Need a new logo

streethawk

Making and modding... the fascinating world of fonts!

I'm bored to death of my shop logo. It doesn't reflect the vintagey vibe I like, either.

Current:


So I'm looking through new fonts and I've always liked this one, it's ok for commercial use and the good/bad point is that it's been used in the guitar world somewhere before....


Thoughts? Suggestions?

Gagaryn

Too fussy. Keep it simple.

Flink_Poyd

I don't like that font, it reminds me of something you see on a cheap beer that's trying to look Ye Olde Beer company. 
 What impression are you trying to get across? 

Try 
http://www.1001fonts.com/
If you input the text you want you can preview it rather than having to install the font 

stickyfiddle

None of those are really logos, just the name written in different typefaces. 

Honestly, all of them say "low budget" and "old fashioned guitar shop", rather than high quality and modern levels of service.

streethawk

Flink_Poyd said:

I don't like that font, it reminds me of something you see on a cheap beer that's trying to look Ye Olde Beer company. 
 What impression are you trying to get across? 

Try 
http://www.1001fonts.com/
If you input the text you want you can preview it rather than having to install the font 

Ah, that makes it easier!

@stickyfiddle

Yeah that's the trick, I want something that has a vintage feel though.

There's a raft of vintage style hipster logos going around like this:



They do look cool to be fair.

revsorg

Have you considered paying a designer to create a logo for you?

streethawk

revsorg said:

Have you considered paying a designer to create a logo for you?

Yes.

Just looking for some general feedback from a guitar crowd first. Maybe I'm thinking too much into it.

axisus

That font looks too dated now. It had a kind of retro cool in the 70s. I used to really like it.

revsorg

I'm going to stray slightly beyond your brief here - I went and looked at your website.  The word "Guitar" in Amber Guitar means something, but Amber doesn't have any readily understandable meaning.  Your visitors can vaguely deduce your specialty by watching your three hero images pass by, and if they hover over the menu system it becomes apparent that you don''t sell guitars, just parts.  When visitors scroll down the homepage they get the clearest insight into what it is you sell - if they didn't already know when they arrived at your website.

So in my humble opinion you should have a strapline.  Something right at the top of the page near your logo.  There's a systematic way of arriving at a good strapline.  Do keyword/key-phrase research, a competitor analysis, think about the precedence of words within the strapline.  You need something that encourages people to explore what you do, that helps them match their needs with your services.  Something that evokes emotions and tells a story.

You should make your strapline the unclickable text in Google search results by virtue of it being the contents of your description meta tag.  At the moment this is your description meta tag on your homepage and Google is intelligent enough to ignore it: <meta name="description" content="Shop powered by PrestaShop" />

Anyway... regarding the logo - have you seen this description of the Andertons 2017 rebrand?  The thing about leveraging the heritage of other brands seems pertinent.

stickyfiddle

I'm not sure a strapline is needed within the logo, but I definitely agree on the google/SEO element of it.  Just a simple "Quality guitars & parts", or whatever, is better than nothing in that context. 

I find the Andertons thing really odd, because the new logo is good (and the different options for the "A" icon is really smart, but they still have the old logo plastered all over the website. If you're going to rebrand you need to do it comprehensively, not roll it out slowly over months.

streethawk

@revsorg @stickyfiddle ;;

Great stuff. Appreciated.

Regarding the guitar part: I was trying to leave that open as an option. Been close a few times to stocking guitars; probably time to knock that on the head for now.

The Amber part... christ I can't even recall why I went with that. Steve's guitar parts sounded worse...

Flink_Poyd

Just had a quick look at the mobile site and there doesn't seem to be a logo. Iphone using safari 

streethawk

Flink_Poyd said:

Just had a quick look at the mobile site and there doesn't seem to be a logo. Iphone using safari 

Thanks for the heads up. I've fixed it now.

I'm adding some more stock soon, Art Of Aging stuff, and am still thinking about a new logo. I do seem to have that aged parts obsession so might need to go a bit retro... Driving me nuts!

revsorg

You could run a design competition and engage the community here to help come to your decision about which to use.

Flink_Poyd

First thing I think of for amber is Jurassic Park and the mosquito encased in amber. 
 There are loads of places like https://www.fiverr.com/
that will make logos. The current one just doesn't fit the site at all for me. 

streethawk

Flink_Poyd said:

First thing I think of for amber is Jurassic Park and the mosquito encased in amber. 
 There are loads of places like https://www.fiverr.com/
that will make logos. The current one just doesn't fit the site at all for me. 

Yeah now I remember, that was part of why I chose the name. Old. Vintage. 

Thanks for the link, I'll take a look.

@revsorg that's not a bad idea...

Alegree

A guitar encased in amber then. 
I'll accept my royalties now.

Funkfingers

stickyfiddle said:

typeface 

Correct. 

A font is a case for storing metal type.

Jez6345789

Have a look on creativemarket.com loads of low cost fonts and handrawn stuff you can easily pull together to build  bit of a logo and brand imagery

markblack

Da Font is good for quickly previewing fonts.




The only thing I'd say is your font choice makes me think you do folk music instruments. I know you want classic but I'm not sure that the best choice. I think it looks a bit novelty - with a logo you want to aim for classic as you'll be looking at it for a few years.

stickyfiddle

Porter sans block (the last one) is the only one there that isn't awful. 

Its actually wuitw good