So I’m finally getting around to redesigning my portfolio in Webflow, and I’m now designing my logo for it - There’s three versions of the logo below, each version is pictured both both large & also scaled down with my name
I Live on the west coast of Canada so my inspiration is coming from the rugged mountains, waves & surfing around here, and a sense of minimalism. I appreciate any constructive feedback/or direction as to which logo is best I think my personal Fav is the middle one (three waves).
I’d go with the three waves.
You could do a bit more with the whiting on the mountains. To give them a little more depth. I think bob ross made quite a video on that part.
Yup, found it: - YouTube
@Diu Thanks! LOL good ol’ B. Ross. I had dabbled earlier with adding more white but it felt much too busy at a smaller size, might give it another shot though, thanks for the input!
Well done so far, I think you know exactly what you want
Here are some quick tips I’ve learnt along the way says this webflow ole’Man
Simplicity always wins (especially with logos)
. Too much for the brain to try to understand is whats known as visual friction.
. The sensory memory kicks in, and within 1-3 seconds, a user knows if the visual is pleasing to one’s eyes… after that, the short term memory kicks in and our cognative overload is lost if there are more than 9 items the eyes have to try to take in.
[ update* I see now your visual motivation ]
What this leads me to is…whats the story behind your brand identity? I see Mountains + Waves - is this personal to you? Do you surf and climb mountains, or help businesses reach their peaks while they traverse rough waters… Storytellling is HUGE in today’s space where you need to stand out in the crowd and differentiate because there are so many ‘me2’ shops, its a saturated market.
Can you get your visual thought across with two mountain peaks, and one or two waves? More so, what do you want your customers thinking when they first see your logo… If its just a pleasing visual, then you may need to go back to the visual brand.Lab drawing board.
The other mainstay I’ve learnt from amazing designers that have mentored me…is drill it down to what it looks like small… tons of logos can look great with detail at 400px - but when small, all those peak accents will be lost and cause me friction trying to understand what it means.
Here’s my tip for you… Look at the letters in your name… maybe the A can be a peak, or can you include the line structure of your initials… Also look at how the brandMark can sit next to your brandName - and by itself.
lastly, waves can be designed with less lines…
You’re off to a great start, breath in everyone’s feedback and take our constructive criticism with a grain of salt, remember, you have to live with this logo 24hrs a day…so you BEST BE LOVIN’ IT #nowGObeGREAT
@LvnLife LOL You sound like you stole the notes from my graphic design professor heh. Thanks for the feedback, largely things I have considered
Yes as is listed in the description hiking & surfing are my inspiration - which is reflected in parallel to helping clients reach new heights & experiences
-The logo was designed at 150 pixels wide in illustrator for the that very reason, you can scale up better then scaling down.
-I’m still thinking about the sizes of the white cutouts on the peaks - but very content with it overall right now, no free time between client work & adding templates to the webflow marketplace
Not touching the name, it is not to be incorporated into the logo, in most use cases it will appear in completely separate places all together including business cards (going with a split white/black design, name on one half, logo on other) (and for example see the screenshot of my portfolio you can see the separation of name & logo) etc , was more just showing the font I chose - but thanks for the thought
-Waves could be designed with 1 line if I wanted them that way
Thanks for the feedback, I do appreciate it I think I’ve got pretty sound reasoning for these choices but if you think I’ve missed somethin’ lemme know.
I think, if you’re going for minimal, It could be a lot simpler. (Look at Quiksilver) For one, I think you could cut down on the number of peaks. Maybe 3 at most. As for the waves, if you’re going to have more than one, try to pay attention to how they start. Right now, they all start a little differently and you loose a lot of consistency and rhythm that could help the piece flow better together. I like that you’ve thought about how it looks small… but I’m not sure you’ve thought small enough. What would it look like as a favicon? I also think this particular logo would benefit with some of the Golden Ratio applied! For example, the height of the wave in relation to the mountain, or one wave in relation to another. And finally, you have this nice neature scene as a logo, but then you use pure black and pure white which actually appear almost no where in nature. I wonder if even just darkening the white and lightening the black just a smidge would feel more natural?
Anyway. Just my initial thoughts. I love the look of your portfolio in that shot! Very creative.
Hey @DrewPalko thanks for the feedback! You make some good points.
I actually did a version with just three peaks, but I wasn’t too sold on it, I should reproach the idea though (but I’m going for minimal as in flat, one color, fairly simple, not three lines an calling it a day haha).
The waves believe it or not started out the same (Cmd+drag in illustrator you know) butttttt it looked too consistent or boring lol, might just be me?
The favicon, as many major brands do, will just be one small snippet/piece of the logo. I like the suggestion of the golden ratio. I thought about the contast in color to nature, perhaps I’ll tone down the black as you said (there is no white, the waves & peak shapes are cutout) but the logo itself is also used in white.
Here is a higher quality png of where I last left off after posting, meant to post this the other day, but going to start experimenting with changing things up in the coming days:
Also appreciate the kind words on the portfolio! I’ve actually started that style and one other, still deciding which to commit to before I go further lol:
I think my personal Fav is the middle one (three waves).
