Opinions on our logo
 

Team 2554 is having some trouble deciding their logo and we would like the publics opinion.




Please give us your insight on this logo and how to improve it. Also if you know any proffesional graphic artists please let us know thanks! Oh and our team name is the warhawks and logo is a spinoff from the batman logo.

Re: Opinions on our logo
 

Its beastly.
But as you or Neel know, my opinion is a bit biased:cool:
Was it taken from something or drawn out? It reminds we of the Nightwing logo.

Re: Opinions on our logo
 

I think that would look really cool on a t-shirt.

But, in my opinion, where it would be the most awesome, would be cut out of the side of a robot cart, or out of the side of a robot component, then backlit green. If the cart or robot was black... that would be awesome. Just awesome.

Overall, sweet logo. I think it looks great.

<edit> Oh yeah, and looking back, I agree with George, about enlarging the team number. You want to create an image, and link it clearly to your team number so your team is remembered after making an impression on other teams. Also, it does help with identification purposes. Someone's looking for a team 2554 member, it's more appreciated if they can spot one from far away, rather than having to squint or come close. There are lots of teams at these competitions, you must keep in mind. I do like the font used, though.

Re: Opinions on our logo
 

yeah we were gonna put it on a plain black shirt. But yeah i really like the back light idea! Hopefully someone on our team will implement that.

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I would highly recommend enlarging the team number, and/or putting it in a more bold font. The number is how your team will largely be identified, so it'd be helpful to be able to spot it easily. Otherwise, I like they symbol, but consider coming up with cleaner lined versions of it for other uses.

Re: Opinions on our logo
 

I like the concept--it's simple and elegant.

Before you start applying it, though, it needs some work. The lines need to be cleaned up; they should be sharp so that the logo will be consistent when printed on T-shirts, letterheads, etc. The image as you have displayed it has lots of random pixels which will make it difficult for a printer to accurately reproduce the look you want.

Also, the lines must be thicker in both the drawing and the numerals. Otherwise, when you downsize it for use on a website or business cards, some of the lines will disappear.

If you like the lines being thin, you could work up two logos--one with thin lines for large size applications, such as T-shirts and the robot itself, and another with thicker lines for the smaller applications. This is a standard technique used with professionally designed logos.

What you have shown us is green lines on a black background. The artwork that you will need for printing should be crisp black on a clean white background. The printer will need you to specify the color green ink you want, and the color of paper or T-shirt you want it printed on. (Bring color samples along when it's time to order your materials.)

For printing on dark T-shirts, the T-shirt printer will first print the logo in white, then print the green ink over the white to get a really bright color. Otherwise, the black fabric will show through the green ink, making it look muddy. There will likely be an extra charge for the white layer, but it won't amount to much per shirt if you have a lot of shirts printed. If you print on white T-shirts, this won't be an issue.

Meanwhile, for use on your website, you will need an electronic version in green with a black background. Will you want your "Warhawk" to be floating on a page with a black background, or will you want it nesting in a black rectangle (or other shape), possibly with a contrasting (green) border around it? If you want the former, you will need a logo with just the bird and team number. For the latter, you will need artwork that includes a background rectangle sized to frame the bird in a pleasing proportion. Be sure to try out some different versions and show them to people who care what things look like.

Be careful that the version for your website is a small file size, so you don't slow down page loading.

A finished logo should look professional. Even logos with an informal feel have been carefully crafted and manipulated. Your team probably doesn't need to be as thorough as FIRST is with their logo, but careful rendering of your logo will benefit your team imagery.

I do know some professional graphic artists, but they're in southern California (I don't know what state your team is in). I also don't know if they'd be willing to donate their time. Most teams can't afford to pay a graphic artist the going rate for a full-blown logo design program, but you might be able to afford some "clean up" work, if your team agrees on the basic concept.

If you haven't already done so, copy your logo into a desktop publishing program (or Word). Shrink it down to an inch or so and see if all the lines hold up. Then enlarge it to fill the page, and view it at maximum zoom (400 percent or so). You'll be able to see how clean or messy the lines are. The tiny size will show you how it will look on stationery or give-away items. The large size will show how it looks on T-shirts and banners.

I hope I haven't overwhelmed you with too much information, but I want you to have a logo your team can be proud of. Have fun with it!

Re: Opinions on our logo
 

A nice simple clean logo design that will look as good on a business card (or a pin) as it will on a billboard. The lines need cleaning up and the team number looks apologetic. Make it larger and more bold. You should let the world know who you are and that you mean business! Good job!

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I'll echo the number comment. I wound up doing 1618's shirts this year, and one of my objectives was to make sure that the team number was bordering on obscenely large. This was the finished product; even at the party that 75 and 2016 threw Friday night in a slightly-darkened hotel ballroom, I could still pick out all of our kids. I had plans for using the rotated 1618 on the robot itself, but lack of space more or less did in those plans.

The best advice I can offer is to get your logo drawn up as vector art. There are programs out there you can use; I've had decent luck with Intaglio ($89 for OS X), though I'd highly recommend Adobe Illustrator if you have access to it. Vector art will let you scale your design to whatever size you desire, which is a wonderful thing. (Our shirt was done mostly by copying the elements from our side panels, rearranging them a bit, and calling it a day.)

Also, I'll warn you that black is probably the most common team shirt color. It will most likely blend in in the absence of some other distinctive apparel. The inverse--black on a green shirt--is less so, though that may dilute the effect you're going for. Design, as a professor once told me, is the creative management of constraints.

Re: Opinions on our logo
 

It's hard to imporve on Karen's excellent suggestions but the one thing that struck me first, the team numbers need to be bigger. Perhaps a little 3D or drop shadow might work as well. Good luck.

Re: Opinions on our logo
 

The logo looks pretty good and has a lot of potential as you look to finish after these great suggestions.

Definitely take a look at what everyone has said about the team number and maybe look at possibly fitting your team name either inside or outside borders of your Warhawk. You want to make sure the logo represents your robotics team when team members wear it around town.

Re: Opinions on our logo
 

Great colors!

Re: Opinions on our logo
 

Echoing Billfred, Inkscape is a free, open source alternative to Illustrator. Vector art is preferred by most places that print shirts. It is also required if you were to do it yourself on a vinyl cutter.

The black shirts are very VERY common at FRC events and you will have difficulties finding your students. I would recommend that you look at either another color, or another way of easily picking out your students.

Other than that all I can say is clean up the lines so it will pop on a shirt. Figure out the size on the shirt you want it. OH and run it by your sponsors and school. They should have some input because it should be on your cards, your robot, your site, and your shirts. Its pretty visible.

Oh, it looks cool.

Re: Opinions on our logo
 

Thanks a lot guys you have been great help. We currently have acess to both Photoshop and Illustrator and will definately will tweak the logo. The team number will definately be larger and the lines thicker. We had trouble with tshirts last year and dont want to get caught in the same mess. Thanks for your suggestions! Maybe Ill post a finished version when im done.

Re: Opinions on our logo
 

Thanks for all your help!!
We'll post the new and improved version of our logo once we get working on fixing it up

again, Thank you!

-Neel
Team 2554

Re: Opinions on our logo
 

Seconded, I have used inkscape before and it is very nice. Once you get used to it, it is an impressive program. Almost like photoshop.

-Vivek

Re: Opinions on our logo
 

Black is a 'common' color but it is a color that presents well. 116 comes to mind when I think of black tees and also, black polos. They always look good.

Black with the logo would be very cool and if done well, would look sharp during demos, presentations, meetings, and competitions.

Edit: This is an example of what I mean.

Re: Opinions on our logo
 

it looks awesome! you do need bigger numbers though, but the flourecent green looks awesome!:cool:

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lol
as everyone said, the numbers could be a little bit bigger
also, have you added anything since the beginning of the thread by chance
also, another good idea would be to add or create a quote to go on w/ the pic
hopefuly, we get to see an update to the picture soon:)

Re: Opinions on our logo
 

I really like it, I mean I really really really like it. Some how i have always had a weakness for complete black with an outline in a bright color, and you guys just so happened to pick my favorite color to do the job! Like I saw briefly while skimming through the thread, just even out the lines a little, and make the team number bigger. If you want this to count as your team number on your robot, just remember it has to be 4" tall, which would make the eagle huge. Other than that, GREAT WORK!

Re: Opinions on our logo
 

I'm going to go against the crowd on the numbers. I like the fact that they are a bit smaller then most. When the numbers are huge, I feel like a walking billboard. Granted, that is the point of them being big. The point of the shirt though is to get people's attention. A shirt with a bit smaller numbers, draws the attention without blasting the reader with a number. It allows them to enjoy the shirt.

With that being said: There is some sort of a rule that the number must be at least a certain size. Yes, FIRST has rules on shirts. Read up on them or you'll regret it.

Also, the idea of using green shirt with black font. We had a similar idea our first year. We tried it. Unfortunately, nobody liked wearing bright green shirts. Nobody really wore the shirt to school. They were worn at competition and that was it. Just a thought before you automatically inverse the colors for ease.

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That logos intense. It's really simple, but it definitely caught my eye!

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I don't think so, Molten. That's a Robot rule (Section 8), not a shirt rule (Section 3 if at all). You're not even required to have the number on the shirt, though it is strongly recommended. Or you might be thinking of the FIRST logo rules, which are different.

There is NO rule on number size on the shirt, though it should be easily readable.

(Standard disclaimer: All rules references are to the most current set of rules, in this case 2008. Subject to change in 2009.)

Re: Opinions on our logo
 

Right - it does no good for others to say, "That team with the cool shirts" but then not know which team it is.
You're not even required to have team shirts, let alone have specific-sized numbers on them.

That said, "no shirt, no shoes - no service" does apply. :P

Re: Opinions on our logo
 

I really like this logo but as mentioned in many of the posts I would increase the size of the numbers and add your team name somewhere; to me it is easier to remember a team by their name rather than a number, if you don't want your team name to take away from the "pop" of the logo, maybe put your team name on the back.

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I'm with everyone else: very nice, needs bigger numbers, etc. I do agree that Inkscape is a great program to use for this sort of thing, if you aren't already using it.

Re: Opinions on our logo
 

Hey guys an update:



Basically I made it monochrome, fixed some of the uneven lines, made it bolder, and increased the number size. I used both Illustrator (Thanks to those who suggested it) and Photoshop. This logo is close to done but nothing is fixed. More suggestions are welcome.

Re: Opinions on our logo
 

Nice, that looks much cleaner and the numbers are much more noticeable. Just one thing. Have you checked how big that logo would be if the numbers were enlarged to 4" high and the rest of the logo was enlarged to scale? You just want to make sure that this is at a reasonable size so the logo with the numbers can reasonably fit onto the robot.


I mean, you don't have to... but it would look freakin' awesome... :D

Re: Opinions on our logo
 

Or on a big spotlight shining out over Gotham city... I only partly jest... why not make it a template on a spotlight to shine on the ceiling over your pit?

As for the T-shirts, I would say put "2554" in BIG green numbers across the back (along with sponsor info) and then "WarHawks" inside the logo on the front... or just leave the logo empty... or put 2554 on the front, too.

This logo is also well suited for creating with GloWire or other EL lighting products... which could be stiched on to a shirt or glued to a black backdrop.


Jason

Re: Opinions on our logo
 

My first thought on seeing the original version was that it's absolutely perfect for laser projection. All you need is a nice green astronomical laser pointer, a pair of mirrors on voice-coil mounts, and a two-channel arbitrary waveform generator. Oh, and someone to program the waveforms.

Re: Opinions on our logo
 

I can almost guarantee that if you plan on attending our regionals the "hawk signal" will be visible throughout the pits. :)

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:) "Oh, and someone to program the waveforms!"

Actually, Alan's post inspired me to google "laser projector" to see what DIY options were out there... http://elm-chan.org/works/vlp/report_e.html seems to be a good starting point, and even links to some freeware to help with the programming.

Now I'm thinking... hmm... this could make a neat project for my Engineering 11 students... we could do with a change from mini-sumo robots. Or at least I could.

Jason

Re: Opinions on our logo
 

It's looking good--much cleaner at a larger size. Your T-shirt / robot version is about done.

However, if you look at the "thumbnail" size in post #26, which is about 2 inches, you can see that the lines are starting to disappear. This is where you would need a second version with thicker lines for printing at a small size, such as on business cards or for a banner or ad on someone else's web page.

If you print business cards or flyers using the current logo at a small size, I can pretty much guarantee that the image will start breaking down. The size and cohesiveness of the ink molecules, the absorbency of the paper, and other scientifically-based factors come into play when reproducing logos. If you have a skilled printer who cares about how your logo looks, he or she may be able to compensate, but you'll be better off with a logo that will hold up to less-than-ideal printing jobs.

So get your big logo finalized, then make a small version based on the big one.

Engineering design note: Scale matters!

Re: Opinions on our logo
 

Just a suggestion and a cool factor thing. If you have access to a waterjet machine or even a CNC. Make mini cards about 4x6 cards with your logo on it (aluminum or plastic) and hand them out at competitions.