My own logo opinion/changes?

[Kollman32]

I started out with a very simple logo, then with feedback from people I changed it up to make it a little more edgier. Just as a cool thing, It'd be fun to see what some of you would come up with given what I have shown(disregard background). Any thoughts/changes? Feel free to post your own rendition(if you have any spare time, of course).

P.S. These colors get changed too depending on what race car scheme it is with, etc.

Justin Kollman
www.facebook.com/jkdesigns32

 

[Signmaker1234]

Kinda hard to read, "designs" looks smashed/squeezed, but cool concept!

 

[Kollman32]

I normally don't use 10 outlines either--usually 2-3 total. What do you think would make it "better"---DESIGNS more readable? My goal was to have my "JK" to be kind of my insignia so you could see "JK" and know that I did that race car, kart, etc.......

 

[HDvinyl]

That one's even more squished.

 

[JBusch260]

I'm into the JK, I can see clearly what you're doing there. Cool concept! I'm not all together crazy about the "designs" font. Can be hard to read from a distance, or even up close, depending on the color scheme you're using.

 

[TimToad]

A good rule of thumb for using in typography is never stretch or condense a font more 20-25% at the most.

With tens of thousands of fonts out there, if you need to stretch a font beyond those limits to get to a width you want, its time to consider another font that was constructed to be an extended font.

 

[De.signs Nanaimo]

1) Don't EVER distort fonts period. They were painstakingly designed, do not "eff" with them!
2) Keep it simple, if it doesn't work in black and white, it doesn't work.
3) It should look good and be mostly readable from a thumbnail.
4) Stay away from gradients and fades if possible, they are trendy and do not age well.
5) The main goal of good typography is legibility, your logo should work on a pen, or a blimp.

 

[Kollman32]

I never did change the kerning or skew on this font. It's original, but I get what you guys are saying and the concensus is it is not a great choice in font. Given the audience I appeal to, which is racers, who want 90% of their design work to be "crazy" and "fast looking". Thanks for all the feedback so far!

 

[TimToad]

Racers may go very fast around tracks and courses, but when they drive down the street your shop is on, they still have to be able to legibly read what you have to offer on your sign to be motivated enough to stop in and give you a try.

I think the point is that edgy and "fast" can be simulated without losing legibility.

I'd love see you try a prismatic effect on the JK to see if it helps the two letters read better. Combining letters as an icon can be very effective to make an impression, but when its your company name, it still should be clear enough to tell what two letters they are.

 

[rossmosh]

I'm going through the same process and I know how hard it is to design a logo, especially for yourself.

To me, it doesn't represent a professional business well. It's difficult to read and looks dated. I'd look again at what your target industry is doing.

Motocross: https://www.google.com/search?q=mot...gC&biw=1536&bih=755#tbm=isch&q=motocross+logo

Brands: https://www.google.com/search?q=mot...gC&biw=1536&bih=755#tbm=isch&q=car+part+logos

Race Logos: https://www.google.com/search?q=mot...UICCgC&biw=1536&bih=755#tbm=isch&q=race+logos

None of that looks like what you're doing. As a result, I don't necessarily think it translates to your target audience.