

HN: Help me pick a logo - csytan

Hey all,<p>I've been working on creating a crowd-sourced freelance translation site for the past few months.  It's now time for me to choose a logo!<p>Could you help me out?<p>Contest:<p>http://99designs.com/contests/35426<p>My favorites:<p>http://99designs.com/contests/35426/entries/44<p>http://99designs.com/contests/35426/entries/47
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kyro
Against what most have suggested here so far, I actually like #47
significantly more. Here's why: When I hear 'translator', I immediately think
of someone furiously typing on a computer or transcribing something on paper -
nerd-like behavior, which the glasses really do emphasize. Also, with #47, the
face of the caterpillar is the main point of focus, with the rest of the body
relatively undemanding of attention. That sort of emphasis and meaning isn't
in #44, imo. And the type in #44 is too styled. You want something
effortlessly readable.

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Scott_MacGregor
Logo 47 seems more memorable to me. Meaning if I surfed off your site and 1
month later seen #47 somewhere else I would be more likely to remember it is
associated with your company.

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crocowhile
Agreed. It is also much more communicative about the site's job, possibly
because of the reading glasses.

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carbocation
If you go with logo 44, the 'i' (and thus all the text) should probably have a
different font face, or should not be capitalized. I say this because:

(a) There is ambiguity between that capital i and the lowercase l. Although
the rest of the text is capitalized, it is not worth the risk potentially
confusing your customers.

(b) Caterpi and Caterpl are both reasonable ways to shorten Caterpillar, so
which adds to the confusion if there is typographical ambiguity.

Cheers!

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csytan
Great suggestion, Thanks!

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infinity
From the displayed logos I like #44, the caterpillar is very cute. I also
agree with the suggestion to change the typography to something that is not
capitalized.

~~~
nzmsv
Yes, but the BW version needs a touch-up. It looks like it has a sad face.

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jeromec
I like #47 more, not doubt about it. It fits the brief better, and leaves a
stronger brand impression IMO. However, I agree with matt1 that having the
character looking directly _at_ you may be an issue. I think it's okay... I'm
trying to remember another logo where that's the case. To be on the safe side
I'd probably pick #44 though, if unsure, as it's certainly nice enough.

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matt1
These are both very good but I'd go with 44 for the simple fact that the
caterpillar in 47 is looking _at_ you, which is awkward.

I recently asked HN to help with a submission for my upcoming project
(<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1059075>). I used CrowdSpring and paid
$200+$30 for the contest. I got a lot more submissions than you did with
99designs for $150, but it looks like your submissions were in general a lot
better quality than the ones I received on CrowdSpring. If I need to get a
logo designed in the future, 99designs seems like a good alternative.

~~~
csytan
Personally I also prefer #44, although one of my friends mentioned it looked
like a pokemon :S

I did see your previous submission, which is where I got the idea to ask HN
(thanks!). CrowdSpring was another option, but the really smooth transition
from learning about how 99designs works, to ordering a project really
impressed me.

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rabidsnail
I think #47 is more unique and therefore recognizable with minimal context. If
I saw #44 in a favicon cropped to just the head I'm not sure I'd be able to
tell what it was, but I'd definitely recognize #47.

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ks
I like #47. For some reason, I feel that 44 is more suited to a site for
children. When I look at #47, I think of a book worm, and it is easy to
associate it to what your site actually does.

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csytan
Site: <http://www.caterpi.com>

Contest: <http://99designs.com/contests/35426>

My favorites:

<http://99designs.com/contests/35426/entries/44>

<http://99designs.com/contests/35426/entries/47>

~~~
nzmsv
The machine-translated Russian version is pretty bad :) I can help you with a
proper translation if you want.

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Sujan
Same for the German one. Better version:

1) Caterpi verbindet freiberufliche Übersetzer mit ihren Kunden. Wir werden im
Frühjahr 2010 starten.

2) Translators => Übersetzer

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csytan
Thanks Sujan, I've made the changes.

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ComputerGuru
If I may: Suggestions for the site itself, not the logo...

I love the one-stop "what do you want to translate" on the homepage... but you
should definitely add an "advanced" section w/ bulk rates, translation by
"guaranteed professionals", upload forms, etc.

Nice idea though! Definitely would use it to translate some software.

You may want to consider a lowest-bid approach too for the future.

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tel
I prefer #47, it's been made with quite a bit more attention to detail.

The glasses suggest intelligence which is good for a translation service and
it does better in greyscale suggesting that the contrast has a lot of
information and is memorable. The font is a little broken though, particularly
the "a" and how the ".com" doesn't align with the baseline.

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malomalo
try <http://pickfu.com/>, it's what we've used before

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fauigerzigerk
I wouldn't choose any of them really

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Maciek416
Go with #44, but change the type.

