Opinions on our logo

[d25inferno]

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.

[Akash Rastogi]

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

[tim_reiher]

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.

[d25inferno]

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.

[DCA Fan]

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.

[KarenH]

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!

[dtengineering]

Originally Posted by tim_reiher

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

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

[Alan Anderson]

Originally Posted by dtengineering

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?

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.

[d25inferno]

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?

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.

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

[dtengineering]

Originally Posted by Alan Anderson

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.

"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

[KarenH]

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!

[R.C.]

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.

[Koko Ed]

Originally Posted by d25inferno

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.

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!

[Billfred]

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.

[Al Skierkiewicz]

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.