[Pix0r]

Hi all,

I've been asked to design a logo for a garbage disposal company.
The criteria are:

Easly understandable
Simple form
Viewable from both close and far (sizes varying from 10x10cm to poster size)
Colour scheme both colour and black and white
No complex gradients, opacity etc...

This is what I have so far: http://b3design.ch/rubish2.jpg

Any ideas, comments?

Thanks

[art_director]

a good logo should work at an even smaller size. (ie. 3cm) your client may not state that but it will come about.

as for your starting point, well, it's a starting point. it's simple, clean and it communicates well. it's also a little expected. but hey, that's the way you get the gears turning.

try stepping out of the expected. explore the language of garbage. watch your local garbage collectors do their gig, look at dumpsters and trash cans, look at the trucks, look at the uniforms, etc.

what are some unique ways of communicating your client's brand?

can it be a hybrid of your starting point and the client's name?

should it be distressed? should it look rugged? soft? clean? dirty? reliable?

again, there's nothing wrong with what you've done. just push it more. challenge yourself.

finally, because i need to be honest, i saw a little cocktail umbrella when i first opened the page. that's simply a matter of the perspective you were creating with the varied weight of the fluting of the can in your initial stab. then again, it may just be me.

please keep sharing. i love watching a logo / brand identity evolve. i bet you get a lot of positive feedback from the folks here. it's a great group and there are some talented buggers that visit this forum.

[zashraf]

Hi PixOr,

Not that I am any expert in this forum but here are a few more ideas for you,
Somehow I associate rubbish collection with the kacky green colour of Australian Garbage bags, and the wheelie bins we have for the council rubbish truck collectors. When I think about the collection I think of either a hand taking hold of a bag of rubbish or a wheelie bin with its lid open that has just been emptied. Also when you talk about collecting you could pretty safely assume that people don't want to have anything to do with collecting rubbish but for the company you are doing the logo for the more rubbish collection the more money they make and they actually want more rubbish so that they can collect it. Perhaps you might like to reverse the psychology in the logo by representing someone who actually wants the rubbish, for example a robber never wants to steal anything other than valuables, but if you portray a robber (or it could be some other type professional or personal charactiture) wanting to collect or steal rubbish then you have already created an interest, and a message that this company wants your rubbish.

Any way I could rample on forever and ever but now all I can see is someone or something running away trying to carry copious amounts of rubbish bags with bits falling out as they go ...... and so on ..... and so on......

Regards Zashraf

[Pix0r]

Hi all, thanks for the replies. art director, my brief is that the logo shouls work 10x10cm and up... think about it, smallest will be printed on t-shirts, biggest on the sides of trucks, no need for 3cm logo The company does not want their name in the logo, so to be precise all they are really looking for is a unique symbol for their company... I've done a couple extra... http://b3design.ch/garbage3.1.jpg Please excuse the compression, freehand is not great when it comes to exporting to .jpg. Personally I like the 1st, 4th and last (from left). The 4th needs allot of work though, thanks for the idea btw zashraf, I did'nt think of that

Tell me what you guys think
Thanks again!

[art_director]

the 4th will not reproduce well, especially on shirts.

the cans need to lose the black outline. it will be a mess.

the hand and the bag look like a logo for a thief.

i would push it further. variations on the can are good but they're not new directions. challenge yourself. that's how the best stuff happens.

i like the fact the the first one tells a story: full vs. empty but i question the order as is.

as for size i have some advice: fook what they asked for. think about other uses and oush them. present your favorite idea in a variety of media – what they want and what you believe would be good. (ie. hats, fax covers, pins, fridge magnets, etc.)

over my career i've had great success with bringing more to the table than i was asked for – pushing my clients and selling them on more work. that, my friend, is the difference between many good and great ad / design folk. it'll make you more cash, it will give you case studies and it will give you a reputation for going above and beyond.

the fact is that nearly every client has an idea of what they want but they aren't creatives and they don't have an objective view of their biz like we do. we need to challenge them as well as ourselves.

if you live by their brief alone you have done your client and yourself a disservice. period.

[art_director]

examples of success when clients are pushed:

• bmw films – they wanted a tv campaign and fallon said no, do this. if you don't know the results your head has been in the sand.

• american express superman web / tv spots – see above

• apple's 1984 spot was originally killed by el cliente

• the mini campaign – i have no proof of this but i would bet everything i own that mini didn't say, "hey, let's put rad stickers in magazine with our cars on 'em."

• the economist bus ad – this was an ad that ran on the tops of buses. it was intended for the folk who occupy window offices in sky scrapers. again, no client said, "i want people to look down from their offices and see my ad." that came from the ad agency.

these are advertising examples but there are more in design, i assure you. take the ipod packaging – think steve jobs said, "put it in a clamshell box." fook no, he just approved some smart thinking. and he was rewarded.

[chrisford]

Hi -

I can't see your logo designs, unfortunately. I think they've been removed from your server.

However, I think you should be careful about designing an identity that simply describes the service that the company provides - unless their service is new or is a service with which the general consumer is unaware then a literal depiction of *what the service is* will always be less successful than an image of *what the service achieves*.

If the company is garbage collection, does the (potential) consumer want to be shown a picture of garbage? Or a garbage bag? Or a garbage truck? The garbage is precisely what the consumer wants to get rid of...

Looking at some of the more successful brand identities, it seems to be that they visualise what the company offering *evokes or achieves*, not what they do or the machanics of their operation.

So, it may be a cliche, but I think that you would have most success making the connection between the service offered and the result obtained - in this case, cleanliness, order, hygience, safety, etc.

Finally - if you really want to go "beyond the brief", ask the client how they expect to produce an identity (which is nothing more than the public communication of a previously defined position) without having defined the position itself? You can make XX bucks drawing a picture: you can make XX x 10 bucks defining the rules that the picture follows...

All IMO, of course...

Although I would be interested to know what others think.

c