Optimus Thread- Apprentice Challenge 4

[ShinyHubCaps]

or in Chinese "family name" format:

[lets_go_red]

Alright guys...I'm really diggin' our turtles and I think we have all but established we are using the pagoda idea. I think we should go with red and yellow for our colors with black for the text. Red and yellow obviously as they are the colors of China and as Shiny has already done would be used with our turtles as well.

[heernumurr]

Ok guys, if the consensus is with the pagoda idea, then I'm more than happy to use it. I definately think we should go with more subtle colours than the red and yellow of the Chinese flag. It will still look very Chinese (check out some pictures of the Forbidden City) and I think it'll fit the abstract imagery a little better. At the minute I'm loving that font in black, but we should probably still keep searching in case there's something even better.

I'm really liking the turtles now, but I think they could do with a little more work to stand out. At the minute they look more like a children's book illustration than the mascots of a major event. There should also be some difference between the two turtles, at the minute I think it would look like we just couldn't be bothered to draw another variation.

I'm going to have a go at the turtles to see what I can come up with. Has anyone posted an .AI file for the pagoda?

[Cola]

^^^

I agree about the colors needing to be a bit more than the China flag colors...I think the burgundy and orange scheme you suggested earlier that I last displayed in a mock-up went together very well and still had the "Chinese" feel in association with the flag's colors.

Here is the logo:

http://www.mediafire.com/?zmgcccimjvc

Here are the turtles:

http://www.mediafire.com/?ggtggicgaji

Could someone take the time to place the chinese characters on the hats? Also...can you ask your friend what it would mean if we shortened the names to "Bei Wu" and "Jing Wu"? The just sound better like that but if they translate to "monkey poo" or "burning diaper" in chinese...then I don't want to take that route.

By the way, are we all at least in agreement with the latest font used by GBM?

[Cola]

by the way, I want everything to be "finalized" by tomorrow night which is August 5th at 11:59pm EST...so let's all start to come together on this- main focus now seems to be the mascots and the font color decision...unless some of you aren't okay with the maroon/burgundy and orange logo scheme- if you aren't, I suggest you post something you think could be better.

[Cola]

Alright, I re-did the package:

- updated font to Phoenix Sans

- two font options

- male/female turtles

- two extra color combinations for those who aren't sold on maroon/orange

- updated pole banner with above changes

Constructive comments needed so we can proceed.

[heernumurr]

Top left all the way. I think we should finalise that as our logo as soon as possible. If a vote is called while I'm offline, count me as a huge YES for that one.

I had thought of changing the colours of the turtles, to pretty much those colours. I want to try something with them, so I'll get it posted whenever I can.

[heernumurr]

By the way, Bei means "Northern" and Jing means "Capital". Can we use this somehow in the style of the turtles, or does it make the whole idea of using them as names a little silly?

[gingerbreadmann]

-OK... I asked him but he's headed to New York sometime today so I don't know if he'll be able to respond.

-I also prefer the top left but I still think we need something brighter, whether the orange is brighter or what. Though to be honest the other two options are growing on me... especially bottom right. What if we used pewter somehow?

-I agree on the font.

-Are we decided that we're using your pagoda, or are you just using it as an example?

-I strongly think the 5 rings should go below the wordmark.

-Could you post a SVG of the mascots and logo?

-For the turtles, I do like the pink and blue a lot, though there should definitely be some difference between them somehow in physical features.

[Cola]

-OK... I asked him but he's headed to New York sometime today so I don't know if he'll be able to respond.

-I also prefer the top left but I still think we need something brighter, whether the orange is brighter or what. Though to be honest the other two options are growing on me... especially bottom right. What if we used pewter somehow?

I hope you don't mind, but I am personally going to scratch the bottom right color scheme...too easy for people to see it, myself included, as "winter" Olympics...or at least it gives off that cold vibe.

-Are we decided that we're using your pagoda, or are you just using it as an example?

-I strongly think the 5 rings should go below the wordmark.

-Could you post a SVG of the mascots and logo?

-For the turtles, I do like the pink and blue a lot, though there should definitely be some difference between them somehow in physical features.

Well I guess the vote wasn't unanimous but we are a little late in the game to be 2nd guessing ourselves...unless someone comes up with a solid altering of the original logo or something simply amazing that is new...I think it is our best route.

The 5 rings can easily go below the wordmark, that seems to be uniform in other Olympic designs.

I'll post an SVG of the mascot and logo as well.

Also, what about the setup of the wordmark...does everyone like the beijing08 or do you think 2008 needs to be spelled out? i personally think the beijing08 looks good and fits well with the design. i went with the lower case "b" because the capital was bugging me.

i need some more input and confirmation on these...shiny, letsgoreds, bruschi...where ya at? william i will stand by for your mascot logos...and if you feel confident enough in them once you post, add the AI file (CS2 compatible) just in case there is little communication in between the time I log back on.

MASCOT SVG:

http://www.mediafire.com/?4bijyn2u2w2

LOGO SVG:

http://www.mediafire.com/?0einimmwwgi

[Cola]

Alright, I did a little research and found out that Xuan Wu translates to "black/mysterious thing". Which makes sense because it is one of the mythical animals in Chinese mythology that is to look over a certain part of a Chinese life and bring fortune. I looked further and found that turtle/tortoise simply was translated to "gui". So I added the male/female to it and got "nugui" and nangui". That may not be totally accurate, but I did research it to the best of my ability. Knowing our luck, one of the judges has a Chinese parent or took 3 level of Chinese in college! I digress...

Below is what our final submission would look like if we submitted it TODAY...although at this point, nothing is final and written in stone. Look over it, tell me what you like and don't like...I'm still waiting to hear from 3 of you in particular. I am going to do a small write-up for each portion tonight in preparation to submit everything.

(i made up those color names so they would be more specific to our design and the Olympic games themselves)

[heernumurr]

That is all looking good to me. We should have a very polished presentation. Remember the explanation of our logos, the judges were pretty harsh about our lack of one last time.

A lot of stuff has just come up for me tomorrow, so I doubt I'll be able to make the changes I wanted to the turtles. My main idea was simply to try some form of black outline, just to give the different parts better definition. If anyone feels they could execute it in the time we have left I'd like to see it. I will be able to check in tomorrow before the deadline, so if there's any final input needed I'll be able to contribute.

[gingerbreadmann]

I hope you don't mind, but I am personally going to scratch the bottom right color scheme...too easy for people to see it, myself included, as "winter" Olympics...or at least it gives off that cold vibe.

Well I guess the vote wasn't unanimous but we are a little late in the game to be 2nd guessing ourselves...unless someone comes up with a solid altering of the original logo or something simply amazing that is new...I think it is our best route.

The 5 rings can easily go below the wordmark, that seems to be uniform in other Olympic designs.

I'll post an SVG of the mascot and logo as well.

Also, what about the setup of the wordmark...does everyone like the beijing08 or do you think 2008 needs to be spelled out? i personally think the beijing08 looks good and fits well with the design. i went with the lower case "b" because the capital was bugging me.

i need some more input and confirmation on these...shiny, letsgoreds, bruschi...where ya at? william i will stand by for your mascot logos...and if you feel confident enough in them once you post, add the AI file (CS2 compatible) just in case there is little communication in between the time I log back on.

Alright, if you insist, but I'm still not satisfied with our current scheme.

I meant between yours and mine.

Great, I think it looks much better.

beijing08 is beautiful how you have it(though without the outline). I think either would look fine though, and previous ones have spelled it out.

Also, I tried to differentiate the turtles, through hat shape, face shape, eye formation, dot formation, etc. Is it passable?

EDIT: I also had 3 last-minute ideas, all similar to each other.

here is the main idea, and two others. (please look at the others, I made a big stylization). Ignore the colors and red splotch in the top right on all 3.

[ShinyHubCaps]

Two things from Cola's last presentation:

1.) I'm not thrilled with how the "08" looks with just the outline. I didn't think the spacing was an issue in the multi-color versions, but it looks a bit different in the single color ones (the all-black background, for example). The thin lines on the outline don't look good with the bold strokes on the logo. I'd say to space it out more and/or use "2008" like GBM did on his logo above.

2.) I prefer the normal-looking pattern on the tortoises' chests. The logo on the chest is clever, but somehow the proportions don't work well enough to make it look normal.

Everything else looks great! I'm not sure if the colors aren't still too obvious... Also, what are the characters on the above turtles, GBM? I prefer the Bei on one and Jing on the other, because they look good together. Especially if they were displayed side-by-side or with adjoining hands, you know?

[mania]

I agree about the chest.

And damn, Cola, looks like you're INSPIRING tonight with posting our presentation ideas.

[Cola]

- Alright, the chest will be changed back to the original- just wanted to see if you guys noticed the change and if you liked it.

- As far as the outline on the 08, it is the only way for it to work in a 2 color scheme. I don't really see how it conflicts with the rest of the logo...I think you may be looking a little bit too deep to see that in relation to the logo. If others have issue with it, I can change that too...but for now, I think it can still work. I will try to use 2008 as a whole, but I think it also makes the logo unbalanced unless I shrink the whole wordmark down. I'll try that at least.

- GBM, on your latest logo update- I think it looks nice...but a little too late to take a gamble on a change like that. Basically, the logo now appears unbalanced- and I think balance is important in a Olympic logo especially when it comes to branding or merchandising. If we were to go with it, it almost appears we did it that way from our original just for the sake of being different and adding *possibly* unnecessary flare to it.

Any other suggestions? It is possible that the final presentation will be posted late tonight instead of early in the morning- depending on my personal schedule.

[Cola]

Updated the wordmark from beijing08 to beijing 2008. thoughts? i was also thinking that using 08 in some places would be acceptable as well as using 2008 in the same marketing strategy, correct?

[Cola]

alright since some of you are being quiet today, i am just going to assume that shiny and gbm's comments about the 2008 are the crowd favorite.

[Cola]

I agree about the chest.

And damn, Cola, looks like you're INSPIRING tonight with posting our presentation ideas.

I see that...

Well, I am done with the presentation but will delay posting because of a few surprise elements, but hopefully everything is final now. Speak soon or forever hold your peace!

I think we have a solid package- in fact, I have shown it to a few others across the internet and they think it is much better than the current ambiguous Beijing logo! Go Optimus!

[lets_go_red]

I like it a lot...the only thing I'm still not a fan of is the orange. The all red and white ones are pure sexiness- but if I'm in the minority about the orange then I can roll with it. I think it is easily better than the actual Beijing logo. Good work everybody and Go Optimus!!!