# Band Logo



## wdw_ (May 15, 2002)

I'm designing a logo for my band. The band's name is Idiom. I'm not an insanely great graphic designer, but I through this together. Check the attached pic and tell me what you think.

Be kind.


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## Nummi_G4 (May 15, 2002)

Tell me... did you take any drugs before creating that?  It is kinda trippy


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## wdw_ (May 15, 2002)

No, But I was pretty tired.


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## rinse (May 15, 2002)

wdw... how well would that reproduce 1/2" tall in newsprint or a photcopied flyer? 

as a startup band, you should ask yourself questions like that in order to determine how good your logo is.


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## .dev.lqd (May 15, 2002)

This may sound bitchy, but only because I'm slipping into pretentious art-crit mode  Take it with a grain of salt...

I'm confused by the choice to use so many different fonts... the O's scale just seems odd, especially when it's the 'exception' to the rest of the letters... I would pick one typeface and stick with it, then make the O nice and large so that swirl seem more graceful and imortant. If you make the other letters smaller and then drop the O down a little bit, so it rests lower, I think things will flow much better. I'd use a sans-serif typeface just so your O can be a perfect circle (or at least much closer to that shape) or maybe even a little wider than it is taller, so the horizontal swirl seems less extreme. 

I don't know if you meant to have the gaps between the lighter and the darker color fields (the darker ones seem inset so they don't meet corner to corner with the lighter fields...) but if you did I think it's unnecessary, since this is an icon those gaps will only really be seen when you look closely and will likely bother a lot of people until they realize them (gaps that small at corners tend to look like aliasing when it's scaled down... you don't want your logo to look aliased...)

Aside from all my bitching, I like the overall concept. Great work


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## wdw_ (May 15, 2002)

Well, I usually don't like my art to be uniform. I was going for un-uniform letters.

And the lower-case "i" is homage to Apple.


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## Nummi_G4 (May 15, 2002)

> _Originally posted by wdw_ _
> *Well, I usually don't like my art to be uniform. I was going for un-uniform letters.
> 
> And the lower-case "i" is homage to Apple. *



 Good job with the "i".

  What kind of music do you guys play?


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## wdw_ (May 15, 2002)

Rock. Were still deciding on what kind of rock.


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## Nummi_G4 (May 15, 2002)

> _Originally posted by wdw_ _
> *Rock. Were still deciding on what kind of rock. *



Go for Punk!  Punk all the way baby !!!


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## wdw_ (May 15, 2002)

I'm a fan of all kinds of music. Up until I was about 12, all I listened to was oldies. Then I started listening to rock, rap, techno, punk, metal and everything else. So we'll see what happens.


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## ksv (May 16, 2002)

What do you think about this? This is just a "draft", of course, but what do you think about the general idea?


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## rinse (May 16, 2002)

again... 

how well would that reproduce 1/2" tall in newsprint or a photcopied flyer? 

as a startup band, you should ask yourself questions like that in order to determine how good your logo is.


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## nkuvu (May 16, 2002)

> _Originally posted by rinse _
> *again...
> 
> how well would that reproduce 1/2" tall in newsprint or a photcopied flyer?
> ...


Hmm, this sounds strangely familiar...   I wonder where I heard it before?


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## ksv (May 16, 2002)

Yup, I wouldn't go for this logo myself. The first step is to not make the logo solic color, I think, and it needs better contrasts. E.g. neutral blue on white is a good combinition.


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## wdw_ (May 16, 2002)

> _Originally posted by ksv _
> *What do you think about this? This is just a "draft", of course, but what do you think about the general idea? *


I've been working with different colors as well. It was originally black and yeallow, but I found a photoshop effect that changed it to the product I posted.



> _Originally posted by rinse _
> *again...
> 
> how well would that reproduce 1/2" tall in newsprint or a photcopied flyer?
> ...


I turned it to black and white and made it really small and it didn't look that bad.

The logo I made is just something I came up with in the middle of the night. Odds are, this won't end up being our logo.


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## Trip (May 17, 2002)

I guess trying to design things at 1:00 in the morning doesn't work out too well...see:


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## wdw_ (May 17, 2002)

> _Originally posted by Trip _
> *I guess trying to design things at 1:00 in the morning doesn't work out too well...see: *


Dude! That's awsome.


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## Trip (May 17, 2002)

> _Originally posted by wdw_ _
> *
> Dude! That's awsome. *



Uhh...if you want me to re-do it better just let me know.


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## wdw_ (May 17, 2002)

That would be nice. I've been making a bunch of different logos to show to my friends next time we're all together. So trip, if you could make a bigger version of your logo, that would be great.


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## Trip (May 17, 2002)

I let my good friend (Spencer Hales) take a look at the logo, he made his own little version...as well as a second re-vamped version. I'll upload both just for fun!


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## Trip (May 17, 2002)

And Spencer's second re-vamp of my version. He basicly just added colour and gave it a bit more 'twist'.


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## wdw_ (May 17, 2002)

I like that last one alot. I needed it alot bigger though, so I went ahead and did it myself.
See:
http://homepage.mac.com/macosx_pics/.Pictures/idiom_trip.jpg

Just today I figured out how to make small stuff bigger and restore the quality in Photoshop.


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## Trip (May 18, 2002)

I could make it larger manually, but it still wouldn't look that good! How'd you learn to magnifiy it like that and still keep great quality?!


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## wdw_ (May 18, 2002)

I had to experiment with Photoshop. I actually have a copy that's a lot, lot bigger than the one I posted. I'll tell you how I did it, but remember that this won't work with photographs only shapes like the logo Trip provided.

Note: Im just writing down how I did it with the band logo. You might have to change some of these steps for other pictures. Also, these instructions are for Photoshop.




1. Change the image to the desired size.
2. Select the part of the image you want to fix.
3. Next, go to Filter->Artistic->Cutout
4. Change the cutout settings to the below and click OK:

No. Of levels: 8
Edge Simplicity: 0
Edge Fidelity: 3

5. Then select the color wand tool and option-click the white background.
6. And last fill the selected with the color you want the selected to be.

Well, thats how I did it.


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## wdw_ (May 18, 2002)

Hey trip. If my band decides to use the logo you gave us, you won't sue or anything like that will you?


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## Nummi_G4 (May 19, 2002)

Or... if you want to resize... you could simply trace it in Illustrator... and make it any size.


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## Trip (May 19, 2002)

wdw_: If you guys really want to use it then it's all yours.  And thanks for the help with re-sizing! I usually just used the sharpen and despeckle effects, but those didn't do the job too well.


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## wdw_ (May 19, 2002)

> _Originally posted by Nummi_G4 _
> *Or... if you want to resize... you could simply trace it in Illustrator... and make it any size. *


I tried that first, but it didn't come out in the quality I wanted, so I made up my own process in PS.



> _Originally posted by Trip _
> *wdw_: If you guys really want to use it then it's all yours. *


Thanks!


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## Trip (Jun 5, 2002)

wdw_: I'm interested now...did you guys decide on a logo yet? I don't mind if it's not the one I made, I'm just interested in viewing it!


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## wdw_ (Jun 8, 2002)

Our guitar player Jared chipped a vertebrae, got concussion and hurt one of his ribs a couple of weeks ago. Since he has all the drum sets and amps, we havent been able to get together for a while. Unfortunetly I dont know my other two friend's emails (Im not sure why  ), so I couldn't email them the logo you made. But Jareds feeling a lot better, so we should all be getting together very soon. So Ill tell you what they think when I find out.


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## Trip (Jun 8, 2002)

Sweet. Sorry to hear about Jareds accident!


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## wdw_ (Jul 18, 2002)

Everybody except Jared liked the logo! He said it's not rock enough; whatever that means. I'm gonna try and talk him into it though. Everbody else loved it though.


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## Trip (Jul 18, 2002)

Hehe, that's always something nice to hear.
If you need something else and are interested in my work just give me a holler and I'll get it to you!


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## Natobasso (Jul 31, 2002)

not a bad logo for originality, but it won't print well and isn't very flexible. What you need, my friend, is contrast. Like a previous poster stated, will it show up on a photocopied flyer in black and white? I would definitely pick one font and go with it since it's going to be the visual representation of your band from now till whenever. I would take out the yellow rectangle and focus on the definition of the characters themselves. 

The "o" symbol is a bit printerly--ie, it's a registration symbol and not that unique. Maybe there's a better symbol that illustrates what IDIOM is about and you could put that in the "O". 

Hope that helps. I know it's much easier to criticize than to create.


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## Trip (Jul 31, 2002)

> _Originally posted by Natobasso _
> *I know it's much easier to criticize than to create. *



I completely agree.
But what we cannot forget here is the fact that the logo and design of the logo all play such a giant impact on the actual owner of the logo (in this case a band). The logo displays who they are and what they're doing. If you just pick out a random font and type the text then you will not get anywhere with the logo.

But then again, it's not completely up to us to decide on what's good or not for the band, that's for them to decide. And whatever they say...goes. I wish them luck!


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## wdw_ (Aug 1, 2002)

About this photocopying thing. I am way too much of a perfectionist to be making bad photocopies. I would probably make a bunch of copies on my inkjet printer and if I were to use a copier, it would be a bitchin' copier.


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## Natobasso (Aug 1, 2002)

Compare the cost of printing at home (you get maybe 200 pages before you have to change your toner for $30+) or on a copier ($.07 a copy) and you will probably go for the copies in the long run. No one cares how well your band flyer is printed, to be honest--they just want to know where your show is. (I am a musician myself--bass player)


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## wdw_ (Aug 1, 2002)

If the time comes when we don't have enough money that we can't use the color copiers at Kinkos, then I'll use a really cheap copier and a high contrast logo.

When you say high contrast do mean something like the attached.


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## Natobasso (Aug 1, 2002)

yeah, that contrast looks pretty good. The rough effect on the logo is a nice touch.


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## mdnky (Aug 3, 2002)

> _Originally posted by wdw_ _
> *If the time comes when we don't have enough money that we can't use the color copiers at Kinkos, then I'll use a really cheap copier and a high contrast logo.
> 
> When you say high contrast do mean something like the attached. *




Use both...keep this one for low quality print works in b&w (newspapers, etc.).  Use the color version for other items in color, or when having high quality print work done.

For good copies take your file digitally to a Kinkos and have them print it digitally to their copier.  I'd suggest your request them to print it on their Docu-Tec machines.  Most Kinkos use a Xerox Doc or a Cannon Image Runner for digital printing, the Xerox uses a nice screen, the Cannons look more like a crayon drawing.

Make sure to take it in KFP or PDF format though, to be safe.  (KFP can be downloaded from kinkos.com, kinda a "Kinko's PDF" format, but not sure if Mac version is out yet...was available for Win)


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## wdw_ (Aug 3, 2002)

I have many versions of my logos. I have a a version of the original logo you've never even seen... until now!

Look!

I don't plan on using this anymore but it's just something I wanted to share.

Anyway. Mdnky: I have one copy of the logo that I can export to any quality, dimentions, what have you.

Also, KFP  is only available for Windows.


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## satanicpoptart (Aug 12, 2002)

ive been doing something sorta like wdw,  there is a band my friend sam is in and its called "bitter", i made this logo thing for them, its more of a cd cover though. 

tell me what you think.


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## wdw_ (Aug 13, 2002)

One of the biggest suggestions I've gotten is to change it so that it will still look good when it's small or black and white or both. So I suggest you consider this as well. Maybe get rid of the background and just have the cool looking text.


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## demmers79drummer (Mar 30, 2005)

um u no wat? i think it needs more to it like color the design is good but the bluey black or watever doesnt work for me its just not working


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## Robn Kester (Mar 31, 2005)

While you are at it, have a look here:
http://www.golistenlive.net/columns/logo1.asp

some good basic rules for band logo design. reiterating some of the points made here.

good luck!


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## ora (Apr 1, 2005)

Erm guys, have you noticed that wdw's last post to this thread was in 2002? In fact i don't think he has posted at all since last year. Just thought i'd mention it so you didn't get annoyed when he didn't reply.


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