I need a logo-like unicycle / unicycling imagefor two purposes:
To use as “sports illustration” on medals, to be awarded on a national unicycling race championship that I am organising this summer (the first of its kind). This year’s event will be about racing only, but next editions will probably be wider, e.g. incorporate freestyle.
To use as the logo (together with a name, still to be decided) for a national unicycling organisation/union/federation that I am planning to set up.
The reason that I want to use the same image for both purposes is that I’d like to indicate their connectedness: similar future national events with medals will (hopefully) be organised by/from that federation.
With some help, I have come up with two images, which I attach. Note that red-white-blue is our national flag. I’m not completely happy yet, though. I would appreciate comments, suggestions or even attempts at creating a better image, either starting from one of these, or from scratch.
By itself, I agree that the second image is better. One consideration is that some logos tie in well with the name of the organization/event, so you might want to figure that out before you settle on a logo. For instance, if the first word in your organization and event’s names started with “I”, it seems the first image might serve well as that letter when the whole name appears (if the rest of the letters are half as tall as the image and on the upper half), and well enough as a logo by itself when the whole name isn’t used. If you were to take the mirror image of the first picture, you might also get an “N” out of it (for “Nederland”!).
Similarly, some logos incorporate the initial letters of each word in the name in an image, sometimes combining the letters by their sharing lines that compose the letters/numbers (e.g., K2 Skis, or Sun Microsystems), and sometimes just by adding an image to the beginning or end of the letters (such as H&R Block and MSN).
This article, among others, has some basic pointers about good logo characteristics. One point to keep in mind (from that article) is that if your logo is in color, and more so if it has more than one color, the cost to put it on merchandise etc. will be higher. I hope at least some of this helps.
I would furtherly reduce the shape, to something like the uni in the upper right corner of my avatar.
Pedals are not necessary for recognising that it’s a uni.
If you “screw” pedals to that logo, do something cool with them, let them leave a color gradient behind or several phases that fade, like a montage of a series of photos.
The gradient could be the dutch tricolore…
Thanks a lot for all the responses! Most of you liked the unicycle without rider best. Remarkably, among my non-unicyclist friends it was the other way around. Perhaps there were some issues with the proportions/posture of the rider, that unicyclists picked up and laymen did not. For one thing, I think the leg was not stretched enough. I took most of your comments/suggestions on the logo-with-rider into account. Particularly the added arms, which also makes the image more cheerful, and perhaps a little bit away from racing, and towards freestyle (thus making it wider applicable).
Oh by the way. John Foss mentioned it looked like a disabled logo. Probably he was thinking of this? I hope I have eliminated that with the arms, and with the increased leg stretch.
I like the one with arms, minus the colors. There’s too much going on with the colors. Keep it simple. If you really feel the need to include color, then for me, the waves need to go. It’s just too busy to my eyes, with multiple curves at different angles. You might try the flag colors in simple, straight lines within the wheel (again, if you need color).
Hi… I would still choose the one without rider, but as comments to this one:
arms are to rough compared to the flow of the body (arms have square ends)
I think the leg shall be even more straight not to remind the disabled one
you cannot always use background with your logo so maybe it’s really better to incorporate colors into the wheel. I would try making a wheel three concentrical colored rings.
Ok, I “pointed” the arms, corresponding to the leg and making it less crude - good suggestion.
Maybe the wave in the flag was too much but on the other hand it provides movement and makes the logo more dynamic. So I decreased the wave but did not eliminate it completely.
I don’t know when I would not be able to use background colour. On printed paper, I can use colour although it will be more expensive. On award medals, I need to make a round outer border rather than the rectangle, but I can have colour at no extra cost. Online, of course I can have colour. Maybe colour would me more expensive or cumbersome on merchandise such as caps, but I don’t have such plans yet. Then again, colour would be more attractive.
It’s been a while since I posted in this thread. Meanwhile, I worked on the logo with a Dutch unicyclist who studied design in a former life. I hope you like the final result as much as I do.
Latest version looks more solid. Consider how it will look in black & white; might want to leave an outline around the unicyclist if the colors blend together.
Compare your logo with the one for Pepsi Cola; just be aware of the similarity, which is not a problem.
Thanks John. I agree it probably won’t work in black and white, but I’ve argued in this thread that for now I don’t see the need for black and white. If that need comes up, I’ll consider your suggestion.
Funny coincidence with the Pepsi logo, I never realised. I’ve moved away from it in the latest version though, where the lines are more wavy. Then again, this is based on the Dutch flag so who’s copying who, huh?
The figure looks as if it’s “sitting” on the second leg. You may want to play with that intersection a bit to make it more obviously part of the figure.
(pseudo-dutch)
