10 replies to this topic

[Jimmy]

Hi, I'm working on a logo for a brand new music service my trombone teacher is doing. I have the main covers but I need to get a decent logo...
He rejected my last one (lols!) but he loves the cover so much, I was wondering if anyone would be able to spice this logo up to the smooth, web 2.0 kinda style.

It's important that the BT in the middle stays the same, with the five lines over the T, but I'm happy for you to resize / change colour / add a smooth gradient!!...
Also, the outside ring's Brass Tracks writing is fine (suits the cover well), so unless you think it could be spiced up, that's ok.! (Font Included - just put it in your adobe photoshop fonts folder in program files and it'll load up into photoshop)
The two offset circles are good, but the solid white one is simply a temporary guide, with no nice texture to it or anything (maybe slightly transparant?) it should have a slight web 2.0 gradient to it or sumthing. Same goes for the black background... It's the nice texture I'm really after as I think the positioning is good!!!

In The Zip file is the (newer) brasstracks logo I've been working along in PSD (Photoshop CS2) format. There is also a version saved with maximise compatability turned on. I also included the font I used for the outer ring writing (Pablo LET) but there isn't much need to change that!! The two inner letters are a rasterised layer unfortunately!!

Thanks very much for your help

Attached Files

•  logo_files.zip   2.49MB   6 downloads

Edited by Jimmy, 03 June 2007 - 07:34 PM.

[rvalkass]

I'm not totally sure what you're aiming for but I've had a go at adding a bit of "Web 2.0" to the logo I have kept a lot of the logo the same, only changing the background to the BT in the middle. I am not totally sure about the blue gradient with the blue text, but either of them can easily be changed.

(I've saved it as a PNG here, so if you use IE it will have that light blue background added that doesn't actually exist)



 logo_photoshop_CS2edited.zip   1.35MB   2 downloads

[Jimmy]

WOW!, thanks Rval, that was extremely quick but nevertheless exactly the sort of thing I meant!! I really like the smoothness of that inside circle now... but the outside seems kinda crappy!!! (It's okay that you make my original logo look sooo bad... ) It's going to be printed, not put on the web (I'm a ff user anyways) so the ie transparancy bug can't hurt me

You're right in saying that the blue BT with the logo isn't perfect matching... I'll have a play around and find a nice colour for the BT writing to match your smooth inner ring.

If you could possibly do the outer black ring in a similar "smooth" style, that'd be great!

Edited by Jimmy, 03 June 2007 - 08:44 PM.

[rvalkass]

I haven't got the time to do it at the moment, but I'll have a look first thing tomorrow morning, as long as its not urgent.

[Jimmy]

no, it's not! (but it's always nice )
Really do appreciate the effort!! - you've now got me hanging on till tomorrow.. doh!

oh and is there any way you can give me a clue for level 4 of your taxing puzzle!!!? Got past the S in a square one, but mr. linus is really boggleing me >
just a tiny weeny clue ?

Edited by Jimmy, 03 June 2007 - 09:37 PM.

[biscuitrat]

@rvalkass: First, a Web 2.0 style logo? Sigh... we have some work to do. Web 2.0 isn't necessarily a graphical style but a communicative design style. While "Web 2.0" sites may be bold, elegant, and perform neat tricks, everything within them usually has an underlying purpose, whether it's a matter of accessibility or semantics or sheer beauty.

Your logo performs to none of those standards.

First, it doesn't seem like much of a logo to me. A logo has to instantly display to a viewer what the product is that it is advertising (be it a site or an identity or a piece of merchandise) and the viewer has to be able to recognize the significance of that logo. Yours, however, doesn't really tell me much. I see text, I see rings, and I see a bubble. Brass Tracks Bubble Blowers? Help me out!

Critiques:
1) The font you used on the black ring is distracting, and doesn't look quite good.
2) The font you used inside the blue circle, while its relation to music is somewhat (only by the five bars on the T) evident, fails in its execution. What's the point of having a BT in the logo at all? Why not some brass instruments, or music notes? Some people, who, like I, will read "Brass Tacks" instead of "Brass Tracks" will need to be assured that this is a music CD -- therefore, it needs to display music in some way.
3) The ring you used on the outside has a pixelated edge, is cut off in some places, and because it is disconnected, hardly feels like part of the main logo at all. My eyes are drawn towards the interior of the blue, and totally away from the black.
---Lose the black drop shadow
---Shrink the image. If you are, in fact, making a logo, you definitely don't want it that huge -- then, all the impurities are evident.

I personally feel that the blue bubble, if the edges are nice and sharp, will do well on its own, with a different font, some musical relevance, and something to help the viewer understand that what you are advertising is a musical CD.

I can't really try my own version, but best of luck to both of you!

[rvalkass]

@biscuitrat: Web 2.0 is not a graphical style, I agree. My definition, however, was that Web 2.0 meant social networking sites, wikis and user generated content in general. That's a little hard to put into a logo. On the flip side, many people do actually now use Web 2.0 as representing a clean, clear, basic and often blue design. Web 2.0 was also never really a set of standards - I think the O'Reilly books first used it a few years ago to describe what I have mentioned above.

Anyway, I do take some of your points. Firstly, Jimmy stated he was happy with the outside ring, so I left that as it was. Personally, I think adding a musical note into the logo may be a good idea, but this is obviously for Jimmy to decide. As Jimmy is in the UK, I can assume this logo is also likely to be used in the UK. The term "brass tacks" is not used very much over here, so confusion is unlikely.

I have tried to replicate the highlight across the outside ring too, although I don't think it looks as good. I have 3 different versions of highlight on the outer ring for you to look at and decide between. Also, I have removed the 'border' to the inner ring to give it a cleaner look.

http://www.imagefile...llhighlight.png
http://www.imagefile...2_curveonly.png
http://www.imagefile...1503_subtle.png

If you PM me or email me I'll send you the PSD and tell you how to get each of those versions (if you like any of 'em!)

Quote

@Jimmy: The penguin has a name. And look at the address for where the answer goes.

Edited by rvalkass, 04 June 2007 - 08:16 AM.

[Jimmy]

rvalkass, on Jun 4 2007, 07:03 AM, said:

Anyway, I do take some of your points. Firstly, Jimmy stated he was happy with the outside ring, so I left that as it was. Personally, I think adding a musical note into the logo may be a good idea, but this is obviously for Jimmy to decide. As Jimmy is in the UK, I can assume this logo is also likely to be used in the UK. The term "brass tacks" is not used very much over here, so confusion is unlikely.

http://www.imagefile...llhighlight.png
http://www.imagefile...2_curveonly.png
http://www.imagefile...1503_subtle.png

OK, I feel slightly to blame for some of this confusion...
@ Biscuitrat: The Logo Will be Shrunk, by about 60-70% the size is only so that once shrunk, any anti-aliasing will smoothen out everything... (And I was originally working in this size with the inner bit you can see on the old design; there was no need to shrink it!
The edges being cut off; the canvas was cropped right to the edge, I may be to blame here! but I'm pretty sure I have *just* enough skill to smooth that!
By asking for a web 2.0 style I was intentionally being a bit vague. For two reasons, I wanted to end up with a "smooth" looking logo, and I also didn't really have any specific info on how to achieve said smoothness! by saying web 2.0, rval immediately had an idea on where to go - and it turned out to be right ! That was all I meant by w2.0, nothing more!

It will be for sheet music... i.e. the stuff you play from!
Originally, I had made a logo with notes and stuff in the middle (attached), but that was the one he rejected! (Maybe because it wasn't great and didn't look that smooth)... The BT in the middle he had actually said that would be fine, so I'm assuming it will be!!! It will go in place where the logo is shown on the other pic attached - The whole deal will be printed on A4 (with a higher resolution than that pic). The white part will be cut and behind that corner is a printed sheet with the details for the different booklets. This is so he can send the covers with only one variation to be printed (and therefore get good bulk deals as they're the same for every product). HE LIKES THIS.

Rval, I do like the first two you linked to quite a lot (The third is ok); they are far better than the original!
The only thing I think that needs doing is finding a decent colour for either the BT or the inner circle... maybe biscuitrat already has an idea to spruce things up?

Attached Files

•  logo3.jpg   231.5K   7 downloads
•  A.jpg   141.5K   7 downloads

Edited by Jimmy, 04 June 2007 - 09:20 AM.

[Jimmy]

Basically I think biscuitrat is right that the outside ring isn't needed. So I decided to remove it... ^ ^ The page will have Brass Tracks (not Tacks!!!!) written in the top corner anyway.
I think if the BT is white is goes very well and is clean, but only if it has some outline to it... I skeched this using paintbrush in photoshop quickly (sorry, don't have the psd yet!) so it's a bit wobbly (school mouse), but you get the idea.. Maybe it should also ba a slightly thinner line too...

I'm also thinking that those two notes on the T could look quite good when done properly, but the thing inside the B should go... any thoughts?

Edited by Jimmy, 05 June 2007 - 08:00 PM.

[rvalkass]

Two versions then this time, one with a bar in the B, the other with it removed. I have made the outline around each letter a bit thinner, as per your request, but I may have made it a bit too thin, so by all means say if you want that changed. The musical notes are also a little thin, but I'm sure I can make them bolder if necessary.

Attached Files

•  Logo_V3.zip   595.43K   0 downloads

Edited by rvalkass, 05 June 2007 - 07:41 PM.

[Jimmy]

mmm... I'm tring to see whether white or the colour I played with is better...
I know comparing these two is a little unfair!!! since I did your bevel and emboss thing (I didn't realise you could do that!)
I was experimenting earlier, and I really like the effect that comes out... The "3D" letter effect is nice, but unfortunately doesn't work great with the white letters... I think blue also suits the front page better...!

I'll sign off there and see what he thinks tomorrow, unless anyone has a suggestion...
Thanks rval, I hate to cut off the development process for now, but I suspect I'll be back with more suggestions tomorrow (some I may be able to do, some not!)