Fair Share Profit - $250 - August 8th

[nevadabadgirl]

Forum Username: orioncarrier

Company Details: Fair Share Profit Properties LLC This company is focused on finding creative ways to help people out in tight situations as much as possible, while creating great prefits for itself and its investors. Its vehicle is wholesaling real estate from distressed sellers, banks, out-of-state landlords, etc.

Type Of Contest: Logo Design

Contest Title: Fair Share Profit Logo Contest

Contest Deadline: August 8, 2009

Prize Amount: $250

Colors To Be Used: one color - icy blue or aqua--I'm leaning towards icy aqua

Hi! I already have a very specific logo envisioned, though I would entertain ideas. I envision my logo appearing on my business card or letterhead, for example, like this: The name of my company appears at the top of my business card (top-center of letterhead) couched by a line below and an upward pointing arrow to the left. The upward pointing arrow has a wide, short shaft and head, so that it looks like a house. It is also slightly slanted to the right (italicized?) to give a sense of forward, upward motion. The line under the company name is thick enough to be noticed, but not so thick to overwhelm the company name. It doesn't necessarily start AT the base of the arrow, but either from the left margin of the card, or at least to the left of the arrow in some elegant or sharp way--which might be best for its appearance on the letterhead. The line can stop at the end of the company name, or continue to the right margin. For business cards, contact information appears in the space below. I'm imagining the ink for this line/arrow combination to be a shiny/metallic/reflective icy blue or aqua. I also envision a large faded watermark version of the slightly-slanted arrow/house to the bottom-right side of the card/letterhead, etc., echoing the arrow at the top-left, with or without the line also echoing the one at top, whichever turns out looking the coolest. It is light enough so that business card or letter text can print over it. This echo will obviously not be shiny or metallic. (I don't know if it is possible to duplicate this watermark effect on a website; I would like to if I can, but would definitely like to do this on my business card and letterhead; and the top line/arrow combination could just be a darker version of the watermark color on the webpage). The company name could be in black, or a dark color that complements the icy blue or icy aqua. The font can be slightly playful and avant-gard, but still business like. The words in the company name can be uncapitalized if the first letters stand out somehow from the rest. I'm imagining a light, unstuffy but happening, business-like, confidence-promoting image. This is my first time doing a contest like this, and I'm open to a conversation about this. Thanks everyone.

[cincytodd]

My concept works on a few levels. On one level you see half of a pie chart that represents the financial aspect of your business but they also double as shadows for the houses which in-turn double as growth arrows for profits. The half of the pie chart can also be seen as a common window above front doors on colonial looking homes for example. I welcome your thoughts.

[orioncarrier]

Hi Cincytodd,

Wow, that's really interesting. Interesting concepts.

One problem I can see with it right away is that it is both so wide and so deep that it would take up most of the real estate on a business card. I guess another thing is that in my business, the company wants to be less prominent, and the service(s) offered more prominent (that's where text I supply comes in). Some investors don't even have a logo per se.

One other piece of feedback I have re my concept of my company is that I want to share the profit. So while it's great to have the word Properties be diminished, I'd like the word "Profit" to stand out a bit more.

Let's see, I'm thinking out loud here. The font juxtaposed with the pie chart also looks a little like fanfare. The feeling I want to give is of offering a service, rather than trying to stand out. The goal is to stand out because of the distinct quality of service offered, rather than by the logo. Does that make sense? I also still like my idea of moving forward and upward, and in one direction, rather than in several directions.

I hope it's not too much feedback. I want to give a better sense of what I'm envisioning. Thanks for a great go!

Orion

[RockStarNeil]

My interpretation of your logo idea:

[cincytodd]

I tried to incorporate your comments into my first concept and have come up with a much more streamlined concept that combines "Profit" in the form of the slice of the chart and "Properties" in the way the slice makes the form of a house. The roof makes an arrow up = positive.

[RockStarNeil]

2nd submission:
It sounds like you're looking for a simple, horizontal layout for your logo. I've taken your comments in to account when designing this one. The strong horizontal line connects the icons and your company name and would be quite easy to integrate in to business cards, letterheads, envelopes, website, etc.

I welcome your feedback!

[orioncarrier]

I tried to incorporate your comments into my first concept and have come up with a much more streamlined concept that combines "Profit" in the form of the slice of the chart and "Properties" in the way the slice makes the form of a house. The roof makes an arrow up = positive.

Thanks, very much, cincyTodd. A nicer, simpler design. The ones that are closer to what I'm asking for are suiting me better, though, and the design still takes up more business card real estate than I can have it do.

[orioncarrier]

2nd submission:
It sounds like you're looking for a simple, horizontal layout for your logo. I've taken your comments in to account when designing this one. The strong horizontal line connects the icons and your company name and would be quite easy to integrate in to business cards, letterheads, envelopes, website, etc.

I welcome your feedback!

Thanks very much for both of your submissions, RockStarNeil.

I appreciate your effort to mirror my vision. And actually, I almost your last submission better than my own idea. So I'm almost afraid to ask if it's not too tall to fit at the top of a landscape-layout business card. What do you think? Maybe you have more experience with this than I do. I really like the arrow mixed in with the houses. That's a great idea. I'm wondering if the idea will be ruined if it is made a little shorter so the logo can be squeezed more to the top of the bus card (I don't know, maybe it won't need to be, but I've had trouble fitting all the info on business cards before). I'm also wondering if the characters in the company name (above and below) should be in a contrasting colour like navy or some other colour. And I agree with you that this particular design probably does not want the houses "slanted". By the way, what is your opinion on how the shiny metalic ink would turn out with this design?

Your first submission was also interesting. It would be interesting to see a hybrid between the two if its not too much effort, with the house from the 1st submission shorter and solid, on a strong horizontal line as in the 2nd submission, Fair Share Profit italicised as in the first submission, and Properties LLC in small print under a horizontal line as in the 2nd. It might not look so great without the door and windows on the arrow/house, but it would be interesting to see.

Thanks again for a great effort!

[cincytodd]

Thanks, very much, cincyTodd. A nicer, simpler design. The ones that are closer to what I'm asking for are suiting me better, though, and the design still takes up more business card real estate than I can have it do.

I just wanted to show how much room you actually would have on the business card as this logo scales down to be small but very legible.

[RockStarNeil]

Hi Orioncarrier,

Here is a revision of my 2nd submission for you. I have slightly shortened the vertical height of the houses so you can squeeze a bit more space out of the business card. I also incorporated your comments about using a contrasting color for the lettering (I like the idea a lot, btw!) As you can see this logo won't take up too much space on the b-card and I think the icon would look great enlarged and faded to the back (like a watermark).

As far as the metallic ink usage goes, I think it could be a nice touch if you went with a 2-color option. I'm envisioning using the metallic teal for the icon & line, but keeping the lettering a regular dark blue ink. It would be a nice, eye-catching contrast in my opinion.

Also keep in mind that you still have the backside of the business card to work with. When designing b-cards sometimes it's nice to have the watermark version of your logo on the back with a catchy slogan and/or website. It's a good way to free up some more space on the front of the card too.

[orioncarrier]

I just wanted to show how much room you actually would have on the business card as this logo scales down to be small but very legible.

Hi Cincytodd,

Yes, you're right. It does fit nicely up in the top. I'm sort of getting your concept more now--a fair piece of the pie. I'm sort of liking the idea of letting the company name get that message across though instead of the image, and having the image give investors the idea of forward and upward for them. It's me that's supposed to be fair-sharing, not the other investors. Funny how imagery evokes different things for different people.

Thanks again!

[orioncarrier]

Hi Orioncarrier,

Here is a revision of my 2nd submission for you. I have slightly shortened the vertical height of the houses so you can squeeze a bit more space out of the business card. I also incorporated your comments about using a contrasting color for the lettering (I like the idea a lot, btw!) As you can see this logo won't take up too much space on the b-card and I think the icon would look great enlarged and faded to the back (like a watermark).

As far as the metallic ink usage goes, I think it could be a nice touch if you went with a 2-color option. I'm envisioning using the metallic teal for the icon & line, but keeping the lettering a regular dark blue ink. It would be a nice, eye-catching contrast in my opinion.

Also keep in mind that you still have the backside of the business card to work with. When designing b-cards sometimes it's nice to have the watermark version of your logo on the back with a catchy slogan and/or website. It's a good way to free up some more space on the front of the card too.

Oh wow, I didn't think of right-justifying the logo and not centering it across the whole card. That looks sharp, actually. I also like your idea of putting a watermark on the back instead of the front. I think the front of the card would be quite complete with the two-color logo right-justified like that. And I do like the dark blue type, and the arrows a little shorter like that. And actually, the logo looks so good as it is that I'm unsure I want to detract from it with the metallic ink, which is probably better for simple lines, and not as good for more intricate images like this. What do you think?

I'm wondering if a watermark for the back could be created that would have the same image of the houses, but with a line coming off to the left instead of to the right. Then, the back could have the watermark to the lower-right, and all the text describing what I do would be couched below with the line. Or do you think it would look better to have the watermark to the left on the back side... it would be positioned to the opposite side of the text on the front but the house/arrow image would be the same as on the front, and the text on the back of the card could be right-aligned. Thoughts?

[Chung Dha]

#1

[cincytodd]

I found a way to tuck the graphic into the type so that the words are more dominant and "Profit" standing out as you had wished. The top of the arrow represents the fair share, the arrow itself is profit going up which doubles as a house for properties. I am looking forward to your reaction, thanks.

[orioncarrier]

#1

Hi Chung Dha,

That is a really nice design, and cool. And the colors are quite nice too. That said, for reasons I can't really think of right now, I'm preferring RockStarNeil's 2D look at this point. Maybe it's because I want to de-emphasize the logo a bit, as I've mentioned before, and the 2D version is better at that.

[orioncarrier]

I found a way to tuck the graphic into the type so that the words are more dominant and "Profit" standing out as you had wished. The top of the arrow represents the fair share, the arrow itself is profit going up which doubles as a house for properties. I am looking forward to your reaction, thanks.

Wow, cincytodd, you have a lot of really interesting ideas. They're quite cool, btw.

I'm not sure how to say this, but the arrow in the "O" looks strikingly phallyc to me. Maybe my mind just goes there......

For everyone's benefit, too, I think also, in this design, profit is now over-emphasized. I don't know if this has been enunciated to this point, but I want to attract investors that want to make a healthy profit *creatively helping people out*. Profit is integral and pre-requisite, but not motivationally primary. Does that make sense?

Thanks again for a great submission!

[RockStarNeil]

Oh wow, I didn't think of right-justifying the logo and not centering it across the whole card. That looks sharp, actually. I also like your idea of putting a watermark on the back instead of the front. I think the front of the card would be quite complete with the two-color logo right-justified like that. And I do like the dark blue type, and the arrows a little shorter like that. And actually, the logo looks so good as it is that I'm unsure I want to detract from it with the metallic ink, which is probably better for simple lines, and not as good for more intricate images like this. What do you think?

I'm wondering if a watermark for the back could be created that would have the same image of the houses, but with a line coming off to the left instead of to the right. Then, the back could have the watermark to the lower-right, and all the text describing what I do would be couched below with the line. Or do you think it would look better to have the watermark to the left on the back side... it would be positioned to the opposite side of the text on the front but the house/arrow image would be the same as on the front, and the text on the back of the card could be right-aligned. Thoughts?

Hi Orioncarrier,

I think the use of metallic ink with your logo could be interesting, but not necessary. I agree with you that the 2-color logo is definitely eye catching enough, and if you wanted to use metallic inks it could be nice looking, but it could also look a little unnecessarily over-the-top.

Now for the potential backside of your business card, I think an enlarged watermark on the opposite side of the logo on the front would look good. And as far as text alignment goes, if your doing right (or left) aligned on the front, you should stick with the same alignment on the back as well.

Let me know if you'd like to see any more variations of the logo!

Thanks!

[orioncarrier]

Hi Orioncarrier,

I think the use of metallic ink with your logo could be interesting, but not necessary. I agree with you that the 2-color logo is definitely eye catching enough, and if you wanted to use metallic inks it could be nice looking, but it could also look a little unnecessarily over-the-top.

Now for the potential backside of your business card, I think an enlarged watermark on the opposite side of the logo on the front would look good. And as far as text alignment goes, if your doing right (or left) aligned on the front, you should stick with the same alignment on the back as well.

Let me know if you'd like to see any more variations of the logo!

Thanks!

Thanks very much for the feedback, rockstarneil.

I am wondering if you would do a version of your most recent design with the navy company name and aqua image, with the "Fair Share Profit" in an italic font similar to the one in your first design. I'm thinking the "Properties LLC" could stay unitalicised to give it an anchor. I don't know if it will look good with the houses straight up and down, but I'm thinking it would. If you could do that for me, that would be fabulous.

[cincytodd]

I reworked my second entry to incorporate the text more into the graphic and am wondering if this helps?

[orioncarrier]

I reworked my second entry to incorporate the text more into the graphic and am wondering if this helps?

No, the arrow just gets lost, and the circle and the pie is just not doing it for me.

Thanks very much though.