Typophile

Logotype for paper goods company - critiques required

weemac

Hello again Typophiles.
Although I'm still developing the Lode brand within the forum, I've got a small branding job on so am looking for pro' opinion.

The company is due to start the manufacture of bespoke paper goods such as greetings cards and the like. The client wanted to give an air of an old style, well established company to the identity so we developed the typography and whittled it down to what you see below (Livory Bold). I felt the character of the typeface was strong enough to become a logotype in its own right with no supporting mark (obviously unless the client changes his mind).

After a little typographic history lesson thrown in from me, the general roundness of the characters, open counters on the 'p' and likeness to traditional hand-cut type really appealled to him. It's a simple case of getting the kerning correct.

Any positive / negative thoughts would be appreciated.

Alex Pankratov

Aside from an odd spelling, I think the actual choice of the type works well. Perhaps only the ampersand is a bit too heavy and imposing compared to the rest, having it in a smaller size (but without losing the weight) would work better IMO.

BRANDMECHANIC

how unfortunate that it's a paper goods company and someone's name is PAPPER

BRANDMECHANIC

it will always just look like a typo :(

Riccardo Sartori

Not in Sweden: it means “paper & ink”.

nina

Very nice choice of typeface. Seems very appealing (and appropriate: It definitely has that "inky" feel).

"ck" is too loose to my eye (and actually "ac" seems a little tight, so nudging the "c" a bit to the right may be all that's needed). Also, my eye keeps being drawn to the gap in the "k"... not sure about that detail. Dunno, maybe that could be a little narrower or something?

Craig Eliason

Nina just said exactly what I was going to say.

nina

That's reassuring :-)

weemac

riccard0 is spot on with that one.
I think the client wanted the company to sound like a pair of names but is in fact based on the Swedish for 'paper & ink'.
I agree that at face value it is a little odd but the logic the client presented to me was sound. I was actually quite impressed, I'm used to dealing with folks who really don't think about things at all.

@apankrat
@nina

Thank you for the great advice. I've implemented that into the versions you see below.


'a-c-k' kerning rework with the 'k's leg tightened.


'a-c-k' kerning rework with the 'k's leg tightened and with reduced ampersand.

Riccardo Sartori

In the second sample the & is too small (at least in this style) and becomes too light.

weemac

@riccard0 I totally agree.
Just thought I'd put it out there considering it was a serious suggestion.

@nina
In hindsight, that 'k' is bothering me. Now that I have tightened the leg, wouldn't the next logical step in terms of consistency be to match that gap on the upper and lower case 'p'?

Additionally (this is the web designer in me talking), I'm worried that when scaled to its smallest size on screen, the effect will be to merge the stem and leg causing the open counter on the 'p' to look out of place if I left it as it is.
If I match the gap on the 'p' and reduce to this size, the open counter will simply disappear and undermine the entire typeface choice. Dilemma.


original rework (without 'k's leg tightened) and scaled


the 'k's leg tightened and scaled

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