Shipping company

[Bayne]

This is a logo I designed for a shipping company. I really wanted to explore the use of simple letter shapes and utilize them in a unorthodox, abstract way. I wanted to reflect the nature of nautical elements and scenery, so I chose to incorporate as many things as I could.

I started with the starred D for 'Star'board, then added a couple extra spikes to make it look like a helm on a ship as well. The furthest right spike can also be a telescope, with the viewing scope being projected across the G and S. This can as well be interpreted as the water parting ways as the bow of the ship moves forward.

Being Starboard, everything is orientated to the right. The logo is also designed to look resemble a lighthouse when turned on end.

Not too sure about the Starboard font however. I'm learning about typefaces and what goes with what, so if someone with more knowledge in this area completely disagrees with my choice that would be understandable.

[Cosmic]

I think the font is good. I like it, but one thing that bugs me is that the logo is "backwards". The most important letter in the logo is the S, because the company will be called Starboard for short and the other words in the name are just sort of filler words: goods distributors shipping moving package freight delivery system company limited blah blah blah. The S is the most important letter, but it's half missing in the logo.

[Gothamite]

I agree. The basic idea is sound, but you've applied it to the wrong letter. I'd say that you should be able to use the starred letter on its own as an alternate logo, but you'd never select a "D" for that.

I do like the typefaces.

[beruud]

I like it alot... well done. crisp and clean

[Bayne]

Thanks for the feedback. I've considered that with the 'S', the fact that it's as obscured as it is. Unfortunately that IS the order of the letters and I can't change that lol! Maybe I could broaden the scope of the crop lines and show more of the top parts of the S.....it wouldn't change that much though.

[Gothamite]

I don't think you need the right-most letter to be the starred one. "Everything oriented to the right because, you know, starboard" seems to me one of those design concepts that nobody will actually get when viewing the finished product. Clever enough for a pitch, but not worth forcing into the finished product.

[Cosmic]

It IS really cool that you can turn this logo on its side and it looks like a lighthouse, but don't let that "shiny object" distract you from making a functional logo for the company. Everyone's eyes go straight to the D, and the word that the D represents is really inconsequential. Maybe you could show more S, make the whole S orange and just make the points on the D orange? It might give a nice balance to the logo.

This is a pretty random idea, but I noticed the way the top curl of the G is at an angle where it ends and this is what popped in my head. Imagine the "light beam" came from the S and went right. You would only have to knock out a small section of the left side of the G, because it's so close to where the light begins. Then make the end of the top part of the G and the "hook" on the bottom part of the G angle so that they can continue the contour of the light beam without really cutting out any of the G. If you made the S orange and then put a little orange logo inside the D like a compass or something, it would be like the S is shining an orange light on it and it would give some balance.

Feel free to use or discard any or all as you see fit.

[Cosmic]

I made this quick and dirty mockup of my idea in Paint (obviously) since it takes a lot of words to clumsily describe something that can be shown easily. Forgive me... I really haven't done anything with Paint or Photoshop in years. I think the last Photoshop I used was 5.5 or 6!

[sinistas]

Instead of simulating the lighthouse shape inside of the letters, what if you made the S and G progressively larger than the D? It'd still have the shape and wouldn't make things so messy. Obviously, you can do better than this, but just for a visual:

[Bayne]

^that's an interesting idea that tackles a couple of slight problems at once. Hmmm...thanks!

[Bayne]

Well, I took all of your suggestions on board - I really did - but I eventually landed on only a slightly different design that what I started with. None of my modifications based on some of your ideas resulted in a stronger logo than what this is. All I really did after all my other attempts was broaden the light beam to expose more of the S. If I was more skilled at illustrator I would have saved a capture of all my drafts of your suggestions but I just seem to get all confused when I save stuff I don't want lol.

I only have this as a vertical logo for the business card mockup. It's still designed to be used both horizontal and vertical.

[Cosmic]

It does make a big difference seeing more of the S. I'm just glad you didn't go with the different sizes for each letter; looking at that made me kinda seasick.

[LAWeaver]

I think this could also go in the 'Great use of negative space' thread as well. Good work. Seeing everyone else's logo designs make me want to post some of my work I've made for my mom's new business and my Youth Group logo. (bit of a preview in my avatar; its an alt logo for my mom's business)

[DG_ThenNowForever]

I'm sorry, but that looks like DGS statue of liberty. It's a nice design, but for a different company name. Maybe Distributor of Goods, Starboard?

[Bayne]

It's funny you notice the Statue of Liberty in this design, despite the fact that there are thousands upon thousands of lighthouses in the world which more accurately resemble the shape of this logo.

Not having a go your opinion at all, I'm just making an observation. I guess it just speaks to the global iconography of the Statue.

[BBTV]

I don't think too many lighthouses have penis heads on them. In fact a quick google image search for lighthouses only shows ones that are slimmer at the top, with the only protrusion being a walking deck. It's a nice idea, but it's being forced too much.

Also, based on the lettering, the "goods distributors" is more like a descriptor than something that has equal weight to the company name. Like it should be SGD unless they actually go by "SGD" (basically do they answer their phones "thank you for calling Starboard" or "thank you for calling Starboard Goods Distributors"?) With your design, not only do the two least important letters (the GD) have equal weighting to the S, but it has way more weighting, and the S (the most important letter) is obstructed. That's just not good.

Also, if only one letter is going to be a different color, it should be the S, not the D. I applaud (figuratively) the effort here, but I really think you're trying to hard.

[Bayne]

Valid points. As far as the lighthouse thing....look, if someone is noticing the Statue of Liberty in it, which holds no resemblance the shape at all, then critiquing it for not looking exactly like your standard lighthouse is a bit rich. It's simply supposed to evoke the representation of one. I could argue that the use of negative space is not strictly limited to the sole shape of said lighthouse and that there could be other elements that contribute to it, but what's the point?

[DG_ThenNowForever]

I asked my girlfriend what it looks like. These were her answers:

1. Penis

2. Statue of Liberty

3. Lighthouse

4. What am I supposed to say?

5. Leave me alone.

Again, I think it's a nice design. It's just not doing what you want it to.

And if you look at the basic outline of your logo and then this, I think you'll see with the SofL comparison comes from. I'm not ragging on your design; sometimes what you want to work just doesn't.

[Bayne]

Rofl, seems like pretty much everyone has penis on the brain eh?

People see what people see. You can't argue with that. However black orange and white...those colours are not Statue of Liberty at all. I've chosen colours that do not tie themselves to something else. Clearly it doesn't make much difference.

Perhaps this logo should be used on its side all the time to avoid this problem. It was initially constructed horizontally with a telescope in mind. I could leave the penis/lighthouse symbolism up to those who are inquisitive enough to see it for themselves.

[BBTV]

Yeah but it's one of those things where if even only a few people see it, they'll point it out to others, and then that's all they'll see. Kind of like that billboard that some people said had a swastika in it or something.

You're being a little defensive when there's no need to. Pretty much everyone, including the few detractors are stating that they're impressed by your work. We've all been there where you work hard and are very proud of what you accomplished, and fall in love with it and defend it the same way you would your girlfriend if someone said she was fat (unless of course she really is fat, but your logo isn't an overweight woman.) you need to divorce yourself from it and look at it as if you were an unattached stranger. If that's not possible, the next best thing is posting it here for feedback - you just need to be prepared for criticism.

Maybe scrap the lighthouse idea and try to work a ship into the design - either vertical with the other marks on the right, or horizontal with the marks underneath (which would be the right side). I can think of a way to do this with negative space, but honestly I think a lot of good neg space designs kind of happen by accident - start working on a standard design, and sometimes the opportunity to use the neg space just jumps out at you. It's pretty tough (at least for me - but I'm just a hobbiest / pencil and paper guy, not a pro) to intentionally set out to do a design like that.