A-ha! indeed! Success! I wanted to try my hand at designing a logo that would grab attention, be hopeful and celebratory, and feel inviting. I also wanted something that could work as a header for a website or a magazine logo.
As I put on the finishing touches, my first test reviewer wandered in (a successful businessperson who has designed one or two logos himself) and took a look. He thought I met my goal, and made a chuckling comment about mixing Japanese anime and philosophy with hippie-esque dreams. He did feel the cloud behind the word needed to be tweaked for a bit more coverage. So, I will add that to my list of comments to ponder in the days to come.
But, back to the success! I knew what I was going for and sketched my idea out ahead of time. I was frankly quite nervous about re-creating my sketch in Adobe Illustrator. So, I set up my new file and then opened up one of last week’s tutorials to guide me along. My confidence improved as I navigated each step, applying the effects and the color scheme I wanted to the logo. At last, some small measure of comfort with Ai. I even braved the land of Google tutorials to learn how to create the cloud shape portion of the logo, and successfully navigated the fact that the screen shots were in German, not English.
In terms of design characteristics, I wanted to create a logo that presented a sense of completion, unity, and connectedness. I wanted a logo that brought a lift to the spirits, that offered a boost of confidence. The tagline “wisdom worth sharing” (and which I think could be positioned further to the right and lower — I’ll have to play with that) should wake some curiosity. Whose wisdom? Yours? Mine? Ours? The questions would hopefully lead the viewer to linger and explore the website or the magazine.
I think in the end analysis, I really like this draft logo because it does what Michael Tuck said in his article Gestalt Principles Applied in Design: “Gestalt principles aren’t artificial constructs that people have concocted to apply to design; they are attempts to describe and verbalize how we naturally perceive things.” Isn’t it nice to discover one’s internal optimism?
Shannon M. Blood 
Hi Shannon,
This is a great draft logo. A-ah, I love the font you chose for your logo, and stroke effect you used in the outline of your text. The yellow colour really caught my attention of the bat.
From exploring your various blog entries, I gather that the focus of your blog is ‘parents helping parents.’ How does the logo correlate with your theme of exploring “the paradigm of parenting: the tug and pull between the village and the parent?”
An image may help readers better identify the goal and purpose of your organization/company right away. Would it be worthwhile to incorporate a picture/outline of a mum holding a baby, perhaps something link this:
https://pacwp.files.wordpress.com/2015/01/shutterstock_88840111.jpg?w=250&h=193
or
https://www.google.ca/search?q=mother+holding+baby+clipart&client=safari&rls=en&biw=1123&bih=615&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=JYHqVMiGL_PIsQSqxYLACw&ved=0CAYQ_AUoAQ
In terms of scaling and balance, I would recommend the ‘wisdom worth sharing’ tagline be moved-up to be embedded within the cloud rather than hanging outside of it. The pale purple background does nothing to enhance your logo and washes out the cloud itself. I would recommend using a colour that enriches and makes the cloud more prominent. The cloud can also be made more prominent using a shadow effect like we used in the notepad assignment, as part of our Adobe Illustrator tutorial.
I think you’ve done a wonderful job with the logo thus far and I look forward to seeing the final outcome.
Cheers,
O
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Excellent feedback and ideas, Ms. O. Thank you!
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Shannon,
cool logo, I really like the use of the cloud like a thought bubble from a comic or cartoon. I see three things to make this design even better. First the main text color, it goes well with the over all color scheme however, the green color makes it difficult to read at first. I really had to tune my eyes to read the A-Ha…. or maybe I’m just getting old and cant see very well. With the style of text, I think a darker color would make it easy to read in one quick glance. Second, look at centering the “A-Ha!” vertically in the cloud to balance the logo out. And third, with the sub text of wisdom worth sharing maybe play around with fitting that text inside the cloud underneath the A-ha. This would make it easier to read and would clean up design fitting the “idea” in the cloud. By the way that is a great subtext “wisdom worth sharing”, for me it made me want to know more. Hope my highlights help and I am looking forward to seeing the final logo.
Mike
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Thanks so much for the excellent feedback, Mike!
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Shannon;
I love what you have done with this logo. Right off the bat, I think it looks catchy and fun! It definitely grabs your attention. You stated that you wanted your logo to feel inviting and be celebratory and I think that it has done both. The coloring of the logo uses colors that seem upbeat and the font is inviting because it reminds me of font I would use when I was younger.
I don’t think that your cloud necessary needs to have more coverage. I like how it is off-set, but that’s my personal taste. Maybe you could experiment with an exclamation point or other shapes as well?
One thing I would also look into is changing the font of the “wisdom worth sharing”. I don’t think that would transfer well into a smaller print. I would also try to center your logo in the square. For some reason, it looks off to me.
Great work! I look forward to the final draft.
ThuyVy
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Thank you for your excellent feedback, ThuyVy!
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Shannon, great work! Your AI skills are looking awesome. I laughed at your German tutorial experience, haha, I’ve been there!
This a great logo, I really like the clarity and unity. You certainly achieved your design goals. I like the anime-philosophy-hippy vibe you have created. The font, stroke, and color scheme are totally working for me.
Like your friend had mentioned, I would like to see more incorporation of the type and the clouds. The rule I use when layering items is, “does it look like I glue-sticked it on?” And if so, then it probably needs to be joined together in a different way. There are many example out there, but here is a cloudy logo I found that seems to have done that pretty well: http://bit.ly/1FWnyMP HOWEVER- I wonder if you would be able to make your cloud look more like a thought bubble? It seems that might better suit your idea. Maybe that is what you already meant to do, but you described it as a cloud in your post? Either way, a cloud or a thought bubble, it will be a challenge. There are already SO many logos with those items, that you might run into the conflict of confusion. You’ll have to put your own spin on it.
From a designer’s view- your logo might have to be printed or placed on a white background at some point. Will it still work, or will your cloud float away (lol- I’m such a dork)? For this reason you might consider playing around with your chosen colors… what if the cloud was lavender like your background? Actually- that might make me think more “ohh, an aura of wisdom!” rather than “ohh, a cloud in the sky!”
Overall, great logo! I’m super impressed with your new found skills. The days of cut-n-paste might be gone, but you’ve delivered a great draft here. I can’t wait to check back at your final logo!
-Amanda
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Thanks for the excellent feedback and reminder of future considerations, Amanda!
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