Maybe it might work better if you played up a flourish with the ampersand, not the R? Perhaps the ampersand has more of a calligraphic feel to it, you know, to kind of reinforce the “hands-on” concierge notion.

I had toyed with this notion and done some roughs of the flourish on the ampersand but I feel that it’s a very obvious approach and quite overdone with names like this.

Appreciate the feedback.

I like it. Can’t think of anything that you could add or subtract to make it better. Which font is this?

So I guess you have to work out the implementation yet, but right now this does not clearly say ’slick travel company’ to me. It looks classy, high-end lawyer or accountant to me. That is not to say that it could not have that feel through the implementation.

It just depends on what you mean by ’slick’?

I’ll take to glory away from Sean on this one, ctakah thats Seáns custom type... pretty slick!

@ CTAKAH — Thanks, the type is custom drawn.

@ jayyy — I noticed that too and was initially bothered by that. After continuing doing logo roughs I noticed that unless there is a very obvious graphic device that says “travel company” the name will always invoke that lawyer/accountant aesthetic. I suppose a lot of the descriptive elements about the nature of the company will be communicated through the implementation. By slick I mean minimal graphic styling with careful consideration of the chosen copy, stock and finished techniques with a strong emphasis on high quality (descriptive) photography.

Perhaps I should include a tagline at this stage to help?

Love the type.

It has an air of history to it too, which is nice. Though I’m thinking if it was coming from an older logo ... they would have used some globe graphic ... or something, or even just wings spread ... or something.

go the exclusive mile high club (interesting campaign)

Great stuff.

—————
Paul Ducco
Graphic Design

My first idea, before reading the rest, is that of an ad agency, law-firm …
Perhaps you have to look to better colors here to get the right feel.
But in my opinion that is just reparing something. I would go for an other graphic.

Second if you use this ligature for the R, I would make a bridge to the second name. It now washes away. It feels lost. (desert Island ... mmmm ... travel) ...

I see some irregularities in the type.
To me the D and S - for instance - look havier than the L, W

Aside from this, I like to see you took another approach to this.

Hopes this helps

Ray

@ Ratbaggy — Thanks for the feedback. I think I might look at a globe graphic and maybe explore that avenue a bit more. Cheers

@bobbybobo — As mentioned above the name itself does carry a stigma of law-firm, etc so I’m not that worried about that at the moment. I will take your advice on colour and post up some colour variations soon.

The swash r at the beginning had a countering swash coming from the stroke on the d which I took out because I felt it wasn’t working. Below is a sample of it.

I will take your point on the weight irregularities (this was my main reason for posting here) as I am fairly new to designing type I couldn’t quite pick out what it was. I work with two other colleagues on identity work, we each present our own unique ideas to the client and this was my idea. The two others use graphic elements so I thought I’d try using solely type.

Just a few ideas about color. No perfectly executed, but still.
I understand you need fullcolor for this, but simular can be done with two colors.

I agree with you about the swash from the D. I doesn’t work.

Ray

Thanks Ray.

I’ve done a similar version except inverted. With the background being the image and the logo just white. Your version seems to give less attention to the letterforms and makes them look better (or maybe it’s just that they’re against white).

I was also trying to vary the type from the original. Below is a very rough inline version which I liked. I haven’t modified it so some of the inline widths vary but you get the idea.

The idea of the inline variable widths brings character. Not sure if it ads to the travel-theme, but the idea ... I like. Especialy in the R. Lovely!
(Who says all of it has to have these inlines?)

Looking at it al, I would narrow the spaces between “T &” and ’& W’

Going strong!

Ray

Thanks for the feedback overall.
I’ll post up some new samples of the modified inline type in a bit.

awesome.

—————
Paul Ducco
Graphic Design

The contrast on the Y needs to be worked on. It doesn’t look as a balanced as the other letters. It especially looks weird in the inline version—which I prefer by the way.

David

I worked on the inline version. Click here to see a larger one.

Looking at it at small size, the Y seems – indeed – to clug (is that a true english word?).
Otherwise, big improvement.

Have you already thought about colors?

No, I don’t think clug is an english word. Could you explain further please?

I’ve been working on colour lately, I’ll put up some samples soon

Mmmm, Clog. It closes up.
The white lines almost reach each other in the Y (left).

I fixed the ‘Y’ (hopefully) and tweaked some of the other letterforms. I think it’s almost there with the refinement of the type. Any fresh opinions I would appreciate. Larger version here.

What if you merged some of the letter forms by their serifs to create a more fluid motion of the wordmark, there aren’t a lot of opportunities to merge these particular letters without making it too crowded but the serifs on the ’W’ and the ’Y’ would look good if combined due to the em width of the ’W’ and kerning issues that come with it. Just a suggestion.

I was thinking. What if you replace the & with a plus (+).
With that you can then fiddle around with it a bit.

Just a thought.
The Y is much better now.

Nice, clean type design with just enough character. Is the swash of the R really necessary? Or, maybe extend the ampersand with a swash reaching down and right towards the Y.

A version without the swash and one with the swash on the ampersand.

I think the swash – in any form – does add something.
Loosing it means loosing character.

I didn’t read too carefully (supposed to be “working”) so I’m not sure if anyone already said this, but I think bobbybobo’s color post definitely makes the wordmark look more travel-like. I like to original swash on the “R” for what it’s worth.

-S

@Ray — I get your point on loosing character without the swash and I am quite fond of it.

@Scott — At this stage I’m really trying to refine the type for the logo and not too worried about the colour. Implementing the logo using photography, colour, taglines, etc will run the point home that it’s a travel company.

Thanks for the comments

Here’s a thought about using the swash on the ampersand. If you go that route, you might be able to create a complementary shortened version of the logo that just says “E&W”. I just tried it myself, and the distinctive swash really holds the logo together when the E and W are kerned more tightly to the ampersand.

That being said, I do also like the elongated R on the original version. It made me immediately think of the logo for UnderConsideration.

This is my first post here, but I hope these are some of the kinds of criticisms you were looking for.

Watch your kerning in between the characters ’ERNE’ and the ’Y’ and ’L’. Also I would definitely try to merge the serifs on the ’W’ and ’Y’. See my above comment >>>

@ Wesley — Thanks for your comments I have taken you point on the kerning between certain characters, however, I have done several versions using combined letterforms to no avail. Joining the ‘W’ and ‘Y’ creates unusual emphasis on that character combination which is not something I want to point out. Due the the quite chunky serifs the space where the letters join looks crowded and I would have to counter that by tracking the rest of the letters closer together which I feel is going in the wrong direction.

@schrockwell — I have looked at the shortened version before and felt that the company is relatively new and shortening the name will further mask the actual name of the company. It’s not something I’m ruling out though. Using this version the swash on the ampersand also creates unusual prominence to the ‘W’ while alienating the ‘E’. In general, as a rule, I’m trying not to kern everything close together. As substantial as the letters are, I want to keep a lightness to them also.

As always appreciate the comments. Thanks

I agree with others that the inline version is best.

Have you tried something like this: extend the swash on the ampersand a bit lower so that you can curve it back on itself; then loop it back to merge with a swashed R. Make sense? I think that could really help tie it all up. Then again, it might make for an obscenely long swash on the R...still perhaps worth a shot, though. If the lines thin out at in the middle of the swash ligature, that could help...

Nice work otherwise.

Nice idea, Matt.

Just a quick update. Simple type without swashes is what I have decided to go with because I want to implement the logo with graphic frames. Below is just one example.

Bear in mind I’m keeping it flexible so that it can be used with or without the frame.

Let me know what you think?

It has a classic feel.
But the many tiny lines bother me.
Too small, they will have a difficult time staying alive.
Especially in white on black.

But it has a bit of 30s feel to it. Classy.

Wow, that’s an awesome idea to work on. But I agree: maybe you should trim down on the amount of lines and make them a just a tad thicker. The type looks great without the swash when implemented in something like this indeed... Curious about any updates!

bobby u have many problems. U no nothing . . . i challenge u to dual

The screenshot I took doesn’t really do it justice. I’ll try to get a better quality image up there. Thanks for the feedback. I’ll make some adjustments.

the frame seems to distract from all the effort you put into the type.

Unfortunately sometimes it’s quite difficult to get the client to appreciate type as much as people on this forum. I’m doing what I can to convince them though.