Here is a proposed log for the Spectroscopy Section. In case the image paste here doesn’t work, I added it to the meeting agenda page in the Spectroscopy Section page.
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Hello Scott,
I wanted to contribute with an alternative just in case you find it interesting.
I’m not designer myself, but tried to apply what I think are concepts that belong to logo design:
- Simplicity
- Coherency
Having a simple logo makes it easy to identify with a quick glance, also makes it easier to scale it down to smaller sizes without losing details, this is useful when showing it on smaller screens like phones.
Also, I tried to express coherency and belonging, as this section is part of a larger organization, I imagine that would be OK (and desirable?) to “borrow” design elements of AAVSO’s logo to have a seamless experience when browsing the website.
Interested in knowing your thoughts.
Best,
Lucas.
While I like what you’ve done, I’m concerned it looks too much like the AAVSO logo.
I agree with your concepts - simplicity and coherency, and have been struggling to come up with something that uniquely identifies the Spectroscopy Group while not using any licensed or copyrighted images. I don’t think I succeded with a simple and coherent design and would be interested in other designs you may come up with.
Quickly chiming in from HQ: We should refrain from re-using AAVSO’s logo or branding in for the section logos. Not only does this introduce branding issues for AAVSO proper, but it also diminishes the uniqueness of your section.
I would suggest you consider making the logo as simple as possible using the same color set as used in the other section logos.
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Thank you Scott and Brian for your feedback.
Here’s a 2nd proposal with the same concept but in 2 different color schemes: One colorful version that is characteristic of the activity being done on this group, maybe could be used for the section’s website and the other following the color palette of the rest, so it can be displayed in smaller form along with the other section’s logos.
You’ll see also a gradient, I tried to mimic (in radial form) the black body profile of an A0V star like Vega, although it’s by no means correct.
Looking forward to know your thoughts about it.
Logo design is tricky! I don’t have a logo of my own to suggest, but I thought I’d share some tips from my design experience.
Ideally, a good logo should be:
- Simple
- Recognizable at any size
- Legible on both light and dark backgrounds
- Visually compelling
- Close to a 1:1 aspect ratio
While designing, it can be helpful to run through a checklist of the contexts within which the logo may be used:
- Digital
- Full size (e.g.: Section webpage)
- Icon size (e.g.: AAVSO webpage, slide decks)
- Only a few pixels high (e.g.: Forum profile flair)
- Physical
- Printed on paper (e.g. signage, publications)
- Printed in black and white, as a silhouette
- Recreated in limited colors and resolution (e.g. embroidery, enamel pins, screen printing)
In this specific case, the new Spectroscopy Section logo should match the style of the logos of the other Sections:
20 px versions:
I’d say that this style is characterized by:
- Clean, simplified, round shapes
- Flat colors
- Heavy use of the AAVSO blues palette (
#a7ceeb #6abbe6 #488dcb #22549c #646983), plus a yellow accent color (#fff56e)
A while back, I tried to sketch out a logo for the Spectroscopy Section so that we could stop using the AVSpec logo. The resultant draft isn’t great, but I’m posting it here for reference/inspiration purposes.
If I were recreating it today, I’d try to improve the readability at small sizes by using thicker and fewer lines (I think 7 would be sufficient?). I might also try to incorporate more AAVSO blues in the color palette.
Keep up the good work! I’m looking forward to seeing more logo concepts.