Sketches
My third session (part 1, part 2) at generating logo sketches resulted in these:
There were a few that I thought had potential, so I started making my “top list” — the ones from this and previous logo sketch sessions that I “liked” more than “disliked.” Below is the scan, which includes some concept words and explanations.
And back to Illustrator…
In no particular order…
- Smiley face in “o”: I keep coming back to this one. Part of it is because I’ve represented myself with a smiley face avatar for so long. It’s simple and casual. Maybe too simple and casual?
- Smiley face in “C”: I like this one, too, for the same reasons as #1.
- New concept – bouncy ball: Not quite as casual as a smiley face, but still sort of fun.
- Interlocking c/h at an angle: (actually #7 came first, and then I tried turning the “h” sideways). I think it’s a cool-looking mark, but maybe not my personality?
- Facing R and F: Not too many names have two sets of double-letters, so maybe I can capitalize on it somehow. Supposed to represent teamwork, partnership. Need to find a better font (left is Myriad, right is Century Gothic, neither are doing it for me).
- Stairs: Using boxy C and H shapes to make a geometric stair shape. I think it’s a simple, strong mark, but again… is it “me”?
- Interlocking C/H: I like the way this one looks.
- 7, morphed into face/people: #7 looked like a sideways face to me, so I tried turning it into a face. It also ended up looking like two people on a teeter-totter. I wouldn’t say that I like this one much but thought the transformation was interesting enough to post.
- Negative space C/H: From a previous session as well; I thought this was strong enough to make it into the final cut.
Thoughts…
I’m finding myself leaning away from the bold/thick marks (4, 6, 7, 8, 9). I don’t think of myself as assertive or bold, and they look a bit “masculine” — but maybe that’s just me. On the other hand, I have a soft spot for marks that play with the shapes of letters. I did try lightening/thinning some of those shapes but they didn’t have the same impact.
I do keep going back to 1, 2, 3. For reference, here is my “classic avatar” that I’ve used to represent myself for years and years, which shows up here in WordPress, at Twitter, but also on paper cups at parties, on the bottom of greeting cards, and the various comics that I draw about my life. My “personal” and “business” stuff gets intertwined, and that makes me want to bring the smiley-face concept into my brand and logo as well.
Time to solicit some thoughts from smart people again. Please do share your thoughts!
Corrie Haffly 
I tend to like “clever” logos – where you look at a logo for a while and see new things, so I think #9 is the winner for me. It would be cool to do those shapes in difference colors and carry the geometric color look throughout your identity. Another thing to consider is instead of doing an upper case H, try a lower case h to see how that looks… but then that might compromise the integrity of the “c”. I thought it was cool how it took me like 30 seconds before I realized that whole shape was a “c”, not just the left side!
I have a lowercase “h” here from session 2! I forgot to add it to my “final 9,” though. What do you think?
Angela responded by email: “I like the softness better but the upper case one has more potential for expanding the identity with squares.”
I kind of like the bouncy ball – especially if is was animated, and the smiley faces without eyes. I also like playing up the double letters – although, at first when I look at them they seem more like they are confronting one another than working in cooperation. Have you tried putting the Rs and Fs back to back – leaning on one another and sharing a “post”, instead of facing off against each other?
i’m liking 6 … i’ll let you know why by other means.. perhaps you could soften it a little (by perhaps rounding the corners slightly but would need to be careful b/c then you could have a frown.. maybe using a light grey…)
Liz – Interesting note about the facing letters looking confrontational. I hadn’t tried flipping them the other way, but I think it’s worth exploring and will try it out! Thanks! It could be that using a different font would help as well, I’ll play with it more.
Penny – Yes, I want to explore this one a little more, too, by making the lines less bold. I’ll try rounded and see how it looks.
using negative space some stunning logos can be designed.
Love your thought process! Nice work.
Very interesting and great concepts. Like #9.
Cheers!