Did you mean "NOT" punctuate the word "dia" or?

If it was meant to be punctuated, I would pick 1b. Modern for sure, but I'm not sure about serious. Maybe you should revise your color choices. Is that Cholla?

Overall I like the logo. Good job! At first glance, I thought about Citi. http://www.citi.com

Logo 1b works the best...So far, but I still think this has far to go. I think the dark orange color could symbolize rust as in old metal. It is a complementary color but no good in this case. Typeface Cholla is overused in my opinion. Tagline should not extend beyond logo, It is had to tell form picture , maybe it does not extend beyond logo but with all the negative space around the lc. r is may need to be moved left a bit.

Did you mean "NOT" punctuate the word "dia" or?

If it was meant to be punctuated, I would pick 1b. Modern for sure, but I'm not sure about serious. Maybe you should revise your color choices. Is that Cholla?

Overall I like the logo. Good job! At first glance, I thought about Citi. http://www.citi.com

I don't like the #2 options at all. The arc looks like a "c" that fell down from the sky.

1b is best. As everyone else is suggesting, the colors are a little weak for a company going for "serious". Serious colors tend to be on the darker side (dark blues, purples, reds, etc.). Good job so far.

Aloha!
Scott

i agree, 1b is the best, somehow i find the ascender of the "t" too tall, nice work

nice job

CG

I think Cholla is working OK here, but Ole is right - try to find something in that spirit but less common.

The top ones are nice (except your circle arc is wobbly on the bottom-left) - but maybe use a darker weight of the type.

BTW, I'm also confused about "punctuation" being desired or not by the client. If it is desired, I was thinking you could put a bullet with a slanted line going through it between "dia" and "meter". Because for one thing what you're shoing now is a circumference...

hhp

It looks like he's showing Diameter to me.

The Cholla concerns I would agree with, but
overuse to a Typophile is different than overuse
in general, imo.
If you posted this at any non-type forums, I'm
guessing it wouldn't be a concern.

Hey, I thought you were fiercely against actually showing logo suggestions! ;->

hhp

Nestled in the circumference/diameter relationship is a
capital D ... that might be a direction
worth exploring with some sketches.

bj

I donno about the b's. how many times have we seen this treatment - prefixing with colour.

And how would this logo work in black and white and on reverse backrgounds?

I hope/think you are kidding Hrant ... well half
kidding I'm sure, especially about the word
fiercely. ;)
Again, i didn't proffer the rules. I'm a
reformed sketcher myself.

btw, that is an image from google
to show circumference/diameter
to hhp.

Only after posting did I see the capital
D and pointing this out I didn't think
went against Pemberton's "let people
do their own work" mantra.

bj

Thank you so much everyone for your feedback -- I'm kind of glad a common (stylistic at least) consensus has settled on 1b. Everyone else (non designers) points there too, so I think I'm on to something (as embryonic as it may be!)

Just to clarify the punctuation thing: the word is pronouced (for the purposes of this client) diamEter, as if it were two words, dia and meter, but he wants to emphasise this without punctuating the logotype with a hyphen or anything (hence the duotone word).

ole: I see what you mean about the orange -- rust + modern materials company = bad idea! Cholla is overused from our point of view, but (as BJ Harvey says) most non-designers don't see the overuse in the same light do, I don't think. I'm happy with the face at the moment (you may notice that I modified the upper join of the 'a' bowl a little). You're absolutely right about the tag-line too, it's an oversight on my part, thanks for bringing it to my attention.

Scott: I'll look in to some more 'serious' colours, thanks for the feedback.

Cristian: I agree about the 't' height, I may try bringing it down a little, thanks.

Hrant: The arc is actually a segment of a (pixel) perfect circle, it's distortion may be an optical illusion caused by the fact that it's a little more than a semicircle and I've rounded the ends. Good spot though Nice idea about the punctuation too, I almost want to try it out!

Thanks again everyone, I'll post up some new comps once I've processed all this feedback.

Jordan

adjustments to 't' height and tracking here :
http://www.jordanharper.uklinux.net/diameter_logos_v2.gif

black on white/white on black here:
http://www.jordanharper.uklinux.net/diameter_logos_BW.gif

Thoughts are most welcome, and positively encouraged

Jordan

Hi BJ. Well to some extent I agree with you about your counter-punch to my critique of using Cholla. But besides commonality and overuse lets take it one step further. Copyrighting. A semi-circle and Cholla for a logo. Could easily get you a bit stuck when you need to proper legal mark. This is one reason why I often do custom type in my clients identity work.

Tanya has brought up a good point. Logo must work in B+W.

Ole, i agree with you about the custom type, for sure!

Cholla is/was the regular titling typeface at Entertainment Weekly,
probably its most prominent usage ...
but I don't think it's in the Mrs. Eaves or Helvetica category
as far as overuse.

(i haven't seen EW lately, however.)

And this particular usage doesn't scream Cholla the
way other uses might. (With ligatures turned on, etc.)

Of course determining overuse is subjective.

anyway, yeah, custom type is a good idea.

bj

I've taken on board the comments I've had from here and elsewhere, and made a few more changes.

I've increased the size contrast between the main logotype and the tagline to help the tag fit underneath more comfortably -- I wasn't happy with tracking out the main logotype so I've tightened it up.

I've increased the weight of the arc a little, and tried to position it slightly better wrt to 'dia'.

I'm also experimenting with some different colours.

Thank you kindly for your attention, opinions welcomed:

http://www.jordanharper.uklinux.net/diameter_logos_colours.gif

Jordan

1f is playful.

I cant stand 1g. It's so muddy

Thanks for all the feedback everyone (and you're right Andrew, 1g is horrible, in hindsight). If I'm not being too much of a pain, could I ask for some more?

My client has requested 'more corporate' looking colours, so I'm experimenting with the tried and trusted grey/blue grey/green combos, though I am trying to use slightly more contemporary shades of blue/green.

I've also begun working on some rudimentary marks, for use when the logo + tag line is too much.

http://www.jordanharper.uklinux.net/diameter_logos_v4.gif

Thanks in advance for all the help, it's all most appreciated.

Jordan

sorry, link didn't activate for some reason:

http://www.jordanharper.uklinux.net/diameter_logos_v4.gif

Refer back to my post #196.

If your client is going for "serious" and "corporate", the solution is to simply use almost any color, but dark. For example, your blue looks like PMS 641C (on my screen anyway), but to make it corporate you should use something more in the neighborhood of PMS 648C, and maybe replace the gray with PMS 647C. I'm not suggesting that these are the colors to use, but I promise if you show your client these darker ranges, he'll be a much easier sell.

Aloha!
Scott

Thanks Scott, I'll try!

Jordan