19 replies to this topic

[Marroon]

Hello, Some of you may have read my toher thread about me designing a mini 50 limited edition as well as a brochure and accesories for my final project in graphic design at college.

Here are the logo ideas ive got so far,
Please could you say which one you prefere / disslike, What you think of the colours, shape, and what would you change.
Basically just constructive critisism, Ive only numbered 6 of the ideas as they are the ones i feel looked best, however your free to choose one thats not numbered.

I will then print screen your replys and print them off for research,
Thanks in advance Matt.

[Linzi]

Number 4. Simple yet effective, the use of black n white with only the flag for colour makes it stand out from the rest at first glance. Use of the flag shows the British origin of the Mini. The ones with red/white/blue diagonal stripes although good give the impression that the Mini is French or something. Also the colours of the others make the design seem a bit busy, the meaning is kinda lost having a coloured "badge" and black 5 if you understand what I mean?

[Marroon]

Yeah, the idea of the gold was 50th is gold annerversary, but i dont think it works like id want it too, especially when printed. Yeah mum mensioned it looks like the french flag, (the black designs are the most recent)
but i also wanted to just use the red white and blue without the unionjack, as the mini's historys hasnt jsut been made in britain, its not owned by german BMW, it featured in the italian job, But i suppose britain is its birthplace

[robtheplod]

How about something like this?

Attached Files

•  P1010887.JPG   179.27K   3 downloads

[mini_lover]

Yeah 4 is my favourite too

Just some of my thoughts - hope thats okay

What I would do is make sure the lines inside the '0' above and and below the word 'Mini' are at the same height and at the same angle as the wing lines. I would possibly look at using a different typeface for the word 'MINI', as the one you have used is condensed/has reduced kerning so its a little bit hard to read, especially if its going to be used at small sizes (for example on the back of your brochure) Maybe have a look at writing the word mini as Mini (instead of MINI) as well to link with classic instead of the BMW MINI.

The number '5' you could try and rotate slightly so the the top arm of the number is at the same angle as the wing lines (see how it looks...) Or maybe try some different typefaces to see how it looks/works with them? I do think that it looks a bit unbalanced though due to the wings only being on one side - maybe it would look better using the wing style of 3 to balance it out a bit - I like how you have the 'wing ends' one one side but not on the other

I agree that the ones using red/white/blue do look a bit french and therefore probably not the way to go.

The colour gold looks great with black, but its hard to print out on a laser printer (im assuming this is what you would be using?) - in order to get the correct look and effect, you would have to print it as spot colour (pantone) at a litho printers (not cheap!)

All in alll, I think its a great start

(the pic in the post above is a typeface not a logo)

[captainjack15]

4

[analogue_radio]

Not really feeling any of these buddy! from a fellow Graphic Designer they all feel a bit plain & boring, lines are thin & the colours aren't grabbing enough.

Apologies if that sounds harsh! but it's C&C and that's what creates great designers, you learn from your mistakes, etc etc..

I'd sit down with a sheet of paper & a pencil, start randomly sketching out ideas and just see what you come out with, flick through some mini magazines for inspiration

[Marroon]

Cheers for the replys people

I know how you mean with the "MINI" text, however if you look at some of the origional mini badges , mini is written in a similar typeface using all capitals.

I think the 5 with the "0" using the gold badge didnt stand out enough to people who didnt know about the mini fifty, hence why i started using the more stylised approach.

I have got 2 pages of pencil drawings, Im just going to choose a fw of them to go into more detail on the computer and see where they lead. (this being the first one)

That way ill end up with 3 final logos to choose from.

Looking at the typeface ive used for the 50, i dont think it qute suits the logo on the black and white ones, origionaly the 5 was supposed to look like it had been drawn in marker ontop of the winged logo. However with the stylised one i guess theres no reason for a sketchy looking "5"

However i think the font for the "MINI" is nice and retro, and shows the start of the mini, and the wings show the cooper / rover "last mini" kinda things, and the fact theres 5 wings show 50 years.

Looking at the flag one it looks a little too cheap, + forced? doesnt flow they way id expect a logo to.(if that makes sense?)

But yeah looking at all the logo designs ive posted, they look very ammature in a smaller size... another page of development

Cheers for the Advice people

[mini_lover]

Its not really constructive criticism to say sit down with some paper. Its much more constructive to say how it can be improved/progressed/suggest alternatives to try and see what they lead to as this may start the beginnings of a good idea which can be developed into something great.

(Just something to think about...) And the end of the day, good/great graphic design is open to interoperation - everyone is going to have their own opinion on what you do, and to be honest, the people I would listen to the most right now are your tutors at college. Yes its always good to get opinions on what you're doing, but the tutors are there for a very good reason and they will be the people who are assessing your work at the end of all this

I think (yup, my opinion...) you are right to think about changing the typeface of the '50' (for some reason it reminds me of the fiat 500 logo/typeface which makes me think Italian) Regarding the flag - maybe its the gradient thats making you think 'cheap' why not try taking the colours of the flag and using them differently or maybe try and re-draw the flag in a different style/way?

[gumball]

How about something like this?

that looks familiar rob......

[Ethel]

The half wing looks unbalanced. Try cranking it up so the top edge is more of a / 'n the outer edge is vertical. The 5 and the O also need to be more similar to read as 50 - how about gold as in 50th 'n golden. You could stick an outline Mini in the centre of the 'O'. If you have to bother about copyright etc. drawing something original that's still recognisably Mini could be a worthy challenge.

[Marroon]

Yeah i think the gradient looks cheap, when im at college and have spare time i think ill try and make a smudged affect using the gradient mesh in illustrator.

Cheers again for the help, its really appreciated!

[twiggy]

Hi mate, im currently coming to an end of year 2 of a graphic design degree at reading.

I feel that all need the resolution sorting firstly, would recommend forming vector images in illustrator? Can then blow up to whatever size with slight attention to stroke width, I recently blew up an image I drew on an A5 graphics tablet to A0 for print by doing it this way.

In terms of the designs, I would say that 3 and 4 are preferable, but all are basically the same design, could you not vary the typeface, try something like Futura or Univers for a more modern feel than an art nouveau script typeface?

As Marroon stated it is the 50th anniversary, maybe play on the gold theme?
As theIMAGE stated the lines are too thin and possibly the designs too intricate to create a striking logo, research Paul Rand for a good logo starting point, he created well known brand ID's as IBM, UPS and the original NEXT logo in the mid 20th c. Hope this helps you but bear in mind that all his designs are bold, simple and to the point with NO GRADIENTS

Hope this helps, if anything I said sounds critical, it wasnt mean that way, merely constructively.

[Marroon]

Cheers mate, all the designs ive done are indeed vectors in illustrator, however when saving them as J-Peg i didnt click the anti analised option.

I dont know if i agree about the gradients, all good logos must work without gradients, But alot of more modern logos especially car logos have gradients.

Anyway heres another one of the designs i thinking of using.



I know your not going to like the new mini designs, but like it or not, its what the mini name and brand has evolved into!

Also imagine that the blue is dark grey, and the gold is slightly lighter. Not used to saving Jpegs out of illustrator.

[twiggy]

Cheers mate, all the designs ive done are indeed vectors in illustrator, however when saving them as J-Peg i didnt click the anti analised option.

I dont know if i agree about the gradients, all good logos must work without gradients, But alot of more modern logos especially car logos have gradients.

Anyway heres another one of the designs i thinking of using.



I know your not going to like the new mini designs, but like it or not, its what the mini name and brand has evolved into!

Also imagine that the blue is dark grey, and the gold is slightly lighter. Not used to saving Jpegs out of illustrator.

Wow great developments, gold is a massive improvement.

I love the third of the bottom ones even though it is verging on bini but like you said that is the present 'mini' of 2009, being the mini brands 50th.
Colours I think are spot on, may be even better as you describe them. One suggestion that I know my tutors would make is to adjust the stroke width (the thickness of the number 0) at the bottom of the number to match that of the number 5, other than that, bang on! Great job in my eyes, really sophisticated, defo a portfolio piece if you go into design.