new business logo-- what do you think?

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Scodiddly
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Post by Scodiddly » Sat May 05, 2012 3:12 pm

How's this?

Image

I couldn't figure out a way to put in a halftone "strat pickup" sort of frame around the polepieces like I wanted, but I think the concept is still clear enough. This is where a real graphics person would be able to do it, and have all the background/transparency stuff figured out as well.

Damn. That "U" is still just a shade too low. No big deal to fix.

And the spacing of the letters above the polepieces is kind of wonky, but that's another fix after the concept is approved.
Last edited by Scodiddly on Sun May 06, 2012 9:39 am, edited 1 time in total.

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rhythm ranch
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Post by rhythm ranch » Sat May 05, 2012 3:59 pm

Somebody with better tools (and more skill) can, I'm sure, come up with something better, but I agreed with moving the "U". I also extended it and came up with this:
Image

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Scodiddly
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Post by Scodiddly » Sun May 06, 2012 9:36 am

rhythm ranch wrote:Somebody with better tools (and more skill) can, I'm sure, come up with something better, but I agreed with moving the "U". I also extended it and came up with this:
Image
I wonder if making the U that huge ends up separating it from the rest of the word, though. "Man, those Bertar pickups are awesome!"

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rhythm ranch
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Post by rhythm ranch » Sun May 06, 2012 9:59 am

Scodiddly wrote:
rhythm ranch wrote:Somebody with better tools (and more skill) can, I'm sure, come up with something better, but I agreed with moving the "U". I also extended it and came up with this:
Image
I wonder if making the U that huge ends up separating it from the rest of the word, though. "Man, those Bertar pickups are awesome!"
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Post by The Scum » Mon May 07, 2012 9:18 am

OK, I'm not a graphic artist, not do I play one on TV.

But I did work in a prepress darkroom back in the days when you needed full size negatives to make a plate or silkscreen, and learned a lot about pasteup from those guys. How to look at an original that was mostly rubber cement, rubylith and blue pencil, and spot things that might not translate in high contrast B&W.

There are two things with this logo that strike me.

First, the gutters are different sizes. Its farther from the top edge to the top of the letters than it is from the right edge to the right of the letters, etc, etc.

The second is a finer point descending from the first: with a giant U, it's got giant serifs, which hang into the whitespace pretty heavily. It makes it hard to judge whether the implied guideline is the edge of the serif, or the vertical of the U, making the gutter issue even cloudier.

I'd also use the regular bottom of the bottom line as the guideline, and let the couple of tails fall below it...there's enough there that hits the line that the eye can excuse the exceptions.

The U is losing something as it gets smaller, too...the skinny leg starts to disappear, and gives the illusion that it's getting farther away from the rest of the design. A more symmetric, non-serif typestyle might avoid that.
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Post by Osumosan » Tue May 08, 2012 12:58 pm

Image

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ubertar
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Post by ubertar » Tue May 08, 2012 2:10 pm

First of all, I'd like to say I really appreciate you guys putting all this thought and work into trying to improve my logo. That just shows what an awesome community this is, and you guys in particular.

As for the specifics--
>Scott, the chicken head knobs look cool, but I'm not sure people who aren't into vintage gear would recognize what they are. My wife thought they were spaceships. Plus it takes away from the pickups which are the main thing and puts the focus on the knobs which are very literal. What I like about the original is it's simple and abstract but gets the idea across.

>I'm not so sure I like the look of the long U. I still want to play around with the idea of moving the U up to line it up with the rest of the name.

>The Scum-- I'm not sure I totally understand what you're saying.

>Osmusan-- that looks cool and I like the shading. Again, I don't know about the long U. The pickup is more clearly a pickup, but I wonder if making the pickup that literal would make people take the whole thing too literally-- would they expect control knobs on the pole pieces? The advantage of the original is it communicates the idea without suggesting too much that's definite about the product. That's good because I have multiple products and they evolve over time.

Thanks to everyone for your help and suggestions. I wasn't expecting people to come up with new designs; I was just looking for feedback. You guys went above and beyond. Thanks.

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Post by Osumosan » Tue May 08, 2012 3:07 pm

Sure. No problem. maybe a couple flourishes ornaments in a victorian style would give it a bit of a western flair instead of straight rules like something you'd find here

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Post by top_ape » Tue May 08, 2012 7:23 pm

I know you already kinda politely asked for no more re-designs... however I have a hard time writing about the points I'm trying to make and not just taking the 5 minutes in Photoshop to throw it together. My thought is the concept is great! But the execution looks a little cheap.

1 -the U seems extraneous. Big U, little Bertar - seems very "university". Also, as has been said it doesn't seem particularly cohesive or strong.

I do like hinting at a pickup without being super overt.

I believe Ubertar should carry the most weight (and the font could be tightened up) and Polyphonic Pickups should exist mostly to explain for those not in the know. Also, some sort of container.

Again, not a redesign but just to illustrate my point:
Image

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Scodiddly
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Post by Scodiddly » Tue May 08, 2012 8:17 pm

Osumosan wrote:Image
Wow! 8)

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Post by chris harris » Tue May 08, 2012 8:56 pm

Scodiddly wrote:
Osumosan wrote:Image
Wow! 8)
Yeah! That one is beautiful.

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Scodiddly
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Post by Scodiddly » Wed May 09, 2012 7:28 am

The question here really needs to go beyond "what looks like a pickup" to "who is going to be buying my products". To be blunt, it doesn't matter if the circles don't look like a pickup to ubertar's wife, because she's not likely to be a customer.

If I show you six circles in a row and say "pickup", you're going to think guitar pickup, assuming you know something about guitars. If you know nothing about guitars, you're almost certainly not looking to buy a polyphonic pickup. Same thing if I showed you six circles in a row and said "CNC die punching", right?

That being said, if Osumosan is offering their logo free or at least cheap, I'd jump on it. That's a great-looking logo.

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Post by E.Bennett » Wed May 09, 2012 8:55 am

obviously, i have zero artistic ability, but i thought the pickup would sit nicely in the "u". my sincerest apologies for my childlike scrawling, i just doodled this on my phone to at least get the basic idea across...

Image

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Post by chris harris » Thu May 10, 2012 5:48 am

^that one^ is awesome, too!

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Scodiddly
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Post by Scodiddly » Thu May 10, 2012 5:53 am

Ya know... why panpots? How about 1/4" output jacks instead? And/or maybe some lines indicating signal flow off somewhere, or into little effects pedal icons.

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