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Looking for advice on this.
Audience: Big wigs, business people, rich, serious no BS people.
Purpose: Command respect, appear established, professional and intelligent.
Message: "We are trustworthy and reliable"
Client description: Atcan is [i]the[/i] distribution company for new-brunswick Canada and a leader in the maritime provinces-they have one competitor at their level. They also do high end routing, demographics reports and sales and marketing consultation. They are presently undergoing a shift. Their main client Aliant has transfered the task of directory distribution to yellow pages. Atcan wishes to use this opportunity to revamp their corporate identity to better reflect who they truly are.
Atcan, a company name which stands for Atlantic Canada, has many decades experience in the field. They use the most current software to accomplish their task and their methods are cutting edge. The also use these tools and skills to offer demographics reports to retailers in the area and they sell their experience through consulting services. They are not a typical service but for the clients they do cater to they are absolutely essential. A meeting with them quickly revealed the culture of professionalism that reigns at the Atcan office.
Atcan's priority with the design is to shed the fly-by-night look of their existing ID while making it clear what they offer.
To see the full creative process you can view the thread on HOW.
Here is the favored finalist.

23 Jul 2007 — 8:40am
Saul Bass would be rolling over in his grave after seeing this. It's hard to make an illustration into a logo.
23 Jul 2007 — 9:05am
I'm afraid I don't understand your comment. Care to elaborate?
23 Jul 2007 — 9:07am
I'd like to see the original for comparison.
It doesn't really command respect or appear established, professional and intelligent to me, and I'm not too keen on the gradient effects.
- Lex
23 Jul 2007 — 9:17am
you can view the complete creative process by clicking here
23 Jul 2007 — 9:33am
I think the type is too light and contrasty. I like #4 here: http://i110.photobucket.com/albums/n94/ulysses01/atcan3.jpg
The type is much stronger in your sketch. I like the position of the 'A' crossbar better here too.
Also - is the frame part of the logo?
- Lex
23 Jul 2007 — 9:44am
The frame is part of the logo yes but not necessarily in all applications. I'll try a heavier version and see what happens.
Thank you.
23 Jul 2007 — 10:42am
Complex gradients are a pain in the butt to stick on the side of a truck with cut vinyl (and consequently much more expensive when other means are used). It seems this would be an important consideration.
23 Jul 2007 — 10:53am
No vehicles are involved. The only place vinyl might go is on the office front. We might go with steel.
Thanks.
23 Jul 2007 — 12:31pm
I get the impression that blurry steel might be hard to pull off too.
23 Jul 2007 — 12:57pm
Complex gradients are a pain in the butt to stick on the side of a truck with cut vinyl (and consequently much more expensive when other means are used). It seems this would be an important consideration.
Take a lesson from the concept here. If not the side of a truck then some other low-end repro method is going to come along. The mark should be simple enough for about any application. Flexo and many offset printers can't work with a dot lighter than 5%. A gradient that cuts off in a hard line is not attractive. The shape of the letters and the fit will make your point best.
23 Jul 2007 — 1:09pm
"blurry steel" ;) I can do it! Molecule by molecule if I have to!
24 Jul 2007 — 12:43pm
My client bought this version about 30 minutes ago. Thank you for your help.
25 Jul 2007 — 3:09pm
My client bought this version about 30 minutes ago.
You're kidding me, right?
25 Jul 2007 — 3:19pm
What was the logo they had before?
26 Jul 2007 — 4:10am
this is the previous logo
http://atcandistribution.ca/
If you want to argue against this choice, go right ahead. Do lay out your reasoning please though.