Heres my thoughts and process on re-designing this logo.
For the font I used Bodoni because I thought that such a wonderful, elegant font can be best used for a wonderful, oldschool ballet company.
I chose the color red (well, the color is alittle off.. hmm) because it simply looks nice and goes with the image of what these ballet dancers were born to do; dance.

I like the new direction with the font style and color. I also appreciate your keeping it to a simple logotype. I would, however, suggest a slightly more delicate font — still maintaining the bodone look. I would go with something more like didot Bold Roman (64 pt Master). The serifs contrast much more with the rest of the characters suggesting a much more delicate, beautiful feeling. I also like the way didot seemingly treats each character with more individual attention and grace.

penn

Penn, Actually I tried this logo in 10 different fonts, and yes, one of them was didot. Didot is a nice font, but in this case some of the sections of the font are just unreadable. I purposely chose Bodoni so that no matter how small this logo is going to be scaled to, it'll still be readable.

What's the goal of the project? Right now it's just "Boston Ballet" written in another typeface, at least that's what I see as someone who knows nothing about Boston, the ballet, or the Boston Ballet. Their current logo isn't remarkable, but it's not terribly outdated,so it might be helpful for getting feedback if you elaborated on what your brief is for the project.

The current logo is delicate, graceful, airy... Your redesign, to me, seems bold, hard (maybe?), and tight. It seems little jarring. I walk by the Boston Ballet frequently and I cannot see your new logo etched on the windows or on an awning over the door.

The current logo says traditional & timeless...Bodoni, to me, says...90's, for lack of a better description. I know the typeface is from the late 18th century, but maybe it's the color. It just seems too outdated to me.

On a positive note, I like the slight concave serif on the l's. They provide a subtle, graceful nuance.

Sorry if that seemed too critical, I didn't mean it to be. :(

yeah ... sorry, it doesn't really bring it forward, nor does it seems lithe and uplifting.

when you say "I decided" ... this is just a 'practice' project or the real deal?

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Paul Ducco
Graphic Designer
Short Film Festival

Thanks for the crit. But what font would you use if you were to design this logo?

I think that all-caps or lc would suit this better. in title case it reads a bit like a print publication masthead. I also would recommend Bauer Bodoni, or a cut of bodoni with more curvaceous details. Your kern is nice, but loosen it to allow it to breathe more.

I'd try some American fonts for cultural resonance:
Century expanded, Binny Old Style, Cheltenham, Fairfield, etc

Ken, I agree with your choice to set the logotype with Upper-lover case letters (this is more consistent than all caps or small caps).
But I think Bodoni Is'nt a real "dance" typeface. Bodoni is synonimous of stability and statuesque.
Why not a classic italic serif typeface? (garamond?)

carlo