You guys seem pretty snarky on this forum so I figured this would be a good place to get some honest advice. This is a concept I have (two variations) for a logo for a custom cake shop (non-retail bakery). Any feedback, positive and negative would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks!
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its too small to get a grip on the subtleties. but it looks like a pretty obvious solution. i'd work on something a bit more dynamic. giving the flower a little more hero-opportunity...
my suggestions:
1. make the whole thing bigger (if only so we can see whats going on)
2. get rid of the black discs and let the flowers stand on their own.
3. make the flowers more prominent
4. hand draw or at least roughen up the flowers
5. try to find places OTHER than the end of paths to place the flowers.
i hope this isnt too un-snarky. but its a relatively decent start. not breaking any creative ground. but a good start.
welcome.
Hi. Welcome. Ummm, cake! I love cake. Okay, now to the snark, sort of.
My first reactions were "Zapfino? Really?" and "Reminds me of Victorian bicycles."
I believe our wgzn is correct about going with a less mechanical flower. I grow some passionflowers around my farm. They have wonderful graphics within their faces, and if you ever wanted to take advantage of their spectacular colors and viney nature, you certainly could, but isn't this more a cake shop than a flower shop? Please tell us what's behind the client's name.
Mara
Flowers don't naturally grow down under items unless there's promise of a light source. Is there a reason this isn't title-case? I'd try and emphasize bakery/ cake aspect a bit further as well (focal point, balance, negative space- something). As it is now it reads to me as primarily a botanical company
Thanks for all your help with this! Really appreciated. Here's another round of revisions based on some of your feedback. I'd love to hear your impression and if I'm totally off the mark here.
the type is better. but WAY too much going on in the flower. its a graphic now instead of a logo.
break the flower down to only what's needed to convey that its a passion flower...
Let me know if I am wearing out my feedback welcome. But anyway, here is a simplification based on your suggestions wgzn. For everyone, does the cake in the middle look too slapped on. I want people to think about cakes when they see this logo, but I don't want it to be ridiculous.
Thanks!
Glad you're stepping back from Zapfino. You continue to emphasize the wrong thing, though. This client sells cakes, not passionflowers. Try a cake with Passionflower Cakes" written on it in icing, and in title caps. E-marketing is making lower-case business names inconsistent with most type-in media, some of which are case -sensitive. Educate your client about that; they should appreciate it. Now, if you want to use a passionflower in the logo, work it into the cake as fresh-flower decoratio , vector if course, but realistic. None of you iterations so far look anything like passionflowers. They have 10 "petals", not 8, for one thing. They grow on vines, which might inspire you for how to work the wording into the cake. Just my HO, of course. BTW, most varieties of passionflower are BIG and come in a staggering range of color combinations from pale to dramatic, lending themselves to an almost unlimited number if tweaks, though for drama, i'd go with the indigo/fuusia kind, with dark green leaves, paler green tendeils, etc, in 4/C layouts. Keep all that in mind if you use my suggestion of using one as part of a cake logo. In case your client hasn't pointed it out, herbalists use passionflower to help calm nervous people. So there's a bit of a "comfort food" play in their name--that's the essence of their business, to impart gentle pleasure through a beautiful medium.
Mara
another swing and a miss...
now you have a subject / ground conflict going on in the flower - which CAN be cool. but in this case, it's just jarring.
as ZM (and others) often suggests - GET OFF THE COMPUTER!
SKETCH some things on paper. think more organic and less kaleidoscope. also think iconic rather than visually literal.
Exactly. Iconic rather than visually literal. That's why I brought up the classic "comfort" aspect of cake and the healing tradition of passionflower. Think peace, beauty, deliciousness. Then start sketching logos.
Mara
Thanks guys for all your input! I will keep working at it. I agree with all your suggestions, it's really great that you take the time to help new designers. I have learned so much from your advice. I'll take a break from the computer and go back to the "drawing board" no horrible pun intended, I promise.
one thing i like to do when things are feeling too mechanical is to start loosely sketching a bunch of quick ideas on paper. sketch them kind of small, then either scan or take a camera photo of them. bring that into photoshop, scale it up and create a high-contrast version. then take that into illustrator and either use it as a template or do an auto trace and clean it up.
i've attached a sample of that sort of result.
and for the record, people are generally pretty helpful here. really, the only times things get overly "snarky" is when someone posts bad work, gets suggestions and then acts like they know better. or like established design principles don't apply to them.