Sorry Jeff, it looks like a mistake unless you animate it and have the y revolve. You might also develop a positioning line like: Elegant website design. You need something to direct people to your core business, even if its not a tagline.

You really think people could think that’s a mistake? I actually like it - it creates a playful separation between a “real” word and a colloquial suffix (assuming it’s supposed to say “designy”, not “design-why” or something). But what I might try is: Futura; and a “y” of a flipped-“j” + “u” form.

hhp

I am confused by the concept. Is it design-ee or design-why?

The concept is design-ee. I’m not sure how to clarify that best in the logo either. Would just keeping it one color help?

I would like a tagline, I just haven’t thought of one that sounds designy enough yet. If the tag line simply said web development or web dev, would that be enough to make it read as design-ee for most people?

Thanks for the comments so far! I will put them to work on my next effort. I have browsed quite a few threads and seen some nice results from the advice on the forum.

> I’m not sure how to clarify that

By making the “y” as much a part of the word as possible. Which is why I suggested that alternate form (it allows more convincing spacing).

hhp

...But loose the light green - not enough contrast. A deeper green or a greyer would work better.

> I am confused by the concept. Is it design-ee or design-why?

Clients will ask this too & clients don’t like to feel stupid & do at the drop of a hat. I worry about this concept for that reason. What about a similar name that sets up a dialog. Like Ydesign. This & designy may both already exist. Have you checked? What about the URL? Can you get ’designy.com’?

I don’t think it’s the concept that’s the problem, just the treatment.
As Hrant suggested, you may have to take it up a few levels before it can become brilliant!

Your skills as both a designer and problem solver must be demonstrated by your “mark.” I won’t tell you what to do, but I will tell you that it’s not a bad idea.

Maybe the word/sound/meaning of disign-ee works more against you than your concept. IS your company name “Design-y”?
Maybe there are other variants which might be more interesting:
Dizyn-e, Dezynee, Desygn?

Anyway... Hrant, do you want to show them how flipping characters can be interesting?

————————————————————————
Yes, I’m old, but I flip characters with style!

> do you want to show them how flipping characters can be interesting?

:->
In the presence of the master?!
(FYI guys, Norbert has an interesting Typographica nameplate in the pipeline...)

hhp

Over a week ago, before I left for vacation, I was working on a nameplate design for Typographica (they openly invite design submissions). I had been playing around with Hrant’s typeface Patria and after a few tweaks and emails after I got back, we both agreed on a version to submit.

Stephen Coles will try to get it into their nameplate rotation at Typographi.com (hit refresh button on their site and the nameplate changes) but you can see a preview here.

We weren’t planning to show it on Typophile, but after you see it you’ll understand why this topic kinda forced us to.

With all do respect to Jeffrey and the Forum, we do not want to divert from the main reason for this thread... critique of “designy.”

Whoops! Hit “Post Comment” by mistake.

Jeff,

I like the name, and I think it’s a good idea to keep it simple. Have you tried keeping Design all upper case and y lowercase? DESIGNy, or do it the other way around. And maybe try out some other fonts.

Hrant,

I’m really impressed with Patria. Looks really wonderful!

Norbert,

Great-looking nameplate! I love old paper, print, and anything that has that worn look from decades of use. Lately, I’ve been bidding on old paper, and photographs (tintype, etc) on eBay for personal design projects. And I’d like to get a complete wood type alphabet, and maybe digitize it.

Thanks, Lauri,

but let’s not forget Jeffrey’s request for guidance.

Jeffrey,
to restate my opinion of flipped ’y’ it’s a good concept but make it work within the context of the message. My flipping of “gra” made sense in that the audience is type-minded and will recognize the significance in both type design and as homage to the hot metal days of “backwards and upside down” (though mine are just flipped).

I was going to suggest flipping/rotating and colouring a different character so that the designy reads without any ambiguity, it might be possible that just colouring the dot on the i might give that simple, clean appearance. If you decide you prefer the y flipped you need to close up the space with the n. To emphasise the meaning and comfort your reader your tag could be something that also ends in a (coloured, flipped) y (either real or created) like simply or pretty (that’s why I’m not a copywriter).
Tim

>What about the URL? Can you get ‘designy.com’?

Yes, that is domain. So I really want to work this so that designy reads design-ee and not design why. I just read some of the new suggestions, and will be working on my logo some more today. Thanks again for the really helpful input everyone! I will be back soon with a few new attempts. :)

I like it. The problem, though, is that ’designy’ doesn’t equate to ’I want to do simple, clean websites.’

To me, ’designy’ is a generic term for ’fluff it up by adding a bunch of fru-fru decoration to it’ which seems to be the opposite of ’simple, clean websites’.

But that could just be me. ;0)

Here’s a quick thought. Design-E

where “E” stands for excellence, exceptional and “Ever so cool!”
Gotta run, back on line later.

———————————————————————
Yes, I’m old, but I’m back in style!

What about “Designee”, as in the client is one? But really, I think “Designy” is best. Sure, it’s a little bit self-deprecating, but it’s a humble, humerous and honest way to break the ice.

hhp

I am hoping it will be a playful thing. “Designy” being a little “froufrou” but the design being clean and simple.

Here is my latest attempt, using Futura. I kept it all black for now to avoid posting 30 different color combinations. I used the idea of a custom y also.

logo2.gif

I think the son-of-my-idea, #3, works best. The “d”: at first I was going to suggest trimming its ascender, but then I realized it gives a nice character to the mark; and you could shorten it (hey, maybe even lengthen it!) as needed, maybe even using the vertical line as a “flexible” part of your identity. One thing I would change though is make the descenders of the “g” and the “y” the same, probably by trimming the former and lengthening the latter, maybe even making both end horizontally (no up-curve).

Here’s another idea, if you wanted more whimsy/complexity:
make the righthand stem of the “n” a slight diagonal, and use a
parallel diagonal arm in the “y” (instead of the “u” component).
Or what about joining the “n” and “y” by sharing a stem?

hhp

> Or what about joining the “n” and “y” by sharing a stem?

I like that. It feels less ’clever’ but that might be the right feeling.

You could also just color a lower case y grey & be done.

or make the descender go straight ( maybe long? ) to mirror the d.

I think Darrel ( Aluminum) is right when he talks about the venacular associations of the name but that is an opportunity as much as a pitfall. More clients including marketing folk think we might just be too designy - as Hrant said bringing it up in the name is also humourous. Then being wicked simple in style is a great visual joke in and of itself. Like writting fat in skinny letters or the opposite.

The reversed y is a little designy actually. But just a little.

I’m not too worried about the association, I think it will be more of a positive than a negative. But I would like to get it to read “design-ee” rather than “design-why” as much as possible.

No. 3 was my favorite also, despite my wanting a backwards “y.” Here is my next round based on that.

logo3.gif

edit: got a little eager and added this.

logo3f.gif

I think 3a has a slightly better chance of being read correctly, but 3c is quite a bit more interesting. But for both of them, a taller “d”. And I might also try dumping the dot of the “i”.

hhp

Please chime in, but I read the new ones as design ny as Design New York. Jeffery where are you located will this be a problem?

I think you might need to think of other concepts like: DesignER (emergency room, or emergency repair) or web catching design, implying designs that forfill website commerence goals. Just a couple of thoughts

I agree that 3a is the most promising direction. The direction represented by 3c and 3d is certainly more graphical, but it gets lost between the typographical and the graphical. By that I mean: it’s not far enough one way or the other, and ends up coming across as ’clever’.

As such, it takes me out of the mental state of percieving the brand the logo represents, and makes me think of how clever the designer is, what he might be reaching for, and whether or not he succeeded.

So: I vote for a less obtrusive direction, probably typographic, and let the notion of the word ’designy’ speak your message, without any graphical wizardry to reinforce that message (notice I could have used the word ’sans’ there, but resisted and used ’without’ instead).

Taking that train of thought to your 3f series, while I like the fact that the ’e’ takes your eye to the dot in the ’i’, I think the treatment is largely unnecessary, and even slightly destructive to the delivery of the brand.

>I vote for a less obtrusive direction, probably typographic, and let the notion of the word ‘designy’ speak your message, without any graphical wizardry to reinforce that message

I agree. I think I’ve gone a little too far. Hmm. now I’m back to Helvetica neue. It’s simple, I actually love Helvetica Neue—it has a pretty ’y’ and I think that keeping everything one color helps.

logo4.gif

Too dark (a problem especially at small sizes and onscreen).
Too much separation between “design” and “y”.
Too Helvetica.

hhp

Not ’designy’ enough for me...

Helvetica has to be used in a pretty careful & deliberate manner to work well. That was too easy. The y links up while it is in reverse for the first time though...

Maybe a bold version of another face will help. You will to modify the face ( or something) to make the thing yours though.

Is there a good font that has a similar look to Helvetica, in particular the “y”? I don’t really know why Helvetica is a problem. I’m guessing it is overused? Here it is in Futura again, same basic idea. A little lighter color. I’m not sure what the final color will be yet, but it probably will not be grey with a white background.

logo5.gif

I like the bottom 2 the best. But I also liked the Helvetica version. ;)

Of those, I would go with 5g.
But I think 3a and 3c were better.

Helvetica’s problem here (it has others elsewhere)
is indeed that it’s too common. It’s not designy.

hhp

One other thing: with the two descenders facing away from each other like that, the pattern is too strong I think, too distracting. When they were facing the same direction it worked, but now I might actually suggest making them different (again).

hhp

Thank you for all the input, hrant. I will try the lighter version of Futura again with this idea tomorrow. I alternated the descenders in this version.

logo6.gif

edit: I am sleepy. I meant to do this to 5g but did it to the wrong ones.

Wow. When you first suggested dropping the dot over the ’i’, Hrant, I resisted. That is, I didn’t think it would work, because that dot not only balances the ascender value of the logo with the descender (left to right, that is), but it gave the logo a playful quality that I liked.

But now that I see it without the dot, I must admit, the word flows quicker through my mind than before. In fact, I don’t even realize it isn’t there at first.

You guys have amazing eyes for detail.

Good show.

Helvetica’s problem here (it has others elsewhere)
is indeed that it’s too common. It’s not designy.

I think the fact that it is common and isn’t designy are its virtues in this case, the adventures with Futura look as though have too much effort put into them, whereas Helvetica, due in part to its ubiquity, can claim that clean and simple tag. I would like to see you try the same style with the roman weight, to increase the common feel (or Arial, if I tag this on here maybe no-one will notice).
The context of the logo should also be addressed, what else is going to appear on the screen, how much air you give it, scale etc. will be critical.
Tim

I admit I am a fan of Helvetica. But I don’t want to appear too common or simple either! I also had another idea last night, which may be cartoony. But while I want to go for “clean and simple” I don’t want to go for dull, so cartoony might be a good thing.

I also thought the dot on the “i” would look better, but I agree after removing it that it looks better without.

Here are the latest.

logo7-12.gif

> try the same style with the roman weight

If you want an ironic effect, I think this is right. The difficulty in pulling of an ironic design can be higher... The question is what effect are you gunning for? I don’t want suggest that one effect or the other is right. Whatever effect is desired it should be a delibertate and historically aware decision.

> The context of the logo should also be addressed

Yes. Totally!

Jeffery, there is alot of carry-over mid century modernism in graphic design for the architecture/retail trade. Lighting, pens, furniture. It’s a kind of ’safe’ othodoxy. It’s seems like one of the things that emigre magazine was in opposition to. It’s a kind of retro style. It also remains very popular. This isn’t bad ( or good ) per se - it’s just that there is a history & you should probably be aware of it. Do you know what I am talking about? If so, is this history something you want to tap? Or is you intended direction different? You might have something quite different in mind.

here are some urls that trade in the sensibility I am refering to
http://www.cassina.com/index_ok.html
http://www.petermiller.com/

Given that you are a web developer the direction I have described makes sense to me in that you can be seen as an un-fussy & reliable source of services. But to be seen as more than ’simple’ the design will have to be sophiticated. The power of the identity will come from the context or way that that your mark is used in as much as or ideally more than the logo itself.

I think that’s why Tim is quite rightly bringing up context.

One thing I am not completely clear on is, is yours a technical service in the main, or primarily a design service? I thought I knew & then I re-read the posts & I realized that i was making an assumption that you were mainly offering design. Now I think I may have mis-understood. If I have - that would be part of the context too.

If you must use a grot, use Unica.

Of those, 8.

hhp

Jeffery, these are looking good. You’ve got a great concept and you’re getting some great results. I would agree with what some others have said, that Helvetica is not the best choice here. To me, it comes across as too industrial and sterile—not very designy.I think my favorite so far is 5g, but in lighter style like 11. As a side note, do you have any of your previous web design work you could post on your site? I love seeing other designer’s work.

To everyone else: your input is great, keep it coming. I know from past experience how much help it is to have your input on a logo design and I’m sure Jeffery is feeling the same way. Just reading through this thread, I’ve already learned a lot.

Hold up.

3b, with the futura has great promise.

IMO here is why:

1.)”Designy” is a term used for over-design, over-decoration..

2.) Using Futura and having the n & y connect; is so simple,
it’s anything but designy — nice oxymoron (proper usage?)—smart.

Logo 10 is also good.

Light, simple, and the flip of the y makes a great contradiction
to the name “designy”.

The beauty of 10, is that the flipped character, as a focal point,
is even more simple than 3b, though it’s not as elegant.

IMO.

Thanks to all for sticking with me on my quest for a good logo!

One thing I think I may not have made clear is the concept of clean and simple. I think that was too short a description, so I will try to explain my idea more clearly. It’s not that I want to do simple design like Jakob Nielson’s useit.com. While it is simple and clean, I also find it visually horrid. I find typophile.com to be simple and clean while also being visually pleasing and to me it is what “designy” should mean! So I think that my real goal might be to change the meaning, at least for some.

That said, type is one area where I am no master. But I am certainly willing to be persistent in my pursuit of a visually appealing mark. :)

Today, I tried yet a different font and a more designy approach. I liked the fact that it had a different “g” than helvetica while it had a similar “y”. It’s another common font, Franklin Gothic. I did alter the “d” and “y” a little though.

logo13.gif

Since you flopped the y the chopped off d looks like a flopped h. Plus you made the d bigger so it weight is heavier than the other characters. Keep going, I like the Franklin Gothic g better its more interesting.

Here it is with a normal “d”, I just extended it’s ascender to be about as tall as the Futura version. Not sure why, but I like it a little taller.

logo14.gif

What if you started puuling the bits around to meet each other like Hrant was talking about? I see some other connections you could make. It could even be a woven shape around the word. That would suggest planning / architecture / design all in one. Then you would not need a reversed ’y’. Just thinkin’...

>As a side note, do you have any of your previous web design work you could post on your site?

I could put up some links to a few sites if that is okay here.

I haven’t got many that I have done myself, I’ve been going thru 3rd parties for the last few years, and most won’t let me claim anything as mine. Which is why I am wanting to get my own site up and ween myself off the third party work that requires that. ;)

I also do some “experimental” and humor stuff just for fun.

>Then you would not need a reversed ‘y’.

But I like the reversed “y”! Is it not getting any more readable? I have played around with coming up with a graphic icon, an astronaut with a capitol “D” for a helment, but it turned out looking more like a mascot and probably no one would notice the helment was a “D”. Any idea how I could use an astronaut succesfully here? My idea was the astronaut sort of leaning in from the left of the logo, with a word bubble coming from him and the logo in that bubble.

What if you riffed off of the Applomission sewn patches? The it would be less litteral but you could cop the style. That would be cool. The Orb did that with their album U.F.ORB...

These

http://gerathsdesign.com/penplaque001.JPG

&

http://www.electroshot.com/orb/ufoffback.jpg

Franklin is one of the most readable sans fonts ever made. But (because of that, eh, Eben?) it doesn’t work in a logo, at least not for me. For one thing, the “g” is taking up too much attention (and its ear is breaking up the compactness that removing the dot of the “i” enabled). I’m glad you dumped the chopped “d” idea though.

If for some reason you do decide to keep this direction, I would point out (nobody else noticed?!) that the stroke contrast of the “y” is way off: the short arm is too thin; and the long arm/descender is probably too thick (although it’s hard to tell from that low-res rendering).

hhp

> I could put up some links to a few sites if that is okay here.

You could always post the links on your website (so as not to get off topic here).

Here are the links on my site. Not much there, as I’ve done few sites on my own.

edit: links.htm (I put it on the wrong domain.)

I shall continue to pursue a good logo design! I heard mention of the word “industrial,” I wouldn’t mind my logo looking a bit industrial or “post modern” but I’m not sure what everyone’s ideas of what these are is the same.

Link doesn’t appear to work for me. Jeffrey, have you considered keeping “design” in your sans serif treatment and adding a y in as a hand drawn red letter. Sort of a copy edit feel. This would make it read as “design-ee” and add a touch of irony in being a correction.

(I haven’t read all the posts to see if someone had suggested this cause yeesh this thread is long)

I had the link on the wrong domain, I think it’s working now. The handwritten “y” is a cute idea, I will try that. Here is my latest attempt. I made a simple little “d” graphic.

logo15.gif

Next day, even I don’t care for the “d” graphic. I wasn’t happy with the “g” either, so here is one with a “g” that I actually like.

logo16.gif

out of all your reversed y options I like number 13... this is because the unusual d balances out the reversed y.
Have you tried just a green y the right way round? I know it’s possibly a boring approach but when I tried a couple options it does work quite nicely.. I used adobe myriad pro for one and then tried using a serif font for the y on another (myriad pro & Adobe Caslon Pro italic) for a different approach to emphasising the y.

http://img262.imageshack.us/img262/6706/designy2ob.jpg

out of these 3 my favourite is the italic y.

>Have you tried just a green y the right way round?

I did, but I think that makes it more design-why that design-ee.

I tried a different approach today. It’s more ordinary, but I am having a hard time finding a font I like that isn’t “over-used.”

logo17.gif

Staying in a similar direction as the last logo, a big “D” icon. I like this because I’ve always wanted to use that font for something.

logo18.gif

> Franklin is one of the most readable sans fonts ever made. But (because of that, eh, Eben?) it doesn’t work in a logo, at least not for me.

Hrant, Microsoft uses Franklin of course... I think it isn’t so much that it can’t be used it’s that you have to use it skillfully. The biggest danger in my view is that you look early 90’s in a hurry ( it seems like it has a popular face in logo design then ) and you start to look like a Microsoft-alike. It depends on treatment of course. Avoiding italic helps. Also, when you use a font for a work mark you sometimes have to change letterforms ( Microsoft did! ), and sometime you just reject a font because it has a bad design (for your purposes) in one or more of it’s letters.

So I don’t know if your suggestion about franklin works for me so far ... I think it’s too much of a blanket statement.

Jeffery, I think that 16 really could work...

The only probllem I saw was that with the y reversed the bowl of the y seems too tight. I wonder if it might be fixxed by a bigger or wider bowl - if for instance you built a y from a u shape & reversed it. I’ll show you what I mean f you like...

> I am having a hard time finding a font I like that isn’t “over-used.”

It’s not the font’s fault. Any font has potential. In a well used font you have to use it better to make it seem great. A fancy new font is just a lovelly shortcut where the font designer has done the work, that is until that font becomes too popular.

Version 17 seems like a great logo for a stuffed toy! Like a beanie baby. See what I mean?

18 seems pretty well outside your stated intent! Are you going for something different now?

>Version 17 seems like a great logo for a stuffed toy! Like a beanie baby. See what I mean?

No, I’m not seeing it. Is the “D” too plush?

18 seems pretty well outside your stated intent! Are you going for something different now?

Well, I pretty much ran out of ideas when I came up with that one. I really want a simple text logo that doesn’t take up much space. But I just can’t seem to find a font that has the right feel. I’ve played around in Illustrator trying to make letters, but I have no clue what I’m doing there.

> No, I’m not seeing it. Is the “D” too plush

Maybe it’s just my own associations. It feels very friendly & warm & welcoming despite the fact that it is blocky etc. Maybe the fatness of the D too. To me it felt ’toy’.

> But I just can’t seem to find a font that has the right feel.

Two ideas: Maybe re-state your objective to yourself. eg - what is the ’right feel’?

Sometimes if you work on something too long it’s easy to loose sight of where you want to go - Also you could take a 2-3 day holiday from it. You may see things differently with fresh eyes.

It’s probably good that you started taking some additional directions. Even if you throw them away.

You could also use a pencil... Sounds obvious - but it does make for a different thought process than the computer.

Again, I think 16 is pretty close to something you could use too.

Thanks Eben. Here is 16 with a different “y” and “g”. I left the y normal, flipping it makes a distracting thing between it and the “g”.

Also, I did 19b just as wishful thinking that I could get away with it.

logo19.gif

I like these

- the 19b makes me think of big NYC clothing shops for some reason. The close set letters seem very 70’s. It’s well done, but the associations I get seem weird for your purpose.

- I was playing with 19a bcause it seems to be so close to a finnished work - I tried several things. The one liked best was

a. split the letters in half down the middle using the base of the e as a guide.
b. Split each letter down the middle from top to bottonm using the cut tail of the g & y as guides.
c. both

If you do both then each part can have a slighly different color maybe. Subtle, I would say- 20% different maybe. Then you would be suggesting assembalege & systems. You are a sytems guy no?

Anyway, 19a seems quite close.

BTW - I agree with you about the flip. I tried that too to see what you meant.

I will try the splitting, that does sound like a good idea.

The 19b was a play/rip on the logo for a design magazine.

19a is the best so far. I was waiting for you to get rid of that flipped ’y’. It was driving me nuts. It seemed like one step more than necessary and was a bit confusing. The lc ’y’ looks off rather than backwards because it’s so nearly symmetrical, so it confused my eye, which kept looking for other weird characters where there were none.

The ’d’ seems a hair too far from the ’e’, as well.

About 19a:
- I’d make the terminals of “e” and “s” flat.
- The bottom-rights of the descender curves on “g” and “y” seem a bit too thick, but it could be a low-res effect.

hhp

Here is another version. PDF this time so all the flaws are easy to see! :)

I flattened the terminals and made the desender curves thin. I also did a two-tone version.

So no one liked the big fat letters?

logo20.pdf

Lookin’ good.
- The arches of “n” and “y” should match.
- I’d make the stems of “i” and “d” a hair thinner.
- I think a taller “d” would be really class.

hhp

Two more things:
- Match up the bottom terminals of “e” and “s”.
- The “y” looks a little wide (probably because the tops of letters have more apparent importance). But that might actually be better...

hhp

I think I used the “d” to make both the “g” and “y”. I redid the y using the “n” and thinned the “d” and “i” and evened out the “e” and “s” terminals in this one. Oh, and made the “d” a little taller!

logo21.pdf

Now your cookin’ with gas!

Try the suggestions above & see if you like ’em. But I think you have a solid & valid solution here. The real question is - are you happy with it?

Give yourself some time to answer that.

I’m liking it. I’ve plopped it onto a blank web page mock-up at a small size, and it looks really nice there. :)

I’ll try out the split color idea on this version too. I’ll probably play around with a few different colors too, but I actually like the current color. Now I’m wondering which part of the forum I go to for the “what font goes good with this for business cards” question.

Anyway, thanks everyone so far! It may not be the best logo in the world, but I really like it and it’s much better than I could have done without the help.

Trying to put together a business card with this logo. I know the kerning on the info isn’t there yet, but I was hoping to get some comments on the type because I used a different weight but edited some of the characters to match the logo.

Also, any opinions on the colors? The info type is 8pt, and I was wondering if that would print a clean black with all that orange. I’ve gone as small as 7 points before, but not with so much ink on the card. Both colors are PMS so it will be solid ink.

designybcard.gif

I’d watch out with the smaller point sizes just because you’re playing some tricks with the characters and the descenders are so short. I can’t really judge it on screen, but that’s my gut reaction. Also, I want to see the logo a bit larger, it feels a tad small in that orange field. However, it might just be that I want to see all of that custom type work more clearly.

; )

Ink/printing issues: Depending on who you print it with mt guess is this design will probably be okay in print. You are going to get some ink fill into the white and you might want to compensate for that in the white shape, but you also might want to do a short run & *see* where it happens & then run a new set with the compensation afterwards. Also, it might be fine. This is where the printer’s skill, the paper & your design all meet. It’s complex.

I agree with Chris that you might want to have the mark bigger to show it off & to avoid some of the ink fill issues.

I think the black would be okay.

Design issues:

Just my opinion but, I think that having done all the work you have to create a like word-mark logo you should avoid watering down it’s impact by using similar effects in text. The mark willl be stronger if it stays unique.

I wonder about the orange. I just wonder why you picked it. Why this color specifically. What PMS is it? Will you use two inks or a 4 color process?

It seems like it went out of fashion of a certain kind with the dot com bust. Before orange a certain shade of green was in. Magenta has been in & is no doubt about to go out again. I have to admit I was a big big fan of the orange. But color fashion aside - Why orange?

Lastly, I wonder if you need to say what you do on the card. ’Web development’. It might feel more confident without that. After all, you would be giving the card in athe context of a conversation anyway, and if you want you can write a note on the back - a good think to do in my experience.

What do you think?

Here is a PDF if you want to look at the type larger. I’m not a type guy, so I didn’t really know what I was doing there. I enlarged the logo a bit in this one.

designybcard.pdf

I picked orange because I just like orange and it seems to stand out well. You might be right about the type, and the web development. Any suggestion on a font that would work well? In these two, I used an OCR font.

Here are two different versions with colors I liked. I’m not too hip with the trends, but I can see how orange would be trendy, it looks really good! These two colors are a little more mellow.

designybcard-b.pdf
designybcard-c.pdf

I like how well the card does in all the colors. The grey & brown appeal to me too. I don’t want to suggest a color just because it’s my fav or tell you not to use orange. I think that the best thing to do is ask yourself again what you want to card to ’say’. What role does the color have in that? I think that if you go with a more primary color it is more optomistic & less traditional business ’serious’ in tone. If you plan on selling design as a major componsent of the services you render as opposed to back end programming database etc then moving in that direction seems right. If you want to emphasize back end seriousness over design service then greys, grey blues, blues etc might be the way to go.

If I was doing this I might try to have my cake & eat it too by using a very pale greyblue or grey green blue on super white paper. The logo would pop just fine but the effect would be more subtle & serious while retaining some design chic. The the contact info would be especially prominent indicating that pragmiatic ’utilty’ was your emphasis. If you used a medium to dark blue color for the text you could use a screen of blue at 15% & then at progressive intervals over the main color to get variations of into cards too which might be fun...

The size of the mark also indicates something. If the mark is overly big it says ’look at me!’ and may feel insecure. It could also feel bold & assertive. Making the mark smaller like you did could feel more confident because it doesn’t need to shout.

I do like the sizes you have been using but you might try others too & try altrenate placements to see how they come off to you.

Lastly, I might suggest that for your text consider a lighter weight of the font you modified to get the logo & not in condensed. Lucas De Groots monspaced fonts might look good too. If you have a testers’ copy of Vista you could try Consolas.

I’m having a really tough time choosing a more neutral color that I like. I am focused more on design than backend, so that might be why? I do love that consolas font, so I used it. Anyway, I looked for a happy medium in color. One that was fresh but not too trendy or bright.

One question I had about percentages is how it will affect the sharpness. This layout is one solid pantone color (320). The info text is 100%, the background is 50%. I just wonder if that 50% is going to make the edges of the white logo soft. I really like the color, it’s not too loud or too neutral. I also scaled the logo back down a bit. I like it beter small, and like the “secure” feel.

designybcard-e.pdf

That teal is outragous! What market are you in? Florida? Germany? Oh, Alabama! That is a southern sort of thing. Teal never went away near the ocean did it? It seems a little agressive to me but color impression is very emotional & subjective. What does everybody else think?

Color is up to you!

RE: 50%

50% will make the white fuzzy. I don’t recommend it. It’s the fuzzy percentage!

What I meant was one solid color - it could be anything but maybe something a bit less dark than 320 ( i looked at my book ) is what I would recommend. How about 642, or 649? That was closer to what I was suggesting - but it’s just my suggestion, I live in alaska -

Just to clarify, what I meant by the % was this: when you gang the colors up on the card you could do one of them in just the base color & one in a percentage of the text color over the base for a 2nd color. 3025 maybe or 660. The text would be in the same color. Then the small text would be slightly fuzzy though. So maybe it’s not a good idea.. It depends. 3 color would let you do it without getting fuzzy. 3 color is great but a bit spendy.

For the color, do some research on art or photography that has a color palette that you like. I find when I start picking colors arbitrarily (not that you’re doing that, necessarily), that connecting back with the real world and not a computer color picker/pantone book helps me clear up the fog.

I agree with eben that a more ’serious’ muted color might work best for designer/business. Look at paint collections, such as Martha Stewart’s. They’re usually pretty well tapped into what’s in now and avoid the crazier colors, because it’s for paint.

Chris, is right - if you are picking from pantone colors via Illustrator, or even just on screen - DON’T.

It will only make you cry later.

Get a pantone book in your hands even if you have to borrow one. Look at what these colors are really going to be. Rarely is there much in common between the screen & the ink. It’s scary!

If you know all this already then - never mind.

I have a pantone color book. I apparently just have a bad taste in color. :)

I just can’t help it. I like an eye-catching color.

designybcard-f.pdf

No no, I didn’t mean bad. Just brave! You have a pantone book. So you have seen what it means. If it fits you & you like it you should do it! The only other consideration is your market and if you are confident you can bring your choice off well with them. And again, if you are, go teal! What I said scary i didn’t mean the teal just the way the color doesn’t match from computer screen to print.

This new one is eye catching & conservative in one go.

Looking back over the cards which one would you be proudest to hand over to a potential client? If it’s the orange think about going that route.

You know with consolas having such thick strokes I bet you could reverse the text ( make it white too ) and have a striking one color design. Or you could have just a thin strip at the bottom in white for the text... that might be cool.

I bet you could make that info text smaller and it would read just fine. What about an address? I think an address would look more serious.

One other thing - will the web site for designy relate to the card color wise or are they going to use different color schemes?

>This new one is eye catching & conservative in one go.

That’s what I was hoping. Not middle of the road, but a little of both. :)

I thought about the reversing of the small text, but was worried about that. Although I wouldn’t mind cutting the cost a little.

I will probably put my address. I had been debating it. One question I have is about puncuation. I’ll have the address on one line, is there a proper character to seperate the street address from the city, state zip? Below is how I had played around with the address.

About the actual site, with the white on red, I will either do it like that or reversed, red logo on white. Probably red on white, but I like the card better red than white.

designybcard-g.pdf

I really like this all red card. It is really simple but strong. I like this deep red too. What pantone is it?

Totally trustable too.

Possible quibbles: I wonder if the ’designy’ shouldn’t be move a little higher - to me it fights with the text below a little. I would also still like to see the bottom text a bit smaller. With this design you could have both kinds of cards & just one color & a small bill to pay at the printers too.

I like what you did with the address. I bet you could use a comma & it would work too.

The other thing is you *could* put the contact info on the back & keep your centered designy on the front of the card.

Red, the typographer’s friend. Second only to black and white...

You’re going in a better direction now. Seems like you’re more comfortable with your color choice, too.