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1:28 pm
July 31, 2009 |
CMLife
| | | | | Member | posts 16 |
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I'm designing a logo for the new Central Michigan Life Web site, and I'm looking for suggestions/comments/anything. I designed the above in 5 minutes for beta-testing purposes, but I actually like it to the point where maybe some minor tweaks would be fine with the site. But I need some other input. Anything I should try instead? |
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1:45 pm
July 31, 2009 |
laurenmichell
| | San Luis Obispo, Calif. | | | Member | posts 21 |
| | I think the drop shadow is a little overbearing in contrast with the dark typeface. I would recommend either getting rid of the shadow or making CM-LIFE brighter. I'd also recommend making the top line of text longer so that the end it lines up with the bottom text. Also, pull down the .com to align with the bottom of CM-LIFE. Have you thought about including any kind of graphical elements into your logo? An exmple would be the CoPress puzzle piece. I only ask because for avatar purposes, it's good to have some kind of symbol to brand yourself on social networks (Twitter, FB, YouTube, etc.). Not necessary at all, but just something to think about. Thanks for seeking our input on this! | |
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1:47 pm
July 31, 2009 |
Daniel Bachhuber
| | | | | Admin | posts 102 |
| | Typography and design isn't necessarily my expertise, so I'm going to limit my suggestions in that arena. What I will say is that you should drop the domain as your logo. I think it should either be "CM Life" or "Central Michigan Life", whichever your newsroom likes to stick with to remain consistent with their brand. If you do "CM Life", then you might want to include the school underneath so that you associate the brand with the school (a la Mustang Daily). If you go with "Central Michigan Life", then you can probably drop the "The independent news source of Central Michigan University" altogether. Once you've done that, you've got space for a new tagline that's more unique and complementary to your brand. At the Whitman Pioneer, I think we established "Whitman news, delivered" in 2007 as the tagline for the website (although it may have been just me that made the decision and no one decided to change it  ) | |
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2:08 pm
July 31, 2009 |
joey
| | Silicon Valley | | | Admin | posts 39 |
| | OK, my editor hat is on: - This is the best short howto on logo design I've seen.
- First thing I think: "This logo looks so 1998″ (not a good emotion to evoke)
- Drop shadows are fun, but essentially unnecessary. I'd loose it.
- "Life" is the only real word you have in the logo, don't make it look like another acronym. Title case please!
- I would never make the tagline part of the logo – it's makes it very complex. Keep them separate.
- Logos need to be easily recognizable, and a quick read. So: font choice needs to be either on the beaten path or way off. This font is in that awkward in-between stage of "I'm different, but not that different." Pick a side!
- I always force myself to come up with at least 3 different designs. For each one I go back to the drawing board completely. Ideally I come out of it with conservative, new age, and wacky options.
IMHO! I think you've got a ways to go yet. Tweak this one, and perhaps force yourself to come up with 2 other options (it really does help me). Post 'em here, and I'll rip those apart too  | |
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5:29 pm
July 31, 2009 |
CMLife
| | | | | Member | posts 16 |
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Here's another one to look at. Not the final font; just an idea to spark more ideas. In other words, does this look less 1998? Keep ripping these apart; I want you guys to, actually. These are very quick designs I'm putting together with not TOO much thought… and the more critique I get, the better everything will turn out in the end. I thrive on |
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5:44 pm
August 1, 2009 |
joey
| | Silicon Valley | | | Admin | posts 39 |
| | 10x better sir! My notes: - font is an improvement, if you play with the kerning, you might convince me that this is the right direction.
- Good call on the duotone color scheme, I'd make "Life" a bit lighter – make it standout more, might also consider making "Life" a different font (maybe sans serif?)
I think this concept is 80% of the way there. A few more variations and maybe you can move on to a third idea? ———-Also———- One quick thing to keep in mind: when your developing logos you need to keep in mind that you're gonna need avatars for social media sites – which will be how many people see your logo most of the time. These avatars are always square~ish and small. That mans that logo, wordy logos like this one don't fly. It's worth thinking about how you're going to convert your logo to a square form factor. | |
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