A few weeks ago, I told you about plans to rework The Logo Factory logo and walked readers through the stupidly exhaustive process of redesigning a logo. After overhauling The Logo Factory house (long overdue) I set about incorporating the icon into a servicable word mark. I thought we were on the right path, but numerous nay-nays in the comments section gave me reason to pause. My daughter’s “Looks like Crazy Earl’s Logo Emporium” comment didn’t help either. We had managed to develop what I though was a funky ‘different’ approach, but many thought the design didn’t work. Like most designers working on their own logo, I just didn’t know and when it comes to criticism of our own stupid logo, my confidence goes right out the window. While I sorta liked it, I wasn’t sold completely. So in this never-ending saga, we’re going to take another stab. Decided to have a another go at the font work, this time using versions of ITC’s Lubalin. Let’s start with a similar setup to the original rework, arcing the word ‘Factory’.
Oh dear. That’s not going to work at all. All of the elegance is gone. The blocky bottom serifs of the letters make the wording look tossed blindly around the arc. Not good at all. Okay, back to a standard layout – the words on top of each other. Centered.
Nasty. ‘The‘, ‘Logo‘ and ‘Factory‘ don’t work particularly well together. They never have (this was a problem almost 15 years ago with the original Loveletter treatment). Even when centered, they appear as if they’re not. Gonna have to play with the spacing, sizing and alignment of each component. As best we can.
That’s not too bad. While the words are staggered, there’s enough of a grid to hold the words together visually without appearing like a hodge-podge of disparate elements. One of the elements that I really liked from the earlier workup was a cog. So let’s add one. Or two.
Not too shabby. One of the main parts of this exercise is to create a word mark that can stand on its own, but also cohabitate with our ubiquitous house. Let’s see how they pair up.
It’s okay, but the letter forms, being so blod, dominate the house completely. Maybe if we back off the boldness just a tad.
Okay, now we have something that looks like a decent fit. I realize that it may be difficult to tell the difference at this size, so you can compare the various treatments here. And let’s add the work portion of the logo to the cog we developed on our first outing.
Overall – not bad. Funny thing is, after I finished all the various tweaking and messing about, I took a look at the ‘Crazy Earl’s Logo Emporium‘ version. You know, I still don’t mind it. True, it has a lot going on. And yes, it’s got a little bit of a ‘wild west’ vibe happening (but, if you knew how things go down at The Logo Factory, that’s not entirely inaccurate). In case you’ve forgotten, here it is again:
Comparatively speaking, the Lubalin version is a bit, ahm, ‘safe’. No real ‘character’ or funky ‘style’. Seems I still can’t make up my mind. So, I’m leaving it up to you to select one. So, what’s it going to be? One cog or two? Bold or not-so-bold? Or throw caution to the wind and go with Crazy Earl and his Logo Emporium?
Alas, seems like the only way to finish this up is to absolve myself of all responsibility. Accordingly, the comment section is all yours.
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Tags: branding, rebranding, studio news
I like what you have going. I kinda like the funkyness of the last one with the 2 different fonts (crazy Earl). I am not a fan of the house though. I mean I like the house alone, but not with the logo. There is too much going on for me. But then again I kinda like the simplicity of the 2 cog logo INSIDE the bigger cog.
Eitehr way, Nice work!
Ok… I love the house so when I read that you were redesigning, I was dismayed.
I like the two cog. Very well done. The spacing with the house is good and it works beautifully on its own.
And your crazy Earl works because it is incorporated into the building by being behind a bit (touching). And it is nicely funky, which makes your house funkier still. Almost like it wants to dance or throw a party or something.
But one thing I know about a logo REdesign more so than a spanking new logo, is that you cannot make a decision right away. You need to let it seep into you. You need to absorb it.
I haven’t absorbed yet.
And I’m still working on absorbing that first pot of tea.
Catherine’s last blog post..Creative Opera
Okay, lemme see: not-so-bold and the one cog in ‘factory’ works for me, but you’re right that it screams ‘safe’! I’d tweak the kerning a touch, btw.
Sigh. Safe. Yeah, kinda doesn’t ‘pop’ enough, eh? Hmmmm. Can anyone say, ‘custom font?’ Just to get the ‘funk’ back, ya know? Can’t hurt, eh?
Sean’s right about the the 2 cogs inside the larger cog, tho’, that look is on!
Keep your chin up, Mr. D. Who knows? The solution could be right around the corner!
Hey Steve,
Thanks for letting us share in the process with you. I like the two cogs, and you could then use one as your favicon.
I hope you don’t mind, but I took the liberty of trying something:
http://i40.photobucket.com/alb.....y-logo.gif
For me, the company name is self-explanatory, so I question the need for “design studios”. The date of establishment is a selling point, but whether you need it in your logo is another question to consider. Maybe you could have one version with, one without?
David Airey’s last blog post..Something old, something new…
@ Sean – I think the “logo in cog” works pretty decently. I’m starting to agree that while I like the house as a stand alone icon, it’s very difficult to work it into a decent logo.
@ Catherine – No worries on re-designing the house. There’s a lot of history that comes with it. I lke the Crazy Earl’s Logo Emporium look myself, and it lends itself to a lot of branding and marketing tie-ins. Re-designing our logo is a pain. Good thing we’re not in a rush and can explore a lot of options.
@ Gerard – I hope the solution is right around the corner. I’m getting old here. Thanks for your comments. Custom font may be the answer – I’ve been trying to avoid for expediency.
@ David – thanks for throwing your hat into the ring. Tha justified left approach is certainly an option. I’m tending to agree with you on the ‘Design Studios’ tagline. That came out of the original brief that I worked up when trying to determine the direction. The 1996 ‘bug’ isn’t always necessary, and is probably only worth while using on display applications of the logo (brochure front page, home page, etc). so a version with, and one without, is certainly worth considering. Thanks again.
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A ‘funky’ style is not for your logo. KISS (keep it simple, stupid) is a model to follow. Think of all the most effective and successful branding efforts like IBM, McDonald’s, Apple. They are simple, and they are effective. You can get funky in your marketing campaigns. Leave the logo to be a mark of stability and timelessness.
Do away with the building. If it is sized down to a stamp size, it will not be recognizable anyway.
@ download and Ares Vista. Thanks for the comments. Both of your suggestions have been implemented in the latest phase linked above. The house is gone and the ‘Crazy Earl’s Emporium’ version has been relegated to T-Shirts.
[...] brand roll out. In fact, we chronicled the development of our new logo starting here, continuing here, and then finishing up with the ‘final chapter’ here. Long and short of it – [...]
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