Youth logo (web)

Sorry but this doesn't work at all.. Back to the drawingboard.. Make it simple!
Try also talk with your client, try talk him away of his ideas like fire and stuff.. Your'e making the logo like a wallpaper with too many things going around

Keep it simple with less stuff in the logo!

Try to clean it up, take the squeares off, it makes it cramped..., intergrate the silhouettes and the type, and make your flame more realistic, on the net are a lot of tuttorial on making fire and flames that can help.
I say intergrate because this logo has rythm, but the balance is a little odd, weights a lot on one side and it does not in the other is almost empty...
Play with another color, black is ok but the red inside the j´s dot mmm... not my favourite candy... But keep the good work... you have a winner and if you need help for the flame let me know, and Three D is not a good option always...

Peace,

Caya...

We´ll always have Paris! Humphrey Bogart

i'd avoid 3D lettering like the plague, but that might just be me.
i'd ditch the squares on the ground, makes it look like they're trying to stomp on news papers that are overly huge compared to the people.

even though a client may want something, and as much as it mayb e dificult to work them away from it, it's doesn't mean it's always the best thing. off the top of my head, i can't think of a company that has nice 3D lettering in their logo. i might be wrong.

two suggestions i always give
1) sit and sketch multiple ideas, even the non-hand-drawing skilled people can put together some good ideas on paper before ever touching a mouse. (trace paper is always a GREAT tool to have, if you like part of an idea you can easily reproduce it)
2) once you're on to something, fax it to yourself to see how it looks once it comes out a fax machine. if you can't see it clearly or nicely, then it most likely needs fixing (yes, sometimes it's just the fax machines fault and NOT the logo!)

keep us posted on the progress

Hey,

I always take a lot of time looking at the font, try and find a font or a letter with some sort of element to it that matches what you are trying to achieve.

Here I would look into the "J". Can you see a bent leg in it? Like someone running? - ie the corner of the J is the knee, put a running shoe on the end and.....

Also... just noticed (this is an edit) the "O" could be made into a circular running track??...I don't know, it is just something to consider really.

Coolio.

Your logo presentation tells me this:

• The information on the nature of the client is only that it is youth group, so I'll assume that JOG is an acronym of the organization's name.

• A flaming dot on the "J" says nothing in particular. Because it is the only color within this composition, it implies that it has importance. A clipart flame used to signify 'youth culture' has out lived it's welcome.

• 16 silhouetted clipart figures... jogging. If jogging is actually an activity related to the JOG acronym it makes some sense. Otherwise it appears only to be a literal interpretation of the acronym without any real meaning as to the content of the organization. So, either you have given us two images (type and runners) that say the exact same thing and I'm hoping the client is a sports/health group. Or you've give us two images that have no meaningful relationship to a sports/heath group but you've emphasized twice that it is.

If running is actually part of this organization, why are 16 runners better than one?

• A circle made of rectangles. A pathway or "documents" scattered on the ground?

. . . . . . .

You've stated that your client wants 3D lettering. That's an easy request to fulfill. Are flames and silhouette runners a "concept" that they have approved from your recommendation? Clipart flames and runners aren't a concept, they are images.

If you ask if something is missing, it's a concept. Four distinct visual images grouped together are not a concept.

The only image of the four that has any real information associated with it is the JOG acronym, but it needs a tagline.

Please let us know what the nature of the youth group client is. As you formulate a concept, then maybe we can help in a critique rather that this exercise of evaluating a strange composition of seemingly disjointed images. Once you have a concept, you can then design the graphic images to communicate it clearly, creatively, and uniquely ... then you present it to your client with confidence. If you make all that happen with the request to use 3D letters, well, then you have a happy client with a successful logo.

Although i have my own take on definitions for the term concept* so to speak, I think the logo (if that is the goal) is too encapsulated by the surrounding elements. I think gary's feedback is also extremely beneficial. I think the piece is weak, and there is nothing that incinuates the recognition of *youth* either. Silhouettes of humans running or jogging are not circumstanced by a teenager or even a ten year old etc. In general, people jogging are more ref'd to mid-late 30's and 40's getting in shape, reviving their life, or simply spending time with eachother.... I would portray your flame as youthful, your type as if it were a non-profit org, steer clear from 3-d lettering unless its a flash animated banner on a website, and finally re-assess your clients goals on all mediums. Best of luck! =)