We have been on a mission to redesign our company logo for almost a year now but due to real work we have had to delay for quite a while.
We eventually got round to the redesign process which I blogged about earlier this year.
One of the processes in the new logo design was using reader/twitter feedback to improve our logo. To cut a long story short, it worked. Our logo has evolved from being too raw to slightly refined but 'over the top' to what it is today in this blog post.
Below is stage two of the new logo:
One of the main complaints from stage 2 was that the 'Design' in 'Obox Design' should have been a different font to 'Obox'. Initially I didn't agree because at the end of the day our company name is Obox Design, not just Obox.
What we didn't think of was that we always talk about Obox and never Obox Design and neither does anyone else. So on that point we justified the change in font for 'Design'.
We decided that 'Design' still had to be bold because we are a bold design company but it had to move below 'Obox'.
After many samples, printing and scribbling we decided to go for 'Futura Std Extra Bold'.
So stage 3 of the logo looks like this:
Stage 4: Creating a Mark
We still haven't finished because we need to create a mark. Our mark has always been a sketched box but because of the bold nature of the new logo we have to change it.
Since our new logo is rounded we decided that we can still use the general shape of the sketched box but we will fill it with colour and pump it up a bit like a balloon...
There is a problem with this though.
If you look at SimpleBits you will realize that their logo is also a box which has been given a balloon feel:
I decided that maybe we could give our logo a twist and add splatters of paint to each side of the box. Paint splatters have crept into many of our designs within the company and it would be cool to bring out into the open. Here is the mark with splatters (still slightly unrefined though):
Marc doesn't like it so much and it is important that we are both happy with the new logo because it represent both of us in a huge way. Now we could be stubborn and stick to our plan and execute our new mark and to be honest I am very close to doing so. Before we do that we would like your opinion, do we stick with the neater balloon or the splattered balloon?
We have had our box mark since we started Obox Design and getting rid of it now would just be uncultured.
And so the logo saga continues. What are your thoughts?
26 Comments
Cool logo, it grows on me all the time
Guys., I do respect your work and the tv show and everything, but those spatters, you should get rid of that immediately! It doesnt fit with the box at all. The box is 3d, the spatters look very flat!
I agree with Thomas, the splatters dont fit with the logo. Maybe you could add a kind of window reflection on the box or something?
I must be honest, just before I pressed post I took a look at those splatters and thought... AM I CRAZY?
What do you guys think of the new design text? Do you think it suits better?
Do you think we can use the new box?
I think New 1 looks great. Only two recommendations: the splatters have a bad contrast with the 3D of the cube, so Id say you should make the splatters 3D as well.
And I love the font in the new logo! The shadow just looks a bit sharp, but thats all.
Great job!
@Sheamus - Thanks for your comments. We are loving the reader feedback :) I dont think we will stick with the splatters, you are all right, the contrast is way too high.
I am glad you like the logo font. I think people are slowly warming to our new logo which is good for its long term prospects.
@Anonymous - We feel that if we add a gloss over it, it will look too web 2.0y if that makes sense.
Sweet! Nice work, but I agree, the splatters arent great.
I definitely like the change in "design" for the same reasons you mentioned, but I have to say Im not a huge fan of the splatters. Nothing against splatters per se. I just think it flattens the box and takes away form the 3-D look of it. It begins to look more like a stylized Y.
Love your work and the show. Keep it up!
The new box (minus splatters) looks cool. :)
I can see what you mean re: Simplebits though. How about lifting the lid off the box, so to speak, and making it more 3D on an inward scale (ie: showing the inside of the box in the 3D fashion)? That would keep the 3D balloon-like elements of the box, while still making it unique and specific to OBOX.
Also agreed re: the font change of "Design". The only thing I can see immediately would be to move the "Design" slightly to the left so the right top edge of the "N" is in line with the bottom right edge of the "X" in OBOX. Possibly raising the "Design" slightly as well.
Other than that, the logo looks cool guys. Nice one. Looking forward to seeing the OBOX mark in action. :)
P.S Is it the Mark or the Marc? :P haha...
@David - Looks like Im not the only person against the Splats young son *winks*
Thanks for all the comments everyone.
Hey Guys,
Perhaps you could take the "O" in "Obox" and use that shape to create the side panels of the box.
I like the changes to the type, but dont think youve nailed the right box yet (didnt intend to make a joke, hah). I do agree though that you should try to incorporate the O in the box shape. It would be really unique and be really fitting for the name.
Go with the bloated box, ditch the splatter, shift the perspective on the box in figure 2 to the perspective in figure 1. This will keep it different enough from the other companys logo to make you unique, as well as push a similar direction as you were thinking with the splatter.
Hi! I am a graphic designer that is barely starting out and I happened to stumble upon this website, which is really cool by the way! I read about changing your logo. I dont know if my suggestion would be counted at all, but I thought I would give it a try...
I think that the plain 3d box is nice except for the splatter as everyone else commented. I dont know if youre keeping the type for your mark, but I think that a sans-serif font would fit a lot better. The box has clean edges and therefore it makes me want to see a sans-serif font.
Hopefully this will give you guys some direction. - Jorge
I think youre stuck in a rut myself, limiting your logo type and using the curved box and box angles.
Whats an O Box anyway? Cant you try a rounded box? But if its not interesting (i.e. colour wise) then best to get rid of it.
Stage 3 looks good but the Design words are too small and logo type is commonly used.
Wow, this is what you call awesome feedback. Thanks very much everybody, there are some cool ideas here which I want to try ;)
@Mobiles - Obox = Outside the Box. With regards to the type, I am yet to see someone use that exact type. If your are referring to the style... well then I can say that every style on the planet has already been used 1000 times. The key is to find something which represents the brand and we believe that this font is the correct representation.
I think that we will try and implement the O into the box and we will also try using the original angle of the box.
Thanks again everybody.
I kinda like the splatters. But this is huge:
I hate how sometimes when you have a new post, it like resets the entire friggin feed in my Google Reader, and I all of a sudden have 40 posts from We are Not freelancers. Not so cool.
@Sean - We had an issue with our RSS feed which caused everything to backlog. At first we thought it was the Feedburner to Google transfer. Once we discovered the issue there were about 9 or 10 posts which got sent to everybody. It wont happen again and definitely wasnt intentional.
Sorry :(
I actually prefer the old box. It looks much better than the new one. The 3d shape on the old one has a nicer angle. Also, Splatters dont work so well here.
no splatters please
We have begun designing our new Obox Design site. Out of indecisiveness I placed the old mark behind the new logo as a quick fix.
The result is looking good.
I will keep everyone post...
I like stage three but the right upper corner of the "X" overlapping the "o" kind of throws me, did you try having it connected like the "O" and "B" and didnt like it? Just not sure if it flows for me...
Im really not feeling the splatter. Id try experimenting further with the box so it doesnt look like the simplebits logo. Perhaps go for a different angle, or thicker gaps.
@Everyone - Thank you again for the feedback. If you visit the new Obox Design site you will see what we decided to do: http://www.obox-design.com
A little old with a little new! Good choice, I like the new look.
"had to be bold because we are a bold design company" WHAT? I hope thats not the full brief :)
The splatters are awful. I rather like the current box symbol (not mark, please dont get to logomark), but the fonts dont fit and could have better readability.
cheers!