The second goat looks too jittery. The first monkey looks like it is holding pickles.
IMHO, I would like to see them with bigger cups too, it took me a few to figure out what they were holding.
Now for the positive, I like the rounded soft look to the letters and the incorporation of the animals is very spiff. Are these logos going to be for the site or for CG Baristaware action utilities as mentioned in the long lost thread?
If a toilet paper company can use a bear pooping in the woods on their commercials, why not the coffeegeek site using a civet cat in the woods. I like the stationary goat, the right side up monkey and the cow.
Jon R.
Rawman the Expobarbarian.. AKA the Original Jon R.
I'd be wary of going too far in the doodled animal direction. Combined with the whimsical typography it looks a bit like what you would find on a 5-year-old's birthday card.
What would (imo) be cool, was Coffeegeek lettering with silhouettes of press pots, espresso cups, latte cups, moka pots, etc. in front (smaller of course), in a way hinting at the diverse array of coffee preparation methods.
Beware of using actual geeks in the logo though. Please ;)
I'm with flippant on the animals--too cutesy for me. I also like the idea of making icons out of coffee hardware, along the lines of the cup in the current cg logo. There could be a tamper icon, a grinder icon, a bean icon, a travel mug icon, etc.
Alas, I agree with the anti-animal/anti-cute group. My take . . . people here are serious (perhaps too serious? nah) about coffee. This is recognized and the name itself reflects the tension between having a sense of humor and laughing at yourself for taking coffee too seriously and yet . . . still taking it too seriously.
Alf Clausen, the guy who does the music for the Simpsons, was being interviewed about a lot of the musicals they do and why they are so funny. He said he insists that everyone play it serious, act as if they were doing sincere Broadway and let the humor in the writing be the funny part. As he put it, "You can't Vaudeville Vaudeville." Similarly here, what's makes this place funny, to me, is taking it seriously.
From a graphic designer's perspective, the red and brown initial letters don't read well. It might be fine on the side of a cup, however, in the web environment when users are bombarded with text visuals, don't give them something that takes longer to read than it should. It's the Hillmancurtis argument.
I would suggest using one colour for each word, or using one colour for coffeegeek, then a second colour for the tagline. Would it be possible to use other colours than red (yes, coffee berries), brown and green? I'd like to think green has more to do with green coffee than the green giant (you know WHO we're talking about here...). To be truly distinctive, to give coffeegeek it's OWN distinctive look, moving away from the traditional coffee colours would be advantageous. However, changing the look and feel (the attitude) of the site wholesale would cause the brand to lose some of its equity. What about using a dark navy blue as the background, the cherry red for coffee and white (negative space) within the navy? This isn't a concrete suggestion, but hopefully it gets you thinking about other colours. Again, using brown and green detracts from coffeegeek's presence as a unique and distinct entity in the coffee industry/community.
I like the use of the animals; it provides distinction and a memorable symbol for the sites' less frequent users. For those more serious among us, I don't think having a Civet will turn us off from this site, to say, www.coffeeforums.com!
Can the outlining width be reduced, and the drop shadows be eliminated?
With everything you do in design, you must ask, "why this way?" Never because "it looks cool."
Otherwise, it's good to see you're aware of the branding and design aspect of the site! Shoot if you have any questions, or need clarification.
I have held the coffeegeek tag as a red badge of courage... I believe poking fun at how straight these forums can sometimes be would be an idea.... I always envisioned the espresso cup under an electron microscope as good logo....or a milano espresso cup with glasses..... i don't know...
ps.... I am reading the tale of the goat... thanks for the link...
DOM...evil genius ...Up to no good in espresso at all times... VIVA la parts de Espresso
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