Gary is looking for direction with this logo. He says “please help… i feel like i’m heading on a crash course into the Logo Design abyss….”
Let the critiquing begin. It would be nice to know more about the company. We’ll have to review this on a strictly visual basis.
Tags: critique, review
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on Tuesday, May 31st, 2011 at 2:18 pm and is filed under Design, Logo Design 101, Uncategorized.
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May 31st, 2011 at 4:32 pm
I love Helvetica, and I love logotypes (text-only logos with very little or no graphics).
The hierarchy you’ve created forces us to look at Health first, because of the color. But the rest doesn’t read naturally. Making text on its side and at an angle creates chaos, so the logo becomes a puzzle the viewer has to solve, rather than a puzzle that the DESIGNER has solved. It’s not reaching our brain quick enough, so it frustrates us. So this is a frustrating logo.
Stairs don’t communicate the concept Health, and angled text doesnt communicate the concept Community. There needs to be a reason for everything. It needs to be reworked, in my opinion.
June 1st, 2011 at 1:26 pm
this is great feedback, exactly why I came to this website and study its content and Paul’s Podcast!! i’m going to rework with your comments in the next few days… Gary
June 1st, 2011 at 4:15 pm
I like many of the elements that you have designed. I like the mixture of color and depth of color to imply hierarchy. But, the hierarchy is hard to recognize at a glance. The health, due to size and color stands out the most and is read first. From there, the hierarchy is confused. The size of lynn draws the eye there, but the angle of community also draws attention. I do like what you have begun to do with tucking the ascender of the t in center into the a. It makes the text feel unified and like it belongs together.
I like the incorporation of an element of exercise or physical activity, but I am wondering if there is a stronger way to do this. The type that you chose is very traditional, so present in the world around us, that it becomes benign. I would keep whatever element you choose to represent the physical activity to match the type closely.
I like the alignment, but wonder if instead of arching the community text off to the right, (which leads the eye off and to the right) if it can be incorporated in a more interactive way, leading the eye further down the design to the next word.
I would chose whether you would like to align the type or not. If the type is aligned to the left, as it is for community, health and center, I would see if you can space the text to justified (aligned on both sides). But as you are doing this, beware the design sin to stretch text. Do not do it.
You have some great elements going on. I would like to see the re-work when it is done.
June 3rd, 2011 at 6:22 pm
The first word that comes to mind is ‘disjointed.’ Meaning the various lines of text all seem to be pointing in different directions…and not in a good way. Unfortunately they point outwards, visually “breaking apart” the design, instead of keeping it one cohesive unit.
I like the colors you selected. Friendly and semi-neutral, with a light airy feel to it. As far as visual hierarchy goes, HEALTH gets the first read, which forces the viewer to have to “figure out” where the design starts and ends.
The combination of all caps and all lowercase has the potential to work effectively, but needs some fine tuning. Observe the negative space between certain letterforms such as the L and T in HEALTH, as well as the L and Y in LYNN. These areas create visual “holes” in a design and creates imbalance–something the brain doesn’t like. The eye and brain love balance, symmetry, and elements that flow in and out of each other. That said, employ some thoughtful kerning to the letters to tighten up those visual gaps.
BTW, I like how you tucked the T in CENTER Up into the open space in the A.
Lastly, I think the stairs within the H are an interesting idea. However, the green color that fills in the area to the right of the steps creates a heavy, awkward “chunk” to the letter. This distracts from all of the other letters which are slim and linear.
I would consider stacking the type, left justified. The design has potential, with some tweaking. I’d be interested to see what you come up with. Cheers!