It has no swooshes though :))

For the r you could bring the horizontal at the bottom of the arm further down than the first storey of the a and by curving the bottom of the t’s crossbar and raising it (and the oblique) you could close that space, not to your standard space but slightly, the j seems slightly out of place, the curve at the bottom and the dot, you could try a (rounded) rectangle for the dot and make the body rectangular too. In the end though it is the differences that make the letters.
Tim

Add a swoosh, make it blue and you’ll be there ;)

Maija, don’t worry too much about the uneven tone caused by the excess negative space between those particular letter pairs. Remember its a logo, not body text, so even tone and total consistency need not be prime considerations. It doesn’t have to be perfectly even and consistent—-logos are part design, part art and part compromise.

The narrow space between the letters looks the same as the stencil gaps in the letters themselves. I think you could comfortably space the letters out a bit by doubling the letterspacing. That will make the larger negative spaces appear less odd.

The curve on the j doesn’t match the curves on the other letters; replace it with a curve from one of the other letters.

You can reduce the gap between r - a by compacting the arm of the r. Just slide it to the left. That component doesn’t have to be the same width as similar parts elsewhere. I know, I know, its a modular design, but it has to be practical. Cheat to make it look right.

Then widen the bowl (lower bit) of the a to take up some of the negative space under the arm of r. Next, narrow the arm (top) of the a by sliding it to the right. Then you can move the a to the left without it crashing into the r.

Tim’s solution for the t is good. Paste the arm of the a onto the bottom of the t, then narrow it to make it fit. The bar of t is already much narrower than its equivalent parts on the a and r. Okay, so this logo was not totally consistent to begin with :-) Arms and bars on t and r in most fonts are much narrower than consistent modular proportions would have them. Your t was originally made narrow in proportion to the other letters.

I would replace the sharp diagonal top of the t with a curve.

Also consider replacing all the square stem tops (b, l, d) with curves.

To be consistent and make the logo look fresh (contemporary), I would replace the Futura capitals “WOOD PROCESSING COMPANY” with a contemporary font.

j a m e s

I would worry about the spacing in between the _ra_ pair. I would worry about the spacing overall and make sure it is mechanically even. The open spaces within the letterforms set the pace for you to follow. The top version works more for me than the bottom. Why not have the tagline in yellow if that is where you think it is best placed?

Here’s my redesign

I tried increasing the letter spacing but it looked awkward. Sometimes I overreach by trying too hard to make things look interesting, a reaction against having to keep things simple. Keeping it simple works best for this logo

j a m e s

I would worry about the spacing overall and make sure it is mechanically even.

What I meant was, don’t worry about it too much about acheiving perfectly even tone, but do what you can to even things out. Its art, and doesn’t have to be perfect, but it helps to apply discipline for the sake of good design.

j a m e s

That white hole is a killer.
Try making the beak of the “r” ascend... like a branch (or a leaf).

hhp

James, thank you so much for your great input. I was just about thinking about a gift for you or something, but then, unfortunately, the manager who got me the client, left two weeks ago and took the client with him. I hate when people do that!

That really is aggravating isn’t it?

There’s no cure for people ;-)

It is no problem at all Maija. I learned a small amount perfecting the timber logo. Stencil letters always pose a good puzzle challenge.

Have you got one of these dragons? > http://www.grand-illusions.com/opticalillusions/dragon_illusion/

Download the video from that page and watch it. Wow! Now download the PDF, print and fold into your own dragon. I have to make one for my mother who is crazy about dragons. She’s a watercolor illustrator & calligrapher.

best regards,
j a m e s

That white hole is a killer.

There is one way of filling it:

Unicase might turn out to be a passing fad, and it seems unlikely to be of serious use for text typography, but it comes in very handy sometimes for logos.

A few variations, just for fun:

best regards,
j a m e s