Nice & simple! But it took me a while to recognize the Z, and how would it work on color backgrounds, since the 7 is an open shape?
If the Z was offset like a drop shadow, perhaps that would reinforce the top horizontal bar of the Z making it read more easily, and that also might close up the bottom of the 7...?

I think it can work without having the total contrast of the overlayed 7 ... using lines with cut through the Z ... IMPLYING the 7 rather than detracting from the shading balance of the mark. but it's a great start!

well done.

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Paul Ducco
Graphic Design Melbourne
Short Film Festival

What about making the Z as the 7's shadow? Kind of skewed out behind it?

Since it's an application icon, you may want to look at conveying the compressing aspect of the application similar to Stuffit's logo.

I had another go at it recently, these two came out -

There's also a thread on Dribbble with other people chipping in.

It's not working yet but I like the general concept. You might want to experiment with translucent characters that appear different where they overlap. The Trivia logo did this with individual character strokes but it demonstrates the overlap effect.

The quick test below obviously needs a lot of work, but it shows the general idea of how this might make the partially-hidden Z clearer.

> It's not working yet

Care to elaborate, James?

>> It's not working yet
> Care to elaborate, James?

I like the general direction you're going, but in your first layout I don't care for the outline letter (for a number of reasons including that it probably won't reproduce well when small) and the Z is too hidden.

In your 2nd set of sketches, the solid 7 is an improvement, but in the left one the 7 looks stubby and the Z is still too hidden, and in the right-side one I don't see a Z at all.

But I think your concept has possibilities. Perhaps the translucent idea I mentioned is worth a try; you also might try offsetting the letters slightly so the top of the 7 doesn't totally hide the top of the Z.

Why not some extra cues to remind us that Z is something different from that 7?

James, thanks. Valid points, all noted.

Evan, that's a great idea! I would probably add another serif (?) at the top left corner to make Z even more obvious.

You could try, but it might look very odd to have a block of black just sort of sitting up there (as it looked odd in your original sitting down on the right).

But try it. Try slightly different shapes on the serif as well to see if it needs to read more as a serif in that case.

Hey Alex I like what you have going on logopond. What do you think of this? It's in a different direction, and it's incredibly rough, but I thought I'd shoot it off to you:

I thought it was an obvious pair between a 7 and a Z let me know what you think.

> What do you think of this?

I like it a lot, I think it is very good. Now that I saw the combination it is indeed obvious :)

We tossed several ideas over at Dribbble, and another Michael iterated his way to something similar to yours. I then emailed the 7zip person saying "Here are some logo ideas" and never heard anything back, which was not exactly encouraging, and so I shelved the whole thing.

Haha lovely how that works out. I think you should choose a path and polish it up, even if the people over at 7-Zip are preoccupied with other things. It'd be nice to have on your portfolio, and if they get around to looking it over, great!