Looking for Advice on Logo

[Steve4000]

Hi,

I have been having the hardest time coming up with a good looking "Serious" logo.

I say "Serious" because the site is of a serious nature,nothing funny or bad just serious business and honest.

For atleast 3 years now I have been trying to make a good looking one and I just can't come up with the right look,If I try one way it seems goofey and cheap or just awful, put it that way.

I'm getting close but some of you peeps on here have the artist in you for sure.

I do have to make it myself and won't pay to have someone to do it.

I have looked at logos all over and have googled everything to do with logos.

Looked at all of the inspirational designs and all that and still can't get it done.

I haven't asked an Artist though,one problem is the category of the site and the name of the site,none of the usual swooshes and arcs really fit the site name or category.

I think it is the name and category that is killing me on this,any kind of tutorials will always say "Let's assume your website sells Fishing stuff" or something like that,mine is way off from that and I'm not seeing it.

Maybe I'll leave it at that for now and ask if any of you can set me in some direction(I'm at a loss but won't give up on it) then I can respond back.

Let me add this also,I have had PDN for years now,I was a forum member before but haven't been here in a long-long time, I had to re-register.

Edited December 2, 2011 by Steve4000

[minners71]

Hi steve,

What is the name of the site and what sort of stuff does it sell ? because without that info its a bit hard to help.

[BoltBait]

Hi steve,

What is the name of the site and what sort of stuff does it sell ? because without that info its a bit hard to help.

I think the spam got edited out of this one. I wouldn't worry about it.

[minners71]

My bad soo much spam here recently.

[Steve4000]

Hi steve,

What is the name of the site and what sort of stuff does it sell ? because without that info its a bit hard to help.

Hi,

I did put the Logo in my sig and it did get edited out.

I'll give you the name of the site Answer Rack .com.

I am not spamming and I hope that is all right to put the name like that.

If not I'm sorry.

It is a question and answer site, when you see the logo you'll see, it is not all that bad but it doesn't look professional.

I find it hard also to "theme" the site because I can't seem to get a handle on a look for the logo.

I really don't want the logo to look "Fun like" or with the Comic Talk clouds I guess I could call them that.

I have made it better than the first one for sure but still stinky looking,I need to get the site more serious looking but that logo is what is holding me up.

Thanks for helping.

Edited December 2, 2011 by Steve4000

[BoltBait]

Please understand how it looks like spam.

You make your first and only post on a messageboard with links to your business.

Normally, we just ban the accounts outright. However, your post was reasonable, so a mod edited the link out of your post. Had you been a straight up spammer, you never would have seen the edit as they never return. Since you're back, we will try to help you.

Now, first, I recommend reading the site rules:

Now, reread rule #23.

We will be glad to help you learn Paint.NET and give opinions. We will NOT do your work for you.

[mountnman]

you HAVE to choose a different font.. Ariel Black may not be the most commonly used font in the world but its right up there. i understand you dont want a font thats too far out of line, as you want this to look respectable, but there are a number of good solid fonts that would look great

[Steve4000]

Please understand how it looks like spam.

You make your first and only post on a messageboard with links to your business.

Normally, we just ban the accounts outright. However, your post was reasonable, so a mod edited the link out of your post. Had you been a straight up spammer, you never would have seen the edit as they never return. Since you're back, we will try to help you.

Now, first, I recommend reading the site rules:

Now, reread rule #23.

We will be glad to help you learn Paint.NET and give opinions. We will NOT do your work for you.

Ah,

Did read and understand,I did say I have to make it myself and I will, also just wanted advice.

I get what your saying though,I know they had a different forum for years because I was on registered on it.

I got the first Paint.Net beta when it came out,can't remember when though,been years.I still have the source code around somewhere.

I made the Labels and some of the buttons on my website with pdn,also the logo.

I did get your plugins today and bunch others also that didn't automatically come in any of the updates that I have recieved.

Some of them will be of help, I do see that.

I do see your point about being a newbie to the forums though and the first post,that is why I edited my first post and added that I was a member before and had not been on for a long time.

Hope all is cool.

[Steve4000]

How's about something like a glossy question mark then a hyphen with a row of books alongside ?

Or totally outside the box (and possibly sanity) A question mark on a medieval rack

Yea,

A rack stretching a question mark,might end up being what I do!

I like this: (and possibly sanity)Thats a good one.

I was trying to make the glass 3d question mark and ended up with a 3d mark with a black face and glowing sode and bottom.

Similiar to a person on here who has a sig that says "Illumination"

I actually had the question mark on top of the webdings symbol of the flat world map, i had the map in a light gray layer but the mark covered some of africa and spain or something like that.

I was thing of splitting that and putting the mark in the atlantic ocean.

That background and the mark looked Educational which the site is also, it is also considered a Reference site I would say so that might do.

I might give it a shot.

The Books would give it that Educational look also, I still can use that book idea.

I do thank you for the help.

[Steve4000]

you HAVE to choose a different font.. Ariel Black may not be the most commonly used font in the world but its right up there. i understand you dont want a font thats too far out of line, as you want this to look respectable, but there are a number of good solid fonts that would look great

Oh Yes,

I have had the name in every font I could find, very hard decision on which one to use.

Some have that Non-Commercial use clause also.

Bad thing about the font problem also is the first word in the logo ends with the same letter that the second word begins with,that has been why I have had so much trouble picking a font. I've tried script for the second word to break it up, but that drove me back to looking like a not serious almost greedy looking logo.

Tried the bold and not bold,different fonts for each word.

I had originally just the first 2 letters as a logo, just AR then the site name and the tag line underneath, again didn't look bad but didn't look the best either.

I had to pick that domain name though, there just were no other choices,now that it has been out there for 3 years I'm stuck with it and have to make it work.

I'm going to try the map idea I have in the other post and work with the fonts also.

[pdnnoob]

Just a few fonts you may wish to try...

Helvetica black: not the most original of choices, but it is a well-designed font and has a professional look to it.

Blue Highway: I downloaded this one for free a while back. It looks great and, in my opinion, should do the trick quite well.

Century Gothic: Not too bad. Don't use the capital "T" from this font...

Candara: If you want a more lively look while retaining the serious appearance, this font has a slight curve to the outlines that makes it more interesting

That pretty much covers all the specific fonts I would suggest for your purposes. If you want more choices, try out other fonts with "sans" or "unicode" in the name. Of those, rule out anything that uses circles on the lowercase i's.

If you ask me, however, I think the idea behind your current logo is great. It just needs some touch ups is all...

One possibility could be, rather than making the horizontal lines and your question mark separate objects, integrating them into each other.

[mountnman]

suggestion Plantagenet Cherokee- a bit of style but not excessive

oh i guess i should mention that this is a font

[Ego Eram Reputo]

@Steve4000: check your PM's (Private Messages). I sent you one explaining the edit I did to your signature.

[Steve4000]

Welp,

I been working on it and have not been here since last post I wrote.

I didn't read what pdnnoob said until right now and I already uploaded a new logo I made.A little eerie if you look at what pdnnoob said.

Anyway I am getting closer, I do have to get rid of the green on the site,it is not cutting it.

The logo, I'm thinking it looks way better, I have to do something with the fonts,it is not Ariel Black, I went with Tiresias Signfont for now,the tag line, been through that 1,000 more times, I think the dark purple looks like Ink on Metal, all the other color didn't look good.

All the color combos I tried didn't look good,but what I used seems to be getting better.

I am going to look a the fonts that pdnnoob and mountnman mentioned.

I'm writing this post first before anything else.

I spent way to much time one this logo since day one and have to move on because I have been neglecting other stuff.

I can use the purple on the buttons but now I am worried about too much black text and if I use purple text then I am worried about the my links.

That is one reason I mentioned the tagline,the color that would work and it looks like a clicked link.

Aint one thing it is another, I have to get away from the green though.

I could use more advice on that stuff.

Ego Eram Reputo,I will check that message,I may have read it back on Dec 2 unless you sent a new one, I'll check it now.

Edited December 8, 2011 by Steve4000

[pdnnoob]

Eerie? How so? xD

First things first. I like the new logo a whole lot! I have one suggestion for it this time:

Don't bother with the gap between the squares. It would look nice if the logo was larger, but after shrinking it down, the squares start to "jump" the gap and blend together.

I would highly suggest you lower the number of different colors you use for your text. Bright colors like red and green greatly decrease readability and aren't especially professional-looking. If you wish to add color, light background colors are your best bet.

With the improved logo, you might have to improve your button graphics as well. Your logo image is smooth, but your buttons appear to be gif images with the dithered gradients and limited number of colors.

Under your "Recent Questions" title, don't bother repeating the first 100 characters...

That's all I got for now. Hope it helps!

[Steve4000]

Eerie? How so? xD

First things first. I like the new logo a whole lot! I have one suggestion for it this time:

Don't bother with the gap between the squares. It would look nice if the logo was larger, but after shrinking it down, the squares start to "jump" the gap and blend together.

I would highly suggest you lower the number of different colors you use for your text. Bright colors like red and green greatly decrease readability and aren't especially professional-looking. If you wish to add color, light background colors are your best bet.

With the improved logo, you might have to improve your button graphics as well. Your logo image is smooth, but your buttons appear to be gif images with the dithered gradients and limited number of colors.

Under your "Recent Questions" title, don't bother repeating the first 100 characters...

That's all I got for now. Hope it helps!

The eerie thing was about integrating objects. Maybe I took it wrong now that I read it again.

That is actually a perspective look I put on the image. Those squares are one image not 4.

That is actually how a road would look in 3d.

I do still have to fine tune it yes,I did notice the gap was looking a little funny as you did see.

As for the text colors yes I actually turned some green text to purple just to see it with the logo.

I am going to get rid of all the green. I am also going to make new buttons.

I made the buttons with a button maker because I needed to change them quickly and didn't get back around to them yet.

I'll be changing stuff real soon, this site is more messy looking now because I am trying to Lose the green colors, I had to get away from the green in the logo first.

Thanks for helping,

Happy Holidays if I don't hear back from you.

[minners71]

Did these for fun.

[Steve4000]

Did these for fun.

Bip,sniffle,Bap,Bip,Bip,sniffle(That is the Sound of a Grown Man crying)that would be me!

Just Kidding

Oh Man,I would not have come up with that at all.

I'll show you what I had before:

This first one I used:

http://i566.photobucket.com/albums/ss104/MattyBodo/arack/Logo.jpg

This one I used a similiar one without the reflection because it was a test try:

http://i566.photobucket.com/albums/ss104/MattyBodo/arack/logo2.jpg

But darn it,I was trying to figure out what to do with the 2 letter idea and I was always disappointed with the R,not matter what I did with any font that R was a disappointment and you got it.

Man I can't get over it, I could actually hug you right now!

Well how about a High Five!

I don't know what to say and don't know what to do now.

Now I am looking at the one I made and I'm going what to do?

I have to do it over again.

I have to go out now will be back.

Thanks Still can't get over it!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[minners71]

If its any consolation I really like what you have at the moment and I thought the second link you posted was very good as well very clean and professional looking, what font was used for the AR on that one ?

Edited December 10, 2011 by minners71

[Steve4000]

If its any consolation I really like what you have at the moment and I thought the second link you posted was very good as well very clean and professional looking, what font was used for the AR on that one ?

That is Ariel Black and the first one is also, the reason for the different look is I used a 3d program and had the choice of miter round and beveled edges.

That second one has the Rounded edges, there is an extrusion also, the letters are facing the camera at 000 so the extrude is not noticable,only slightly.

[Steve4000]

Welp,

I changed it again and I think I might have hit it on this one.

I think this journey is over.

I did it in purple for now because of the buttons I made and have on there now.

The more I looked at the last one,it wasn't looking so good.

I have stop and I think I can do it with this one.

This takes a lot out of figuring out which font to use for the 2 letters.

Minners71 you helped a lot and this is how I came up with it by those logos that you made and the other fellow that mentioned the objects.

What I can do with this one is use any colors,I had it in a nice like violet blue sort of color that looked good.

I do have to get some more fonts again because those are on there are not working,I could use some more font names.

I went through all of mine.

Here is what I came up with, I think I am going to have to stick with it an this has to be the end of it except for the font types and the color, I just have it purple because of the buttons.

http://i566.photobucket.com/albums/ss104/MattyBodo/arack/Logo-1.jpg

[Ego Eram Reputo]

RE: Fonts. I'm guessing you're looking for a clean and crisp font, perhaps slightly futuristic, to go with the logo?

My current favorites in this vein are downloadable from dafont.com. Have a look at "Neuropol" and "Classic Robot" in the Sci-Fi themes.

[Steve4000]

RE: Fonts. I'm guessing you're looking for a clean and crisp font, perhaps slightly futuristic, to go with the logo?

My current favorites in this vein are downloadable from dafont.com. Have a look at "Neuropol" and "Classic Robot" in the Sci-Fi themes.

I used the Classic Robot, it fit just right, I also downed about 6 0r 7 others and they didn't look too good.

http://i566.photobucket.com/albums/ss104/MattyBodo/arack/Logo-2.jpg

Thanks

[Steve4000]

If its any consolation I really like what you have at the moment and I thought the second link you posted was very good as well very clean and professional looking, what font was used for the AR on that one ?

I fixed the purple and put the new fonts on, looking better, tired long day.

http://i566.photobucket.com/albums/ss104/MattyBodo/arack/Logo-2.jpg

[Steve4000]

Hi,

Been about 6 months since I last posted,I wish I could help someone instead of asking for help all the time.

I did change the logo same concept but different look, I 'm looking for opinions again, maybe on sprucing it up or is it stupid looking or let me know,it looks better on the site then on photobucket

Real pain in the butt for me to just stop and leave it alone,any ideas or thoughts,thanks for the past ones also. I'm not an artist so I came back to check with some of the Best!!

Here is the link: http://i566.photobucket.com/albums/ss104/MattyBodo/newest%20logo/Logo.jpg