GumBowl

I love the logo and dangit, I love your brother's idea. That so makes me want to go out and get some fish just so I can have one of these gumball fishtanks. What an incredibly cool idea.

I would maybe change the red color. And the tail on the "g" is weird... it's too close to the body of the letter or something?

I'd stay with the red. It's iconic for gumball machines. I had a momentary idea that the "bowl" in question was as in "bowling for betas" so I think you need to use as much visual ammunition as you can to keep people thinking gumball machine.

The "G" is a little fetus-y looking. Maybe it's the dot in the "head" area that makes me think so. I like the retro look of the logo with this font, but maybe another choice would give you the same feeling, without the issues. And if your name for the product, which I agree is cool, has an uppercase G and B, why not reflect that in the logo, if possible? If not, I'd opt in favor of the logo and spell the product all upper- or all lower-case, rather than mixed.

The idea of a tagline isn't bad, but I think you'd want something like "Tailored for Betas with Attitude" or something a little fun like that, perhaps playing on the fact that betas usually need to live alone.

Yeah, I miss those "analyze THIS!" meetings, too. Hope this fills the blank for now.

really great effort. logo is good, colour scheme fits nicely. I wasn't sold on the gradient-filled fish bowl at first, but it's growing on me - provides a nice, subtle contrast to the flat, full colours of the rest of the gumball machine.

I'm a fan of the lowercase lettering, but like has already been said, the 'g' doesn't sit quite right. perhaps a font with a looptail 'g' would look better than the open tail?

A couple things that no one else mentioned.
With "double-stroke" logos like this one, I am not a fan of leaving in the tiny clipped negative spots. More specifically, the space you have in the space between the "g, u, m, b and o". It makes the type look too busy to me, and when I scaled this bad boy down in PS, they looked even more out of place. I think if you smoothed out the stoke so to speak to more encapsulate the logo type you could add some cleanliness. Hate to compare to anything else, but I just opened Skype, and their logo is a good example of what I am referring to here.

The only other thing that stood out to me was the stroke weights. Once again when I scaled it down (aprox 1" x 1"), it actually looked better than I thought is would. I expected the lines to get way to thin and start running into each other. for the most part they looked ok, but I think you might benefit from making them just a wee bit thicker and testing it out at a smaller size.

Aside from those, looks pretty nice.

great logo, i think it fits the job perfectly, DEFINATELY stick with red.. that g is a little wierd but nobody would ever thikn its something else (let alone a fetus) so i wouldnt worry about it, it has its own style.. i would just animate the fish a little bit (gumballs for eyes?)..

looks very legit.. good luck on that brochure and the business venture

I love the fact that you're using a red, because yes, it does imply the gumball theme very well. However, I'm not too thrilled with your choice of red. It's a bit too orange, you need something that's more of a blue-red (like the old vintage gumball machines in question)—perhaps Pantone 485? That is the BEST red, and it's always right on when on the screen and in print. It's just the perfect red. My old professor in college got me hooked on it.

Ok, next opinion—personally, I don't like the outlining of the font. I think you can do without it completely. It's too busy. Tone it down a bit and you will see, once you brighten up that red and take out the outline, it will have a completely different affect on you. I love the fishbowl in the middle, but yes, I do agree—the gradient might be a bit much. Never been a fan of gradients, especially on a logo. I'm a firm believer that when it comes to logos, less is more. Just try a simple white with a fish outline inside the bowl. That will clean it up as well.

I really don't think you need a tagline, I think once you get the fish outline a little more defined, it should speak for itself. But that is entirely up to you (or your brother, I guess).

I also think that once you take out the black outline, the tail of the "g" will look completely different—not like a fetus. :-O

I hope this helps. Good luck!

Suzanne

I'd use another fish shape. This is a betta or sg like that. I'd try a goldfish or some more recognizable shaped fish.

If you want to pick up the distinctive enamel red of old gumball machines, you could consider 185 instead of 485. See what you think. One or the other (sometimes both) will usually be the standard red offered by wholesale printers (business cards, labels, etc.) -- and BTW, you'll save money on printing by eliminating the bowl gradient for printed versions of the logo, because in order to reproduce those nicely, you need to run film, which adds to the production cost; also, some label printers don't offer that level of service. I don't know if that's a factor for your brother.

Sorry about the fetus connection, gang. Must be a genetic thing. My mother used to think the little floral vines in my grandma's china looked like varicose veins.

Actually, Mara, I thought the fetus comment was funny. After you said that, I started seeing it, too. Maybe it's because we're women??? LOL

Suzanne

I uploaded a new attachment of the revisions. My bro has seen the logo already and loved it, so most of the changes I've made or will make are not going to be too drastic.

Thanks everyone for your comments. They all helped and I explored most of the suggestions, but I kept coming back to this. All the suggestions were much appreciated.

By the way, I did use PMS 485, but had used a gradient and that probably threw off the color. And yes, I'm man enough to admit that I could see the fetus as well. :)

John

Yeah, we're both probably getting way too much political e-mail. ;-)

Pathetic, isn't it? LOL

GO FETUS! if anybody knows a thing or two abouot fetuses, trust me, its me, and you girls are right, that looks like one mighty fine fetus

Try giving the type rounded edges! Sharp Corners dont say gum!