Simple way to enhance logo design: 3 fresh examples

Pally Store: adding the handmade

This logo had no description, so a lot was left to imagination. We assumed that it is a shop signboard designed to look like a wooden barrel cap. So, apparently, this shop values everything organic and natural and decided to go for the oh-so-popular now handcrafted feel. That leaves us with one problem:

1. The lettering is too computerized: you can’t draw two identical ‘L’s by hand.

A simple advice to anyone who wants to make a lettering logo: don’t be lazy and actually write it by hand. The result is going to be much more genuine and vibrant than any font. Now, let’s write “Pally Store” with a pencil and a marker pen:

All that remains now is to outline the letters in Adobe Illustrator and apply them onto the barrel cap in Adobe Photoshop. We didn’t even spend much time on this, but the result already appears to be much more soulful, almost as if someone painted it on the wood for real:

Overall:

+ The sign now looks manmade, which grants the feeling of comfort

- Lettering on wood texture may be hard to read. A smaller format will require a simplified version

Paragon: improving the composition

“…I think this logo got old and needs to be reworked.” — Sergei Kochevnikov

Sergei is right, this logo needs to be reworked:

1. A mix of lower and upper case letters… Look closely: it says “ParaGOn”, not “PARAGON”
2. The sign falls apart. The idea is clear — letters “P” and “G” and an “S” in between. But the composition is not dynamic or static — looks like a bunch of lines that are piled into a pile
3. Mutual size of the text, sign and signature needs to be improved — there is no clear accent and mutual connection. All elements are the same on the “mass” aspect

Let’s start the redesign: type in the text part, make the composition stronger, and “modernize” this faded blue color. We will also replace the sign with a square for now — the original sign gravitates to this shape:

The composition is formed, it’s time to figure out what could a sign look like. We took the strongest element from the original logo — letter “G”:

Looks cool, kind of resembles the percentage sign. Now we can also form letter “P” from the first “G”. It will ruin the symmetry, but make the original meaning of “PG” clear:

Overall:

+ The logo became more clear and complete due to improved composition, colors and sign

- The original “greek” motives are gone, the sign is not a rebus of “P”, “G” and “S” anymore

Some people: choosing the best option

“Struggling for a long time with the logo for our small store…”

Picking the most perspective option and making it more graphic:

So we know that this is a store sign. At this point, it is important to think: how will this logo “live”? Judging by the name “Some people”, we decided that photos of people could work as elements of the corporate style. We took free pictures from unsplash.com:

This is a step towards so called “dynamic identity” — a set rules by which brand elements are built, not just one permanent sign. For “Some people” we can use different photos of people if the format is big, but if it is small — we can keep the logo filled with color. For example, photo looks good on the box, but on the little tag we should probably use just colorized logo:

Overall: a simple sign turned into so called “visual hammer”. It is now easier to make recognizable business cards, signboards and pictures for posts in social networks with it. First, it will increase recognition of “Some people”, and secondly — every contact point with a client can easily be made in corporate style. This will demonstrate to a client that “Some people” has power and resources to pay attention even to smaller things.

Final conclusion

Of course, not every decision we made is perfect. Some ideas still have to be shaped up or improved, but we think that they work well as an example for simple improvements in design. Mostly, we were cutting off unnecessary elements, placing emphasis and increasing recognition “in real life”. Tendency towards simplification is not so much of a trend (it is already more than half a century old), but more like a practical step towards improving perceptions.

If you need our advice on logo design or more, use hashtag #logomachine_help in social networks! We will be checking it out and picking candidates for a free redesign. Also visit logomachine.net for the great logo design.
And, as always, we wish your projects a good design!