WIP: Logo for Sound Company

[flingster]

personally i prefer the top image....sounds harsh after no doubt you've put a lots of time into it. :eek: I'm not trying to be though!

I'll explain...the brown tone....olde worldie....fits with the subject matter....eg...old style mic...and old style sepia film stock. I also like the reflections better on the mic base.

That said....i presume the client wanted an update...and its a good job....I like the purple film stock....and the smokey feel to it all....sort of Jazz bar (movie) style....possibly a plush velvet to place the mic on or something like that to really enhance and stylize it more. The metal bit between the mic base and the mic if far better on the purple image.

And hey what do i know...its a personal opinion right. Hope these comments help....really what i'm saying is its good but i would like to get more of a style/theme coming across....then again I do think you make it very hard by drawing the comparision.
good luck:thumbsup:

[amapimaster]

looks good - your updated image has much more depth/atmosphere to it!

I think the base could do with a bit more reflection. I think one good thing about the top image is that you can see the square holes of the film casting a shadow over the base of the mic. Your shadows at the moment look like two curves, maybe if you increased the shadowmap res you would be able to see a more effective shadow. Also you could adjust the direction of the light so the shadow of the film is cast across the base of the mic?

;)

[Per-Anders]

just a personal thing but i'd not have noise on the actual light, just on it's visibility, maybe give that a bit more falloff, and falloff on the cone as well. i also agree that the anisotropic effect of the specular on the original was nicer/stronger, that wouldnt be too hard to change. there's a strange horizontal curve in the background, is that a part of it? it looks like it's coming off the mic, or maybe is part of a round stage? seems little odd, and clutters up the composition slightly for me... ok i just looked again it's the cable, but maybe this shouldnt be visible beyond the edge of the light itself? a nice thing about the film in the top image is that it's transparent to the point where you can see the mic through it... maybe the client specified to make it opaque, but to me it does look a little like two strips of steel rather than film (despite their shapes), maybe that shouldbe a bit more transparent? the materials that the switch on the stand is made of is reflection a little bit too much and looks a little light, mebbe darken it's material slightly. also to add a little bit more interest to the scene add a few lights that emit specular only, perhaps slightly coloured or something, just to give a little more interest to the metal really, or alternatively use a subtle blurred environment map.

i know it's a long harsh list, but it's me nittpicking again, so you just take or leave what you want off of there, and whatever you think's valid or not based on the project

[CosmicBear]

@mdme: i think, that 'strange horizontal curve' is the cable leading toward the microphone.

i like the idea of using an old-style-microphone as a logo.

what i like more about the original picture is the fact, that the microphone is much better 'in place' and uses more of the format.

the newly designed mic is more interessting as it offers more details and different things to look at.

i too agree, that you can work on your lighting a bit to give it more depth.

from a graphic-artist-point of view (i've been in corporate design for about eight years now) both images are not really usable as a logo. sorry! i would like to see the letters that the company uses. if you want to use this logo as a letterhead, you will have to print it quite small. and unless you are using half of the page, you will loose lots of details on it. imagine using it as a black and white-version in a newspaper or really, really small on a business-card. it will end up being a small darkbrown piece of color on the paper unless you print out the business-cards individually on an inkjet- or color-laser-printer.
using a picture of something is kinda expensive for the client, because no matter what you produce, you will always have to produce everything in 4c and unless you can asure, that it's always designed and printed by the same company, you can easily end up with totally different looking images colourwise

[Anadin]

Thanks very much for the feedback guys! :)

I'll try and address them all.

Yes it is a cable and I agree - it needs to go (I think I will just photoshop it out though:)

You have all hit it on the head with the 'film' I think it was what is bugging me about it. The client wants it purple instead of brown but I think if I make it darker and more transparent it may be better.

Thanks for the tip about the shadow map, Realsoft didn't use them but I could not use soft lights and volumetrics at the same time and you may have noticed the wierd stepped shadow in the light.

I also agree that you are all right about reflection. The previous 'steel' was better. I am not as good with SLA as I was with VSL in Realsoft. I'm going to work on it.

You don't want to know how many times I moved lights about to stop the switch being overbright. I'll go and fiddle more - I think it ma by a combination of shader and lighting there.

Also, thanks for the tip on logo design. You are right, but he is quite adamant that this is what he wants. It is for film etc. I may do a differnet logo for paper with the mike on it's own and text next to it.

Once again thanks. Check back for a new version soon!

[Anadin]

OK I have done some work on this, what do you think?

It took me ages to notice the Diffuse channel in the DANEL shader - it was casuing me all sorts of problems.

[Anadin]

Try adding the pic then...

http://www.phoenixstar.uk.com/images/finalmaybe.jpg

[Anadin]

OK, and I know the base is a bit dark - working on that...

[AdamT]

Much better. I still find the cord a little too prominent/distracting. I'd like it better trailing more behind the mike like in the original.

[flingster]

very nice....definitely an improvement bud.
the size of the cable feels right...maybe position....but more likely needs to be more dull...(sorry about the lack of techie terminology!)....possibly work on material of cable....is it old style rubber....cloth....etc this is of cause being a bit picky as it just needs tweeking really....you need to bare in mind the viewers eye will be drawn that way...so maybe darkening the edge area of the image where the cable would disappear into the dark may restrict this movement. On the whole i like it a lot more though...nice work. glad you kept the mic style....

[Per-Anders]

i still think that the light shouldn't cast a "cloudy" light on the ground... just looks somehow wrong to me, mabe two light sources, one visible wiht more cloud but no diffuse or specular, and another not visible, but less noise casting the diffuse and specular... it jsut seems way too strong... and normally in clubs it's only the visible light that's cloudy, not so much the ground where it lights it up (which is usually bleached out by the brightness of the light). but it's looking better, the film logo is tons better :thumbsup:

[Anadin]

thanks everyone for the comments. Mdme-Sadie, I kind of agree with you on the light, but I have the client here and he likes this one best - what do you do?

I'll post the biz card/letterhead version in a day or two.

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