I thought it was going to be as simple as producing a lot of logo roughs, then I thought I'd make them in FreeHand and all would be jolly and right with the world. Unfortunately it's never as simple as that, because as I've found out I've not liked my original ideas very much. So far of the five I've made in FreeHand I like two, and seeing as though I need four for next Wednesday's crit, it looks like I'll be going back to the drawing board many times over.Not that that's a bad thing though because it's meant that I've had the chance to really beef out my sketchbook and get a lot of development work down on paper. I think the majority of the next week will be much of the same, and then I'm going to start thinking about the website design over the weekend. I am enjoying all the sketchbook work though without a doubt, and it just shows that sometimes you've got to really delve deep into your own mind to come out with something really good. Unless you're extremely lucky, I don't think anyone could have done it with about 10 designs, unless these were preceded by a lot of dismissing ideas in your head before you even did a quick rough about it. I think I've turned over a new leaf with the depth of sketchbook work I've been doing, and that's something that I want to continue with over the next year. It's still unbelievable to me that it's been almost a year.
Another difficult choice this week has been cracking the target market. Actually surmising the target market hasn't been that difficult, it's been making work for the target market that's the hardest. Even if everyone in the class liked it that wouldn't necessarily be appealing to the correct target market because everyone might not like this style of music. That's why it's important for me to keep the target market in the forefront of my mind constantly. Having said that though, that faces me with a quandary. Do I do something typical of the target market, and make something very cliche, or do I try and go for the complete opposite of what I consider to be the target market and try something very different. In a commercial se
nse, you should try to make something that appeals to everybody, including your target market. But there should also be a gentle nod towards it.I'm still leaning towards creating something a bit left-field of my intended target market though, just to make it so it's not typical of what you'd usually see and to hopefully create something that's memorable. The ideal situation would be to create a logo that everybody loves, but you can't please everybody all the time.
More later in the week with some of my FreeHanded logos.
11 comments:
I feel the same way about my logos, I like one or two of my ideas but I think I could live with my other ideas if the feedback I got about the ones I did like was very negative. I am just going to leave the logos this week and wait for the group�s feedback before really settling on one because to say it�s a small logo it�s a massive task, as I think we�ve all realised.
I like your logo, there�s defiantly a hard edge to it which I like. But like you said I�m probably not the target audience your aiming for.
Yeah, that's my problem Richard. A lot of people have said they like it, but I'm not sure about it's suitability for the target audience.
I've come up with a couple of others now anyway that I think might be more suitible, so we'll just have to see next week whether people like them or not.
I don’t think creating an idea which is the opposite of the target market is really appropriate in this instance. This company has a small profile, sending out the wrong messages with its logo could be pretty catastrophic – this isn’t some ironic gesture that a big company could use to its advantage. Definitely the right idea, but the wrong application (for the time being).
Also with your logo I’m not sure how it would work with being photocopied or reproduced in black and white. Again, would a small company have the reprographics budget for full colour? Maybe you could devise a black and white variant which you could show along side it. This way, you can have your cake and eat it, as it were. Just my two cents.
You're probably right Julian, that's why I've tried to come up with 3 more suitable ideas for the brand.
I don't agree with what we're dealing with here is a small brand though, far from it. They're definitely bigger than you've given them credit for.
I've made a silhouetted version too, so that wouldn't be a problem. I'll be showing that alongside my colour logo next week.
I think with some tweaking it could be used to right advantage, but I will say that I've come up with three other ideas now that I'm equally happy with using for next week.
You are dead right about cliches, I feel like I've turned out some totally cliches designs that look a bit dated.
I think it might be because I've only been working in black and white though. I hope thats why anyway.
Your design looks good, very cartoony. I guess Julain is right about the target audience issue but sometimes it might be a good idea to 'break the mold'.
The creative side was good though I enjoyed the rough designing and probably need to do more but I feel I realy got into it. I may have lacked a bit in the further development as I was eager to jump into Freehand. Once again thanks for the help with the points and it feels like I can't get enough of the extra points.
Just thought I would comment on the printing costs that Julian brought up.
I can see this being a problem being full colour but I think every year that goes by, printing is going to get cheaper and cheaper.
I've been looking for some printing quotes and on small runs (1000 letterheads for example) it's cheaper to have them done digitally, than with litho. Maybe in a few years digital will be as cost effective as litho.
Drew: It's difficult to avoid the cliches, at least to begin with. You've almost got to go through the cliches to get to the better stuff.
Towell: No problem, the extra points are the best.
James: I've been looking into printing for letterheads too, and like you said it's cheaper to print digitally. If you've got a good quality laser printer all you've got to do is buy some good paper then you can saves loads by printing it yourself.
Any chance we can see your ther ideas Craig?
I'v also had feedback that most people like a certain logo although I don't feel it is the most appropriate. Do I go with the feedback or create the one that I feel is the best?
Have you thought about business cards and corporate colours yet? I still am unsire of a colour scheme or if black and white will do. It will be cheaper to use black and white, although using colour would make it miles more attractive
One of the thing is noticed with my logos everyone seems to like different things so its just a matter of which designs you can actually make work. I found with the design I really liked, I spent a lotof time makeing minr changes, I also found out it works great with different colours so this leaves me a lot of choice with the colour scheme.
Marc: You might as well wait until tomorrow now, but I'm gonna stick up some of my rejected ones tomorrow I think.
In the end, it's your choice to decide which logo to use. You can get all the feedback you want, but you've still got to make the final choice. Go with what you think is best.
I've thought a bit about business cards and the like, and I've gone for a full colour option. You could just as easily go for a B+W one though if you do it effectively.
Jamie: Hit the nail on the head there - everyone likes different things.
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