Concept 5.1, Revised
As you can see by comparing this version to the previous version of 5.1 I’ve made some minor tweaks to the typography (in addition to the revision of the silhouettes) which I felt were helpful. I’ve tightened the relationship of all of the elements in this logo and I’ve minimized or de-emphasized “Fund” while emphasizing “Albany Music.” (I just noticed that the musical bar is not centering. That will be fixed.)
Logo Concepts by Melton…
Given the situation I’ve decided to submit some logo concepts of my own. The overriding and not very humble reason is because I believe that I can come up with something better. However, the choice is yours.
Some of the factors I believe go into good logo design, in addition to “legibility” and “readability” and a tone and manner that is appropriate to the subject, are things such as scalability (the ability of a logo to be used large or small and still be readable), containment (the sense that the logo contains itself against a light or dark or busy background) and I’m sure more things that I can’t remember right now.
It’s quite challenging to attempt to depict “music,” “funding” or support or “Albany” in a logo. Not impossible, just challenging. With more time, I think anything is possible. But the clear intention is to complete this project sooner than later, so this is the best I can do in a short time-frame.
My initial approach to achieving the above objective was to use “performance” as the conduit to “music.” Therefore, you’ll see some graphic elements that suggest a performance stage, a proscenium arch or bandshell, a spotlight or stage light and the resulting pool of light and shadows, and a graphic approach that is suggests syncopation and sound, among other things.
Overall, I strove to make these concepts “musical” in one way or another. Some designs may seem more “non-profit local” while others might be more “non-profit national,” among other things.
One of the things I tried to avoid was literal depictions or illustrations of the ideas this logo needs to convey. So, you won’t see any musical notes or instruments in these concepts and a musical bar appears in only one of them.
In a normal situation, I would only present 3 or 4 concepts, having taken the time to really edit the pile down. Given this situation and the timing, I’m showing you 6 concepts (with 2 variations on 2 of them).
Again, given the situation, please let’s limit the number of revisions to no more than 3 rounds. In other words, ideally you will choose 1 candidate for further development. Any revisions will be made to that candidate only, to get it to a point where it’s considered finished. There should be no more than the 3 total rounds of revisions once that candidate has been selected.
So, take your time in reviewing these and consider the many ways in which this logo will be used, not the least of which is merchandising (T-shirts) as well as the value this final logo will provide the AMF as a marketing/development/merchandising tool.
Here they are…
Concept 1 (2 variations)
Concept 2
Concept 3
Concept 4
Concept 5
Concept 6 (2 variations)
Please know that all of these concepts are still “sketchy.” A series of tweaks and refinements will be required to get the actual candidate prepared for “final” status. Also, good logo development begins in Black & White. Colors will be added later, particularly as the palette for the website becomes more specific.
Thanks!
