I like the fact that it has an idea behind it. Honestly, I’ve seen controls such as play, pause, ff, etc., used many, many times, but the fact your logo is something more than just a typeface counts for a lot in my book.

Personally, and this is totally subjective, I think the font looks dated and sorta stale. But that’s just me. What matters most is if you like it and can live with it.

I am assuming you will tidy up the kerning, expecially that l/a combination.

Finally, the small strapline is going to get lost when the logo comes down to a smaller size. I think this small tagline is important because without it your name strikes me as more of a technology than a service provider.

Nice idea.

Hi,

Thanks for your comments, true and very useful. Could you suggest a font that might work which would reflect a more up to timeless feel.

Cheers

Dan

Wow. That’s a big question. I think that the search is one of the big joys of typographic design!

Here’s what I suggest. Visit some of the foundries and see what YOU think.

Go to:

Sudtipos
Foundrytypes
Veer
FontShop
MyFonts
Die-Gestalten
etc.

Then, start poking around Typophile and look at the font IDs. There are lots of treasures to be found and the beauty is you get to see them in use. Tip: Search Typophile using Google as opposed to the built-in search function. You’ll get more results. Instructions on how to google site specifically lie elsewhere on the site.

Make printouts of all the fonts you like. Put them on the wall. Then, walk away for a few days and see how you feel when you get back.

We expect a full report!

Thanks, I just went through font shop had about 30 faces, this gives me lots more fun. I’ll see if I can find something that feels more in tune with what i’m looking for and post the results!

Good luck, and have fun!

Just another point. Do you really need the ’ltd’ in your stapline? As far as I’m aware, at least in New Zealand, you don’t need to have the ’ltd’ in your branding – it’s just part of your trading name. Just having ’mediaplay design’ will look much nicer, and you’ll avoid readability issues mallbright mentioned when scaled down. If you stick with that composition, you can make ’design’ larger, with the extra room and I’d suggest trying setting ’design’ in all caps to make it more snug in there and get rid of any awkward spaces you’re generating in there with the ascenders of the lower case.

I’ve been working away, looking through loads of fonts and have come up with a list to go on my wall to look at. The resources here are fantastic, apart from reading elements of typography and general looking at fonts in sample books and books I really haven’t had a clue about what fonts to use and how to go about them best. I feel looking through the site I made a little process in visually understanding it all a bit more. I worked out that I wanted to go with a more fluid, open and clean font rather than the constricted one I was looking at. I went with fonts with short accenders and decenders as there are quite a few, and this makes it more neat and compact. It gave it a dial like feel which worked well with the play element. I ended up not liking my previous effort. I thought my efforts were amateurish.

the contenders (again drawn to the 1970s)

chalet tokyo
New york and paris 1970

http://www.houseind.com/index.php?page=showfont&id=4&subpage=viewfonts

logosman
http://www.die-gestalten.de/fonts/detail/?id=be0db8100b6598b2010bf2f39a9...

insignia
http://www.linotype.com/872/insignia-family.html

ff super grotesk
http://www.fontshop.com/fonts/downloads/fontfont/ff_super_grotesk/

pl futura maxi font
http://www.linotype.com/157446/plfuturamaxi-family.html

I also really loved foundry context but more for type
http://www.foundrytypes.co.uk/foundry_context/context.html

Once i’ve made up my mind, its to the drawing board to work on the logo.
I want to incorporate a play symbol in a circle somewhere as a graphic. My tagline will be something like switched on design or forward thinking

Any thoughts on these fonts above would be gratefully received

There is this other topic in the forum: wordmark for visual artist

The designer wrote:

Key words are, empowerement, luxury, contemporary, approachability and possibly subtly suggest her asian influence (specifically japanese).

And my reply was:

Anyway, I think you’re aiming *way* too high — five “keywords” which appear to be contradictory with each other to the common sense. I wouldn’t even know how to unify “empowerment” with “luxury”, or “luxury” with “approachability” — I’d say “luxury” pretty much negates the other two.

If anyone actually pulls it off to deliver something that echoes all your five “keywords” to the majority of the audience, I’d call him a grandmaster of design without any hesitance.

What you’re trying to do reminds me strongly of that — particularly your reaching for “fluid” and “solid” at the same time.

thanks that makes sense, I have an idea of what I want to do now. Simplicity is the one key word I think ;)

Latest rough logos, that are going on the wall Any comments you have good or bad or any favourites please say. Colours, kerning and fonts to decide on an clean up

I like the “forward thinking” scheme a lot. However, I strongly dislike the font you picked.

Hi Henry can you be a little for specific, is it personal dislike or functional dislike
Thanks for your comment, its much appreciated :)

It’s personal, I guess. But I also think that font is overused, which would be an objective negative. I feel you’d be much better off with something like VAG Rounded Light.

Thanks Henry for the suggestion i’ll look into it.

The concern I have with most of the last roughs you posted, is that they look very crammed (like the 2nd from the left in the middle row). As in; there is, in my opinion, too much going on. There are the graphic images, the wordmark, and then you incorporated some of the parts of the images into the wordmark as well. And then there is also the tagline.
I would stick with a wordmark plus the image, and don’t put any more doodles around it.
You might find a solution for the tagline, but check if you really need it. You can always put that tagline in another way on your stationary (or whatever you will put it on).

I’m most drawn to the pink and green circular logos, though the lower loop on the P seems like it should be/suggest something and it doesn’t. Hve you tried the same look without it?

——======*======——
“If someone’s ’been around the block a few times,’ it might mean he didn’t have the good sense to give up and park in the lot.” ~ Mike Nelson ’Mind Over Matters’

I’ve been through researching and come up with this design any thoughts on the design colours, kerning layout would be great. My tagline is forward thinking design. One thing i’m worried about is the balance at the top, the thought bubbles come from the I. I’ve tried it elsewhere, but it didn’t make so much sense. Would you drop the thought bubbles or fill them in with colour or have them in a device that balances it all?

ps. Thanks Robert for your earlier comments :)

WOW. That’s fast. I didn’t mean to be rude even though looking at last night I could sound that way. It’s just that I get annoyed by same problem split into different posts. So thank you very much. You just made our life easier. :)

BTW: Did you try to put that rounded rectangle (the play usual icon) instead of letter P. I think it would still read “mediaplay”. But no circles, just this plain triangle shape. Probably in violet. :)

I’ll give it a go tonight, thanks

some attempts here, I like the idea. But people may get the wrong idea about my services and my wife would not be to happy. When I do what you suggested I read media lay :0) or a flag which i’m not keen on. Thanks for the idea a few others to ponder.

I like where you’re going in concept 3 — it has the potential to be a very strong mark. Have you tried playing with adding the missing descender to the triangle somehow? Or putting the triangle inside the counter of the p? Perhaps it needs a different font to make it really work?

Eileen Burke Graphic Design

hi,

This would be no.6, but I really don’t like it any ideas on improving it?

I’m wondering about the font, too. Do you really love the current one so much you’re simply unwilling to try out others?

I have to say, with the current font, there is simply no way the logo can work for me — at all. To me, the ugliness of the font will just overshadow everything.

hi i’ll try some new fonts tonight out, having t buy the fonts each time is a costly exercise, I look at vag rounded again which one would you work with from the above henry?

I usually just work with a preview of the font from FontShop or wherever to see how it’ll look before actually buying it. It won’t be a vector, but it’ll give you a good sense of how the design will work.

- Lex

Ditto. Veer has a font preview tool as well as a full character map for that sort of on the fly testing.

Plus, Veer lets you preview ligatures (not sure if FontShop does).

- Lex

thanks for the posts, didn’t know that about veer :), I knew about the previews but I thought posting a copy of something I didn’t own was illegal

could you have a look at these and give an opinion

You’ve decided to drop the “forward thinking” scheme (I don’t mean the tagline, but the “think bubble”)? I don’t like any of the latest batch.

but you like the font Henry, would that be a positive? ;) I got the feeling no one like the forward thinking idea and that it was confusing to the initial design. Seperate almost to the key of the design. Thanks for the post though! I see if any other comments and maybe go back to the drawing board or to a previous design. I do like this font too, it has a bit more playfulness to it

Why did you feel “no one like the forward thinking idea”? I clearly said in my second comment, “I like the ’forward thinking’ scheme a lot.” Did you not see that?

your right henry apologies. I’m going to give it a rest for a while maybe. Its all just not been right :(

Hi although as rough as you can get do you think this has some legs in it. A previous thought

This latest one is very interesting. You might want to round the three corners of the triangle. It would be interesting to see it in conjunction with a wordmark using the same typeface as the ’m’.

- Lex

Thanks lex for the comment, I butchered another font to get this. I wanted to create good positive and negative space. Maybe if I post it in whats this font I might get some suggestions to the nearest type of font that could work with this.

FYI, mediaplay is (er...was? Are they still in business?) a chain of somewhat cheesy strip mall music retail stores here in the US. Might want to take that into consideration depending on your locale.

they went bust, bought out and then disovled I think. i’m in the uk and had the name for 15 years. Thanks for the note though. Any comments on the comp?

Make absolutely sure the “m” is distinctly different to that of McDonald’s.

I can’t think of anything I would less like to be associated with. I’m bit of a food lover and work a lot with food so that association would be a killer

How about using a version of “m” that doesn’t have a “double swing”? That would instantly seperate it from the “Big Mac”.

A few examples:
Magistral
Biortec
Industria
Equaliser
Mercado

All those fonts have a lower case “m” without a double swing.

BTW, I agree with Lex that the corners of the rectangle should be rounded.

how do you feel about these combos? Thank you for the suggestions. I think the first logo M will need work, kaufmann bold is the font with it

When I mentioned resemblance to the Big Mac, I actually meant the “m” you had there. Obviously I didn’t communicate that clearly enough, since you’re still keeping it.

Also, the rounded corners of the triangle should be much more visible — with significantly larger rounding radius.

Now, allow me to suggest the following concept:

1. Create a rectangle with rounded corners — thick white outline, no fill;
2. Add a vertical stroke in the middle and erase the bottom side — now you have a “m” which is symmetrical and without double swing;
3. Put a triangle with rounded corners around the “m” — black fill, one angle pointing downwards;
4. Rotate the whole thing, which should still be left-right-symmetrical until this point, 30 degree clockwise.

thanks henry sounds good, i’ll give it a go and see

just quickly done some, I’m not sure a completly on the money but the concept works

Could you make the “m” slimmer? And maybe increasing the rounding radius of the corners somewhat.

do you mean narrower?

Thanks Henry thats very kind of you, I see what you mean. Your comments have been great so far. Its a fantastic look but maybe not me. It feels very technical, for another company it would be perfect. But I don’t think this is right for me being a very untechnical type of designer, i’m more passion, far out there, enthusiasm (bad spelling) type of designer.
So as far as this route goes i’m better going back to something more like a handwritten font maybe. Thanks for the time you have put in

How about this:

It seems to be easier just showing you what I meant than explaining it...

EDIT: Tweaked a bit.

A few more, I might look to change the chalet, but the mark is more interesting to me at the moment, I love the font but it sounds overused. The other font i’m looking at is sauna
http://www.myfonts.com/fonts/underware/sauna/

Pretty odd angles there in the triangle. Is that intentional?

I like #6. Not the “m” in the triangle, but the effect of the triangle. I like that. But angles are in did somehow slanted...

and there’s some more adjusted ones, new font too which I like

more coming

I’ve custom adjusted a font and gone back to an original idea, let me know what you think.

Aside from the fact that I still really dislike your choices of typefaces, the concept is definitely more workable than the “smugged triangles”.

thanks henry for the post. I like the faces you like too, but I want to get it away from a techi web feel as much as possible. i think it balances better and the customisation makes the face a little more dynamic i hope.

The reason I dislike your choices of typefaces is absolutely not that they’re “not techi”, nor do I think for a second that they represent the opposite of “techi” — should that be the goal here.

Actually, I don’t even consider my own preference for typefaces to be “techi”, since I use classical serif fonts whenever possible instead of modern sans. There are plenty of great fonts I love out there which aren’t “techi” at all.

The first and foremost impression your fonts — pretty much all of them — give me, are:

1. “retro” (or “outdated”, if put less complimentary) — those typefaces are typical for the “disco era”;
2. “amateurish” — not necessarily in the bad sense of the term, but still.

At this time, I think it would be a good idea to re-define the objectives you want to achieve with your logo. Originally you listed nine of them, which were obviously too much. But since then, you haven’t made the decision about what to cut and what to keep — so perhaps they’re all still floating in the back of your head and causing constant confusion to some degree?

Think about it and name one or two objectives (it may also be three, if they’re things that naturally belong together, like “higher, faster, further”). That should help you clear your mind a lot.

Have you considered using the font Neutraface or Neutra Condensed? I agree with everything Henry said — and since you’re still exploring fonts, why not try a few that aren’t “techi” or “retro”? Make your statement more simply - just “professional.”

Eileen

Eileen Burke Graphic Design

Thanks for your comments. Henry I only making comment to what you had said in the past on this post. Not down to your taste in general, which i’m sure is exceptional and wide. I have looked at neutraface its a lovely font. Certainly more classy than what I have. I’ll look at it again thought. I really like the personality of the 70’s fonts. These are the key words that I’ve got down to since my last list.

Approachable
forward moving
versitile

I have to say i’m pretty happy with what I have. I’ve asked my designer friends and they like it. But who’s to say they have taste. However if I can do better I will and I will look at your kind suggestions

Taking a geometric rounded face and adding serifs from Serif Gothic is not a good look, especially when it produces oddly stressed strokes in what are otherwise almost monoline characters. I cannot see how you would apply forward moving or versatile as adjectives to the result.

Tim

I hate to jump in at the last moment and say some negative things, especially considering it seems there’s been a lot of work going on. But, if I read your desires to be less about new media and more about print (or at least a balance of the two), then your firm name is completely wrong. Similarly, if you want to convey less interactivity, why would you insist on using the ’play’ symbol that clearly evokes an interactive nature? I’d give some considerable thought to that before settling on a design. Perhaps this is why you’ve gone through so many different iterations of the logo and not felt completely at ease with them.

Thanks for the comments. Changing the name or moving into new media look like the only options with this one. I new it with my original post. Hoped I could make it work

I’m really glad you’ve narrowed down your list of keywords, and I think the list is workable, too. But as others haven suggested, those keywords aren’t being carried by your logo design(s) yet.

And I can’t agree more with Jon — I share exactly the same confusions (among others) about what you’re trying to do here. To be blunt, I believe there is a gap between what you are (as a designer) and what you want to do (again, as a designer), and you need to deal with this conflict (a certain “split of identity”) first before you can proceed.

If that sounds too philosophical to you, here is an example of practical problem: There’s a certain conflict between “approachability” (depending on which sense of the word we’re looking at) and “new media”. On the “approachable” side, the font style you’re looking for — which you call “non-techi” — is usually called “casual”, and that’s a major font category, with lots of great fonts to choose. The problem is, the vast majority can’t be associated with “new media” in any way, because to a certain degree, “new media” implies “telecommunication” and “mass media”, which in turn implies “no direct contact” and “de-personalization”, respectively.

The only practical way I see to unify “modernness” and “approachability” is to feature an “approachable” motif (for example, one that can trigger sentimental associations) in a “modern” style. A good example:

http://typophile.com/node/36014

But before we discuss that, I’d rather urge you again to clear with yourself what you really want — answer the philosophical questions first, the principal ones second, the conceptual third, and the implementational last.

(merged with the other comment)