Ask YC: What logo do you prefer

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=138412

by agentbleu • 18 years ago

4 27 18 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

Would appreciate comments / suggestions on possible logos,

http://www.myplaylist.biz/index2.php

Red, Green, or neither?

Glimjaur• 18 years ago

Neither.

tyohn• 18 years ago

You're kidding right? Neither.

ideas101• 18 years ago

neither ... change the logo, the style and the fonts. changing only color won't help.

barcoder• 18 years ago

The best part about the logo is the lined L's and I (representing volume/frequency?), why not carry that on through the rest of the letters?

The shadow doesn't help.. Try and keep it simple.

tptacek3• 18 years ago

Lose the bezel. Reconsider the colors; you've got limp, low-value, low-saturation red and green there. The indicator bar letters are cute, but overused; pick one letter and use it there.

manvsmachine• 18 years ago

+1 for for brighter colors and having the level meter only in the "i". However, I would have the level approaching red a little before the dot, then make the dot entirely red. Additionally, I'd make the dot square; having it round kills the whole bar / level effect.

andr2• 18 years ago

When in doubt use Helvetica.

tptacek3• 18 years ago

Why?

andr2• 18 years ago

http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2001228246529956665

mechanical_fish• 18 years ago

None of the above. The whole thing is a big logo train wreck.

Because the contrast of the stripey letters is so much lower, the whole thing ends up half-legible. At first glance I see "p ay st", or "myp ay st". I have to squint, or use my brain, in order to tell what the hell I'm looking at -- and both of those tasks are too much to ask of visitors!

squidman• 18 years ago

None

paulkafasis• 18 years ago

I think having the level meter in JUST the "i" would be far better. As others have noted, readability is very low on this as it is. Adjusting just one letter can work, but not three, especially two in a row.

As far as colors go, none of these are very vivid. Perhaps all white with just the "i" as a green level meter, with a white dot.

Flemlord• 18 years ago

Best advice so far. To it I'll add (1) lose the outline/dropshadow effect, (2) do it in Photoshop or something that smooths the pixelation, (3) use a white background, (4) use a thinner, sans serif font, maybe something slightly techno.

My favorite font site: http://www.dafont.com/theme.php?cat=303

edw5192• 18 years ago

Green. Red infers a problem.

TransientMuse• 18 years ago

Red implies a problem. I infer that red denotes a problem.

edw5192• 18 years ago

Glad to see the grammar police have arrived. I feel safer already.

Maybe you oughta check spelling, too. That'll give you something to do.

enomar• 18 years ago

I have to agree with everyone here so far. None of these logos are nice to look at.

a-priori• 18 years ago

Don't forget about colour blindness. Although it isn't critical in this case (the red/green distinction doesn't add much information about the structure of the logo), in general mixing red and green is bad news.

xirium• 18 years ago

"myplaylist" in san serif is good. Lowercase is alright. Black background may create printing problems and limit future styling. "my" in green is good. Red dot on "i" is good. Volume style stripes on "li" significantly reduces legibility. Just omit this from the design and you'll be alright.

ekanes• 18 years ago

I posted your question at http://www.ask500people.com/questions/which-logo-do-you-pref...

It will get a few votes over the next while, but if it gathers enough up-votes (sort of like digg, but for polls) from the community within 24 hours it'll run on the home page and get many more votes from around the web. Hope it's useful for you and good luck with the site.

anand• 18 years ago

make sure you anti-alias your edges too yo. jaggies are gross

mosburger• 18 years ago

I agree with pretty much everything everyone else has said. - Lose the beveled edge. - The meter-effect thing is a decent concept, I guess, but it's way too overdone. One letter is more than enough. - It already has enough color, don't color any of the letters or the dot over the i.

You should always consider whether or not your logo will look good if you have only one color to work with. Think about things like screening your logo in black-and-white (e.g., a t-shirt or trade-show duffel bag). Incidentally, this is one reason to avoid gradients in general (another being that they just look like crap). This is also why the bevel has to go. So will the sound-meter analogy carry through with just black? I think it might lose something if you don't have green and red to work with, but that's just my opinion.

You should also make sure that you can shrink your logo down to a teeny-tiny size and have it still be recognizable. Think about things like favicons.

The font in the logo is actually pretty good... it's clean, readable, and a bit edgy.

I'm certainly no graphic designer, this is just stuff that I've read about logo design over the years. :)

vishpat• 18 years ago

its web -9999.0

christefano• 18 years ago

They're all more or less the same to me. I suggest ignoring all of the comments here and simply take a week-long break from tweaking your logo. Come back to your logo when your mind and imagination are fresh.

mflinsch• 18 years ago

Link triggers my corporate content filter - bad bad bad

cmm324• 18 years ago

ew. I am not skilled graphically so I cannot provide any advice. But I agree with one of the previous users that the logs do not contrast well.

Ask YC: What logo do you prefer

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