There's 37 'proposed logos'.

It's not just a matter of going "that one" you're trying to capture and communicate something.

so...in your opinion which one ticks your need for it to be "reminiscent of an old fashioned american bakery". then...you've found your logo.

invoice on its way.

;-)

I like number 7. You need to fix the letter spacing and perhaps make 'sugar' a little bit bolder, I'd suggest. I also checked your site, your cakes look delicious, yummy...

Stephanie, I can see you've put some work into this, but the fact that you're showing 30+ concepts/variations and asking for opinions gives me the feeling that you're really shooting in the dark.

You really should consider getting a professional graphic designer to help you out. Perhaps one of your customers is a designer, or some fellow business owners could suggest someone. It's money well spent. And perhaps they'd even be willing to do some of the work in trade.

Number 1 or 2 for me, but I agree with what others said about you needing to rein things in a bit. Try actually sketching out ideas on paper (if you haven't already) before looking at typefaces. Get a feeling in your head of how you want it to look first before actually looking.

It appears that you're suffering from typeface paralysis—you have a ton to choose from and the more you wander through your type library the less and less certain you are about your choices. I didn't see any after page one that did anything different or useful.

Here's one of my favorite identities for a bakery, for some inspiration.

Those are great comments. Here's the direction I'm moving towards...

It would help to see it bigger, but my first impression is that the 2 lines are fighting for dominance, with the 1st line (sugar) being larger, but the 2nd line being bolder. If the words are not identical in importance, then you want to have a clear hierarchy of importance. So if you want "sugar" to be the focal point of the logo, I would tone down "bakery & cafe", perhaps by making it less bold.

Also the letterspacing needs work. For example, compare the narrow space between SU with the wide space between GA.

The vivid pink stripes in the background seem overpowering. I know you use them as a background on your website, so perhaps they aren't part of the logo itself, but either way you might want to experiment making them more pastel.

Here's another revision. These comments are great...reminding me of my art school days ;)

I like it. I agree with JamesM that you need to make BAKERY & CAFE thinner so it doesn't outcompete Sugar. Also, try looking at the logo without the striped background - you won't always be able to use it with the background (unless you can afford fancy full-color-printed paper bags, cups, stickers, etc., and only advertise in full-color publications).

Also, the dotted outline collides with the solid outline in a few places. Try printing the logo very small and see how those dots look. You might need to make the dots bigger/farther apart/farther from the solid line. Are you doing this in Illustrator? At some point you'll have to convert everything to outlines, so if your borders are single vector lines with a thickness and/or dotted pattern applied, you'll need to settle on a relative dot spacing/line width that will work at all sizes. (I didn't explain that very well).

If/when you do place the logo over the stripes, it might look nicer if the edges of the logo don't collide with the edges of the stripes (i.e., make the edges of the logo fall in the middle of a stripe).

I put some thought into the comment regarding sugar and bakery/cafe competing for dominance, and decided that actually, I want bakery & cafe to be the dominant "take away". Maybe that's wrong? Comments?

The logo will be on our stickers, our business card, and web site which are full color so they will appear with the pink stripes. I will certainly tweak the size/scale of the stripes to minimize the awkward positioning. the "bone" color will simply be toothy natural stock, and so because we're using that paper, the stripes will also hopefully look a bit more rustic or distressed.

The name is Sugar, no? Bakery & Cafe are generic terms that describe what they do. So Sugar should be the dominant part. Never ever let your ego come before the client's needs, just because you happen to like a certain font or something like that. At that point you're no longer a designer.

I've been working on rebranding my bakery.

She is both the designer and client. Her ego can be as big as it wants :) — although I'd say Frank is right about 'Sugar' deserving the emphasis.

Ah, missed that, but my logic still applies: You can't let your "I like this" come before your "this communicates what I want to communicate".

> I want bakery & cafe to be the dominant "take away".
> Maybe that's wrong? Comments?

As Frode Frank said it's a little generic. Personally I'd emphasize "sugar", or emphasize "sugar bakery" and make "and cafe" subordinate.

> because we're using that paper the stripes will also
> hopefully look a bit more rustic or distressed

Are you trying for a rustic or distressed look? At your site you posted 3 style examples you admired and they had more of an ornate victorian look.

Rustic is such a tricky word. I think I mean old fashioned. like it's been there a while. I hate to say this, but I'm going for "shabby chic" rather than distressed which may mean "punk"

will send next revision hopefully soon.

by the way, who wants COOKIES!!! just send your mailing address to my email ;)

My decidedly non-professional thoughts:

1. All that pink tells me 'confectionery' more than 'bakery'.
2. Definitely enlarge the word 'Sugar', if only a bit. It's not some random bakery/café. It's your bakery/café.

That's very nice of you, stephsugar. :)

I still think perhaps the "Bakery & Café" needs to be a bit thinner, not necessarily the "Sugar" bigger. It just sort of smothers the preceding word.

Also, since I'm fond of the bun-like shape of the frame, maybe the top could be a touch more rounded? ;)

Just noticed you've made the stripes more pastel, which I think works better. You also might want to experiment making them narrower.

Just to be clear, I've got nothing against bold stripes. You just don't want the background to be more attention-getting than the foreground (the logo).

I think the letterspacing for 'Bakery & Cafe' is too much. Yes they're all caps, but with such a narrow typeface—and at display sizes—they shouldn't be tracked out that far apart.

I'd give you my address, but I think the shipping cost from Seattle to the UK would be a bit pricey—wish I still lived in the states :)

Here's the latest. Decided to really focus on simplicity. anything standing out visually?

The logo itself will have four main uses:
1. sticker for our pink bakery boxes (shown above)
2. business card (will probably exist with the pink/pink stripes outside of the oval)
3. web site (will probably exist with the pink/pink stripes outside of the oval)
4. menu (will be black and white)

ok. I couldn't resist and tweaked it a tiny bit more...see revised version below

ok. I couldn't resist and tweaked it a tiny bit more...see revised version below

It's looking better.

I'd suggest making "Sugar Bakery" larger within the oval. And make "& Cafe" larger (maybe starting it around the middle of the "k").

The URL and phone number are too small (unless the whole logo is printed very large, like on a sign); I'd move them below the oval and make them larger. If you do that, you may need to change the proportion of the oval or add a decorative element where they were.

The line weight of the oval looks slightly heavy to me relative to the type.

the sticker will be oval so all info has to be in the oval.

> the sticker will be oval so all info has to be in the oval.

Okay. If you haven't tried this already, print some actual-size mockups and ask a few folks if the small type is legible. If any of your customers are middle aged or older, include those age groups in the test.

Also keep in mind that there may be situations were you must print the logo very small, like in a small web ad or newspaper ad. You may need an alternate version for those situations.

yes. this instance is for just the sticker. on the web site and business card, the address info will appear separately. I just increased the url and telephone is like 9 point. it probably looks smaller on screen since I "saved for web" but it looks fine printed out.

revised version below top=sticker, bottom=just logo (for site, business card,etc.).

Much better. Bottom feels nice and clean.

Better!

I'm feeling like I'm not being understood, which is sometimes tricky on a forum. I"m designing for 2 different instances of the logo.

The pink/pink stripes are part of my brand, so I THINK I want them on my sticker, but then on the WEB SITE, I'd rather have the stripes exist on the background.

My question is, does it make sense to have these different versions of the "logo"?

Yes, those 2 variations make sense.

One suggestion — In the top one the type fits comfortably in the oval; in the bottom one there's a tad too much white space. You might consider moving the type up to the same place it is in the sticker version, and then placing a decorative swash at the bottom (to occupy the same space that the 2 lines do in the sticker version). Or some other adjustment to reduce the white space a bit.

I understand the difference between the two — the version for the website feels better to me. I'm not sure I agree about there being too much white space.

What color are the boxes / bags you use at the bakery? (How will the sticker look on the packaging as background?)

Another question regarding the sticker: is a web address / phone number necessary? If after deep thought on that question, your answer is yes, have you thought about just putting the web address and phone number on the sticker alone? (sans logo?) Just floating some ideas out there.