Umbraland: Logo Design

[Will Phillips]

Disclaimer: This isn't a map, but I don't know where else to put cartographic related / tanget projects! If this needs to be moved, then by all means, mods, zap away.

"Umbraland" is the (current) name I'm giving my fantasy setting. As a web/graphic designer, I spend an unhealthy amount of time looking at logos and packaging (spent four or five minutes just investigating chewing gum packages at Safeway this weekend), it would be a shame for my own magnum opus to go without a sweet logo!

So, this will be my thread to showcase the logo as it evolves. Here it is so far at about 80% completion with the typeface (just got to clean it up and such) and maybe 25%-33% done with color and texture.

I am working towards having the logo look like a piece of metal being worked in a forge, so that's what's up with the general color schemes. Got a long way to go, though!

[mmmmmpig]

Love the "L" to the "A" transition. I like the idea of the lower portion being hot and workable. I will be interested to see if you put this on a cartouche of some kind to really set it off from whatever product it is placed on.

[Will Phillips]

Thanks, Pig.

You got it, this will become the branded logo for all my maps and such. Gotta keep everything nice and cohesive, ya know?

[loogie]

i to like the logo, and idea... one thing i would personally prefer tho, is to have the headed, workable area look a little more raw, (when its red like that its very rarely crisp and most shaped... its just a personal preference, but I went into photoshop to see what i could do really quick, and this image was made quickly with a gradient mask to cover only the bottom half, then some playing around with the filter gallery... a simple multiply or overlay (i forget which i played with both) and it looks fairly decent... i'm sure a much nicer version could be done, but this is just for ideas.

[RobA]

Looks nice!

Not to be to hooked on semantics, but isn't it a logotype, not a logo?

-Rob A>

[Will Phillips]

Ok, I was able to do a bit of work last night after work. It was all focused on the texture effects of both the "cold" iron and "hot" iron parts. I like the look, a lot really, but part of my is concerned that it looks too much like stone rather than old steel...

i to like the logo, and idea... one thing i would personally prefer tho, is to have the headed, workable area look a little more raw, (when its red like that its very rarely crisp and most shaped... its just a personal preference, but I went into photoshop to see what i could do really quick, and this image was made quickly with a gradient mask to cover only the bottom half, then some playing around with the filter gallery... a simple multiply or overlay (i forget which i played with both) and it looks fairly decent... i'm sure a much nicer version could be done, but this is just for ideas.

I like the idea you were going for, loogie. As I mentioned in the OP, the logo is still very much a WIP, so it'll get better as I'm able to work more on it.

My understanding (I am not a professional graphic designer) is that a logo is typically an ideogram (sign, symbol, figure - like the Nike swoosh, the starbucks double-tailed mermaid, the GM "bowtie", or the Mercedes "three pointed star in a circle") while a logotype is a a word (the company name or abbreviation, typically) in a unique typeface/color/style (like IBM, Carlsberg, SONY).

-Rob A>

The terms get bandied around a whole lot, but Rob's correct (and as a designer, I should have known better! Gah!). The Umbraland design is technically a logotype.

A logo is a combination of a mark and the logogtype together. However, in some cases the full logo can just be a logotype (and technically just the mark, but in all practicality that never happens).

[RobA]

TheImperial - sorry for the sidetrack...

Anyway, I really like the cold texture. Very realistic!

-Rob A>

[Jkaen]

I have no idea what the difference between those 2 is.

And I agree it looks nice

[RobA]

I have no idea what the difference between those 2 is.

And I agree it looks nice

My understanding (I am not a professional graphic designer) is that a logo is typically an ideogram (sign, symbol, figure - like the Nike swoosh, the starbucks double-tailed mermaid, the GM "bowtie", or the Mercedes "three pointed star in a circle") while a logotype is a a word (the company name or abbreviation, typically) in a unique typeface/color/style (like IBM, Carlsberg, SONY).

-Rob A>

[Steel General]

I think it looks quite good, I think you've pulled off the aged steel quite nicely.

If anything maybe it's a bit too bluish... *shrugs*