geoffbeaumont Posted September 11, 2017 Share Posted September 11, 2017 I've been having a go at sprucing up the LR4x4 logo that Happyoldgit made a few years ago - but none of us in the mod team are exactly blown away by my efforts, and none of the other mods claim any graphic design skills either, so we thought we'd see what the rest of you could come up with. As a reminder, this is the current logo: and this is the cleaned up version I came up with: It's an improvement, but maybe a missed opportunity - plus the brushed steel look means that when it's saved as a PNG with a transparent background the file size is rather large, and it would be too expensive to use it on the stickers (clothing would likely be embroidered anyway, which kind of gives a similar effect though usually at 90o). So I tried a solid version too: More practical but not as nice. So, if you fancy having a crack at a new logo, here's the brief: Broadly similar typeface and colouring to the current logo, for continuity (the current font appears to be Impact). The blue in the background of mine is the header colour from the site, so it obviously needs to look good on that. It should be usable on different backgrounds - ideally it should be usable on white or have a reversed version. Sensible files sizes when exported as a 24bit PNG. Must be suitable for production as a car/window sticker, and on clothing - if necessary in a simplified form but ideally exactly the same as on the site (the current stickers use a silvery finish rather than the "reflection" of the site logo). Can be either just text or incorporate a graphical element. Keep it clean and simple, though. Doesn't need to maintain the .com from the current logo (but doesn't have to get rid of it either). Should be suitable for use in a square format for social feeds (this can be a modified version of the logo or placed on a background colour - probably the blue from the site header - just as long as it looks good). Should be available as a layered graphic / vector graphic with all elements editable. Closing date for submissions, either on this thread or by PM to me is the end of this month (30th September 2017). We'll then shortlist the entries we consider meet the above criteria and post them on a poll for all the members to vote for their favourite. Gentlemen and ladies, start your enginesgraphics editing software... 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maverik Posted September 13, 2017 Share Posted September 13, 2017 If it ain't broken why try fix? Its part of the identity of the forum so imho this shouldn't be changed lightly. I'd also like to think we should keep the ".com" part too, if its a sticker on a vehicle LR4x4 by itself doesn't really mean that much unless you are in the know... but LR4x4.com suggest its a website and any jo blogs can recognise that and type it into a browser for a look? - mind the first place people probably turn to is Google for anything so you could argue it doesn't matter so much. But I think the ".com" should be included. Suggestion change colours? Gold/Green or Silver/Green or Silver/Black more Land Rover type colours? Mav 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bowie69 Posted September 13, 2017 Share Posted September 13, 2017 Unfortunately it *is* broken... source files we have are too small to be used by social media, or in any context that requires a larger image, and by today's standards looks somewhat dated, given when it was first designed, it has done rather well in lasting this amount of time to be honest So yes, a 'serious discussion' has been had (as serious as it gets in A&M forum...) before this point was reached . LR4x4 as a brand is blue/silver, so in that respect we don't really want to deviate too far from those colours, though adding a colour here or there would not likely make or break the design, likely improve things As per point #5 the .com can be kept or removed... if the design works, the design works Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maverik Posted September 13, 2017 Share Posted September 13, 2017 Just throwing some shapes in word... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zardos Posted September 13, 2017 Share Posted September 13, 2017 My first attempts with some shape (the 4x4 is driving over the .com ) With background colour Note the for other people the blue RGB seems to 60,101,147 (SVG's available for these) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zardos Posted September 13, 2017 Share Posted September 13, 2017 On 9/11/2017 at 9:25 PM, geoffbeaumont said: Sensible files sizes when exported as a 24bit PNG. It might be worth suggesting a max size as the current one is 2.98kb Mine is 27.3Kb but is over twice the size at 400x200 I think part of the old logo's problem is it on 198x40 so it is stretched on higher dpi screens Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zardos Posted September 13, 2017 Share Posted September 13, 2017 Some flat silver ones at 11.6Kb Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bowie69 Posted September 13, 2017 Share Posted September 13, 2017 Obviously it will depend on size, but kept under 100KB for a 400x400px image wouldn't be a bad thing. As it is specified that a simple/fairly flat design is needed, it will likely compress very well anyways, and not cause any issues at all. It's no photo after all Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bowie69 Posted September 13, 2017 Share Posted September 13, 2017 BTW, I'm not going to comment on whether I like something or not to try and remain impartial about this whole thing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maverik Posted September 13, 2017 Share Posted September 13, 2017 omg, so how is this going to pan out... I think some goal posts need to be set or we're going to be roaming around virtual identity space for ever... ever.... ever.... ever Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bowie69 Posted September 13, 2017 Share Posted September 13, 2017 What goal posts do you need? Geoff gave you some fairly broad spec above. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geoffbeaumont Posted September 14, 2017 Author Share Posted September 14, 2017 Definitely not forever - the deadline's the end of this month Followed by a poll and then we'll implement the logo, per my original post. It's a fair point about losing the .com on the stickers (and I guess to a lesser extent clothing) - depending on whether it works with the chosen design we could always have a version including the .com for those. As an aside - I meant to credit Steve (HappyOldGit) for creating the current logo, which has worked very well for the last few years both on the site and on merchandise. Thanks Steve 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geoffbeaumont Posted September 14, 2017 Author Share Posted September 14, 2017 As far as file size goes, if the design is clean it should compress fairly well - things that lead to large file sizes (especially when combined with transparency) are gradients, photo-realistic/complex graphics - basically anything that means there are a lot of colours in the image. 24bit PNG (the only web-safe image format that allows alpha transparency - effectively see through colour areas as opposed to simply fully transparent or fully opaque pixels) has a list of all the colours in the image and a map of what colour each pixel (dot) is so if you only have two colours in the image you have a tiny colour table and the image compresses very well. In reality if you want smooth transitions between colour blocks (especially along curves) you will have a number of in between colours blending between the blocks, and also smooth curved edges need a few partially transparent pixels in order to blend smoothly with the background colour the image is placed on. However, if the image is relatively simple then the number of in between colours needed should be relatively small. Compressing the image for the web is mostly balancing the number of these "in between" colours there are to get an acceptable compromise between image quality and file size. I wouldn't worry too much about exact file sizes at this stage - anything Pete (Bowie69) or I are concerned might not compress enough we'll test when we shortlist for the poll. Takeaway: Keep the design clean and simple and the file size should be fine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bowie69 Posted September 14, 2017 Share Posted September 14, 2017 31 minutes ago, geoffbeaumont said: Takeaway: Keep the design clean and simple and the file size should be fine. Exactly what I was trying to say above Clearly failed badly Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happyoldgit Posted September 14, 2017 Share Posted September 14, 2017 For my part I would prefer to see the .com retained. As Mav rightly points out LR4x4 on it's own means diddly squat so it needs to show an online association. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hybrid_From_Hell Posted September 14, 2017 Share Posted September 14, 2017 agree www not essential but .com still says a fair bit imho Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geoffbeaumont Posted September 15, 2017 Author Share Posted September 15, 2017 The logo has never had www in it, Nige. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mickeyw Posted September 18, 2017 Share Posted September 18, 2017 I think in this day and age, and with browsers no longer requiring us to type "www", the dot com bit tells the reader that it's a website address. Therefore I vote we ought to keep that bit. Sorry I have no graphic contribution to make Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SPendrey Posted September 22, 2017 Share Posted September 22, 2017 I was going to say "my crayon days are long gone", but in truth I never had any. However, I was wondering about incorporating a more visual image, so I plagiarised one of the earlier suggestions. My first concern was to be careful not to include words or images related to "Difflock" (for obvious reasons). I also concede that the diffs are in the wrong place on the axles, unless you're looking up at the vehicle! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geoffbeaumont Posted September 22, 2017 Author Share Posted September 22, 2017 17 minutes ago, SPendrey said: I also concede that the diffs are in the wrong place on the axles, unless you're looking up at the vehicle! Not if it's a P38a Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bowie69 Posted September 22, 2017 Share Posted September 22, 2017 Some members on here prefer their vehicles that way up.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mudmonkey Posted September 22, 2017 Share Posted September 22, 2017 Another Microsoft Word attempt or three Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hybrid_From_Hell Posted September 22, 2017 Share Posted September 22, 2017 no 1 mr mudmonkey Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
discomikey Posted September 24, 2017 Share Posted September 24, 2017 no 3 mudmonkey Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daan Posted September 24, 2017 Share Posted September 24, 2017 I reckon nr 1; still recognisable as current, but renewed. Daan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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