My first "logo"

[hhfranks]

I am a counselor at Prime Time sports camp in Los Angeles. It is a summer camp for 5-14 year olds. I had to be there early one day so I decided to make a logo. I have never really done a logo before. I just sketched it by hand at first and then the camp director saw it and told me he thought it was good and that he wanted to show it to the head of the whole camp. I told him I would clean it up and bring it back. I realize this is not even 3-D, but it is not meant to be perfectly realistic looking. It is more cartoonish than anything. After all it is for a camp for kids. I wanted to stay true to the current logo in making the "Time" bolder than the "Prime" so I decided to use just sports fields for "Time." It may be hard to tell what all of the letters are. So:

P: baseball bat, tennis racket, tennis ball

R: hockey stick, football flag, golf club

I: basketball hoop

M: two players shooting a basketball into a hoop

E: football, soccer ball, lacrosse stick, baseball

T: football field, soccer field

I: basketball court

M: baseball diamond, two golf "fairways"

E: track and field oval, hockey rink, tennis court, swimming pool

Here it is:

[Bearcats]

Creative.

Maybe someone with more talent than me could help clean that up for you a little.

[-kj]

Um, uh, er, uh....

Ok, I know it's your first work and all, so I'll try and be as nice about this, but... it's really bad. (Okay, so maybe that wasn't so nice.)

One of the basic tenets of good design is that most of the time, less really is more. I can appreciate that you're trying to work in the different sports, but this really isn't the way to do it. The fact that you said yourself that it may be hard to tell what some of the letters are cuts to the heart of a lot of the problems.

First and foremost, I'd avoid trying to use the fields and other miscellaneous things to make the letters--it's really distracting, and looks jumbled. It'd probably be best to create the words in a typeface, and style that. Then, work in some elements from the sports, in conjunction with the lettering, to create something that works together. Not all of the sports involved with the camp need to be involved in making the logo, I imagine; otherwise, it could end up looking just as cluttered.

I presume this is the place. The logo they have now is very clean, which I can appreciate, but I can see why you'd be interested in making something different--it's very stoic and uninspiring.

The best advice I can give (and, granted, I'm not a design professional, just someone who dabbles) someone starting out is to just take your time and really work on the concept aspect of the design, rather than just putting something down. Take a look at other logos, get an idea of styles that you like and that fit the project you're working on. (But do not go just stealing elements.) Once you're at the point where you're going to draw it out, take your time to polish it, rather than just letting your first run through be your final product. Think to yourself, "would I be proud to wear this or attach my name to it?" If not, keep going. If the concept you've developed before drawing is strong, you'll eventually get your drawing to the point it needs to be.

I know this was a lot. But I didn't want to just say "this isn't good" without giving some constructive advice. My apologies if it comes across as harsh.

[Stampman]

I like the general idea--but the 2 "E"'s are not clear--especially the second--still this is a good premise to take and develop and clean up--

I especially like the "M" with the ball diamond and golf holes...

[VitaminD]

It's very creative, and I like the idea as a concept, but it's next to impossible to make this vision come to life.

There is so much intricate detail involved here that much of your concept is jumbled on this larger version. Now imagine having to shrink this for letterhead and merchandising (keychains), or make it black and white for newspaper ads, fax copies. It will be a mess of lines, and it will become even harder to make out what you're trying to convey. If I didn't deduce the rest of the words, I'd need another hour to identify the last letter in the 2nd word.

Mockba's advice on "less is more" is invaluable. Come up with a font you like - that's legible - then add 1 or 2 design elements from your original design that convey the idea of athletics/athletic equipment.

This could work, but it needs to be streamlined a bunch.

[xsf27]

Good effort, hhfranks!

For the most part, I do agree with Mockba's advice, however I have to commend ur effort to style ur logo as playful as can be (u r after all trying to appeal to kids).

As a designer, I thought I'd throw in my two cents. As a logo u want it to stand out, be legible and have some continuity. As such, here are some suggestions:

- Try to only incorporate one (at most two) elements for each character - having any more would only clutter it.

- One way you can group many elements together is to have a border around it.

- Utilise only a core number of colours (maybe one or two main colours together with one or two highlights).

- U can substitute other colours for 'real' colours (e.g. a blue grid iron ball is still a grid iron ball).

- Try to think of colours which sports have in common (e.g. green seems to be prevalent on most sports field).

- Different colours emote different feelings (e.g. a lot of teams use red because this connotes passion).

- Cut back on the realism, but instead try to get to the 'essence' of of what u're portraying (this is called 'abstracting' - e.g. instead of drawing to whole racquet, just trace the outline - it would still be unmistakable as such)

- Have a common 'theme' that would make it cohesive (e.g. the same style with which each character is drawn)

Hope u find these thoughts helpful & keep up the good work!!