Choosing a logo — Round 2
Hi,
The Twitter community gave some terrific input last week and it caused us to stop and rethink the process, ultimately hiring a second artist to come up with options for CareerJolt. We think you’ll find them different from those we posted before.
Late Addition: In response to a few people who weren’t part of the first group that evaluated the logo and suggested in the comments below that they don’t know what we do, CareerJolt’s mission is to help improve workplace relationships. We left the descriptive slugline off in these new logo versions. It is “street smart ideas to win the workplace game.”
We try to cut through the ego, attitude and — sometimes — years of negative habits — that can create a toxic environment and prevent managers and frontline workers alike from being successful. We find many of the same issues and problems, regardless of the size of the organization.
We believe that nobody escapes a bad workplace. It’s like cigarettes and “second hand smoke.” You may not be directly involved in the harmful things that take place at work, but you can still smell what’s happening.
We try to shake up that kind of thinking and give people a realistic shot at advancing their careers and organizations — and enjoying their work more. Hope that helps.
Note: Our artist has given us two looks; one if we stay with the current dark blue background and the other if we go with something lighter.
Please spend a moment and give us your first and (if you want) second choices from the four workups listed below. As before, feel free to give us your opinions and reasons for what you like, what you don’t like, and why.
Many thanks.
Jerry Roberts
P.S. To answer the question of why the video of “You Raise Me Up” is posted, we used it to test the video component and have left it up during testing because I love the song. Maybe it has a message for the workplace.
Version 1
Artist comment: “Simple, clean logo. I focused on creating a “shaky” effect to emphasize the word “jolt”.”
Version 2
Artist comment: “Similar concept to #1, but with a slightly more fun “jolt”. I used an exclamation point as the “L” to try and make a statement that this isn’t your typical career advice blog – this is something new & fresh.”
Version 3
Artist comment: “I created a speech bubble for the letter “A” in career. The speech bubble represents the advice part of your site. For the word “jolt”, I created a visual of moving forward with the arrow and the slanted text.”
Version 4 (includes possible favicon on right)
Artist comment: “I wanted to give you an option that utilizes a symbol. For this one, I created an icon using the initials C and J, and also incorporated the exclamation point idea.”
*** Based on feedback our designer, Jamie (who is monitoring and is a terrific communicator) has adjusted versions 3 and 4. Here are the changes:
Version 3 revised
Version 4 revised
Okay. Please let us know what you think. Thanks!
If I had to pick one, I’d pick #1. It’s the only one that appeals to me.
I like the reverse font (bottom design). I would play around with the actual font. It’s a little too square for me.
To me, the rocky font could be in the Career part, not the jolt. It should come from the circle in jolt and ripple out from there. smoothing things out as it goes.
You know, it comes from you, this is your baby. It will be a reflection of where you are at and can develop over time.
I’d love to help out sometimes with family constellation workshops. Have you heard how they helped Mercedes?
Hands down it’s #1 for me!
Just seeing the word ‘jolt’ written that way WILL make me think of you!
I prefer version #1 — It’s simple, classy, and sticks to the ‘jolt’ concept without being distracting.
If you have to pick one, I’d go with the first.
BUT, I think it is a mistake to put the two words together in a single line and have them try to transition the way they are.
I’d rather stack them,
CAREER
JOLT
and make my transitions that way.
Good luck!
#4
Simplicity
not selling coffee.
Promoting support for confidence, skills, knowledge…
I like #2 – very nice, very eye catching. I’m a professional photographer, BTW, and these logos are all fairly good but the #2 is (to me) the most effective overall.
Hey #1 is really the best in my eyes – - nice, simple, a little flair, not a copy of somone else – - – Good Job – - next you may want to try color variations and see what color combinations work best . . .
First choice is #1 – gives the thought that things will be shaken up after collaborating with you.
Second choice is #2 – because I think the exclamation point as the L provides interest.
Not really feeling #3 or #4 – they just do not speak to me as much, I guess.
I just wanted to pop in one more time and thank everyone again for all their wonderful feedback!
I really enjoyed creating the CareerJolt logo, and I absolutely loved the experience of the group critique — it was very helpful!
And Jerry, it’s been a pleasure working with you! I’m sending the final files now….
Pleased to see the final selection in action.
@Jerry I would feel very confident in your choice if I were in your shoes.
Thanks to everyone who helped with this project. We had people re-tweeting the call for comments, and received a lot of feedback through e-mail and Twitter direct messages.
And, of course, the comments and reasoning were soooo valuable.
Finally, I can’t say enough about Jamie. If you ever need a logo or any other graphics done, she is a terrific communicator and obviously talented. More than that, she is open to opinion of her work, without taking offense at those who disagree with her choices. She is able to bury her ego and consider what others think, then use the feedback to the client’s advantage. It doesn’t get any better than that.
How did I find her? She made an intelligent, detailed, and friendly critique of the first set of logos. She didn’t pitch me on using her services. I dug a bit to find several examples of her work, and then asked her to jump in and take my design to the next level.
And she certainly did.
Thank you, Jamie. I can’t wait to have a reason to work with you again!
One more thing about Jamie that I think is a great reason to work with her. She invited a number of her design friends in to take a look and give their opinion. That’s like having a design team involved, not just one person.
Thanks to Emil for coming back more than once to lend his thoughts.
Looks like you chose #1 (cleaned up). It is a GREAT logo. Has me thinking I may want to talk with Jaimie – excellent work!
Much luck with your venture Jerry. I think you are really onto something – great concept. Look forward to learning from you.
Thanks, Susan. I can’t say enough about Jamie. She was just terrific to work with and totally open — I think even excited — to throw open the process and solicit comments. I’m sure you’ll get exactly what you want from her.