What's your band's logo?

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Spaceduck
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2008/05/11 11:27:40 (permalink)

What's your band's logo?

Post pics if you got em! I'm in the process of designing a band logo, and I need some ideas. It's sort of a hippy, tree-hugger, prog rock band (yeah, I wish I could get Roger Dean to pay me a visit).

Also, to those of you who designed your own logo, how did you do it? Sketch it on paper & scan it in, or did you use graphics software like Adobe Illustrator?
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    SvenArne
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    RE: What's your band's logo? 2008/05/11 11:33:29 (permalink)


    These three guys followed us throughout our three album catalog, first appearing as the main body on the "Disco For The Dead EP" cover, later becoming a small logo on the back of albums and on posters. We found them in a book about art and propaganda in the Sovjet Union. They were originally breaking apart a swastika which a designer friend of ours edited out to make them look like they were dancing or whatever...


    Sven
    post edited by SvenArne - 2008/05/11 11:43:39





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    Spaceduck
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    RE: What's your band's logo? 2008/05/11 12:11:35 (permalink)

    ORIGINAL: SvenArne
    We found them in a book about art and propaganda in the Sovjet Union. They were originally breaking apart a swastika which a designer friend of ours edited out to make them look like they were dancing or whatever...


    Freakin awesome, man! I love designs that have a hidden significance like that. Who'da thought them political icons could groove out like that

    You've given me a great starting point. I should look at some old art/history collections... maybe there's something in there that relates to the music. Then put a new spin on it, voila.
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    ru
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    RE: What's your band's logo? 2008/05/11 12:55:45 (permalink)
    art and/or photos scanned in and manipulated.
    it's hard to resist the image merging/collaging possibilities available by using software.
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    Guitarhacker
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    RE: What's your band's logo? 2008/05/11 14:31:14 (permalink)
    Since I don't currently play in a band... Years ago, I played in a band that played alot in the military enlisted clubs at Camp Lejeune, NC. There was a very talented artist (marine) that followed several of the bands in that circuit. He designed a Logo for a band called Castle that looked like a "Yes" album cover. We saw it and asked him to do one for us. We were country & rock, and our name was Cahoots. His logo for us was a cowboy pointing a double barrel shotgun straight at you and the ends of the barrels was the 2 'O's in the name. We used an overhead projector to project it onto our truck and hand painted it ourselves.

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    Spaceduck
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    RE: What's your band's logo? 2008/05/11 15:25:27 (permalink)
    Got a picture, gh? I bet that truck was a sight to see!

    I'm sure that's the best way to do it (have a professional artist make a concept design for you). Me--a non artist--trying to design a logo is a chore, sort of like an artist (non musician) trying to record a song.

    But I'm getting there. Like ru said, graphic software makes up for a lot.

    I'm trying to think of the most memorable logos of the 70s and figure out what they all have in common. Yes comes to mind. Also Aerosmith had a really cool one. In both cases, the lettering is unique... not just any old font. Also I think a good logo should have some sort of icon (like the shotgun in cahOOts, or the 3 guys in Sven's cover, or the wings in Aerosmith) that makes it instantly recognizable from afar.
    post edited by Spaceduck - 2008/05/11 15:44:40
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    Legion
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    RE: What's your band's logo? 2008/05/11 15:43:12 (permalink)
    <------------- That's our logo. Maybe aint much inspiration when you're designing for a hippy band though... How about a european ash with mirror sunglasses If your looking for interesting fonts there are lots of good free ones here: http://www.urbanfonts.com/fonts/western-fonts.htm
    post edited by Legion - 2008/05/11 16:05:12

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    Roflcopter
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    RE: What's your band's logo? 2008/05/12 03:24:32 (permalink)
    Me--a non artist--trying to design a logo is a chore, sort of like an artist (non musician) trying to record a song.

    But I'm getting there. Like ru said, graphic software makes up for a lot.


    Yeah, it takes a few years fiddling that software, and doing a few productions before you get any good. There's an awful load of noob mistakes nearly everyone falls for - and they show, and everybody who sees them will let you know. Not so nice. And then when you want to get stuff printed in hardcopy, they change the rules again.

    If you need a hand with the technical stuff, like enlarging stuff professionally etc or cleaning up rough sketches or help with composition and effects, just holler.

    [edit, my logo is not exactly indicative - that's just a quick brushup of a pic I stole from Bill Gates, I think it was.]
    post edited by Roflcopter - 2008/05/12 03:45:10

    I'm a perfectionist, and perfect is a skinned knee.
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    Guitarhacker
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    RE: What's your band's logo? 2008/05/12 08:26:11 (permalink)
    Spaceduck....We also had a big backdrop made up and painted that hung behind the band. I know there are pics of the truck somewhere but I'd have to spend some time hunting them and then I'd have to figure out how to digitize them.... I still have the backdrop in my shed....I'll dig it out, open it up & hang it on the fence an get a pic of it. That I can post. Just check back here later.

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    ru
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    RE: What's your band's logo? 2008/05/12 09:03:51 (permalink)
    roflcopter's right about the software. i was thinking you were already familiar with it. if you haven't any compositional background, photographic or art, you're probably taking your chances. if you're not artistically inclined, you might consider finding someone who is.
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    Guitarhacker
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    RE: What's your band's logo? 2008/05/12 09:13:18 (permalink)
    Space duck...I found a photo and shot it instead. I'm in the center...

    post edited by Guitarhacker - 2008/05/12 09:39:48

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    Roflcopter
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    RE: What's your band's logo? 2008/05/12 11:04:48 (permalink)
    [nevermind]
    post edited by Roflcopter - 2008/05/13 05:32:40

    I'm a perfectionist, and perfect is a skinned knee.
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    Spaceduck
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    RE: What's your band's logo? 2008/05/12 11:19:04 (permalink)
    Damn, gh, that's one great piece of artwork. You guys really have the look too. When was that shot taken, and most importantly... You still got that hat? I WANT IT

    rolf & ru, I have a little bit of "artistic" background if you can call it that (drew a cartoon strip for a few years, way back). I also have a decent handle on Adobe Illustrator & Photoshop but just the basic/intermediate stuff. Like you said, rofl, you can always tell when a graphic artist is a noob ...and I'm afraid I might fall into that category I might be giving you a shout if things get hairy.

    The problem with (noob) graphics is that it comes out very sterile and computer-generated looking. I discovered a few tricks that help humanize it, such as Live Trace, or if it's real hopeless you can always print it out, draw on it with a pen and scan it back in.

    The whole process reminds me of audio mixing where sometimes a midi/digital composition comes out way too clean, so you send it through a bunch of tube eqs and mixdown to tape before re-sampling the final digital product. Graphic design & digital recording are parallel worlds.
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    Spaceduck
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    RE: What's your band's logo? 2008/05/12 11:21:19 (permalink)
    ORIGINAL: Roflcopter

    OK, I'll try to mend my thieving ways - I won't be stealing from Mr. Gates collection*) any longer. Promise.





    [edit: the original is 6000 by 4500 pixels at 600 dpi, ready for print.]

    (* the Da Vinci *is* his, BTW, he had some spare cash and bought the lot).


    LMAO Kick ass!

    Please keep stealing from Mr. Gates. He's going to own the world soon anyway, so it'll be inevitable!

    Now I see the individual letters in your name (never noticed it before). Is that a font, or did you design each letter one at a time? I love the "f" guy and the "o" froggy
    post edited by Spaceduck - 2008/05/12 11:42:12
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    Roflcopter
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    RE: What's your band's logo? 2008/05/12 12:15:37 (permalink)
    [nevermind]
    post edited by Roflcopter - 2008/05/13 05:36:42

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    Guitarhacker
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    RE: What's your band's logo? 2008/05/12 14:45:54 (permalink)
    Space duck.... Bro...that hat is long gone. It was a cool hat. I think I still have the suspenders...or at least a pair that looks like them....all the elastic is gone though. Smitty probably still has his confederate hat. That back drop was hand painted by that Marine that did the drawing. He didn't want to take any money for it or his design...he considered it an "honor" to do it for us. We thanked him and told him we were going to give him some money anyway, and we paid him for it. ($150 I believe)

    We were quite the show band. We had accumulated a huge PA and a light show that had about 16,000 watts plus a 747 aircraft landing light. We played fairly good music (country & rock) but the show....that was killer.
    post edited by Guitarhacker - 2008/05/12 15:07:05

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    marcos69
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    RE: What's your band's logo? 2008/05/12 15:12:38 (permalink)

    ORIGINAL: Guitarhacker

    Space duck...I found a photo and shot it instead. I'm in the center...




    So you played a Gibson and your bandmates played shotguns?

    Mark Wessels

    At CD Baby

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    #17
    ru
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    RE: What's your band's logo? 2008/05/12 16:01:51 (permalink)
    the rhythm section.
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    Guitarhacker
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    RE: What's your band's logo? 2008/05/12 16:04:28 (permalink)
    Well...some who heard us might say that's what we sounded like. That was close to 30 years ago. Smitty..on the left played bass. Johnny on the right played drums & sang, and I played guitar and sang.

    We blew up a flash pot one night, in a rough redneck nightclub, and the owner thought someone had capped a shotgun inside. Yeah we were loud...to loud at times. We had a sound system, a light show and a stage show that would go the distance.

    NOTE: about the Gibson....69 model bought it used in 72 ...had it stolen from me 2 times, and it came back home both times. Started red, painted it white, stripped it down & finished it natural. Still have it. No it's not for sale.

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    Roflcopter
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    RE: What's your band's logo? 2008/05/12 16:15:05 (permalink)
    [nevermind]
    post edited by Roflcopter - 2008/05/13 05:32:06

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    boogielicious
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    RE: What's your band's logo? 2008/05/13 07:38:25 (permalink)
    I had a band in the late 80's called, "Miss Demeanor". The bass player and drummer were women, hence the name. My brother had t-shirts made up with our name/logo as spattered blood. It was pretty cool looking.

    Scott
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    Jonbouy
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    RE: What's your band's logo? 2008/05/13 08:05:19 (permalink)
    ORIGINAL: Spaceduck

    Post pics if you got em! I'm in the process of designing a band logo, and I need some ideas. It's sort of a hippy, tree-hugger, prog rock band (yeah, I wish I could get Roger Dean to pay me a visit).

    Also, to those of you who designed your own logo, how did you do it? Sketch it on paper & scan it in, or did you use graphics software like Adobe Illustrator?


    Kinda spooky....

    ...but the longer this thread gets, the more suitable your avatar seems.

    I was in a Band once where the basis of the logo was very similar to the concept of that Spaceduck. It used a Warhol cartoon stylised line drawn WWII fighter (Mustang) as the band (and the plane) were called 'Hungry Horse'.

    Various scenerio's were depicted employing our 'Intrepid Hero', the plane, as the main focus. All the ticket's, flyers, badges etc. featured 'The Horse' in various poses but always in the same war comic story book style, so it became very recognizable as a brand. We even had back projections of the 'Horse' in situations that reflected the song being performed which were really effective.

    Production costs were kept down too because it was a black on white image so there were never any nasty reproduction costs.

    The whole thing was very effective, and I'm wondering if our friend Spaceduck there couldn't perform as well within that concept.

    Edit:

    I couldn't find an original reference but I just cooked up an image in a similar vein. I reckon the Space Ship would work well with the 'new frontier' genre you are describing.

    Here's the 'Horse' after a 'heavy' night!!!

    post edited by Jonbouy - 2008/05/13 08:56:09
    #22
    Roflcopter
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    RE: What's your band's logo? 2008/05/13 10:55:39 (permalink)
    Kinda spooky....


    I just decided to retract my posts and work for private reasons, since a lot of posters here simply would fail to see the humour, it's not the cheeriest bunch of late. The offer to spaceduck to help out with his logo still stands, though.

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    Axiology
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    RE: What's your band's logo? 2008/05/13 12:12:39 (permalink)
    I use my band logo as my avatar. A band consisting of only myself at the moment. I did it myself a half dozen years ago using photoshop. For a bigger version see axiology.ca.
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    Legion
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    RE: What's your band's logo? 2008/05/13 13:18:11 (permalink)
    The most important things when making a logo are:
    1. That it is easily recognizable
    2. That it is easily distinguishable from other logos
    3. That it immediately in one way or another (if possible) explains what it stands for or what can be expected of the product

    I really like the Cahoots logo; it’s very country with the font and shotgun even though it makes me associate a little more to outlaw- or wild west country than Christian country.


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    Spaceduck
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    RE: What's your band's logo? 2008/05/13 14:29:48 (permalink)
    Based on gh's description of the shows, I think that cahoots logo fits perfectly: "Southern, loud & in yer face!"

    I agree that a character or some other recognizable image can be really effective. Simple silhouettes can work wonders, like Sven's 3 red dudes or Legion's bowling ball head (sorry, I couldn't think of what else to call him). I'm also thinking of that space alien that Jamiroquai uses... which is good because no one knows how to spell Jamiroquai... Jamaroqu... forget it

    Jonbuoy I'd love to see some old 'Horse' adventures! Stuff like that can keep your fans hooked. There was a band called the Meatmen... horrible horrible noise... but they included a mini comic book in each album, the adventures of the band. I bought their cds just for that stupid comic book!

    Ax, that logo looks sweet on your website entry page. I also think your cd cover looks killer. Did you do that all in photoshop, or did you actually set up a shot of those guitars on a funky background?

    Album covers... now there's an entirely different thread altogether

    ORIGINAL: boogielicious
    I had a band in the late 80's called, "Miss Demeanor". The bass player and drummer were women, hence the name. My brother had t-shirts made up with our name/logo as spattered blood. It was pretty cool looking.

    Eye catching I'm sure. I'm imagining after a show a bunch of crazed fans come pouring out into the street in bloody t-shirts. Riot police anyone?
    post edited by Spaceduck - 2008/05/13 14:40:05
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    Legion
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    RE: What's your band's logo? 2008/05/13 17:58:05 (permalink)
    ORIGINAL: Spaceduck
    [...]Legion's bowling ball head (sorry, I couldn't think of what else to call him)


    Ha ha, it's actually supposed to be an angry smiley with a ski mask/balaclava:
    http://www.cartoonstock.com/directory/b/balaclava.asp
    http://bp2.blogger.com/_T4aVkTTesKE/Rs4kucjxiWI/AAAAAAAAACY/ovoGiv88Ato/s1600-h/422314_050728gal_ira7.jpg

    Seems like I might need to work on it a little bit though to make it more obvious, all ideas are welcome

    I missed the "Sothern, loud & in yer face"-part about the Cahoots, in that case their logo is definitely perfect! Axiology's logo is great as well and SvenArne's three dancing dudes really grabs the attention. I really like Roflcopter's as well but I think I prefer the one from his old avatar (the brown one), it seemed to have greater reprintability (is that a word?) but both really distinguish themselves wich is really important.

    So Spaceduck, how is your logo-making going? I think there are more than me who are really curious to see some kind of picture

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    Roflcopter
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    RE: What's your band's logo? 2008/05/13 18:14:34 (permalink)
    I really like Roflcopter's as well but I think I prefer the one from his old avatar (the brown one), it seemed to have greater reprintability (is that a word?)


    It just goes to show there's also the matter of scalability - what works in big size might not work as thumbnail. Contrast is what you meant - in this thumbnail you'd make the text stand out - now it's grass on grass. So normally you make a set, all slightly different where needed.

    As to your logo - IMO there's a few options from simple to more elaborate - simplest is just making the eyeholes more pinched, like a real one, change the center figure's color to dark army camo, or give it hint of vertical texture like some of those woolly balaclavas. Or a mix of the above.

    [edit] one option would be a bit like this, although I'd make it follow the facial lines as if it were stretched (tiny bit more work), plus a better texture - this was just the first I found that roughtly gave the idea, it should be darker like the original.

    post edited by Roflcopter - 2008/05/13 19:08:55

    I'm a perfectionist, and perfect is a skinned knee.
    #28
    ru
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    RE: What's your band's logo? 2008/05/13 18:15:37 (permalink)
    legion, your avatar makes me think of the old 'black face' make up.

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    Legion
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    RE: What's your band's logo? 2008/05/13 18:44:41 (permalink)
    ORIGINAL: Roflcopter
    Contrast is what you meant


    Yes, thank you. Really great idea with slightly different but still coherrent logos for different sizes/occations. I've used different colors and textures (even though I never got the vertical wool-one work) for the different artists I'm producing but never thought about it the way you wrote it.

    ORIGINAL: Roflcopter
    ...simplest is just making the eyeholes more pinched, like a real one, change the center figure's color to dark army camo, or give it hint of vertical texture like some of those woolly balaclavas


    Thank you for the ideas. I experimented a little with vertical texture when I made it but never really got it to work well but maybe I just need to try harder. I will definitely try making the eyeholes a little more pinched it might be just what the doctor (or actually the Roflcopter) prescribed.

    ORIGINAL: ru
    ...your avatar makes me think of the old 'black face' make up


    Thanks for the constructive critisism. I think I better get working on changing it since a 'black face' made up bowling ball is not really what I'm after
    post edited by Legion - 2008/05/13 19:09:20

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