Logo Critique – DNA Digital
Dylan O’Donnell is a designer that sent us this logo to critique.
Company Info: DNA Digital is a hosting company, web devs, design and marketing. Want to avoid typical web cliches but have a strong “corporate” umbrella logo to cover many “digital” operations.
What will the logo be used for: Everything. Business cards, websites and hopefully my personal Jet. *cough*. Must work on all colours / reversed.
Tags: critique, logo review
October 18th, 2011 at 11:09 am
Love the icon. Love the text treatment. I don’t get how the box represents DNA or DIGITAL, though.
The box..it seems like I’ve seen it before. You have to be careful with simple icons, because another designer could have come up with the same idea. It’s happened more than once with me. Did you create it from scratch?
October 24th, 2011 at 5:21 pm
Yes that was my concern too, about being so simple as to be unoriginal. The 2-tone shading I think will give it some uniqueness at larger sizes and the shape is based on the menger sponge fractal. It doesn’t scream digital.. but it is a mathematical / organic “building block”.. which is it’s inherent meaning.
Yep, I created it from scratch using primitive shapes in Illustrator.
Appreciate the feedback.
October 25th, 2011 at 7:45 am
I like the use of texture in the mark. It feels to me that the “d” in “dna” could use just a tad more space between itself and the “n”. I get that the dna is more important than “DIGITAL”, but it’s heaviness requires a little more of a bottom margin I think – “DIGITAL” looks a little squished under the weight of “dna”.
Otherwise, it’s very clean and simple. You certainly hit the mark on creating something that can be used in a variety of environments. It does, in my opinion, look like it may be stronger in print.
October 27th, 2011 at 8:58 pm
That’s an excellent point regarding logo hierarchy William.. It’s possible the lettering is not correctly sized considering where the emphasis needs to be!
October 31st, 2011 at 5:23 am
3D graphic icon has excellent shading. The diagonal patterns quite representing the phrase ‘DNA’. The ‘dna’ text treatment somewhat not seems to be balanced with the ‘digital’ font.
November 6th, 2011 at 1:43 am
Thanks James, appreciate the feedback!
If anyone’s interested see a video usage of this logo that plays on the shading with some coloured variations and fades see here :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pA643xFwac4
November 6th, 2011 at 5:13 pm
Ooops.. link changed sorry for repost.. but yeh good to see logo in a kind of animated context.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKfPXCCvSRI
November 9th, 2011 at 6:41 am
Very nice logo design. Brandable and fonts are modern and suitable for digital products, the word “digital” on the logo looks similar to dolby “digital”. Great work.
December 16th, 2011 at 4:20 pm
” Want to avoid typical web cliches but have a strong “corporate” umbrella logo to cover many “digital” operations.” If you plan to use the box on the right for other things than DNA digital, than I think you should keep the box. If you’re always going to have the same text, than I’d say drop the box. The reason is simple. In order to successfully brand a company there are two important things which needs to be done:
1) The customer must easily and quickly be able to read the text
2) The customer must be able to visualize the logo easily (here’s where the box fails).
Sometimes simple symbols can be good if it’s required to clarify or underscore a point, but for the most part it’s not.
December 16th, 2011 at 5:38 pm
I would say lose the hatching on the cube, or switch to a different pattern. You’re using it to convey a grey shading on certain faces of the cube, but it looks to me like it is also conveying texture; specifically, a very organic, almost wood-like texture. From a distance, it looks pixelated and messy. I would suggest switching to a solid grey, or a different hatching pattern.
December 18th, 2011 at 2:16 pm
In my opinion the general rule should be that you don’t use something extra unless it’s vital to explain the business you’re in. Dropbox for example should keep the box, as the logo would look a little naked without it.
DNA digital. What the name really tells me when looking at your website, is that we’re dealing with a hosting company offering some extra services. A web hosting company who keeps everything secure, runs backups, is there for you!
So, instead of a box, I’d rather keep the main focus on the DNA digital (which is well written, nice font) and find a suitable tagline which unscores the point about doing more, being secure and there for your customers. That’s something I’d pay for…
December 19th, 2011 at 7:57 pm
“DNA” and “DIGITAL” together like that doesnt look good in my eye. The wire box is pretty used and like said it doesnt give out the same message what DNA and DIGITAL give.
I would put the words on same line DNA DIGITAL (CAPS) and would ditch the wire box and then design “digitalized dna string”. The simplier the better
January 9th, 2012 at 8:05 am
I used to love this site, but it is rarely ever updated anymore. What’s to keep us coming back?
February 20th, 2012 at 9:30 am
Love the icon. I think the font style compliments the icon also. Keep up the good work! eStudios