Looking for inspiration

[reeksy86]

Hi all,

I am looking for some inspiration and hoping you can help?

I have set up a residents association for my part of town, and i need a logo, the obvious thing would be to use some landmark or similar for the backdrop and then incorparating the text somehow, however in this part of town, we dont have anything like that.

I have had a bit of a trawl through google images, but it hasnt given me any real ideas of what to do.

Has anyone designed anything like this for anyone, or got any thoughts/ideas i could use?

I was going to use the town logo, however i have been informed by my council that it is a protected logo and cannot be used by the association.

Appreciate anything you can offer.

Thanks

 

[Tom Mann]

http://www.google.com/imghp?hl=en&tab=mi
- - Google Images
- - then enter {town logo}

I know you said that you already used Google Images, but IMHO, there are a huge number of ideas on just the 1st page of hits ... many times more if you combine aspects of different existing logos.

Tom M

 

[Tom Mann]

PS - If you give us a bit more to go on, eg, the name of your part of town / association, name and location of the town, maybe the URL of some pix of your part of town, etc. it would be very helpful. Otherwise, the best we can do is talk in generalities.

T

PS - Can I assume the town is Caldicot, South Wales?

 

[reeksy86]

oh yeah, that would help! Its still early!! The town is caldicot, here is the town logo, (although i am not allowed to use it) in our area, (the west end) we dont have anything of real interest, We have a basic train station in our 'patch' a pub, (which is not photogenic!) and a rugby club, I will take a walk around i think and take some photos, We do have a long street, with relatively nice homes, i could maybe use that, (but would need to remove cars, house numbers, etc)

There are pictures on google of Caldicot, but the castle, town etc are all the other end of town, which is why i am a bit stuck,

 

[Tom Mann]

If the Caldicot castle is near you, would it be appropriate to somehow incorporate a castle graphic into your logo? After all, a (Caldicot) man's home is his castle .

:mrgreen:

T

 

[Tom Mann]

Ahh ... we were both typing at the same time.

 

[Tom Mann]

BTW, IMHO, no big loss that you can't use the town's logo. I wouldn't use it if they paid me. IMHO, it's just terrible from a design POV.

 

[reeksy86]

i know what you mean, its awful!! Even worse, its the sign used at both ends of the town as you enter!! I think i might take some pics of the west end and post back, maybe easier to describe what we have here.

 

[Tom Mann]

Is this the pub near you? Are the houses across the street and nearby typical of the member houses in your association?

 

[Tom Mann]

I'm just thinking out loud, but how 'bout taking a typical house in that area, simplifying it, and incorporating it into the design.

Here's the result of a literally just a couple minutes of doodling... maybe more for a business card than a logo, but lots and lots of other options are obviously possible.

T

 

[Tom Mann]

As I was playing around with ideas, here's the very first sketch I came up with. Of course, it's totally inappropriate for a logo, or even a business card, but I thought it had an appealing, quasi-lithographed look (assuming I picked a typical house for your area from Google street view).

T

 

[ibclare]

Tom, that looks like an advertisement for a realtor. Just doesn't make it for me. Now, on the other hand, if it were in the back ground with the FG of a smaller icon or two describing the town, I think the house could work.

I was on the committee when we designed new entry signs to the town. What they ultimately accepted was the most bland and boring design I could imagine! We're a beachtown. (thus ibclare actually stands for imperial beach clare)

I had a like-minded partner and we came up with, among other things, a 16 foot tall beachball player serving across to the other side of the street, the beachball suspended on cable of course, with the city name strung across this and lights at night, for one entrance to town. Shot down. Too abstract? We came up with ideas emphasizing the bougainvillea, probably the most common and pretty flower in the city. We ended up with a bland beige (sand-colored -- genius) sign you could barely read. It has since been updated to include a ceramic depiction of an antique automobile, and more recent art is much more sophisticated.

Anyway, to the topic at hand.

Looking for not just landmarks, but the essence of a town spirit is an important part of the process. What are all the things the town is known for; what do people like to do; what philosophical principles tie the community together, if any; how conservative must the sign be?

The bridge is a great theme image I think and could be used as a design element for it's shape going across the top. Trying to use every icon of the town just makes for a busy image the eye can't take in. You need an immediately recognizable symbol or two. Emphasize the modern or emphasize the old, but not both. It's just too much. Or have one old symbol and one new. Then add a third element, maybe an idea of the fish, for balance. Odd numbers of items are more balanced than even. Concentrate on something that says Caldicott in a bold and simple way. Maybe make the shield a ghostly image to tie it all together. Is your town a safe place for kids to play? Use a group of them playing as one element.

Well, these are my ideas. I hope they help you focus. Keep it simple.

 

[Tom Mann]

Hi Clare -

I completely agree that the B&W outline of the house isn't appropriate as the logo. What I was trying to do was determine the OP's feeling about whether or not he would consider including something along these lines as a design element.

In other words, I hoped this would give me some insight into whether or not a graphical suggestion of a typical local home actually does capture an important aspect of the local group spirit. Your 2nd paragraph was right on the mark in this matter.

The OP certainly wasn't very enthusiastic about pushing local history (the castle on the other side of town), sports (the local rugby club), or at least some aspects of commerce / public life (eg, the local pub). OTOH, the *very name* of the organization under discussion is "residents' association", so it seemed to me that a graphic of a home might be a fruitful starting point.

I also really like your suggestion of kids playing as another possible aspect of the graphical design that captures group spirit. I suspect this will resonate very well with the folks in his organization, but we need to know this for sure (eg, that it's not primarily a retirement community).

Keep the ideas coming!

Thanks again,

Tom

 

[Inkz]

OP...

Is the logo you are looking to do, going to be a wordmark logo or emblem style?

 

[reeksy86]

I thought I would post here and update it, as I had completely forgotten about it if I'm honest.

The association hasn't actually professed since may, as there have been a few pressing matters that certain members have had to sort out, meaning it 'has been under the radar' since then.

We are hoping to revive the team toward the end of the year however.

Nothing has actually been up forward to the committee yet, so I haven't taken any designs or thoughts to them.

I do apologise for not updating this sooner, I am grateful for the input into this so far, and have taken note of you that have been kind enough to put effort into this.

As I say, we hope to revive this by the end of the year, if you are happy, I will report back then with an update of details for you all.

Thanks again.

 

[Tom Mann]

Hi. I'm really glad you dropped back in. I was wondering if you fell off the proverbial cliff, LOL. Do keep us updated as things progress. There are many folks here who do great logos.

Best regards,

T