In the same way that I struggled in coming up with a name for my climbing wall software, I’ve also drug my feet in selecting a logo. Ideally a corporate logo should evoke images and emotions consistent with the company’s mission. In my case, I’m just looking for something that won’t turn people off — and perhaps convey simplicity and professionalism.
After reading a few articles about logo design I decided to sketch out some designs for a ClimbPoint logo. I ended up gravitating toward something text-based with a small emblem or symbol next to the name. However, when I fired up Photoshop to turn my dreams into reality I remembered that I have no skill with Photoshop whatsoever.
Undeterred, I stumbled upon the LogoMaker 5000 while surfing the web for logo creators. LogoMaker is a flash-based tool that allows you to put text with one of thousands of logo images which are organized by industry. After playing around for a couple hours I ended up with five logos that might be workable…but I want to know what you think.
1. This one is growing on me…though the symbol to me really has no meaning
2. At last year’s CWA Summit I spoke with Mike Helt from Routesetter.com, and he convinced me not to go with the name HangDog and to not use a logo with a climber-guy on it. So this one is out, but included just for fun.
3. This was originally my favorite…kind of evokes images of Delta (the airline), or maybe mountains, I don’t know.
4. Pyramids. Not sure about this one either.
5. This one is somewhat similar to one of my sketches, minus the little ring around the two swooshes.
That’s the first round. What do you think? I’m hoping to decide on a logo this week so I can finish up the new website and print some business cards.
At this point I think I could live with a couple of the logos above…but I’m actually considering purchasing a video tutorial on logo design so I can create a few of the logos that I’ve sketched out. I also may forego the five hour Photoshop session the tutorial would likely require and pay about $150 for a custom designed logo from the guy who created those tutorials.
I like #3. But the PoolTools logo you made is the best of all time
Yeah I was gonna mention that in the post
The crazy thing about the PoolTools logo is that I did it entirely by hand in Photoshop. It took awhile to get it looking right though, so I have a hard time psyching myself up to do another one like that
I like #5 from your first round. It somehow looks most “professional” to me. However I would also like to see some of those you’ve sketched out, maybe with some enhancement, suggestions from someone with an art trained eye. A logo will be around a long time and our culture is very visual.
[...] design to get a decent logo 24 04 2008 A couple weeks ago when I was searching for a decent logo I had all but decided to go with something churned out by an automated logo creator. After thinking [...]