Archive for July, 2009
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30July
- Dance the Night away: Dancing Logo Styles
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There are so many reality shows about dancing now. We have “Dancing with the stars”, “So you think you can dance”, “America’s best dance crew” and “Dance you a$$ off.” Even “American Idol” has dance sessions. Obviously, there is a bit of a dance craze going on in the television world right now and because of this inspiration, everyone wants to learn to dance. This puts a lot of pressure on professional performers because just singing at a concert isn’t enough, there must be visual attraction and lots of dancing. I guess that’s a good thing though, because if I am spending 80 plus dollars to see a show, i would expect to be entertained!
A silhouette of a ballet dancer is a very common design style for dance studios. You can see in the rest of the logos how this design approach, or some sort of variation, is used quite often. The Dance Umbrella logo stands out a bit more since they incorporate the umbrella cleverly into their design.
This design was a bit odd to me since there seemed to be so many design ideas to go with a name like “Prism Dancers.” I don’t think they used the name to its full potential. I would assume that a rainbow of colors would be involved in this. Frankly, the design is a bit dull and incredibly disappointing.
Footlights is a mix of dance and theater, therefore their design is a bit different from the overdone ballet dancer look. They did a nice job utilizing the drama masks and spotlight. It really sets them apart from the others.
I don’t think that many people can flex their body like the above logo, but it’s a great advertising tool because that silhouette makes me want to learn how.
Hopefully business has picked up for these dance studios with the dance craze at its peak. Everyone wants to learn how to dance with the stars or get in better shape through fitness dancing. It is a more interesting trend that will hopefully stick as time goes on and the reality shows get cancelled.
Tags: dance, dance logos, dance schools, Logo Design
Posted in Logo Inspiration, Occasion Logos | No Comments »
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28July
- Explore the Wizarding World: Harry Potter Logo Designs
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I seem to be a little behind when it comes to seeing the latest movie releases in theaters, but I did get a chance to see the new Harry Potter movie this weekend, “Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince,” and I have to say that the books are so good that they do ruin the movies a bit for me. The book is always better. Don’t get me wrong, the movie wasn’t bad, it was most definitely entertaining, visually stunning and enjoyable to watch, but with the amount of story that the book contains, I don’t always think that the right parts are chosen to go into the film. Major plot points of the book are always cut out and they are important. I do understand that following the entire book on the big screen would probably result in a 6-8 hr movie, but I think the decision to cut some important scenes is not always in the movie’s best interest.
The main logo design for the Harry Potter series is a simple design with Harry’s name in bold, carved out lettering. It has a jagged look as if it were scratched into a piece of wood or embossed from a piece of wood or even gold. The highlight of the lettering is the lightning bolt shaped “P”, which resembles Harry’s scar. There are many variations on this, in which the lettering appears in gold or silver and sometimes with a background glow. The other versions no longer look like carvings, but like thick metal. They all have a very ominous feel so that we know there is trouble out there for our friend, Harry.
There are not that many other designs scattered through the current six Harry Potter movies, but I did find this interesting Hogwart’s Crest. The symbol represents the four houses that make up the school as a whole and can sometimes be seem displayed on articles of Harry’s clothing or uniforms.
Another famous image toward the later movies is the “dark mark,” displayed above. This is the symbol for the evil death eaters and the dark lord. I will not say his name. The symbol, a skull releasing a snake from its mouth, is tattooed on the arms of his followers and often appears in the sky when they are creating mayhem.
It’s amazing how much popularity a book series can stir up, but when something is good, it’s not long until word of mouth spreads it to the rest of the world. The series has been popular for over twelve years now and as a fan, I thoroughly enjoy both the books and the movies, although for anyone who only watches the movies, I would recommend some sit down reading time with each novel. It’s definitely worth it and there is always the hope that a new logo will come about for the next one!
-Nora Reed
Tags: Harry Potter, Logo, Logo Design
Posted in Logo Design Tips | 2 Comments »
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22July
- Darkness falls: Total Eclipse of Logo Designs
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July 22, 2009. Today was the occurrence of the longest total solar eclipse of the 21st century. Depending on how you look at it, this is either a glorious act of nature, or a negative omen that will bring about chaos and turmoil, or so they think in India based on religious views. Supposedly the energy can be felt worldwide, although I simply find it fascinating and think of it as an astronomical event that we rarely have the opportunity to witness. Unfortunately, living in the US prevents me from seeing it live, but it still stirred up some thought on how a solar eclipse has been inspiration to create logos. Take the show “Heroes” for example, their main logo focuses on this interesting event. Below are a few samples of the show’s logo design.
The logo has a few variations, in which one includes visuals of the cast members or a different version of the actual eclipse, however, the glowing sun is present in every version, even if it is mostly hidden.
An eclipse is a powerful image and here, in the above wallpaper display, Apple created their own view of a solar eclipse, in which the Apple logo replaces the moon. It makes the logo appear very strong and powerful with the bright back light shining behind it.
An eclipse style logo is used for many other businesses as well as TV shows. Here above, we have Eclipse eye wear, Eclipse gum and Eclipse is even the name of a specific bar and grill where the crescent moon makes up the “C.”
Hopefully all of those who could see the eclipse made sure to do so. The next one won’t occur for quite some time. An eclipse is a rare and beautiful thing, and based on the logos I found, it’s very effective in the design world as well.
-Nora Reed
Tags: eclipse, eclipse logos, Logo Design, logos
Posted in Logo Design Tips | 2 Comments »
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21July
- Logo Companies Face Off in the Wall Street Journal
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Reading through the logo design news for the day, and I was pleasantly surprised to find that the venerable old’ Wall Street Journal has a piece written after Logo Blog’s own heart, covering logo design and logo design companies. Although we won’t besmirch the Journal for inching in on our territory, we do have our own take on their findings.
Peter King, the writer of the Cranky Consumer feature for the WSJ, created a fictional business in order to test and review, several online logo design companies. Operating under the assumption that the client was a jobless entrepreneur, King set his budget at $150 and under and went to work.
Creating DiskFix, an imaginary data retrieval service who specializes in data recovery from hard drives, King selected The Logo Company, Logo Design Guru.com, Logo Design Creation.com and Logo Loft to build his imaginary brand.Providing only a tag line and a simple one sentence description King purposely kept the input to a minimum and let the designers have at it.
After reviewing each design, King and corporate brand expert Dr. Glenn Christensen, assistant professor of business management at Brigham Young University’s Marriott School of Management, provided their commentary. Although King and Christensen reviewed price, service, and design, we will turn our attention to the design itself.
Logo Design Guru
I liked this one, it seems both corporate and dynamic, while integrating a cyclical motion with an outlined circle around the company name. I also can’t help but notice a very FedEx like arrow in between the “I” and the “X” in “Fix”, very subtle. The typography is also strong and metered providing an excellent hierarchy between Disk Fix, Solutions, and the tag line. I would like to see the tag line slightly larger, but it can work both ways.
I disagree with Christensen’s assessment that the logo does not communicate what the company is. Clearly the circle, hidden arrow, and the circle around Disk Fix Solutions provide some indication of returning a user or a customer right back where they started from, as any customer of a data recovery service would so sorely want to feel. Overall strong text, plus the subtle cyclical motion makes this the strongest contender.
LogoLoft
I found this logo to be slightly more problematic, in that I found it too spread out and elongated for my taste. Also the text is a little bland. I feel if you are going to design such a text centric logo, you should at least capitalize on it and do something interesting with it. I’m just personally bored by the text in this logo.I do like however the hard disk head resting on the platter, jutting out from the “D” in Disk. (I’m a sucker for design elements worked into text.) My only concern with this is that it could be mistaken for a thermometer. If someone wasn’t particular intimate with the internal working of a hard drive, he or she may not know what was being depicted.
Logo Design Creation.com
I have mixed feelings on this logo. I find the type to be very weak, and I’m not just some sans serif hater, this text is Land of Bland. The text is fitting for a road sign on the Autobahn, not for a data recovery firm.The icon is compelling, in that it’s a blunt in your face representation of the company, but I disagree with Dr. Christensen that it’s the best representation out of the group. To me it’s uninspired and looks a little too much like an oscillating fan.
The logo is also fairly long and horizontal, and not as condensed and compact as most standard logos.
The Logo Co.
This is a compelling logo similar to the Logo Design Guru logo that I think takes the right approach. Circular in design, the logo creates the effect of spinning drive platters and is appropriately turning clockwise indicative of getting back to the start of something.
The 1s and 0s are a particularly nice touch at communicating the nature of the business and providing the necessary fill in inside the logo’s center. My only concern with this would be printing or embroidery. I wonder how well this would come out. I find the font for Disk Fix a little too thin, with the word “Solutions” becoming lost below the company name and above the tag line, but the design is still perfectly serviceable.After offering our humble commentary on the design portion of this article, what are your thoughts about these logos? Did the Wall Street Journal get the design aspects correct? Which logo is the best and most likely to be selected and used? Which firms could have done better? Leave a comment below or vote in the poll on the right, under the RSS feed box.
Images and Graphics originally appeared in The Wall Street Journal July 16, 2009.
-Kevin Scott
Tags: Logo Design, logos, wall street journal
Posted in Logo Design News | No Comments »
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17July
- Go Green with National Park Logo Designs
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Green is a trend that seems new, although environmentalists have been trying to get it going for many years. Finally “going green” has become popular and that idea is what was needed for people to wake up and do something about conserving our earth. American land has come a long way and the more time that goes by, the more the land is being used for homes, commercial areas, industrial areas or anything else that we may feel we need. Due to this, it is even more important now than ever to protect the natural environments we have left. National Parks conserve the land and keep it natural as it should be. It is extremely important for us to preserve the true beauty of our land and support the designated parks that do so.
In the American west, multiple National Parks are home to countless animals, mountains, tress, lakes and so many more of our natural beauties. It isn’t hard to gain visitors to these areas, although park administrators have created some really interesting logo designs to attract more guests.
This is the main logo for the National Park Service. The service has branded this image along the entry ways of most parks it represents. It has a great arrow head shape, complete with a mountain view and lone buffalo. These are things you most likely will see when visiting any of the National parks in the American West.
A lot of Logo designs have hidden symbols within them, like the design for Glacier National Park which hides a mountain goat within the snow along the mountain tops.
Bears are a common image in National Park logo designs. As you can see, they pop up pretty frequently, but since bears are popular residents of these locations, it makes sense for them to be used more often.
The beauty of these locations is barely captured in their logo designs. They are truly places that need to be seen to believe. When setting foot in these serene and breath taking areas, it is easier to realize that “going green” and making an effort to conserve America’s beauty is well worth it. After all, making that effort today will only give us a brighter future.
-Nora Reed
Tags: conservation, going green, Logo Design, logos, national park logos, national parks, wildlife
Posted in Logo Design Tips, Logo Inspiration | 1 Comment »