AboutUsLogo:Discussion/3

Rating: 0 - 0 votes

Company Logo

Company Name

Company Contact

Page Type

This page is about a company.

Home - Section One - Section Two - Section Three - View All At Once

Round 1

Logo 1

Comments:

Mark: I am not sure the pencil stabbing the large small case "A" is something we want to convey.
Isabel: I actually like this and logo 11 more than most of the others as they are now. The pencil conveys the idea of continuous editing, and the font is clean and modern.
Simon: Its nice, I like the idea of the pencil and don't see it as stabbing it.

Logo 2

Comments:

Mark: I think the font is weird, which I kind of like. Not sure the person floating in the "Isolation tank" of the larger case small U is something we want to convey.
Isabel: Also one of my top choices because it is simple and looks clean.
Kasey: This concept appeals to me, though I like to see another person, not just one- more of an "us"
Simon: The concept is good, I don't like the font.
Chris - With a little more pizazz, I like the color combination a lot.

Logo 3

Comments:

Mark: I like the lettering and color of the AboutUs. Not sure what capital A is doing, is that a golf swing?
Isabel: Looks like a gas station logo to me. Nothing I like about this one.
Simon: All I can think of now is a gas station.

Logo 4

Comments:

Mark: I like the lettering and color of the AboutUs. Don't like Casper the Friendly Ghost, with the vampire spread wings.
Isabel: I really didn't like this one at first, but I think if we could take out the "ghost" and put in several outlined figures, it would be a great logo and probably one of the better choices.
Chris - The text is good here.

Logo 5

Comments:

Mark: I like the lettering and color of the AboutUs. I don't like the Cingular guy repurposed for us.
Isabel: My thoughts exactly, Mark.
Kasey: Too familiar...
Simon: Way too common.

Logo 6

Comments:

Mark: Hmmm, not sure I like the happy atom, not sure I do though either. Still trying to figure out what it has to do with AboutUs.
Isabel: Not sure why I don't like this one...it just doesn't fit well.
Simon: Again common orb thing. Smiley face dosen't make sense.
Chris - I like the implication of a nuclear reaction. This seems very appropriate given the impending takeover of Web2.0.

Logo 7

Comments:

Mark: no comment
Isabel: I like the simplicity of this one, although it feels more like something you'd have for a cafe than a web based company.

Logo 8

Comments:

Mark: no comment
Isabel: This one scares me a bit because of the faces...if we could change the figures, I'd like it a lot more and put it in my top 5.
I would use the colors from #2 with this logo. However, I would make the people into lighthouses with light shining through to create a spotlight effect. 71.236.170.1 22:14, 31 January 2007 (PST)

Logo 9

Comments:

Mark: To confrontational
Isabel: Looks like a coffee or fruit company logo...doesn't work for AboutUs.
Chris: AboutUs: the gangsta edition. Maybe we could get a sponsorship from 50 cent?
Kristin I like the peopleness but there are only two and they are not the same size meaning equality. Are they a couple? Is this a romantic site? They would all have to be looking out at the audience, like interactive TV, maybe a chin resting in hand.

Logo 10

Comments:

Mark: can't read the lettering. not sure, but having Vanilla Ice and a form drinking in the background, and what is the woman doing looking at the ground? - is the closest thing we have to an "us" in the group.
Isabel: I also have trouble with the font, but I like the color variation and placement of the figures a lot. They'd need to be tweaked a bit (such as the thumbs up and woman looking down).
Kasey: I really like that there are three people in this logo; I do not get what that thumb is doing and the female is looking down.
Chris: Even more gangsta- I feel like I might be shot if I try to edit anything.

Logo 11

Comments:

Mark: see comment on Logo 1
Isabel: I like this one slightly better than logo 1 only because of the man in the "A", although I like the coloring better in option 1.

Logo 12

Comments:

Mark: no comment
Isabel: Confused as to why the "t" and "u" have become a logo within the logo...not working for me.

Logo 13

Comments:

Mark: Not sure why a baby.... oh wait, it is AboutUs!
Isabel: If we could get rid of the monkey and put in several outlined figures, this one would go in my top 5. I like the off kilter box and change in font color.
Kasey: I don't get it, but I like how the font changes color.
Simon: Favorite logo of all; but, I don't like the illustration.

Logo 14

Comments:

Mark: Looks too much like a buisness card.
Isabel: Agree with Mark on this one. Too boring, doesn't represent the company at all.

What do you think of the logos?

Personally, I like the concept of having the logo putting the "Us" in "AboutUs", so I'm a fan of images with more than one person, although I'm not overly jazzed by the three options with that (Logo 8-10). I also like the line "The Editable Web" which is very small under the name in logos 4 and 13 (although neither logo do I like). --TakKendrick

The small version of the "cycle through all 14" on the main page does a great job of showing how eye-catching each of the logos is. I'm liking the one that has three people on it better and better the more I think about it and run into it in practice. The only real issue I see with it is that the "b" in "about" is difficult to parse. I can imagine a dynamic logo that changes based on the holiday or calendar context (like google changes their logo). In our case though, it would be those people silhouettes doing different things.

I like logos that have more than one person in them because wiki is about people, people, technology, and people.

Kristin Just came back to the site. I recall you were thinking about revising your logo. Although I like the imagery of hand on ear, it is better used on a counseling site. Also, the legs in a wide stance represent a fight, as in martial arts. Standing with legs apart is for stability needed to brace when there is a force acting against self. Mr. Logo is not just standing, he's being attacked. The top half of the body does not seem to match the bottom half (jagged arms, yet rounded knees) --needed consistency. I didn't know why you picked AboutUs for a name until afterwards. In other words, the title did not bring up pictures as immediately identifiable of what you do. Not till later did I see web pages with the phrase "about us" and realize where you got the name. --Maybe I'm not into how a car works, just that it works.-- However, I've also seen "Who We Are" for a page's link to site info, and that might have helped me click faster. I guess it depends on what vocab someone is used to working with. When web pages have a link called "about us" they are not asking to Listen to the user, Receive from the user, they are broadcasting that they will Explain to the user, Give to the user information that describes the people behind the web site. The logo of a person listening does not represent what all other "about us" links do. It may be the temporary stage (beta) that AboutUs is going through, but a better logo would be emblematic of what all other "about us" are about, hence people. I don't think the logo needs to reflect that AboutUs is a wiki. Also, I wish that I could comment easier on the groups of logos rather than one at a time. I want to comment on the front page where they are grouped by category. Kristin 06:52, 16 March 2007 (PDT)

So many of these are angular and masculine. Women use technology, too. None of these really excite me. I don't get any feel for community. Not looking for a group hug, but not much sense of connection or of people working together. Maybe people shaking hands or a loose hug like a team huddle? And rounder lettering. At least that one logo has that. That's very appealing. Technology, especially wikis, should be softer. You want to emphasize accessibility, cooperation, community spirit and acceptance. We don't all have to love one another, but mutual support would be a good thing to get across. ---- Debbie.

I have this urge to incorporate a lightly shaded globe behind some characters...maybe something like this, as far as color goes: [1]. I think that would enhance the idea of community that we're not getting across with the human figures alone. It'd work well with the characters in logo 6, 3, or 1 of round 2. I agree that we should have softer, rounded letters as well. Incorporate those ideas and it'd be a winner for me. Isabel 15:19, 21 February 2007 (PST)

MarkDilley: Logo 3 with logo 4 lettering and color - make the people all one, no genderizing them. I like if we could forshorten them hugging like in logo 4.

MartinPfahlerSome food for thought: In a past life I have found that exceptional T-shirt graphic artists can do great logo work, because the nature of their problem is they have to gain attention very fast (a person walks by you on the sidewalk, and you have little time to view their T-shirt image). Also good graphics tend to hit us at an emotional not logical level – so trying to explain "why do you like it?" is often difficult – “I just like it” should be a good enough answer. Will the aboutus logo look great on a T-shirt? What about a coffee cup?

I like some of the graphic work I see on this page - those designs that veer to the clean and simple - because they tend to come off better on a t-shirt.

When the aboutus community decides on a logo, maybe to try printing a few t-shirts and let some people walk around on the sidewalk. Did anybody stop you and say, “that is a very cool shirt, where did you get it?” (that is how we used to test our designs – if we did not get that type of response from Joe and Jane on the street, we knew our design was not exceptional).

Another way to look at the logo problem is to create the “aboutus” verbiage as a stand alone element (looks good by itself), and the same for the non verbiage element. Over time people come to know the logo element less the name, so the name “aboutus” is no longer needed (I’m talking future evolution). For example people see the Nike “swoosh” without the name “Nike” and know it is Nike. In fact trademark law (the part of it called “trademark dress”) prevents anybody else from using this swoosh symbol, because it is so associated with the word “Nike”.

MartinPfahler

I hope this content might help those involved with aboutus logo brainstorming (if this is not the right place for this lengthy content can somebody please instruct me where to move it).

Do logos have to in some way convey the deeper meaning of what the company or organization is all about, what it does, what is its focus, its passions? No. For example what does the picture of an apple have to do with computers (Apple computer company)?, or the Nike “swoosh” symbol with sportswear?

The phenomenon that happens often in “branding” is not the logo symbol enabling people on the street to quickly grasp what a new company is all about, rather as the company does whatever it does, and does it very well, it becomes known to many, and the logo associated with that good work becomes connected in peoples minds. Thus logos can be very nonsensical and have nothing to do with conveying meaning “about”. Also some logos that are today very popular, would have been unlikely to win a logo art contest, during a company’s start up phase (because many where probably made by some start up executives on a napkin pad in a restaurant, and they having little art aptitude – the Nike “swoosh” might fall into this category). Again the “swoosh” become popular not because it is such great graphics work, but because the Nike company got big and popular, and just happened to have this symbol associated with it.

This line of thinking allows one to consider almost any type of graphic image or symbol. It also offers future opportunities to create “buzz” about “aboutus”. For example the right logo or symbol might be used at later stages of evolution for non logo activity. Note Gateway Computer Company used a box painted like a dairy cow (black and white spots) and also had its factory exterior walls painted like this (Ben and Jerry’s ice cream company did similar). So perhaps, “what repeatable graphic element that is unique might make an interesting wall paper design (for use as background on a computer page, interior or exterior building wall, painted all over car body – etc.) – and this design is associated with aboutus?”

In the world of branding it is said one should be consistent, then repeat and repeat, so “it gets burned into peoples minds”. However in the world of marketing it is also said, look at what everybody else is doing, and then do it different (differentiate yourself). Thus some people purposely break this “stay the same and repeat” rule. For example locally we have the Mount Hood Jazz Festival that is well known. Each year they in effect come up with a new logo. They commission a photographer to take a great and different picture, yet in each one there is the same constant – the piano is a central element of the photo. The resulting posters have become popular, and are worthy of framing and hanging on a wall as a piece of artwork. So one might create a logo where one design element is purposely held constant, perhaps the word “aboutus”, then another logo element allowed to change – perhaps the background. This strategy can be used to create some type of game or contest, or collectors appeal.

For example to increase “participation” perhaps each month (or whatever intervals) aboutus publicizes “change our logo background competition” and the winner sees their new background used on the aboutus homepage.

An example of “collectors” appeal is the old Saturday Evening Post magazine. They paid Norman Rockwell the artist to paint the cover of each monthly magazine. Thus the magazine covers became collectors items, as did calendars with the magazine’s graphic image. These days one does not have to hire a famous (expensive) artist to get this effect. The recent Super Bowl football commercial show the less expensive way to get the job done, and also it being a more “participative” process. Here large corporations held contests, “create our commercial for us, if you win, your commercial will actually be shown during the Super Bowl game”.

In terms of generating buzz and getting more of the general populace to be aware of aboutus, maybe to think less about how the symbol must convey some deeper meaning about what aboutus does, or is passionate about, and rather to just think about “stuff” that would be fun or entertaining or different or in some way “attention getting” from the perspective of the general public - so as to capture the attention of the populace. That is not easy to do in our media bombarded world. Tying ones hands by having to also convey deeper meaning with a logo, makes this already tough “brand recognition” problem even harder.

I want to contibute a graphic but can't

Wouldn’t it be neat if a person with a conceptual idea but no experience with drawing software could contribute a logo concept fast and easy at this Wiki page? How? Everybody knows how to do a fast sketch on a paper with pen or pencil (no learning curve). Then I dial a special number on my fax machine for aboutus, and it automatically routes my faxed paper to this Wiki page, so all can see. MartinPfahler

Kristin I couldn't see it. 3/16/07