this is way too scary for my tastes.

Hi Brad,

my first thought: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Green_Butchers
If I had to guess the target group I’d say splatter film freaks.

It doesn’t say traditional to me but it DOES say unique. In a way.
I guess it could work for a small business, willing to take the risk (of grossing out potential cutomers) in order to (possibly) establish a very unique brand.
A GrindHaus truck driving by is definitely something to stick in one’s brain for quite a while.

For the logo:

- the grinder looks very industrial to me. Doesn’t work for homemade sausages IMHO
- I think a logo like this requires a very careful use of colours. Yellow looks purulent, purple reminds of veins and old meat.
- i’d avoid any kind of grunge/worn look. Nobody wants to eat food from a dirty/filthy place.
- the G in No. 2 could only work if the ‘RIND HAUS’ was in the same colour as the G (the clamp). Then again, it emphasises the clamp, not the grinder.

So I think the best way this could work was a reworked clean monochrome version, maybe with rounded edges in order to add a little softness/friendliness/wink. If you use colours, look for ‘butcher-friendly’ colours (with a rather bold logo like this I’d avoid red – green could be a good choice)

Cheers,

Ari

Without reading the description, I thought this was a logo for a nightclub or a bar.

If I were buying sausage, I wouldn't want to think of how it was made. The name reminds me enough without having to look at an image of a gritty, dirty grinder.

I'd suggest reworking this from the start. What kind of image are you trying to convey for your client? Based on nothing but my own opinions, I'd go with a clean, retro 50s look, evoking the friendly neighborhood milkman. Maybe in baby blue, white, and red.

If you want to appeal to the "foodie" crowd (upper age range of your demographic), maybe focus on the handcrafted aspect of the sausages. This is a local cheese shop with a nice clean image that is probably closer to what you want.

- Lex

I realize that the imagery does not go hand in hand with food in general. But this is really the vision of the clients. I am simply working within the given parameters. As far as I'm concerned, who's to know if this is the wrong imagery for a sausage shop just because a few people (me included) think it is. The people behind the company have worked in the food industry for a long time, their investors trust them, so I guess I'm willing to.

Thanks for the FB

No worries.

In that case,you've done what the project needs.
What you presented is fine. Well done.

The grinder as G is 'cliche'/overworked.

It's cool and technically well done....however, it reminds me of the gruesome scene in that Pink Floyd video when the children blindly march into a meat grinder. Not exactly the place I'd want to eat dinner!

If you're forced to use a meat grinder, there must be a less-ominous, less violent-looking way to portray it? Maybe even if it were a "stainless steel" grinder instead of black?

Even so, I might try harder to convince my client that a visual of the grinder itself might not be the most appetizing way of selling sausage. I mean, heck, "sausage making" is actually the phrase used to describe something revolting! Why would you use a VISUAL of "sausage making" as a logo? It's a bit like using a photo of a bloody, decapitated pig to sell honey baked ham.

Oh, and I have about 20 years experience in the restaurant industry. Before I went back to college for graphic design, when opening a new restaurant, I hired qualified designers to help craft an effective identity package. Sure, I had ideas based on my restaurant expertise....but I knew I didn't have the visual design and marketing skills to excel at logo development. In other words; convince your client to trust you. If you believe a meat grinder logo will hurt their business, tell them! Show them what would reach a broader, more targeted audience. That's what logo development is all about!

The only thing I have a problem with is the 'los angeles' tagline. Can hardly make it out at that size, and especially when placed over the mark it just looks like a black strip.

"Catering to an after hours crowd ages 21-35"

I can see how this is appeal to that target audience. Beyond that it's going to be a hard sell.

I agreed with Penn about the tag-line...I didn't even noticed it til he mentioned it.

Well, none of us do know if it will pan out or not. Either way, it looks awesome.

I second the not noticing the tag line. As far as the typography, the only thing that I notice is in the perspective version-- the S seems to ascend much more than the others while its baseline stays relatively in keeping with the others.

To my eye that S seems slightly wrong in its perspective.

hey dude, there's small problem i find with the 3/4 view of the grinder.
while much better than the other version the fact that theres so much of an angle means that its hard to see both 'the' and 'grind'
might i suggest making it less acute.. and maybe placing 'the' in more centred on the side of the grinder.
i only say this because when your dealing with walk-in/by clientele you need to be able to immediately communicate how cool you are and what your offering (probably in the other way around..) the extra 2 seconds it takes for people to say 'oh its grind' and the other 2 to notice 'the' could hurt business.. just saying..

i think the concept is really cool, brilliant approach to a fairly original idea. i like the two-color logo on the top right. but i think maybe you should explore blue and red (?) whenever i hear butchers stores i think of red white and blue.. i think this juxtaposed with your logo could work well... now doubt you've already tried this..
i think maybe your grinder and the black outline on the text should be of the same darkness.. in my opinion it would give the logo more fluidity..
i hope the business goes well

kia ora bro

We have a saying in Australia:

"You never want to see what goes on inside a sausage factory".

I also think you should simplify it a fair bit. It's too complex. Get rid of the textures. It's also hard to read because of the angle.

Also I think "THE" is way too hard to read--too small, too far to the left.

*tries to think...*

Draw the word 'THE' so it suggests a grinder. Use the 'G' to clamp it to 'RIND HAUS' (which is shaped out of a fat, extended sans, maybe in burgundy colour?).

*brain thermal cutout activated...*

I like the logo, looks cool and exciting. I'd definitely like to try some of their sausages, but they'd have to work pretty hard to make them as exciting as the logo. I'm into offal and sausages etc, so it would be good if they could make a type of sausage that was hard and dry, not too much fat and definitely no stringy bits - that's if they make cured sausages rather than the fresh stuff.

That said, #4 looks best but I think that the perspective is a little wrong. You have a vanishing point to the left but the word "The" doesn't vanish in the same direction as the words "Grind Haus". I think that the design would benefit from drawing some temporary grid lines to position the perspective effect (take out later). You might also have to bend the meat grinder a little to get it completely into the right perspective.

Also the words "Los Angeles" have some problems: 1. Are not in the same perspective (don't get bigger as they approach the viewer.) 2. Different feeling font 3. Bit hard to read when put over the other font, esp if reproduced in B&W. My suggestion: Use smaller point size of same font as "Grind Haus", put it under the word "Haus", put it in same perspective as "Grind Haus". This will help to reinforce the "coming at you" feel of the logo.