Branding: Finalists

After taking some time to review the short list of logos I narrowed the 29 logos down to six finalists. This cut was done based on if I would be happy having that particular logo on my work and if I thought the logo had potential for improvement if I were to refine it further.

The Six Finalist Designs

At this point I was having trouble picking a favourite and wanted to make sure my thoughts on what was a good logo were shared by others. I sent the six finalists out to a focus group of family and friends. I asked the group to rate their favourite logo and to identify what they liked and disliked about each design. I also opened the floor to any modifications or entirely new designs.

After collecting the responses the results were as follows:

#1 Simple, plain, classic, generic. The weighing of NCMW should be increased to match weighing of full name and make it more visible at lower scales.

#2 The modification of the ‘C’ was liked and was more eye catching than #1. Concern about the effectiveness at lower scales.

#3 Favourite (with modifications) for 2/6 respondents. One liked it for the font, one liked it without the font. Some concern about the being too ‘fussy’ and clearness at small scales. Further investigation required on what it would look like with the NCMW rotated to the same angle as the text. I believe this will make it look a bit sloppy and not translate the image of precision work.

#4&#5 #4 somewhat popular, #5 least mentioned of all. I should look into including the acronym into the title. These are very lathe specific when NCMW isn’t limited to lathe work.

#6 This one is my least favourite and the only reason I included it is that I struggled with it the most of all the logos. That being said it was by far the most popular with 4/6 respondents listing it as a favourite. The results don’t lie so I’ll have to revisit this one.

Additional themes to explore:
– #3 with a black gear as the background
– Using bubble lettering (outline) such that it can be filled with colour when possible.

After sending out the finalists I did a test print at a much lower scale and found some of the designs scaled much better than the others. I had a look at what scales the logo will be used. For a website, letter header or business card 25mm high seems appropriate. A user avatar for youtube on a desktop is 12mm square and 6mm on a phone. A PCB would use 12mm or 6mm depending on the space available. With this in mind I created a size card with four different sizes.

Finalist Logo Size Card

Reviewing the size card I made the following observations:

– #1 and #3 are strong at a small scale

– the detail in the ‘C’ on #2 is starting to break down at 6mm when I plot on a laser printer. The size of the detail at 12mm doesn’t look like it would be easy to reproduce with engraving or sink screen.

The next thing I did was put together some business card concepts for each logo. I liked how they all came out with the exception of the screwdriver. The more I look at it the more it looks like it came from a Clipart portfolio. At this point I made the executive decision to scrap it. Incorporating feedback I tweaked the logos by increasing the line weight of #1 and #2, played around with a different ‘C’ for #1 and rotated the text in #3. A lot of an online presence involves youtube or forums and both of these mediums require a square avatar. #4 and #5 are not square and scaling them down to fit in a square box would reduce the strength of the logo. I eliminated these logos due to this limitation.I still really like #4 so stay tuned for more later on.

Finalist Business Card Concepts

At this point it was mid March 2014 and #1 and #3 were the two remaining logos in the running when the movie Transformers Age of Extinction came out. Watching the trailer something on the end credit screen caught my eye:

All along I thought I was ripping off this guy (or gal). I don’t know which came first but as they say, two is company, three’s a crowd so #3 was removed from the running #1 won by disqualification.

With a logo chosen I threw something together to see what it would look like on the website. This was put together in MS Paint as I am still learning CSS and how to get the site to look the way I want. I’m playing around with using #4 as a footer but haven’t decided on the exact graphics to use. Having the added detail down at the bottom spices up an otherwise bland page.

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