eapprentice.net - $350 - August 10th

[nevadabadgirl]

Forum Username: goodwin

Company Details: Home is an online training site

Type Of Contest: Logo Design

Contest Title: eapprentice.net Logo

Contest Deadline: August 10, 2009

Prize Amount: $350

Colors To Be Used: Open to suggestion

Example URLs:
Home is our website.

This a logo design with three components.

· Logo
· Favicon 16x16
· Small banner 200x30x
·
The contest is for artwork only, we will apply them to the web.

The Logo should be designed with the 580x240x banner size from our website in mind, It should show well on a white background

The Favicon may be utilized across similar, but different websites, as a subtle brand icon, so a big letter E is probably not what we are looking for

The small banner is an advertisement that runs on an important partner site, (emastercam.com) I have a gif file currently, that fades in and out with our name, and what we do. I am not sure if that is necessary, perhaps just our name and logo is enough, we are constrained by the 200x30x size. The small banner must show well on a black background and should share the brand characteristics of our logo.

Our clients are generally skilled, precision machinists and toolmakers, who are learning software applications that modernize techniques that have been applied for centuries. They are proud of their skills, have invested time in learning at a technical level (often college level) as well as spending a minimum of four years on the factory floor working with machine tools, many of them will have invested a significant amount of money in their own hand tools. As you can imagine, these are independent people with high expectations and a low tolerance level for insincere websites. Our offering is high quality and authentic, it is also a good value and we promote input from our clients and are trying to build trust and community with the people we serve.

I have been watching the design contests for a couple of weeks, and have been impressed with the quality of work that you have been able to produce, particularly when there are a lot of designers participating and when feedback is forthcoming.

I am not putting a lot of constraints around what the logotype or typography might be, I want to see what you come up with, thanks

[nevadabadgirl]

I have emailed with the CH and he is interested in the artwork for the logo design. All web applications will be done by himself.

[degmc]

just to be clear, the main objective of the contest is to design a logo for eapprentice.net
the secondary objectives are:

• favicon 16x16x
• scaled version of the logo at 200x30x

my thinking is that the last two items may have to be adapted to fit their size constraints.
Thanks,

[degmc]

Anybody?

[cincytodd]

Anybody?

I am sketching some ideas now and am sure others are as well. They usually come in bunches once the first entry is posted.

[degmc]

I am sketching some ideas now and am sure others are as well. They usually come in bunches once the first entry is posted.

Great!!

[cincytodd]

I am pleased to present my initial concept after much research into your web site and the kind of industry you are working with. Your company name is horizontal which made it a natural to fit the banner ad to come. I found a font that had a machining quality and developed the symbol around the letter "e". The symbol inspiration came from a hex bolt and represents and apprentice's stages of learning and creates the letter "e". I took the "e" and the "A" - short for eApprentice and makes a memorable favicon. I am looking forward to your thoughts.

[degmc]

Thank you, for this first try, there are some things we like and others not so much. The color scheme is a little like school colors I would like a more modern look. We didn't like the font, too "transformers", we are web based, so I think sans serif would be more appropriate.

I like a web 2.0 style, but not too cartoonish

I like the color differentiation between e and .net and the rest of the text, although this e is hard to read.

Some people have written eApprentice.net, which could be interesting if done right.

I like the idea of the ea in the favicon, although how could we do it without looking like EA sports?

The favicon may also be used with other web sites, is there an icon possibility??

Thanks for this, I can't wait to see more.

[cincytodd]

Thank you for the quick feedback.

I changed the font to one that works with my idea being that an apprentice mirrors the person and/or group they are learning from. The raised letter "e" makes "apprentice" easier to read as well. The font also works well in the web 2.0 style with rounded corners. I created a sample "e and a" symbol/icon in a web 2.0 look and that I can apply that to the whole name if you would like, just let me know. My favicon does not look anything like the EA Sports logo.

[degmc]

Fantastic, this is far more attractive to me. The overall first impression is good, the font may be a little robotic when I really study it, but it could grow on me.

I like the glow effect on the the ea icon, can we try it on the entire name, subtle, not over the top. Maybe a little shadow.

I agree, the favicon idea, especially in this form, has no relevance to the other EA, I like it.
Thanks

[cincytodd]

I like the glow effect on the the ea icon, can we try it on the entire name, subtle, not over the top. Maybe a little shadow.

I am trying to work in a shadow but the decenders on the two letters "p" are getting in the way. I didn't want to hold up showing you the entire name with the web 2.0 style effect on the whole name.

[degmc]

Thank you, I like where we are with this design for the moment, version 3 is certainly a viable option. I hope to see other concepts from you and other designers, I have noticed in the other competitions, that the work becomes markedly more creative as the designers play off of each other.

[degmc]

I thought I would do a little research to find some online digital assets as food for thought and to help define the niche industry that we work in.

We train CNC machine programmers. Modern CNC machine tools remove material at extremely high speeds to create components from raw material.
Imagine sculpting, but instead of using a hammer and chisel we write computer programs that create our shapes with precision tools.

David Macneil recently took out an 8 page advertisement in auto week magazine where he talks mainly about the fact that his company does all of their manufacturing in the United States, but look closely at the picture on page one and you'll see three CNC machine tools behind him.

On page 2 you will see a proud operator standing next to his CNC machine showing off a precision machined mold being lifted by a crane.

In The text block to the left on page 2, David MacNeil talks about the CNC machining capabilities of his company, and the photograph to the right shows several skilled machinists practicing their trade. These are the kind of people who would be interested in our website.

Haas CNC is one of the major American machine tool builders, notice that in their banner ad at the top they introduced Tony Stewart VF-2SS


Stewart-Haas make a great team in the Nascar world. My clients like racing.

This youtube video shows high speed machining of Titanium, programmed with the Mastercam CAD/CAM programming system, we can teach you how to do that.

Hope this helps....

[cincytodd]

Thank you, I like where we are with this design for the moment, version 3 is certainly a viable option. I hope to see other concepts from you and other designers, I have noticed in the other competitions, that the work becomes markedly more creative as the designers play off of each other.

I just finished a sketch for a totally new concept but will not have time to create it until later tonight and can't wait to present it to you.

[baiskee]

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b4...apprentice.jpg

Thanks

[degmc]

Thank you for your entry baiskee, interesting build on Todd's idea.
I like:

• that you are trying to incorporate a logo
• the interesting play with the favicon

I don't like:

• the font
• The gear as a logo, it is over used in our industry

I am not sure about the color, the one with the white background is OK, the ones with the blue background, not so much.

Thank you for joining in, I look forward to seeing more.

[cincytodd]

Here is my 2nd entry.

[degmc]

OK, there are definitely some interesting features here, I have tired eyes tonight, so I want to take another look in the morning, before commenting too much. Off the top of my head, I like the font: modern, web-like, but traditional, I'm liking the iconography, i am not sure it is fully evolved yet, but I really like the direction, see I'm talking too much, will take another look in the A.M.

Thank you, this is good work.

[Coy]

My 1st entery in my 1st contest.
Tried to incorporate an actaul CNC looking part that could represent as a logo. With this image the A (another cnc part) just didn't work and was too busy although I know you posted using the EA felt this would work well and could be reconized easily as your brand. any feed back appreciate.

http://i369.photobucket.com/albums/o...rentice1-1.jpg

[baiskee]

Thanks for the feedback.

Here is another one.

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b4...prentice-1.jpg