Font Help!

Hikin' Mike · **Font Help! -** 09-03-2007, 01:03 AM

I already have a "Logo", what I want to know is does the text look professional? I originally used this font on my backpacking site and it just stuck.

This first one is my original Logo/Text, the second one that I'm thinking about and the last one is the same font as the first one, but I just made it in one line. If you don't like any of these three, give me some suggestions...

Silverstangs · **Sylfaen - One of my favorite Fonts. -** 09-03-2007, 07:14 AM

Sylfaen - One of my favorite Fonts.

http://www.silverstangs.net/images/i...ackcountry.psd

sandman · 09-03-2007, 08:46 AM

Mike, I like the third font, but don't like the italic.

Hikin' Mike · 09-03-2007, 12:29 PM

Thanks Scott.
Sandy, There is no italic on that font. It's called "Trekker".

windrivermaiden · **I'll throw in my take on your font delemia -** 09-03-2007, 02:12 PM

I didn't think of this until I was posting these to here... Your graphic would be stronger if the bear was about 10-15% darker grey than it is now, not enough to make it as dark as the film strip surround but enough more heft to set it apart from the "sky" of the frame.

Silverstangs · 09-03-2007, 08:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by windrivermaiden

I didn't think of this until I was posting these to here... Your graphic would be stronger if the bear was about 10-15% darker grey than it is now, not enough to make it as dark as the film strip surround but enough more heft to set it apart from the "sky" of the frame.

Nice, I should have you make my logo, your more creative than I am... very good job.

windrivermaiden · 09-03-2007, 08:32 PM

What ya got so far?

Hikin' Mike · 09-03-2007, 08:35 PM

I like the first one Windy! I'll have to let this one settle for a few days and see if I still like it...

Hikin' Mike · 09-03-2007, 08:42 PM

Windy,
I have Franciscan, but not the other two. Any chance of e-mailing me the fonts?

mike (at) thebackcountry dot org

Hikin' Mike · **How About This?? -** 09-04-2007, 03:27 PM

I found the fonts and played around with some of the colors in the Logo. Any suggestions?

"Original"

Dark Blue-Gray Sky

Dark Blue-Gray Sky w/ Dark Gray "Film Holes"

windrivermaiden · 03:48 PM

the last one...for sure! it is impactive...goes straight to the point of what you do, while still being subtle enough that it doesn't over power.

Hikin' Mike · 09-04-2007, 04:17 PM

That was my favorite as well. Hope that Snarfy chimes in too...

Thanks again Windy!

Snarfy · 09-12-2007, 09:16 PM

Hey Mike, sorry this took me a while to get a reply posted! Completely forgot about that first PM you sent me, my bad.

First off, the logo:
I like the color variation with the dark blue, it contrasts more with the green and red and makes them pop. However, you might keep in mind that dark blue is a dark cool color, which in the case of skyscapes, connotes evening/night. Some might initially respond to the color scheme believing you are primarily an outdoor night photographer. Consider playing around with the color a little more to find an alternate. I'm not saying the dark blue works poorly, but you might find another color that works better.

I just got a call from a friend and need to take off for a little while, I'll log back in soon and respond more to the textual elements.

Hikin' Mike · 09-12-2007, 11:51 PM

Good point. I'll see what I can come up with.

Hikin' Mike · 09-14-2007, 12:58 AM

I changed the "sky" to a dark red....

I then thought about make the sky like a sunrise/sunset, but the tree lost some contrast (IMO)...

So, I compromised...

Any thoughts??

Silverstangs · 09-14-2007, 05:06 AM

Golden bear?

windrivermaiden · 09-14-2007, 05:32 AM

When you take the outline off the text it becomes anemic and looses snap. The red does nothing for me.

OK devil's advocate here....if the dark grey blue sky makes it look as if you are primarily a night photographer...which IMHO it doesn't...does the red sky mean you are a sunset photog?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hikin' Mike

Dark Blue-Gray Sky w/ Dark Gray "Film Holes"

This is still the one I'd give you the hard sell to put on your letterhead if you came to the design firm I work at. I would make both trees the same darker green

Silverstangs · 09-14-2007, 07:37 AM

Yeah I agree with Windy, the trees should definately match..

Hikin' Mike · 10:56 AM

I guess I forgot the stroke on the text...it was 3AM!

After I had a chance to sink this in...I still prefer the dark blue sky. I really didn't like the dark red, but the multi-colored sky is slightly better than a plain red sky. I matched the right tree and sun color to the left one and changed the bear to black.

I have a Illustrator 10 question...
I've been using Illustrator 10 to design my logo. When I did a stroke, it doesn't give me the same functions as CS2. Illustrator can only stroke a inside element, not outside/inside.center or am I missing something?

So, on these two examples, I exported the Illustrator 10 to CS2 and then stroked it on the outside the text.

EDIT:
My color profiles are slightly different. The colors are not as vibrant as the wore before. Need to look into that...

Silverstangs · 09-14-2007, 11:00 AM

I like the second one more.. still think the bear should have it's own special golden color

Hikin' Mike · 09-14-2007, 11:05 AM

Scott,

I still like the black bear, but I'm open for suggestions.

BTW, I got the profile "fixed".

Hikin' Mike · 09-14-2007, 11:23 AM

Really don't care for the dark red at all. How about this?

Snarfy · 09-14-2007, 02:14 PM

Illustrator applies strokes from the middle of the outline. In order to imply an outer stroke:
- Create a duplicate of the text.
- Set the duplicate layer to be invisible fill, colored stroke; Set the original layer to have a fill and no stroke.
- Move the original (color-filled) text on top of the duplicate.
- Adjust the duplicate's stroke size until you find what you like.

Viola, outer stroke.

More later, I have to get to work, sorry!

Hikin' Mike · 09-14-2007, 02:49 PM

Thanks Snarfy...works like a charm!

Snarfy · 09-18-2007, 03:32 PM

Ok Mike I've got a few minutes here between work and class to post a little more feedback. Sorry I'm so sporadic in posting, I'm insanely busy these days.

First I'd like to talk about the secondary iconic element contained within the primary textual element. Primarily, the big red sun there pulls attention away from the primary icon. Granted, the text element is far larger than the main icon, but having such a large secondary icon splits the viewers attention. (my eyes first hit "Images in the Backcountry;" then see the sun/tree; then try to read "Outdoor Photography..." and then finally wander over to inspect the main logo icon)
Now, if this is what you want to achieve, then it's a success in that sense. However, I would recommend alleviating some of the focus from the sun/tree element so that the viewer's eyes can more actively appreciate the primary iconic element.

There are a couple reasons the sun/tree icon draw so much more attention. The first thing I notice is the size. The perceived relationship between the sun/tree and the primary text is given more emphasis because the sun/tree is so much larger than that depicted in the main icon (i'm tired of being so vague with that, I'm referring to the main icon as "Film Icon" from here on out).
Next are the colors. The red and green very actively vibrate (at least, the output on my monitor gives my eyes that impression). Opposites on the color wheel tend to do this. To help reduce the color vibration, and relieve your viewer's eyes a bit, consider adding a black stroke around the tree (similar to that on the primary text). Alternatively, you could treat the tree/sun as you do in the Film Icon where the mountain and sun meet: create an implied stroke where the tree meets the sun, but let the background color show through.
Finally, you might consider resizing the Film Icon to be a little larger. Never hurts to have a little more emphasis on that.

Ok, as for fonts. I like the "Images in the Backcountry" font. Normally, all-caps blocks of text tend to create too many implied lines and continuity issues; but that font seems to have a lot of variation in the cap-height throughout its characters.
One issue I have with the text itself is the placement of "IN THE." The film icon, the text, and just about everything in the logo has a left-to-right arrangement. The overall logo weighs and directs to the outsides from the middle. Except, of course, the "IN THE" section. Those two words are center justified with a downward weight that intersects most of the other implicit lines. You might try moving them around so that the up-and-down impact of them doesn't force the view from reading left-to-right, then up-and-down, then left-to-right again. I'd recommending staggering them.

Ok, I need to be taking off again so here's my last little critique: if you are going to use a black border on the filmstrip and black stroke lines on all of your text, you should select a lighter background color so that the strokes look and feel more intentional. As it stands, the stroke lines somewhat fall-off and blend-in too much. It doesn't need to be an extreme change in contrast, but a little more would help.

Hope this helps in some way, shape, or fashion!
-Snarfy