BWD tshirt & logo design

[blackdogvan]

Is there any chance of the sticker not being on a huge white rectangular background? It would be nice if it was made like a vinyl lettering sticker with the removable application strip on top & your car's glass being the background.

[~~~~~4j~~]

Thanks for the feedback and ideas. I definitely could clean up the T-shirt design a bit. I am a Corel Draw newbie, so I'm a bit clumsy with all the drawing tools. I could use a tablet.

I like the idea of a motto. That sounds like another thread topic though! T likes to say "Life IS playtime". I do like "Wind is good" too. "Windstoke" is a good term.

Winddoctor, good insights. A redesigned logo would be simpler if we were to eliminate the windsurfer/kite -- something clean, simple and elegant (as opposed to my cluttered/comical T-shirt idea). I like the idea of capturing the spray off the top of the wave somehow. I will try to work on something like that.

I don't believe that the "brand" has to be static, especially when considering art for T-shirts. Some companies have multiple versions of their name/theme. Check out the different Shoreline Tee Shirts at http://www.shorelinesurf.com/. I like the art on their Santa Cruz shirts.

Perhaps we should distinguish between a simple "logo" and "T-shirt art". I'm not sure if we have time to redesign a "logo" before we get the shirts made. However, there is time to create some art for the back of the shirts. I'd be happy with the existing logo as a crest on the front of a shirt, and something different on the back (I don't think the existing logo lends itself to being printed large). If we do this, we can take our time to redesign/rework the logo, and/or discuss further if it needs to be changed at all.

Here is an interesting article on waves in logo design. Apparently, waves in logos is one of the new design trends. It will be difficult to come up with something unique and meaningful that hasn't been done already. However, I think we have the talent in our community to do it. I would really like to see more ideas!

[bwd]

Great work 4J and T! Thanks for spending so much time on it.

4J: I think the idea of a different image on the back of the T/hoody is a good one. I like your ideas, maybe with some other text underneath (not everyone can handle wavecamp ) Maybe something with the stoke wording.

T: i like your additions to the logo. It is maybe a bit cluttered with the detail, but it looks good. That was the only reason the original logo had the simple artistic kite/wsurfer. I like having a logo with a wave and wsurfer/kiter since thats what it's all about, oh wind too I guess. If we could get a better simplified kite/wsurfer that might work.

So great work! I think we are leaning to having a small logo on the front (the original or a modified one) with "wind is good" underneath and some kind of picture on the back...4J's maybe? but more discussions are needed.

Anyway more votes and more ideas are good. Still trying to wrap this up by the end of the month (next Thursday), so yes, a new logo may be a bit ambitious.

Is there any chance of the sticker not being on a huge white rectangular background? It would be nice if it was made like a vinyl lettering sticker with the removable application strip on top & your car's glass being the background.

Most of the stickers are contour cut around the logo and they are not on a huge white background. There are some rectangular ones that were rejects floating around (collectors items) but the ones for sale are trimmed. See here:
http://www.bigwavedave.ca/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=4059

[Wingnut]

4J - I think your design for the back has merits but I would like to see the wave look more realistic and less like a waterspout.

[~~~~~4j~~]

4J - I think your design for the back has merits but I would like to see the wave look more realistic and less like a waterspout.

Thanks Wingnut; comment noted. It was a first draft and has lots of room for improvement. I plan to modify it, using previous suggestions, by doing the following:
- not including eyes - the "monster" was just a fun experiment.
- widening wave
- fixing top of wave to show more foam
- show wind blowing the foam off
- changing lower text to "wind is good"...or anything else we want!
- generally clean up the design

I like the shark fin and rooster, but I'm not particularly attached to them. That was Oregon wave camp related anyway...and meant to give a chuckle.

Please feel free to provide more suggestions!

[Wingnut]

I like your proposed changes 4j, personally I could do without the rooster.
Alas, I am not a graphic designer but I know what I like. Keep up the good work. I also like T's more realistic wind/kite surfers on the logo.

[otherside]

Woops, posted in the wrong spot.
New Logo - should be simple, memorable and unique. There is no point in creating a new logo unless there is a significant improvement to the old one. Changing a font, won't cut it. If you want a good logo, you likely need to pay for it. I am not a wind nut but I do think you have an excellent following and wonder if you need a new one at all. I am Ralph's other half and a professional designer. If I had time, I would offer. But, my free time is spent on land on my own sport. Keep sailing and forget about a new logo. Otherside - Wednesday March 23, 8:24PM

[otherside]

If you are trying to raise money by selling t-shirts, use words, and your web address, and no logo. You can pull of a good look then, and you should sell more shirts.

I asked eastside for some words, such as ... stoke, ripping... etc. I can put together something that is simple and good, if I know the words that you use. Send the words to Eastside and then I can put something together over the weekend.

Otherside.

[nanmoo]

The otherside of the eastside is not necessarily the opposite side, so which side is it?

[~~~~~4j~~]

Great advice, Otherside. Thank you!

The more I learn of logo design, the more difficult and complicated I realize it is! And perhaps a forum thread isn't really the most efficient place to be attempting to come up with a new one. I think that this thread has served its purpose: gauging the interest in a new logo, and collecting people's thoughts on the existing one.

There does seem to be a split in opinions. So far just over half of the people that voted like the existing logo. Considering this, there is no need to rush to have a new logo. However, there also seems to be strong support for coming up with new ideas that capture the essence of what this website and community are all about. So maybe let's keep this on the back burner, and post our ideas, or discuss them with BWD and others at the beach.

Thank you Otherside, for your generous offer to work on a design this weekend! I will start a new thread topic to collect ideas on words, since this is a related, but different topic.

[~~~~~4j~~]

Here is my next draft for the T-shirt. It is a bit wonky and needs some fine-tuning, but you get the idea... The Corel Draw trial that I downloaded only has a few fonts to select from. I'm going to look for more. I think I may need to trace another windsurfer, because Dave looks a bit too far crouched down. If I have time I'll add some spray from the boards.

[KUS]

hmm, nope....not at all

Love draft 3 I get the waterspout comment, perhaps that wave could be amended somehow, but that would look so great on the back of a hoodie with the old logo on the chest..... the blues are perfect.

The wavecamp? Everyone should be aspiring to the wavecamp, I mean, what else is there If you look in wikipedia under STOKE you find "AKA wavecamp". The wear should be celebrating SOMETHING, if not the wavecamp, what else?

The rooster is the perfect balance for the shark fin. yes it was a joke limited to a smaller group but hey, it was really funny and makes for a great conversation starter.

C'mon, now that you dangled that out there I wanna see it in real life

[bwd]

Woops, posted in the wrong spot.
New Logo - should be simple, memorable and unique. There is no point in creating a new logo unless there is a significant improvement to the old one. Changing a font, won't cut it. If you want a good logo, you likely need to pay for it. I am not a wind nut but I do think you have an excellent following and wonder if you need a new one at all. I am Ralph's other half and a professional designer. If I had time, I would offer. But, my free time is spent on land on my own sport. Keep sailing and forget about a new logo. Otherside - Wednesday March 23, 8:24PM

Hi Otherside: thank you for the comments. I agree with most of what you said. I think we were hoping to tweak the old logo a bit by changing a few things about it. I don't see anything wrong with a few updates. Some people said they didn't like the logo at all so we were hoping to get comments about what they'd like to see in a new logo. We didn't expect to have people come up with a new logo, just some ideas. Our original logo was designed by a graphic designer and I paid for it, but I had ideas about what it should look like. I know that if we have a new one done up we'd also pay for it to be done properly. But I agree with you whether we have to go through that process at all... I'd much rather tweak the old one a bit.

Here is my next draft for the T-shirt. It is a bit wonky and needs some fine-tuning, but you get the idea...

Hey 4J...nice work, again! I like draft3, but have a few comments. Like Kus is saying (I think), the first waterspout version would look great on the back of shirts/hoodies with the old logo on front. The draft3 looks more like a new logo (a good one though). Also the wave looks a bit like a spikey fish. Just my constructive comments. I like your original waterspout design, with maybe some different wording and some tweaks on the waterspout...? I like the shark and rooster too (which I actually thought was a hand).

I do like the draft3 as maybe the start of a new logo, maybe with some tweaks to the wave and a new font, and it would look with some blue/black colour.

[~~~~~4j~~]

Ok, I will go back and work on the "waterspout" version again shortly. I made a few quick edits to the "spiky fish" version, considering your comments. It is 5 colours though, so may not be easy to reproduce. I wasn't intending this to be a logo, but I can see that it may look good small on the front of a T-shirt. Still needs much work though...it is a bit out of balance...and looks a bit like Fry's hair ...Hmm, maybe I shouldn't keep posting all the iterations...

Edit: got rid of the light zigzag lines

[JL]

The kiter & windsurfer look great but (especially the first one) waves look like a fish spine ... A single wave might work ?! 'T's is great