The name has the danger of being too generic sounding that people won't realize it is the actual name. From what I am seeing, clerendon is giving a decidedly retro feel, which may be your definition of fresh and fitting. Lowering the /e/ feels a bit too gimmicky to me. Do they want to attract the bargain hunters or the 'price is no object' clients?

Hi Luma,

Thanks for feedback, I suppose I'll start from the top.

Basically, my boss has just bought over two other print companies and is currently running them from the same building but under different names. I figure this is a great opportunity to take the metaphorical bull by it's metaphorical horns and sell him a really nice concept to unify the three (partly for ease of running and partly for a little consistency in their approach toward clients).

As for the company themselves, they will take on any job so long as it's paid, big or small. They do quick turnaround on a regular basis if deadlines call for it (at the expense of their staff's sanity!) and they rarely make mistakes. I think I probably worded it badly in my OP. What I'm really trying to create is something bold, reliable and trustworthy. Clarendon's fine balance of 'softened solidity ' is what led me to choose it initially. Clarendon does have a retro feel, although it strikes me as a face that can be made to appear fresh if treated correctly (off-hand I remember seeing a job on Behance for a recruitment company called 'nice' that handles Clarendon particularly well).

I should also make it clear that I've purposefully only been working with around 15 sans, 15 serif and 15 display faces until I get a little more comfortable with each (hence the novice remark earlier!) Once these become familiar, I intend to add fonts occasionally by way of a treat rather than wading through thousands of sub-par fonts and confusing myself in the process.

The name itself works well as it has all sorts of extensions in terms of copywriting. First impressions count and pressure on deadline day? Could have all sorts of fun with it. On it's own though, it may not have enough merit as you say. Possibly needs a prefix of sorts to make it a little more unique.

Wasn't too keen on the 'e' lowered myself and had to add a thin stroke around the /p/ and /r/ to even the balance as /ss/ in Clarendon seems quite heavy. Does it strike you as particularly noticeable?

Sorry for the wall of text and appreciate the response : )

I agree with Luma - the name is just way too generic.

It will be very hard to market online, but more importantly it is going to be very hard to make it memorable. Say someone notices the company and makes a note to use its services when the time comes. How likely do you think that they won't be able to tell if it were "press" or "print" or "ink"? Aside from the visuals, the logo needs to carry a concept, because in the end of the day that's what's getting remembered. Unless of course you are a LocaGola and can afford to pound an arbitrary image into your customers brain on a daily basis. Unfortunately, I think none of your four options has a strong concept behind it.

I'd consider either tweaking the name or tying the logo to the word "press" in a more direct way.

> I figure this is a great opportunity to...
> sell him a really nice concept to unify the three

So you're not sure if he wants to combine them? Having separate companies might be an advantage if they each have their own identity and/or appeal to different segments of the market. Plus when a company does a merger and changes its name, it might be unnerving to some existing customers. And you may end up with some layoffs (such as "why do we need 3 receptionists now that we're one combined company?")

Not saying its a bad idea, maybe he'll like it, but there are probably pros and cons.

Agree with the others that "press" is pretty generic, and would suggest that you look carefully at the names and logos of other printers in your region to make sure you come up with something different from them.

What about making the bottom of the "e" totally flat?

hhp