opinions on my first logo

[I_am_TheFlasher]

This is my first attempt at a logo. Could you plaese tell me what you think and what could I do to make it better. The logo is for me and my friends company, we're like a media company...kinda

Here is the logo on a couple different backrounds

[Egan311]

Are those supposed to be shrooms?



I can't really tell....

[I_am_TheFlasher]

Thier supposed to be.

[RUSHVision]

I was going to ask the same thing. What's the name of the company? What do you mean by "we're like a media company...kinda"?

It's a good enough looking image, but is 'drug addict' the impression you are trying to make?

[I_am_TheFlasher]

The name of the company is lot-201, what I mean by "we're like a media company...kinda" Is that I make websites and work in flash and such, while my friend just pays for have of everything. "is 'drug addict' the impression you are trying to make?" No, but if thats what you wanna think, it's fine by me. Could you tel me what I should do to make it better, or if I should scrap that idea an come up with another one?

[RUSHVision]

I hope you don't think I was trying to put you down with my question. It's simply that as far as I know mushrooms have nothing whatsoever to do with design or media and I was trying to nail down what kind of impression you were looking to make. I couldn't give you any ideas on how to make it better without knowing more about your company and the image you wanted to project. Whether or not I think you are a drug addict is of no consequence. What your potential clients think about you is another matter entirely, and believe me, 'drug addict' is not what they want to see.

If your company name is lot-21, why not something that somehow reflects that? What would that be? Not entirely sure to tell you the truth. What does it mean to you? Try to separate yourself from the designer in you for a moment and think of yourself as your own client. What do you want the logo to say to the world when they first look at it? What are some of your driving principles? Do you have a mission statement? Who are your clients? If you don't currently have any, who do you want them to be? If you are targeting upscale clients, then you want a logo that will appeal to this kind of crowd. If you are shooting for a younger and hipper client base then your logo could be more cutting edge techy or maybe go for something with a grungy spin.

Also consider the power of branding and name recognition. If you spend a number of years doing business under one name you are not going to want to change it or the logo or no one will know who you are anymore. Make sure the design you come up with to represent you will be one that you can live with for the life of the business.

[mg33]

Nice job RUSHVision

I Am,
Do you have a "company" or are you just a person doing freelance work?
There's a difference...
Besides, you said, "We're kinda like a company."

The mushroom portrays nothing. There is no relation or connection to the name Lot 21. Neither has any connection to a "company" or a freelancer doing web sites.
Just giving you my perspective.

I can think of a cool concept for Lot 21, just don't know if it connects to doing web work either. Although, there are plenty of companies with vague names that eventually make the connection between what they do.

Just don't sugercoat what it is you're doing if it's only doing freelance projects. People detect that quickly.

I'm not trying to shoot you down, just trying to get you to think about things.

So keep it coming at us.

mg33

[I_am_TheFlasher]

We're not actually a company, it's more like freelance. The mushroom has nothing to do with anything, I just think that they look cool. The image i want to portray for my "company" is a cool kinda professional look. I want my clients(when I get some) To be reallly just anyone, doesn't matter if there young or old, just as long as I get some. mg33-could you tell me your concept you had?

[745Li]

that's pawnage

[I_am_TheFlasher]

Originally posted by 745Li
that's pawnage

What's that supposed to mean?

[mg33]

Sure. Can't draw it because I'm not at home.

Lot-21 makes me think of a vacant lot, a building lot.

So I could see a sign, vertical, represented very simply, line outline in black. Then, the number 21 placed over it, but offset to the right so that it intersects the black outline of the sign. Where the lines intersect with the number (which would need to be a thick font, like Arial Black), remove the parts of the line within the number. Now, fill the rest of the shape within the vert/horiz sign lines with a solid color.

Further thought on this: Work with three colors, lets say, white background, black outline, grey fill.
The whole point is to make it look like a sign designating a lot. You'd have the upright, vertical poles that support the sign, you have the sign which is not a full rectange or square, becuase essentially the "21" has acted as a cut out and subtracted this from the full solid area. It should be simple, not cluttered at all, no textures. The nice part would be to skew the whole thing slightly, maybe 20-30 degrees, so it had some depth to it.

I can perfectly see it in my head. $100 and it's yours.

mg33

[Egan311]

I like mg33's idea. Although, I_am_TheFlasher said the name was "Lot-201" instead of "Lot-21". But maybe he could change it.

Whether you want shrooms to be your logo or not, your original logo just looks like a couple of blobs with a circle around them. I'm sure a "media company...kinda" can come up with something better.

At least I hope so.....

[RUSHVision]

Originally posted by Egan311
I like mg33's idea. Although, I_am_TheFlasher said the name was "Lot-201" instead of "Lot-21". But maybe he could change it.

You're right, that's my bad.

Originally posted by Egan311
Whether you want shrooms to be your logo or not, your original logo just looks like a couple of blobs with a circle around them. I'm sure a "media company...kinda" can come up with something better.

At least I hope so.....

That's exactly what he's doing right now. Ease up.

[Egan311]

I was just showing some tough love. I'm confident he can come up with something good....

Flasher, please keep us updated.

[gecko2]

The name 'Lot 21' or whatever number after it gives me the impression of a piece in an auction when it has that paper tag with the number written on it. If I had time (not at present) I'd do a graphic close up so you can see the 'Lot 21' on the tag, probably with a slightly blurred part in the foreground, and a more blurred bg. Just my idea.

<gecko2 grabs coat and goes to the pub>

[I_am_TheFlasher]

I knew I should ahve made it lot-21, Okay I'll try to make mg33's idea, it should be up by today or maybe tomorow

[argonauta]

hey there Flasher.

Take these few examples:

Adidas logo: does it reflect a sport clothing company?
swatch logo (that swiss cross i think it is): does it reflect a watch making company. Well it says "we're from switzerland" but it doesn't say "we make watches"
take johnie walker: the name and the logo are cool and are related, but they don't reflect a whysky brand
take the coca cola logo: if you know a little history, you'd know how the logo and the beverage relate to each other, but if you really don't care then you would say "hay, when i look at that logo, i think of a beverage".
java logo: java i think it's the arab word for coffee, so the logo goes well with the name, but neither of them go well with a programming language

Take linux penguin: what relationship is there between penguins and OSs.

My point: there are several ways to manage your corporate identity. One of the simplest is: your logo must reflect your company bussiness area. It's kinda logical.
Other strategy, create a cool looking logo (nike, johnie walker, adidas) doesn't matter if the product you're selling and the logo relate or reflect each other, just do a lot of marketing on your logo and product and just emphazise on image: my company is cool, my logo is cool. Make the logo so cool, that eventhough it doesn't identify the are of bussiness of your company, it will for sure identify YOUR COMPANY, which is way better.

In few words you can make the logo so people think like this:

MYLOGO>>>>>BUSINESS AREA>>>>>>MYCOMPANY

or (which i think it's better):

MYLOGO>>>>>>MY COMPANY>>>>>MY BUSSINESS AREA


What strategy u use is up to you. I believe some of the coolest big firms use a logo that doesn't relate (directly or too much) with the product.

Nevertheless, there are good cases that logos represent well the bussiness area and the company(or organization) itself
take as examples the WWF logo (world wildlife fund) i think. Seaworld, and Unicef.

So by no means think that the only way to make a good logo is to make people think: hey, that logo is of a Design Company. Logo s don't manage your image, it's much more complex than that. Logos are just a little part of your image.

Now, your logo, it looks good, but something is missing. For me, it's way too simple, and the circle aroung the logo, no, i don't like circles around logos, it's ok, i guess, but i don't like them.

[I_am_TheFlasher]

Thats a good point you got there. How would you reflect a media company through a logo? since mey name is lot-201, I was thinking of having something that has nohting to do with the name at all, but I geuss thats not a good idea. Is it?

[phreakdevil]

All those logos go with the name of the company which is different, and if they work with the graphic only is after the spent bizillions on image (Adidas, Jw, Nike, etc) so u allready know what it stends for, besides the key factor in some of them are color and the usage of the shapes (coca cola, nike).
Hope u get what i mean.

[argonauta]

Originally posted by phreakdevil
All those logos go with the name of the company which is different, and if they work with the graphic only is after the spent bizillions on image

wel yes. But there are also cases like:

"hey sir, why is your company name 'Rambo' when yu are selling lingerie" -"well, it's just cause the day i was going to found the company my neighbor's dog bit me. His name was Rambo"

Java is a good example. It's called like that, cause two blocks away of the building where the developers of that cool programming language where working, there was a coffee shop where the one of the specialities was a coffee named Java.

Or there are rarities like: why bill gates named his OS "windows" if it was almost logical to name it "Gates" for the last name, and for how windows worked.

So u can make an OS name linux, and the logo is a penguin, why "well, the penguin name's linux ".

So you see, it's true you can relate the logo to the name of the company, or to your main product, however it's not a rule, and not for that your logo would be successfull.

And yes, coca cola and adidas and such, have spent millions in marketing, and smaller companies have spent less money, but i think all serious company spend money in corporate identity, in making your brand, logo, name pretty known for people (some work some fail).....and there's my point. The success of a logo won't come for it's relationship with name, brand, company, but for the strategy you have to make it known.

Other Companies have a "logo" that just couldn't be named like that. BASF is a good example. It's one of the biggest chemical firms in Germany, and known worldwide, however their logo is a simple but elegant word "BASF".

Disney's logo is a castle (i think it's the sleeping beauty castle right? or cinderella's) it doesn't reflect an animation company. However it's pretty effective cause that castle is attached and is a symbol of Disney's productions.

From my point of view, you can have mushroms as a logo for a design company, it doesn't matter. What matters is how you plan to explain the logo, how you're going to advertise your company.

Another one that comes to my mind right now: playboy, a bunny, quite funny, isn't it. That's one of the coolest logos i've seen.

Anyway, you just can't put a PC in your logo, so that people say: "hey, it's a pc, that company sells pc's"...cause there are lots of companies that have a pc on their logo.

[edit]more things coming to my mind.

First: i'm not saying that making a logo that reflects the company or the company name is bad, i'm saying thare are also other ways.

Second: you said:

and if they work with the graphic only is after the spent bizillions on image (Adidas, Jw, Nike, etc)

well when they started as companies i don't hink they had trillion of dollars, nor expecting to be such BIG companies, so why did they choose those logos? i don't think they said "well i make this logo, and then i'll spent MILLIONS on advertising". They however had a good marketing strategy and are getting better and better at it.


Third: flushy, i'm defending the fact that you can have a mushrom for logo. But i also think you don't have any strategy. Your company name is bad, doesn't "click" on my brain. The logo is attractive, but something's missing. So: get an strategy, change the name, find a pretty good reason on why using that logo (example:"cause my neighbor's dog's name's mushrom and i found that cool" ).