Optimus Thread- Apprentice Challenge 4

[Cola]

Here's a quick idea for a stylised dragon. Might be too simple, my first concept of each challenge is usually pretty crap!

william, have you done anything else with this dragon head? any way you can put a body on it? i keep scrolling through and I am really starting to like it...it is abstract and makes me think of a celebration like the dragon parades they have. i was thinking of a body style like this, just as abstract and "solid" as your head so far:

[gingerbreadmann]

That's what I was thinking... (well... this post) not necessarily those colors you used specifically, but my main point is even if people didn't want to use the flag colors (Athens used the Greek blue, but still) I think we should use colors not at all tied to the 5 rings. Even if we wanted to have a Chinese carnival feel, I think we could choose different colors.

Wow, I just now noticed that yours is a pagoda too Cola. At first I thought they were a row of house roofs looking down from above. interesting. I only removed the top 2 stories because I didn't want the logo to be to heavy vertically. I don't think it has to be 100% historically accurate if people get the idea, and I think 3 or even 4 stories should clearly imply the pagoda look and I think we should use as few stories as possible to preserve a decent aspect ratio.

So you're saying the left and right parts should basically be touching? Easy fix.

Regarding the turtles, I think they're great. Certainly in line with the last few Olympics as cute, child-friendly animals. I think they would work now, but some things I would fix are maybe some thicker lines, and should we go for a more anime-ish look? I don't know, just a thought.

[Cola]

Wow, I just now noticed that yours is a pagoda too Cola. At first I thought they were a row of house roofs looking down from above. interesting. I only removed the top 2 stories because I didn't want the logo to be to heavy vertically.

Ha- yeah, a pagoda. If you put them closer together, the negative space works in your favor much better (also, don't rotate each side as much either) to appear as a pagoda without forcing it much.

Regarding the turtles, I think they're great. Certainly in line with the last few Olympics as cute, child-friendly animals. I think they would work now, but some things I would fix are maybe some thicker lines, and should we go for a more anime-ish look? I don't know, just a thought.

I'm clueless when it comes to anime...I hate it all so I don't pay attention to it or anything...but I know people over there go crazy over that stuff and obviously in the States as well- go for it, I'd like to see what you come up with there. Even if you do some sketches, I'll try and help vector if you need it.

[gingerbreadmann]

Regarding the turtles, I think they're great. Certainly in line with the last few Olympics as cute, child-friendly animals. I think they would work now, but some things I would fix are maybe some thicker lines, and should we go for a more anime-ish look? I don't know, just a thought.

I'm clueless when it comes to anime...I hate it all so I don't pay attention to it or anything...but I know people over there go crazy over that stuff and obviously in the States as well- go for it, I'd like to see what you come up with there. Even if you do some sketches, I'll try and help vector if you need it.

Lol, I'm the exact same way. I don't pay any attention to it either, but I could try do something -- mainly with the eyes, though, cause that's all I can think of relating to anime style.

Edit: I tweaked my logo to move the pieces closer together and added a story. I'm not attached to the font, but I like it because it's simple, kind of abstract, and I really like the little slashes on the ends of the letters. I still don't know what to do for colors so I left them.

[Cola]

^^^

rotate your pieces on the left to about 45 degrees and reflect the same with the right side...it will help the negative space better to make the pagoda appear to be viewed from the ground at a 45 degree angle. with your current, it looks more like a straight on. know what i mean?

[ShinyHubCaps]

I think that the pitched look is a lot better than the flat one for the pagoda. My favorite so far is this logo across the board, but I wonder if it is too simple. Conversely, the dragons update I posted looks too complex, so it depends on how you want to split it. The modern font is better because it looks cleaner and less stereotypical... I'd hate to submit a Chinese brush font and find out it has a negative connotation or something in Chinese culture. So while safe, the clean serif font in the logo (linked above) probably works the best.

The only thing I can say about the colors is that the colors of the Olympic rings might be too busy. They are also obvious, but my concern is that there are too many of them. The Olympic rings are universally recognized, and people don't think about how many colors they employ. However, if we are trying to make a bold yet simple logo, we should do what past Olympic logos have done and adopt our own colors. GBM had the right idea about colors, but they may be too obvious.

[ShinyHubCaps]

Here are some Olympic mascots from the past... The theme is that they have regressed toward appealing to children. USA used a bald eagle and Australia a platypus, so a native animal is not out of the question... I like Cola's tortoises, but I don't like having five of them. In fact, this year is the first year that the Olympics has had five mascots, so our decision to use five may look like we were copying the current Beijing set. Just a thought. I will try to work on some alternative mascots tomorrow.

[mania]

Here's a quick idea for a stylised dragon. Might be too simple, my first concept of each challenge is usually pretty crap!

william, have you done anything else with this dragon head? any way you can put a body on it? i keep scrolling through and I am really starting to like it...it is abstract and makes me think of a celebration like the dragon parades they have. i was thinking of a body style like this, just as abstract and "solid" as your head so far:

See, I like the dragon head, with some work, of course, but could see it as more of a mascot logo (especially if we go for the roof-based logo) than an actual Olympic logo.

[heernumurr]

Hey guys, sorry for my absence and I'm afraid I'll be gone a little longer yet. Will still be able to check in but won't have time for any concepts until Monday. That said, I have a few ideas so when you guys check the board on Monday I should have posted a bunch of stuff.

I'll see about the dragon mascot/logo. I assume you want me to stay with the abstract theme? I'll try and update it with a couple of options for the body. Have you thought about using those colours for the logo? It would still look Chinese and would stay with Cola's ethnic idea. I'm just finding GBM's colour scheme too loud or primary. I t just doesn't say "Olympics" to me at the minute.

As for the turtle mascots, I can draw a bit of anime, so I can try to work on what Cola has already posted. I think it would be a nice direction to explore, as I really like the turtle idea.

[heernumurr]

Here's a really bad photoshop to show what I mean about the colours.

Having trouble making an anime turtle without making it look exactly like a bloody pokemon. Will try a few different ideas though.

[Cola]

See, I like the dragon head, with some work, of course, but could see it as more of a mascot logo (especially if we go for the roof-based logo) than an actual Olympic logo.

Oh my bad...that is what I meant for it to be used- for the mascot logo, not the Olympic logo.

[Cola]

Have you thought about using those colours for the logo?

Maybe that is why I liked it so much in the first place, because I think this looks much better now- the colors immediately say "China" to me and the orange-ish shade really compliments the deep red almost burgundy color. how do you all feel about the charcoal font? think the color of that is okay?

[Cola]

Thoughts on the new colors used above, team? Let's start voicing some opinions so we can get something in concrete here and move forward to discuss the mascot issue- we can simultaneously make any edits after that.

So for right now, I need everyone on the team to comment on these issues:

- logo: which one, dragon heads or abstract pagoda?

- logo colors: olympic ring colors, the newest color options above, or some of the previous posted?

- font: do you like it/are you confident in it?

- font color: is charcoal okay or should we go all the way with black? maybe another color?

i want to get a general consensus of the team's feelings on these issues by tonight.

[Cola]

I got bored and decided to bring a little something extra to the table to show off the logo as it could in real life, a custom downtown Beijing street pole with banner:

[mania]

Thoughts on the new colors used above, team? Let's start voicing some opinions so we can get something in concrete here and move forward to discuss the mascot issue- we can simultaneously make any edits after that.

So for right now, I need everyone on the team to comment on these issues:

- logo: which one, dragon heads or abstract pagoda?

I actually prefer the dragon heads, I really love the look, but if everyone else thinks pagoda, it's very nice too.

- logo colors: olympic ring colors, the newest color options above, or some of the previous posted?

I like the all red, honestly. Not sold on the red/orange/grey mix. If we go with the Dragons, I think we need to keep the Olympic colors.

- font: do you like it/are you confident in it?

I could go either way. It's serviceable, but nothing extraordinary.

- font color: is charcoal okay or should we go all the way with black? maybe another color?

As I said, I really like the all-red if we're going with the Pagoda. If we go with the dragon heads, I think black would be the best.

[mania]

Also, I'm going to Chinatown here tomorrow... partially to shop, but also to see if anything jumps out at me for inspiration. I'll take my digital camera and post whatever it is I see.

[lets_go_red]

Logo: I'm with bruschi the dragons just really jump out at me...but the pagoda idea is definitely servicable as well

Colors: The dragon heads should keep the ring colors. The pagoda I like in Red and Yellow.

Font: It is good, but I think we can find something better

Font Color: The grey isn't working for me with the pagoda. I'm up in the air and I think it will be based off of the logo color which will be based on the logo. So basically, I think we are at the turning point in the challenge. It is time to concentrate on one of the logos- once that happens the other things will fall into place.

[ShinyHubCaps]

- logo: which one, dragon heads or abstract pagoda?

- logo colors: olympic ring colors, the newest color options above, or some of the previous posted?

- font: do you like it/are you confident in it?

- font color: is charcoal okay or should we go all the way with black? maybe another color?

1.) I like the pagoda. Either logo could be understood as concrete or abstract depending on how we present it, but the pagoda looks more like an Olympic-ready logo.

2.) I'd say the newest colors (above) for the pagoda. If we went with the dragons, then I'd go Olympic ring colors. On the whole, however, Olympic logos don't use the colors of the rings, but rather their own schemes with one to four colors. So red and orange for the pagoda, ring colors for the dragon should we go that route.

3.) I like the new font, as it is clean and less (stereo)typical. It is definitely too bold, though, and should be slimmed down horizontally. I'd like to maybe see the Chinese for "Beijing," as well.

4.) The charcoal officially gives us 8 colors in the full-color version, and that's probably too many. I'd look to consolidate that, and it looks very clean in the two-color versions. I'd like to see it with orange.

[Cola]

shiny, where are you seeing 8 colors? in my latest update I used 3- a burgundy/maroon, an orange, and the charcoal. you can't really count the ring colors in the scheme- those are a given and have to stay the same by a standard.

[ShinyHubCaps]

shiny, where are you seeing 8 colors? in my latest update I used 3- a burgundy/maroon, an orange, and the charcoal. you can't really count the ring colors in the scheme- those are a given and have to stay the same by a standard.

I counted the ring colors as printing colors, such as on a shirt or an ad. They wouldn't count for a print ad, but they might on merchandise.