# Logo?



## beccaf91 (Mar 31, 2017)

I have my DBA and I'm waiting to hear back from my local tax collector's office in regards to whether I need an actual business license. I'm working on marketing and felt like I needed a logo. Is a logo a good idea or? And what do you think of the design below? Too whimsical? Not direct enough? Too colorful? As usual, any feedback appreciated.


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## waday (Mar 31, 2017)

Few comments.

I would say pick a logo that looks good on a variety of materials. You're going to print it in B&W, or color, or grayscale? It should look the exact same. You're going to scale it down for a watermark, or scale it up for a sign? It should look good at any size.

I like the texture in the R's in the middle, but I don't think that same texture carries over well to your name.

IMO, the font is a bit too flowery.


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## zombiesniper (Mar 31, 2017)

Good info above and I will add easy to read when it's on a smartphone. Think dime sized.


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## Derrel (Mar 31, 2017)

A logo is a great idea for your brand identity. If you look at say, the Shopify web platform and the marketing and advertising articles they supply to vendors, *not* having a logo is like Mistake #3 for small businesses. Your logo seems a bit hard to read, and it does look a bit home-crafted, so to speak. I think logos are a thing where good, professional, experienced graphic design might be well worth the price payed for the service of designing a stellar logo.


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## Designer (Mar 31, 2017)

beccaf91 said:


> As usual, any feedback appreciated.


I think it is too repetitive.  Two "R's", two names.  Not helpful, IMO.  Some of the best logos IMO are simple and right to the point.  Just your name done well, especially if you happen to have a website with the same name.  

Without spending a lot of money on a professional graphic designer, keep coming up with more ideas.  If you have the skill to create this logo, then you should be able to make whatever logo you want.  

Instead of a graphic design logo, why not just use your business name in whatever font you like?  It can be printed in black, white, any color, hand-written, typed on letterhead, or used anyplace you want, including a corner of a photograph.  

As far as I know, a business license is something very local, such as a city.  That means for each city in which you want to operate your business, you may have to apply at each city.  You will use the same tax ID everywhere.  The tax ID is for reporting sales tax or employee withholding contributions.


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## beccaf91 (Mar 31, 2017)

waday said:


> Few comments.
> 
> I would say pick a logo that looks good on a variety of materials. You're going to print it in B&W, or color, or grayscale? It should look the exact same. You're going to scale it down for a watermark, or scale it up for a sign? It should look good at any size.
> 
> ...



Yeah I'm digging the watercolor feel. I wanted it to be something that would appeal to moms with younger kids, that's who I'm trying to draw in. So you think a bolder font, not so cute-sy?


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## beccaf91 (Mar 31, 2017)

Derrel said:


> A logo is a great idea for your brand identity. If you look at say, the Shopify web platform and the marketing and advertising articles they supply to vendors, *not* having a logo is like Mistake #3 for small businesses. Your logo seems a bit hard to read, and it does look a bit home-crafted, so to speak. I think logos are a thing where good, professional, experienced graphic design might be well worth the price payed for the service of designing a stellar logo.


I wish I had that kind of money lying around. Lol. I actually have a friend with a degree in Graphic Design so I may enlist him.


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## beccaf91 (Mar 31, 2017)

Designer said:


> beccaf91 said:
> 
> 
> > As usual, any feedback appreciated.
> ...


I get what you're saying, it's just that everyone uses their name in a script they bought online. You have to lean in close and read the name, "Oh, that's Kiersten Grant. Oh, that's Patty Glover", so on and so forth. I wanted to do something more design oriented bc you don't have to second guess what the Chanel or Porsche logos look like. I'm trying to stand out in a sea of photographers. I hope that my portraits are going to do that but.... does that make sense? Or is it still just a bad idea? Lol


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## DGMPhotography (Mar 31, 2017)

Go to Fiverr.com. I've gotten some pretty decent work done there, at a low price. 

For logos, usually simpler is better.


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## waday (Mar 31, 2017)

beccaf91 said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> > Few comments.
> ...



If you've done market research and know that extremely wealthy moms with younger kids in your area are drawn into business with watercolor logos and they plan to flood your business with money, then you're done! 

The only problem is that you've now just limited your business. What if a businessperson wanted a portrait? They won't go to you because you're the watercolor/mom/kid photographer.

The company I work for spent several million dollars (yes, several million dollars) on marketing and graphic design. They redesigned the logo and came up with a single brand that is used across the entire company. The logo is quite simple, and everything has a clean look to it, which seems to be in style. Letters, memos, reports, business cards... all the same clean style. It helps provide consistency across the board, so when someone sees anything that looks like ours, they think "Company X". It worked for them, figuratively and financially.

We don't all have millions of dollars lying around, unfortunately. But, what I'm getting at here, is that you want to create that same "brand" for yourself. No matter what you put your logo on, whether it's an email or a website, you want people to recognize it as yours. (In the same sense, your name needs to be recognizable, as well, which isn't with the font you chose--yes, go bolder.)

Porsche, Chanel, Hermes, Ferrari... Yeah, they have history, and a following. They also likely have a team of graphic designers who they pay big, big, big bucks to know what works for their products. Customers are also willing to pay big, big, big bucks for their products.

Sorry to be harsh, but you want to stand out, right? The logo you have is a copy/paste of many other logos. You're not creating a fashion line that needs sleek lines, or a car company with a cool logo. You're creating a photography business that needs to keep the lights on. Keep thinking and designing, and a good logo will come to you. Otherwise, do as the others stated and pay a little for a graphic designer.


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## qmr55 (Mar 31, 2017)

Shoot me a message, this is my profession 

I work cheap for other photogs!


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## Designer (Mar 31, 2017)

beccaf91 said:


> Or is it still just a bad idea?


No, it's not a bad idea.  Quite the contrary; a very good idea, providing you have an excellent logo.  You gave some well-known examples, and I agree that some logos are just better than others.  If your friend can come up with something that is truly special, then go for it!


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## pixmedic (Mar 31, 2017)

your logo seems extremely lacking in the mustache department. 
I would correct that immediately. 

also...not really a big fan of the "mirror image" logos. 
kinda feels like... we already read it once, now we have to read it again? upside down and/or backwards? 

why the weird "faded" font? trying to make it look old? blends in too much on the white background. i think it would look better as a solid color.


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## Derrel (Mar 31, 2017)

Well, if you want to have your name on the logo twice, I would flip the bottom version of your name so it reads left to right, and is right-side-up, as opposed to upside down.


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## KmH (Mar 31, 2017)

waday said:


> I would say pick a logo that looks good on a variety of materials. You're going to print it in B&W, or color, or grayscale? It should look the exact same. You're going to scale it down for a watermark, or scale it up for a sign? It should look good at any size.


And to do all that it needs to be a Vector graphics - Wikipedia file, not a raster graphics file.

PNG, a bitmap graphic type, was designed for transferring images on the Internet, not for professional-quality print graphics. PNG does not support non-RGB color spaces such as CMYK.


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## beccaf91 (Apr 2, 2017)

pixmedic said:


> your logo seems extremely lacking in the mustache department.
> I would correct that immediately.
> 
> also...not really a big fan of the "mirror image" logos.
> ...



I have an innate fear of hipsters, so I tend to steer away from anything mustache related. XD

I wasn't going for a "mirror image"; more like a stamp or a seal; seemed like a good idea at the time.

Sorry, if it looks faded. It's pulled from watercolor image with a paper texture in PS. I like it.


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## beccaf91 (Apr 2, 2017)

KmH said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> > I would say pick a logo that looks good on a variety of materials. You're going to print it in B&W, or color, or grayscale? It should look the exact same. You're going to scale it down for a watermark, or scale it up for a sign? It should look good at any size.
> ...



Good to knoooooww. THANKS!


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## pixmedic (Apr 2, 2017)

beccaf91 said:


> pixmedic said:
> 
> 
> > your logo seems extremely lacking in the mustache department.
> ...



yea, i dont like hipsters either


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## beccaf91 (Apr 3, 2017)

waday said:


> beccaf91 said:
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> > waday said:
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Not harsh at all; I certainly appreciate the feedback. I have no desire to appeal to businessmen or anything commercial; I want to be the fun; friendly photographer that from the moment you meet me, you feel like we've been friends forever.  Strictly children, families, babies, couples; stuff like that. (For now, who knows where I may take this?) I will keep working on making the logo more recognizable though; and maybe just go with a nice, universally accepted script.


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## Triton (Apr 3, 2017)

beccaf91 said:


> Derrel said:
> 
> 
> > A logo is a great idea for your brand identity. If you look at say, the Shopify web platform and the marketing and advertising articles they supply to vendors, *not* having a logo is like Mistake #3 for small businesses. Your logo seems a bit hard to read, and it does look a bit home-crafted, so to speak. I think logos are a thing where good, professional, experienced graphic design might be well worth the price payed for the service of designing a stellar logo.
> ...



Had an awesome one made on Fiverr.....check it out it was like $30 Canadian.  


Sent from my iPhone using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app


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