I like the idea of cooking/serving good (tasty) design, Troy. But I am not sure if those quite rigid letters correspond to the very dinamic figure of a cook/waiter.

Maybe you should try to keep this 30s-like composition, but combine it with a more contemporary font. It could communicate meaning like "contemporary design served in a 30s manner".

House Industries (houseindustries.com) has some really nice retro fonts. When I saw your initial logo I thought of their font "Sign Painter". I don't currently own the font, but here is a screen preview I pulled from the site.

Check out Mark Simonson's work he has a number of (that era) that could work. I don't have a problem with the font you are using now, though

pig? haha...it's a chef, right? and that's his apron tied in the back, right? (not a curly pig tail) i think his raised leg needs to be a little longer and maybe not curving up so much.

i agree with tiffany wardle though, that the big circle takes away focus on the wonderful little guy. maybe avoid the circle and have 'design' going horizontal.

also, i think TASTY looks mis-scaled. try evening out the curve over the tops of the letters. make the second T smaller i think, and maybe move the Y left a bit....or do completely different tries with other fonts. you gotta do 20 to get 1.

Great, now all I see is a pig. Thanks a lot.

Jeff

Tiffany, I now see the pig too, very funny.

I knew I saw that waiter before, Deco Dingbats 1, Capital G

Thanks for the comments and suggestions. I will post another few possibilities soon.

My illustration was based on a piece of clip art I found in one of Dover's books -- which apparently was also the basis for the dingbat. I am curious about the issue of incorporating illustration work done by someone else -- do you think there's something wrong with that? Obviously it's in the public domain so I'm not stealing anything from anyone. Is there any difference between that and using another person's typeface design (which this is)?
Is it just because it's a logo? I see designs (including logos) all the time that obviously incorporate old artwork. (Art Chantry's work comes to mind.)

I don't mean to argue with you, I sincerely am interested in what you think.

Maybe it's better for me to explore type-only solutions (especially if the chef looks like a pig --ha!)

Thanks,

Troy

Troy, it is probably legal to use a "prefabricated" ilustration. The problem is that you do not have exclusive rights to use it., so your neighbour may use the very same ilustration in his logo some day. In such a case you could have a tough time telling your clients that you "serve" original design done exclusively for them...

I think there was a miscommunication ... but Matjaz makes
the point that Tiffany meant to make, I think, about the
distinctiveness factor.

Just taking that a step further. It isn't *probably* legal,
it's legal legal legal.

I think the word "discovered" made it sound like you had
done something wrong, which clearly, you didn't and
clearly that wasn't Tiffany's intention.

All that said ...

I looked at your original intentions (non-corporate, entertainment focus)
and the Retro 30s look, imo, is not your strongest direction.

The Tasty type treatment is problematic because the
T and Y are rendered so small in comparison to the
other letters. I do enjoy the letterforms themselves.

And the logo could just as well be for a caterer or cake designer.

The word "Tasty" is not the easiest thing to illustrate ...

Sometimes the solution just comes from sketching or
fiddling in Illustrator. When it doesn't come right away,
one thing that I've found works is to try to pour out
26 solutions or 26 ideas in 26 minutes.
The 26 can be thought of as arbitrary guide, but if you
get stuck, the specific letter can be an ideation catalyst.

These can be quick sketches or just words: waiter with serving tray.

From those ideas, take a handful of your best and render
them in pencil and go from there in illustrator.

Just one approach, and of course, my opinions are just that.

PS, as far as use of images by Chantry, etc., Daniel previously
linked this article from CreativePro.

http://www.creativepro.com/story/feature/20305.html



bj

Troy, I think you have two separate ideas that you are trying to force together. A 30's retro theme and illustrating tasty design. If its the 30's feel you are after maybe the word you are looking for isn't tasty, but Elegant might fit better. In either case follow PJ's advice, I once had a mortgage refi project and I presented 15 concepts, marker on paper, 75 concepts later I got the 3 that left the agency and i can tell you I'd still be working on them if I did it on a computer.

>in either case follow PJ's advice

lol.

Why not turn the chef into a waiter? Maybe a chef would have better analogy with a graphic designer but a chef running around with a plate doesn't make sense. The chef's expression also looks too worried. Here is a rough sketch of a waiter.