I'm seeing bullet holes. Try adding a little shading or something to the bubbles so it's more obvious what they are.
I prefer the heavier font in No. 1.

I think the heavier face works much better as it emphasizes the suds.

I agree with publishingmojo, though.

One option would be to put a bubble highlight on each one:

http://i.ehow.com/images/GlobalPhoto/Articles/4689514/97180_Full.jpg

(awful image, but you get the point)

Agreed ... bullet holes.

Though shading might not be absolutely necessary ... how about some refraction.

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Paul Ducco
Graphic Designer - Melbourne

Great! thanks guys. I'll give it try.

Great! thanks guys. I'll give it try.

Thoughts. More readable as soap sudds?

Much better.

You could apply the same technique to the big bubbles at the bottom, but that might end up making it too busy. Why not try it and decide for yourself?

Swiss cheese now...sorry.

Bubbles float! Make a few float above or behind the letters and maybe it'll help.

I agree with PublishingMojo.

thanks everyone. more thoughts, just post them. =)

I think the newest is a huge step forward.

I don't like how the soa are all touching and the p isn't. I feel like they should be a little more loose. Along with the pe.

thanks. i'll look at that.

Swiss cheese? Bullet holes? The logo says "soap"! Good enough for me, conceptually. I think you could work on the letterspacing to make everything more compact and tighter. Also, look at this thing small so you get an idea how the bubble highlights will reproduce. I also think you're missing an opportunity to make one of the letter counters a bubble.

"I don’t like how the soa are all touching and the p isn’t. I feel like they should be a little more loose. Along with the pe."

Personally I wouldn't want the letterspacing to be perfect or symmetric--the bubbles aren't, why would we expect kerning to be?

the bubbles aren’t, why would we expect kerning to be?

It doesn't . . . necessarily, but whatever it is, it should be intentional. If it's left as it is, it will look like an accident = poor attention to detail. That aside, I'd say the letters resemble a bar of soap anyway, not the bubbles.

penn

"I’d say the letters resemble a bar of soap anyway"
Interesting – maybe rounding the corners could bring that out more.

penn-agreed.

hopefully we all know there's a difference between being random and looking random--usually the latter requires work to make it so, and has the best result

wow! thanks everyone. great comments/suggestions.

These particular words offer a very tight lockup. Soap sitting on Hope leaves a nice little rectangle of space between to insert "FOR". Against that solid backdrop, the bubbles ought to read nicely. Bolder typeface is better, but feels tired. I agree, something round, but maybe with overstuffed curves - something like Cadena Black (http://latinotype.com/espanol/fonts/CadenaBlack/).

Another idea would be to minimize the number of soap bubbles to the bottom mask, and inside the counters of o's and maybe p. Using a geometric sans, the bubbles could be slightly off center in the counter.

Anyhoo, good name for a good cause. Nice project!

Maybe you could try adding bubbles in the counters of a few of the letters?

Along the lines of the bar of soap comment mentioned above:

(quick and dirty, but you get the idea)

quick and dirty

[Groan . . .]

I don't think you need the stroke at all.

I kind of wonder if it'd be better to just form the letters into the shape of a rounded rectangle. so the S, P, H and E would all be a bit rounded into each other.

so the S, P, H and E would all be a bit rounded into each other.

Yes.

penn

What made the bubbles look like bulletholes for me in the first post was probably not really the lack of shading (though it is an improvement), but their small size. Ofcourse I realise that it could disturb legibility, but I'd try making them a little bigger.

A little “Fight Club”, maybe? ;-)
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/1/122423_3f85dffb4c.jpg

What if you curved the edges of the serifs. The edges seem to be too hard. When I think of soap i think of a smooth edge.

I don't mind the stroke. Although loosing the stroke may give you more options.

The smoother edge will make it look less like cheese too! :)

The version with the small "for" looks too much like a product logo, in my view. The second logo is fine. Rounded edges may be fine, but the logo is not for $50 anti-aging soap. Maybe the shading of the bubbles can be even more abstract, like small arcs with constant width.

rounded corners. thoughts?

I think I prefer the contrast of the sharp corners to the round bubbles. This doesn't look bad, though. Kerning is much better now.

- Lex

looking loads friendlier.

still not really getting the soapy feel. does it need to be reproduced in such minimal form?
perhaps literally make the letters out of bars of soap if not.

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Paul Ducco
Graphic Design Melbourne

I would play with putting a few bubbles around the words, so it looks like some floated off. (only 1 or 2, not too many)
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www.coroflot.com/kate_dawson

Sorry for the delay. I've made some revisions to art. Let me know what you think.

I like the playful composition of the last one.