in the green box. I can easily scratch that idea. I kinda like the "always" part because it seems to catch you by surprise . . . maybe not.

This may be regretted later but if anyone has a logo they need done, I don't mind helping out with a little design work. I'm obviously not a professional but I'll do what I can with the software and knowledge I have. Consider it payback on helping me get started.

Thanks!

Jerry S.

[Ninja R]

I'm not a big fan of part of the slogan stretching across the green box into the white. The green box provides separation from the white. To me, it reads, "SF Quality" instead of standing apart on its own.

I suppose you could shrink up the SF and stack your slogan inside the green box as such:

SF
Quality...
Creative...
Always!

Centered inside the box, of course. Would probably make the SF too small, though.

If you can get me the names for those fonts, I'd be more than happy to recreate it in Illustrator for you so you'll have a method of resizing it.

[Ron Eggers]

Sorry, Jerry, but the only term that's more overused in our industry than "quality" is "creative."

[Baer Charlton]

I knew a drunkard house framer that used to always use the line "Quality & Always Creative". It was his QAC [quack] line.

A quack line is a "fewer than 5 words that describes you or what you do". A duck does it in one word... when a duck quacks, everyone knows who and what.

[JDS]

Sheesh!

You guys are tough!! :faintthud:

I agree that the tagline across the green box is not the best idea . . . sorry . . . I was tired.

I want to do specialty stuff, be creative, and do quality work. Creative and Quality are over used . . . hmmmmm . . . kinda limits the field!

I remember reading a thread that I found in the search engine awhile back where members were quoting a long list of tag lines, slogans, etc., but now I can't find it again. I thought that might help unclog my brain.

Baer - I loved the duck thing! Made my wife and I laugh - and anytime she's laughing, she's not telling me what to do or asking for my paycheck -BIG thanks!

Let me work on it some more.

ninja - the black font is Apple Garamond Bold. The green font is QuigleyWiggly ( I didn't name it!). Both are free and can be downloaded from the net. Might hold off, though, until at least 51% of posters think it's a go.

Thanks!

Jerry S.

[Ninja R]

ninja - the black font is Apple Garamond Bold. The green font is QuigleyWiggly ( I didn't name it!). Both are free and can be downloaded from the net. Might hold off, though, until at least 51% of posters think it's a go.

Thanks!

Jerry S.

Easy stuff! I think one of the first things I learned as a designer was learning to take criticism. Doesn't really bother me that much anymore.

Anyway, here's your Illustrator file. Saved it as an Illustrator template (.ait file). http://members.aol.com/ninjarv2/specialtyframing.ait

The font I used was Garamond Book BT, which you'll find here: http://members.aol.com/ninjarv2/garamnd.ttf This is basically a cleaner version of your font...apparently, it has a better baseline and better tracking, although I really couldn't tell the difference. Just change it to your font if you want...I don't really think it'll matter. Just drop the font in the fonts folder before loading up Illustrator and it should work just fine.

Looked like you transformed the fonts a little, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. I adjusted the kerning between the S and p a little, but that's pretty much the only thing I changed.

[boxer1]

I'm chiming in a little late but..

I like the fourth one.

I also like the later one with the slogan starting under the SF. It something you don't see that often but I think it's cool.

I don't like the Nike Swoosh on the third one... everybody that has that functionality seems to use it far to often.

[Framar]

I like the idea of having part of the slogan in the SF box - however Quality, Creative, and Always just do not hang together as words.

I can't explain it but if you said "always quality and always creative" it would sound stupid -

But what do I know, I have "Unique" on my business cards! ;)

I think you are getting there and you are engaging a lot of us in this creative pursuit.

Keep going - this is like a soap opera - how will it end???

[Ron Eggers]

Maybe it's because quality is an overused noun and creative is an overused adjective.

Overused nouns and adjectives just don't flow, unless the adjective is modifying the noun.

And creative quality sounds like creative bookkeeping.

Jerry, we ARE a tough crowd. Most of either are or were picture framers. You might want to bounce some of these ideas off some civilians/prospective customers.

They might LOVE Quality ... Creative ... Always.

A lot of them love 50% off, even though we don't like it at all.

[Dermot.]

I like the general look of your logo………….

But …………will “Speciality Framing” allow you to grow……….it could make you look very expensive in years to come…………….what will the business be like in a five years time!!!!!………………….and framing what!!!!!…………….on a web search engine you will just get lumped in with house framers and people who frame legal documents ……………..I would try and get “Picture Framing” into the logo…………

I caution on this as I have found I have to re-brand my business, that I started two years ago……….I was to product specific for the direction the business is going in…………..it’s not a big problem………….just a bit confusing for all and time consuming…………

Old name was Matting Systems………………new name is LUAN Ireland……….. …it is a combination of my two children’s names “LU”cy and Iv”AN”…………..it also means Monday in the Irish language and Chief or Warrior in some of the old usage of the Irish language ...........

www.luanireland.com

[Dancinbaer]

The offset (as in #2) with the border would be more visually appealing to me, too.

Ditto for me

[Patrick Leeland]

ninja use this book that has words and gives ou other words, Use a Thesaurus this thing makes me look good. And we all know that is near impossible.

Imaginative, Sublime, Exquisite for creative. Quality-ok i got nothing good there, but this thing is like 15 years old, sure there is a new word since than....i got one Paris Hilton saids, "It's hot!"


Ok I got nothing up stairs today


pl

[Lisa in New Jersey]

reminds me TOO much of my old boss #1's Logo hehe

http://www.familyframers.com

[JDS]

I couldn't resist. I had to post this one. It actually has a pretty good ring to it, and sums up my present frustration with this project.

Thanks to everyone for all your help. The store name is in stone as I've already done some business paperwork in that name. When I graduate to the big time, I can add "& Gallery" to the end of it and I think I'll be OK. As far as internet search engines finding me, that should be controlled by the meta tags and keywords on the site. Plus, I've already purchased SpecialtyFraming.com (and was very surprised it was even available).

I'm not a fan of the tagline going across the green box so I'm limited to only two or three words.

Anyway, I thought folks might get a giggle from this one.

Thanks again and please don't let me give up!

Jerry S.

[RoboFramer]

Just a thought, with all the Irish ties in The States.

First thing I thought of with the initials 'SF' on a green background was Sinn Fein

[Patrick Leeland]

I can not read what the fourth word in your tag line is, I think it saids d something...? Maybe a change to the font there?

If we cant read it and we are trying to help, then it will be heck for customers who dont know any better.


PL

[JDS]

Patrick, Patrick, Patrick!

You gave me the best laugh I had today!! The first letter of that word is a "D" and the remaining letters were bleeped out so as not to offend someone. The letters should actually be "amn".

I was a little frustrated with this project and let my mind wander a bit on that tagline. It's a joke, Buddy, but thanks for giving ME the laugh!

Ninja, I didn't mean to ignore you, but when I went to that link all I got was a very long page with a gazillion numbers and weird characters.

RoboFramer, I don't know who Sinn Fein is, but your statement made me start looking at the green box with the initials differently, plus another statement by someone who asked what relevance the "swoosh" was, and started thinking about the relevance of the green box. Then I got to thinking about what Troy did . . . he completely switched gears and tried for a new approach. After I was beating my head against the wall without success I tried the same thing. Put the old design aside and started anew.

I know that it's not the most creative layout, nor is this the first time the tagline has probably been used, but it seemed to flow for me. The header font (Tork Bold) seems kinda artsy and the tagline font (Amaze) relaxed the structured look. I actually drew the frame corner in Photoshop.

I know that it is in color but I have color laser printers and most of my output will be in color (plus for the web). If I need a black and white, I think I can make a convincing black and white version of the frame corner.

OK, I present the new idea for your perusal. I sincerely appreciate all input I have received and hope I'm not wearing out my welcome here.

Thanks a ton!

Jerry S.

[JDS]

A slight variation of the border is attached.

Jerry S.

[Val]

Y'know, Jerry, I like that! It's comfortable. The blue is soothing to me, but not boring, and the corner sample is familiar, but not redundant. I also like the font...not harsh, or froo-froo or startling...easy to read. Wow, what a difference from what you started with!

You're certainly not wearing out your welcome....just becoming more at home! Two thumbs up from here, but then....I'm scared to start my own logo...I threw out my predecessor's, and need to start over....thanks for paving the way!!

Now, please let Mrs.Jerry out of the closet....

[JDS]

Hi Val,

Thanks for the support. It's nice to get that when a person comes into someone else's "home" and just joins right in. I didn't want to be "Cousin Eddie" in the Vacation movie.

I noticed that you signed up for the Sunday buffet at the Vegas show. I'll probably attend as well but I need to OK it with the ball and chai . . . er . . . bride first. Hope to meet you there.

Thanks again!

Jerry S.

[Pat Kotnour]

Before I had read any of the responses to your thread my thought was exactly the same as Framar's suggestion; I would frame the whole thing so that it gives the impression of being a framed picture.

[Patrick Leeland]

First off check in your area to see if you have another shop named something like Frame of Mind, Frame Of Mine. This is a common name in frame shops and you do not want people to see your tag line and think of someone else.

I like the second of the two of these. I am not so into framing the whole thing, I like the corner. Blue...I think I like it, smooth not loud, it is a comfy color.

The slogan I would align with something, like the S in Specialty. They all have differnt start points and the last seems to be floating. I would say align it with the s and end it with the g in Framing. That may require a smaller font or not as fancy.

It looks good keep working it.


PL

some days words are hard

jokes you threaten me with a joke after all I have been thru...does it count as a worst joke if you dont get it? i am slow on many a day

[ERIC]

Another thing to consider about using just the corner of the frame - surrounding the entire logo with frame eats up a ton of your space and makes the type much smaller.

The end result is that you will spend a huge amount of $$$ to print pretty graphics and not enough message.