Oodles of Doodles Logo Critique 45

Jun 22, 2009 / Erik Peterson

Oodles of Doodles Logo Critique

Dawn sent a handful of her concepts for the Oodles of Doodles logo. I choose this one to critique because I thought it was the best fit for her company. It’s worth mentioning that Dawn prefers the first concept in the attached concepts. She is starting a home business doing wall murals for children’s rooms.

“My Logo is for children’s wall Murals. I’ll be mostly doing children’s rooms but other things a well. I wanted the logo to give the feeling of fun, color, artistic, childlike, put still professional. I’m not sure that it works on every aspect, but most I hope. I want to use the logo for just about everything, website, business cards, mailings, invoices, signage for the car. Any input would be greatly appreciated.”

The following critique is based on one designer’s opinion and experience. I always appreciate the readers thoughts as well. So, I’ll ask a question or two in the critique, please share your perspective in the comments at the end of this logo design critique.

Design Principals

I chose this version over the other logo that Dawn liked best because I think it does a much better job at representing what she does. This logo for Oodles of Doodles oozes fun and youthfulness, which sounds a lot like what Dawn wanted to achieve with the mark. However, the paintbrush in place of the ‘l’ isn’t working very well. Maybe it could use some more detail to make it look more like a paintbrush (i.e., adding a ferrule), since it sorta looks a little like a torch in its current state. Perhaps flipping the brush 180 degrees could help as well. The word ‘of’ is visually too strong for me. Reducing the size of the word and perhaps using a lowercase ‘o’ will help the word ‘doodles’ to stand out more.

Question for the readers

please respond in the comments below

What do you think of the paintbrush? Do you think it is too much for logo? Does it need refinement?

Functionality / Versatility

First, I’ll begin with suggesting that you remove the drop shadow, which is generally not a good thing in logo design. In your case its not really needed anyway. The black outline creates plenty of definition for the logo. Next, I think that the white stroke around your name along with the typeface choice, make it harder to read your name when the logo gets smaller. The thick and thinness of the letterforms in this typeface are problematic in this usage.

Does the Logo Work for the Audience?

Based on your description, I think your logo does a good job of reflecting your work. The logo is colorful, creative, kid-like and playful. This logo implies that you do some kind of painting in contrast to some of the other concepts you sent.

Typography

Perhaps your real signature “by Dawn” would be a nice touch as opposed to the current typeface choice. This would help to identify the logo with you even further and give it a signed by the artist appearance.

Have you thought about making the letters look more handmade and unique? Possibly alter the duplicate letters like the ‘o’ so that no two are are identical. This will give a more authentic appearance to the mark which coincides with your work (unique hand painted wall murals). You might also consider removing the subtle light blue outline from the letters. It’s not doing much for the design and tends to complicate rather than contribute to the mark.

Question for the readers

please respond in the comments below

Would you agree that some customization of the typeface could benefit the logo and give it a more personalized or handcrafted feel?

Possible Improvements

Designing a logo for yourself or own business is one of the hardest logo designs you’ll ever work on. So what is the best way to improve the logo? Well I think have made some comments above that can certainly offer some direction. Here’s a list of actionable items.

Remove the drop shadow. With the black outline you don’t need it.
Consider customizing the typeface. Alter the letters to make feel more handmade. Think of you logo like a big mural. If you were painting letters no two of them would be the same.
Rework the way the paintbrush integrates with the design and make sure it is immediately recognizable as a paintbrush.
Remove the medium blue stroke around the letters.

Overall, I think you have a good start on the logo design. And with some refinement you can definitely improve it. Please know that my intention in critiquing your work is not to hurt feelings, but to offer constructive feedback. I hope it was helpful. Best of luck, to you!

I appreciate and welcome your comments, and look forward to hearing from you soon. I purposely don’t cover every possible improvement that can be made to this logo, so go for it if you think I missed anything. All I ask is that you keep your comments clean and appropriate.

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45 Comments so far. Keep 'em Coming.

By Vassilis Mastorostergios

06.22.2009 at 03:43 PM

I very muched liked both concepts (1 and 3).

I noticed though that in the “oodlesConcepts.jpg” pic that you provide, the featured logo is different. The paintbrush has been moved to the right and removed from the ‘l’.

To be honest I also prefer No 1 better, although it could use some improvements. I like No 1 and 3 concepts very much but what if you could combine them in some way?

In No1 there’s no apparent info on the actual service offered (painting) so perhaps maybe implement a subtle looking paintbrush like you did in No3. Also, no matter how nice the ‘heart-star-circles cloud’ looks I think it will be tough to show correct on paper and smaller sizes like business cards.

What I like a lot about No1: The look of professionalism it demonstrates along with an obvious scent of playfulness and joy.

No3 however nice and more “to the point” looks more like a graffiti of some sort.
I can really imagine though No3 logo drawn on the door of a white car. It would make a great effect and urge you to take a look.

Other than that I completely agree with the article on pretty much every aspect (especially the drop shadow and the size of the ‘of’ word).

Couple of thoughts about the other concepts:

No2 is possibly the 3rd best (after 1 and 3). Needs some typeface adjusting (i.e. too much letterspace between the first two O’s ) and maybe some layout adjusting in the typeface as well, perhaps some vertical distance between the words Oodles and Doodles.

No4 - very pretty but loses too much detail when sized down, I can barely read by dawn and I can’t tell what the little yellow graphic in the middle is.

No5 - Instantly reminded me of Google. Not a wise choice in my honest opinion. I think it’s the colors and the double O’s. I would want something unique that identifies my company and not some huge corporate giant.

No 6 - no no no

No 7 - Very nice too but I something is missing, can’t exactly say what, but maybe it looks too ‘usual’? Can’t really express it.

Overall, great work! I think with a few alterations and maybe combination of concepts 1 and 3 the logo will be superb.

By Fbanczak

06.23.2009 at 01:35 PM

I think #3 is by far the strongest concept. The other concepts are very dated looking as they feel like knock-offs of past logos/concepts. I’m fairly certain concept 1 is a copy (including the colors) of a logo that I’ve seen before (but I cannot remember what it was for). Beyond that, I’ll direct my comments to concept #3.

The “s” characters in the “Oodles of Doodles” font do not look as smooth as the rest of the font, perhaps the curves could be improved and I agree, making “of” smaller would be less distracting. Replacing the L with an obvious paintbrush would work better. Maybe make the handle color black to contrast with the rest of the word “Oodles” but not introduce another color into the fonts. I agree that removing the extra stroke and shadow on the letters will make a huge difference in readability. If you want to work on the playful-professional balance, try another font that is as bold as this but perhaps more hand-crafted and mature looking. Overall, #3 is a strong concept; it’s fresh, dynamic, and has a fun spirit of its own, plus the paint tube is very eye-catching.

By dawn knepp

06.27.2009 at 05:27 PM

Thank you for all the commments and suggestions. I’m very greatful and they all have been very helpful. I hope to send the revised logo with all or most of the suggestions. I was a bit worried about comments that some friends and family made on the logo.

Can you look and see if you see what they see. I what to change it right away if you also notice it too. This what they mentioned. A friend of mine son made this comment when he look over his email I sent her to get comments on the logo.

This is what he said my son asked..“why does it have a penis in it?” I didn’t see it at first but he showed me that the green bottle with the yellow cap looks similar to that of the male sex. I just thought I’d give you a head’s up, in case you . My father also said it look a bit like it too. My logo will be used for just about everthing so you see where my concern is.

Thanks a million
Dawn

By Vassilis Mastorostergios

06.28.2009 at 04:28 PM

A penis? O_o

Duh, It’s puzzling if children are more familiar with the male sexual organ than with an acrylic paint bottle.

Anyway, although we come from different cultures I didn’t even think once about it resembling a penis or anything like that. But then again I’m an adult, who knows what children think nowadays.

Maybe you could consult a children’s psychologist about it or something?

I think you’re just being overworrying though.

By Erik Peterson

06.30.2009 at 10:24 AM

Dawn,

If your concerned at all, just rework the drawing of the paint tube. There’s no reason to move forward with a logo that represents you and your business if you’re having thoughts of inappropriate imagery in the back of your mind. I think you could easily adjust the drawing to eliminate the problem.

Anyway, I obviously didn’t see it before, or I would have mentioned it in my critique, but after you described it, I could see how someone could think that (though I think most people wouldn’t).

By Don van der Zaan

07.15.2009 at 05:15 PM

Hi Dawn,

Overall: nice logo! Does the job for me.

As for the two questions: I think the tip of the brush should be bigger or not there at all. I didn’t notice it at first.. And yes, customizing the type would give the logo a more handcrafted feel. Especially the e-s and s-es. They look to slim I think.

The first thing I noticed was that I misread (and did’t understand) the right red splatter from the tube. You might want to look at putting that in another spot. Maybe rotating the tube CCW to close the gap a bit would improve the logo to.

I didn’t see the penis either
My two cents..

By Daniel

07.28.2009 at 11:41 AM

Maybe you should see all the concepts here
http://logomyway.com/contestView.php?contestId=128

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By ruth island

03.11.2010 at 04:07 PM

Excellant post the drop shadow is such an eighties thing i agree it has to go..

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03.13.2010 at 07:27 AM

I like the logo alot how everr i have to question how well it would look in one colour or without tints. I say this because tints and multiple colours can be problemitic or expensive to reproduction in some of the likely situations the logo maybe used..

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