Logo for design shop

Sugo
20.Aug.2007 8.42am
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Please help me out with some critique. I think I’ve been staring at this for too long.
Thank you so much,
-Susanna



Ken Messenger
20.Aug.2007 8.49am
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I don’t mind the simplicity but I think it would work better if the first S matched the second.


thetophus
20.Aug.2007 8.57am
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I agree with Ken. Other than that I think it is great.


bert_vanderveen
20.Aug.2007 9.07am
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There are a lot of designers* who feel that one should not mix sans typefaces, except when absolutely necessary — which in this case is not the case.

___
Bert Vanderveen BNO

*] Me amongst them…


T.
20.Aug.2007 9.12am
T.'s picture

I doubt if the typefaces are different. I just think they modified one of the s’s. Looks like Rotis, but not it...


Sugo
20.Aug.2007 9.14am
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It is Trade Gothic...it’s just different weights.


novembernovember
20.Aug.2007 10.09am
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I agree with Ken, don’t alter the S, unless it is breathtakingly cool/beautiful/informative/creative. Which it is not.

The reason for this: you are a designer. Either you have a design that is non-design (“I don’t waste my time doing my own logo, because I save my creativity for my clients”) ... or you make something that will make everyone drop dead with envy.

Check out the identity of the top ten design firms of the world ...


aluminum
20.Aug.2007 11.21am
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For the sake of argument, I wouldn’t call setting a company’s name in a specific typeface ’non-design’. The explicit decision making process of choosing the appropriate typeface is very much design.

Perhaps it’s non-decorated, or non-flourished, but I find it a perfectly acceptable design solution.


novembernovember
20.Aug.2007 12.25pm
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@aluminium
You’re right, of course. But you get my point: Pentagram “just chose a typeface”. So did Landor. So did Wolff Olins. None of them felt the need to add a little twist like Sugo has done.


Sugo
20.Aug.2007 1.07pm
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Thanks for everyone’s comments. I will be using all the advice and see what I come up with. November I understand what you’re saying. But I don’t think a firm like Pentagram “just” chose anything. I believe everything was thought out, tracked out and chosen to perfection. My “twist” had a concept behind it in the beginning. But by overworking it, I have strayed and lost it. Let’s see what I get in round 2 (more like 12 :)


novembernovember
20.Aug.2007 11.10pm
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Sugo wrote: “But I don’t think a firm like Pentagram “just” chose anything.”
Neither do I - hence the quotation marks I used.

Looking forward to round two.


henrypijames
21.Aug.2007 2.47pm
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@novembernovember:
Where does one find the list of “the top ten design firms of the world”?


russtranter
22.Aug.2007 3.43am
russtranter's picture

Hi Sugo - I think the ’S’ should be the same too. Nice considered choice of typeface - v good. I don’t know if you saw my post earlier but we are also updating our logo (Profile1). We are stuck between using pure Avant Garde or modifying it with one or two tweaks. I change my mind between the two at least three times every fifteen minutes! I have always loved Avant Garde - the KING of the geometric sans. I think you have to be extremely careful when you are tweaking such a fine piece of work. The amount of consideration and time that has gone into our tweaked version is huge - but i’m still not sure it’s even close to looking as good as the original set type. It so easy to do toooooo much.


Joseph
23.Aug.2007 10.14am
Joseph's picture

The type weights you are using do not feel like they are harmonizing together. I feel like the word DESIGN is eventually going to give out to the massive weight of SUGO. Maybe the word SUGO can come down in type size, while keeping it bold.

Plus the letter spacing feels really tight. Words in all upper caps always need a little extra space between them.

Hope that helps.

-Joe


Sugo
24.Aug.2007 8.39am
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Russ,

Actually now that I compared the original, I realized that I have modified the font ( see attached image). I wanted to make the logo more solid, more grounded than it was in the original typeface.

Please link me to your previous post. I didn’t see it.

Joseph,
I’ll give it some room to breathe, let’s see what happens.


Lex Kominek
24.Aug.2007 10.22am
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Are you sure you didn’t use Univers instead of Trade Gothic?

- Lex


Sugo
24.Aug.2007 12.04pm
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ye, you’re right
I just went back through my drawings.
At one point, I altered the Trade Gothic so much, it just looked like another version of Univers, so I switch to that.