jared

i think that te second one is the best one for me, maybe you should try to set the box with the title in some other way, the stairs that appears sometimes i like it and sometimes not.

you FHD monogram is very distinctive and well resolved

congrats.

CG

JARED
did you smash the type or stretch it?? in #1 & #3? It has a very squashed, cluastrophobic feel which you may not want. You should also determine whether the name of your business is one word, or 2...If you are into the ligature idea, look at how the fl ligature is often constructed. The f doesnt need to curve completely around to the stem of the l...the l and f usually collide, not blend into each other.
Also, in #3, I keep seeing "Ah" and grain silos.

I would have to say that #2 is the strongest idea. But, work with the monogram a little bit more, maybe enlarging the black square. If you use it though, I would definately ditch the type next to it. They look like two different elements which coincidentally butted up against each other...Also maybe something less geometric would work better for the monogram concept---something less German Aircraft factory, circa WW2 (das fairhaus)
Could you find a more interesting sans serif to work with? Or maybe experiment with handwriting---or even color instead of black?

Thanks for the comments, my partner felt that the 2nd logo looked somewhat dated, which isn't exactly what we're going for the 3rd one is definatly more fun feeling but still isn't quite what we were looking for, the 1st one is remenicent of another logotype for a company that i can't put my finger on, i'm not entirely sure about a serifed typeface for the monogram, as it stands it really makes me think of some sort of roman alphabet chop mark. i'm somewhat at a loss about how to integrate the whole name with it effectivly

its funny that all of our signature images are the same color red as the typophile site, I didn't do it on purpose, I guess its the unconscious design mindset.

But don't use JPEG for block colors, dude.

hhp

ok so is this a workable compromise, or is it just a dead end?

That last one's a dead end, I think. The whole thing inside and outside the box is off-balance.

I really like the top #3, but I agree with another poster - ditch or move the "design".

The #3 monogram reversed in the middle of a coloured box might look nice. If you must put the name next to the box, give it some space - some poise - and put it on one line if possible. Then you can use the logo with and without the logotype.

Paul

What kinds of design does the company do? It's hard to fall in love with a logo without context. I don't find this one strong enough to invoke a response without more context.

Also, is it Fair House Design or Fairhouse Design?

well it will most likely focus on graphic design, primarily for print, but also some packaging design.

i think the 3rd one is great (the 'fh ligature').

perhaps go for a colour on white rather than reversed out of a black square.

and, for some reason, i always like type
alongside the image rather than above/below.
this is the kind of thing i mean:

(i have taken the liberty of using your logo:
hope you don't mind. and the colour i used is
arbitrary. just my favorite shade of green at the moment

does it have to say 'design'?

The fh ligature is quite nice, but fights
with the type options above. The box could
work, but has too much going on. What about
something like this:



I also like geraintf's approach.

Logo looks like a barn and silo to me.

here's a sketch of a possible direction.


Andrew

nother sketch

What about a little movement? I'm not sure about the font of the text, maybe it could be slightly more extended.

OK, I take a stab at it too. This time with a totally different font, but I like the ligature:


Am I to undersatnd it's "Fair House Design?"

Thanks everyone for thier help, we've decided that Fairhouse is to be one word, and design, doens't neccessarily need to be part of the mark, we'll probably end up going withsomething not contained in a box but not quite as swishy as some of the proposed designs its a battle between, our idea of something that needs to be clean looking without being too static, and conservative.

Ly, I like the look...problem is I tend to see a
cross and a T.

how about this?
andrew r. baker--your monogram looks like FHB. and Jared--i like your dilemma-inducing stop sign.

while i completely agree with the two of you, and while i don't consider this collaboration in the exact sense, i wouldn't use anyones design here on the forums instead of my own its great to see changes others have made and get you out of a rut you may be in.

Going back to your "fh" ligature, the one that
someone thought was a barn and silo: raise the
bar on the f and add a white dot doorknob, and
you have a visual pun on "fair house".

Just a thought.

Going back to your "fh" ligature, the one that
someone thought was a barn and silo: raise the
bar on the f and add a white dot doorknob, and
you have a visual pun on "fair house".

Just a thought.

barn and silo? big deal - i like the fh ligature. it is simple and rather beautiful. even if it does suggest barn and silo, there are very positive "fair" associations with it. It may even be a conversation starter with clients ;-)

to a cow, a barn is a house. ;)

I wasn't leaning positively or negatively on the Barn comment, just throwing out my impression.
I liked what Ignacio did to provide motion to the lig.

Just for clarity, I drew sketches NOT for Jared to follow through on, just to think about. Same with the barn comment. It just seemed from his initial post that ideas he was working on had gotten stale on him. I wouldn't expect my quick sketch to be completed to fruition, otherwise I would've drawn it mor carefully.

Andrew

FYI, I find nothing wrong with people providing sketches. I find the best design comes from collaboration.

I think that sometimes it is easier (and better, I truely think so), for me at least , and it looks that for some us too, to explain things drawing them than writing them, maybe I go too far but I take for granted that the sketch is an explanation it self, and I agree with Andrew, before you say something sometimes you have to do it first, and once is done, I rather see his sketchs than his words describing them, and if you add that english is not my mother language (as you can tell)...
I believe I understand what Joseph and Tiffany are sayng and I agree too, but I don

by the way, i'm jared's "business partner" as he mentioned in the first post. I'm the one who did the first fairhouse logo, knocked out on a black rectangle, and i also did the silos thing. those silo ones were done pretty quick and were meant to just throw out more possibilities. and yes i stretched the typeface on that first one (which i dont normally do, but i thought Geneva was just too common of a font and had to be changed, and the computer i was on didn't have all the fonts in the world)

anyway, i really appreciate all the visual modifications everyone has done, and even the sketches which were not based off of the first post at all... it's great that everyone is really thinking and helping.

i think we've got to do something different here. i don't know where this is all going, but i hope it stops in a good place. now here's another idea i threw together today...it's intended to be just a mark; a logotype could go next to it, or under it, or inside it... please tell me what you think of it... thanks

Or this the logotype itself or I don

i guess what i meant to say was that the word "fairhouse" could be placed under, inside, or next to the mark shown on my last post.

This is an interesting direction. What do you think of softening it to something of a pinwheel shape? The squareness at the center is reminiscent of a swastika (This may be just me). You might try breaking the circuit to alleviate this feeling as well.

In any case, in my tinkering I came up with an interesting, and I believe more pleasing alternate. What if you extend both the ascending and descending small tips flush with the tops of the f's, delete the left and right tips. and break the box into an F character and an H. (note you will also need to extend the hook of the f.) The result is an FH melded into a pinwheel.

I hope this makes sense.

Andrew

Ignacio's (halfway up the thread) is very good, as far as working with your original monograms.

However, you may be putting the cart before the horse. There are a million ways of combining F, H, and D. What you need to do first is identify the look and feel you want, because this will characterize your company.

Do you want an edgy, techy "new media" look? Would you like a clean, European feel? A muted, subdued, professional look? Do you want to portray energy or steadfastness? Fun or seriousness? Cheap or expensive? Common or elite? Questions that need answers...

Paul

Wow! What a great name

I'd hope we could keep this forum about getting feedback
and learning, not about actually doing someone else's work.

=(

_______

Jared, I don't think you need the box at all. The FHD
ligature and the fh ligature have nice potential. And the
name Fairhouse is nice.

I also agree that you don't need the word 'design.' Perhaps
use the full name only in formal communications.

As much as I'm against people doing other people's design
work, Ignacio's example is a nice spin on your original
ligature.

Although I'm guilty of doing sketches and roughs of others work, and I understand that as we are a visual bunch of people, I agree with Joe. I think it, perhaps, defeats the educational purpose of the forums.

Jared, the ligature in your first post was interesting and I would suggest doing some lateral thinking from that one. The word design isn't working (for me) either.