Just two days left to go in the contest on 99designs.com. for a new logo and color palette for SpokenWord.org. (Here’s a version without the eliminated submissions.) We’d love your feedback on these designs. You can add your comments here or on the 99designs.com site.
There are four designers still in the running with a number of good designs.
- ‘mithrill’ has submitted many good designs. #2 is the original. I steered him away from the Halloween-ish colors and the reflection, but I wonder if the reflection shouldn’t be brought back. It looks cool. I was just worried about the clutter. #36 is his first with the .org turned on its side, which I like. #36 though #43 are primarily just different palettes. #51 has a new palette and shows three different alignments of the elements. I like the square one in the upper left, but I also like the one in bottom center for situations where we need something more horizontal. The upper-right version doesn’t have the abstract ‘W’ so it loses that concept. Same for #52: looks nice but I miss the second set of bars. #41 and #43 are still on the page just for the sake of different color choices. I don’t like the bars slanting towards the top right as much as the original design. In summary, I think the design if #36, #37 and #38 may be mithrill’s best (but without the dashed line). All he needs is to work on colors, and we have to help him.
- ‘A d’ has submitted #3, which remains one of the most popular according to email I’ve received from the team. My primary concern is that when it’s small, it’s very hard to see/read SpokenWord. Also, the ‘.org’ really does look tacked on, to me. This was the first of the designs with a bubble. Others have copied it, but not as well.
- ‘customlogo’ has two left. I don’t think #19 is a serious contender, but I do like its clean look. #21 is also very clean and I like the use of color. The pattern of dots makes me think of both ‘digital/bits’ and of a VU meter. Elegant.
- ‘yavan’ submitted #57. Also probably not a serious contender, but again it’s simple. The bubble concept is there, but it’s the container for the whole thing. Very nice.
Blogarithms 
Dear Doug,
My favorites are 3 and 2, both because of the graphic elements. For me, a logo is effective whether the words are readable or not when small. 3’s balloon makes a statement. Org being a “tack-on” is effective to any of these designs. Since this is not a “Com” URL, something must jump out a bit to jog the reader to recognize the Org. Another essential for me is that the two words, Spoken and Word need to be in two colors, not one. The word play of this compound word is accentuated using two colors.
Last bit, from a red-green color blind person. The orange or pumpkin colors seem to be hot right now. #3 pulls that off without evoking Halloween like #2 slightly does.
All the best,
Frank
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I’m going to buck the trend a little. While #3 and #2 are unquestionably beautiful, I think #51 has the advantage of being more recognizable and versatile. It looks good whether small or large, in black and white (as in #36), and on black or white backgrounds. Choosing #51 wouldn’t preclude using #3 for some purposes.
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My favorite is #21 – a classy design. To me #21 looks like a grownup and #3 looks like a kid.
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I particularly like #3, #65, #38, and #2 (in that order), but any of the remaining choices would do well in my opinion. Nice stuff!
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