As you appear to be highlighting the illogical i am surprised you have not gone along the lines of highlighting the ’mad’.

Will

Thanks for the suggestion Will,

It’s something that I considered at the start, and then kind of shifted the word Mad to become a smaller secondary mark on its own.

However, highlighting the mad subtly would be keeping inline with the projects concept, so I’ll put together a few more designs keeping that in mind,

I feel like just putting a line under the word is a bit of a cop out (and thats probably why I’m not all that happy with the current logo), but any weight, colour or face changes would probably make it a bit too obvious.. Do you have any ideas?

Cheers

Dan

Is it just me or does that shape scream youtube?

Picard your 100% right with that call, shape probably needs re-evaluating. The shape is supposed to be a TV screen (I guess that’s what YouTube was probably going for as well..)

Although I still like the look of a few of those shapes in series, I would be kind of happy to ditch that shape anyway because making the t.v. association is really pigeon holing advertising to just one type of advertising.

Anyway, putting the shape to one side, and taking Wills suggestion on board, I have put these together as a start,

Love to hear out of these, what direction — if any — everyone thinks is appropriate

Dan

just a thought but if you wanted to go really subtle you could generate the mad/ison split simply by intensionally poor kerning - something that only only designers or the artistically minded would spot. not entirely unapropriate for your topic.

Will

Some of the latest remind me of the logo for this US television show:

And Madmen’s mark reminds me of Maxell’s old ad:

And Maxell’s ad reminds me of:

C’mon now, we can do this. Thelma and Louise can’t be more than four degrees from Kevin Bacon, right?

Why not rename to “Ave Mad”... You’d have some duality here as Avenue Madison as well as taken from ancient Roman’s greeting “Ave”... Ave Caesar... Ave Mad.

Anyway. I didn’t think that the first one resembled Youtube. I very much liked colour choice. But two lines under AD were distracting, because they looked like illegible text under main headline.

From the latest batch I would like to know, what are you trying to emphasize here, because it looks like you can’t decide. Is it MAD or is it AD? OR would you rather write “MAD AVE AD” instead... :)

@epsilicon: that really is a great ad.
___________
Robert Koritnik

Susan Sarandon was in Dead Man Walking (1995) with Sean Penn
Sean Penn was in Mystic River (2003) with Kevin Bacon

Geena Davis was in Cutthroat Island (1995) with Frank Langella
Frank Langella was in Frost/Nixon (2008) with Kevin Bacon

That makes fun...

:)

Eliason:
I agree with your observation, some of the revised designs are strikingly similar to the Mad Men logo. Out of curiosity, do you think that this is necessarily a bad thing considering their common origins? Is this (originally unintended) pop-culture reference at all appropriate?

Incidentally, Mad Men season 1 is due to air on Australian free to air in the next few weeks, looking forward to seeing whether it lives up to the hype..

Will:
Thanks for your suggestion, I’ll give it a go in the next round

Epsillicon:
That ad is amazing, thanks for posting it. He’s living the dream

Alaskan:
Thelma and Louise is actually only two degrees from Kevin Bacon. Geena Davis was in Cutthroat with Frank Langella who was in Frost/Nixon with Kevin Bacon

Litera:
I really like your suggestion for the name, and in an ideal world I would probably run with it. However, such an application would probably go over the head of the intended audience. Speaking with people about my project so far, I’ve found that a lot of people— although liking the name — have never heard of Madison Ave. and those who have often don’t make the association with advertising. Being clever with the name like that would almost certainly add to the confusion.

You’re completely right about the two lines under AD being distracting and looking like illegible text, thanks for that, I’ll keep it in mind with upcoming revisions. And thank you for liking the colours, I’m also really happy with them.

To answer your question, as you guessed, I’m being a bit indecisive, but I think I’m probably more inclined to highlight the MAD as suggested by William. I’m only continuing to highlight the AD to address the above problem of people not linking Madison Avenue with advertising.

What do you think? Have I been speaking to a select few people who just don’t get the reference?

Thanks for your words,

Dan

I feel like just putting a line under the word is a bit of a cop out (and thats probably why I’m not all that happy with the current logo), but any weight, colour or face changes would probably make it a bit too obvious.. Do you have any ideas?

Have you thought about using small caps?

By the way, I disagree with the mark resembeling youtube.
There a quit a few differences which have their own rights to exist.
The tv-shape – however – becomes out of date with all the new tft and plasma screens.
I like the colors.

I didn’t immediately think of YouTube either. Of course I see the resemblance, but it isn’t a problem in my opinion. But the shape doesn’t really matter for the typography, and I think it’s good that you’re starting to develop that independant from the tv-shape. But I wouldn’t ditch it just yet because it is slightly reminiscent of YouTybe. :)

Thanks for your comments and suggestions,

Bobbybobo, I especially liked the small-caps suggestion and had a play with it, but I just couldnt make it work in a way that kept the aesthetic I am going for.

Anyway, I have put together this design,

Would love to hear any further critique,

Thanks
Dan

Hi Dan,
Aesthetically, it looks a bit out of balance.
The line under MAD and the placement of AVE creates a kind of diagonal which pulls it down on the left side.

Some other ideas: