Peg Productions

Pez, from Peg Productions, submitted this logo for critique. When asked to explain the logo, Peg Productions said the following:

“We choose the logo because we felt it has quite a clear and simple theme—a peg. This view of a peg is also very striking, as it is often an angle overlooked by people the majority of the time. This shows customers that here at Peg Productions we think outside of the box and see the world in a different way.”

“Also as the logo is very simple in its fundamental nature it can changed and altered to look very graphically intense, or left very simple—as we do on the website and on our invoices.”

Design Principals

When this logo first arrived in my inbox I was honestly perplexed. I couldn’t figure out how this graphic was, in some way, a peg. I’m familiar with a ‘peg’ being; “a pin of wood or other material driven or fitted into something, as to fasten parts together, to hang things on, to make fast a rope or string on, to stop a hole, or to mark some point.” as defined by dictionary.com. After realizing the company was in the UK, I came to the conclusion that there must be another meaning for the word ‘peg’ in the UK. And sure enough, there is an alternate meaning in the UK, a clothespin (or at least that’s what we call it in the States).

Image Credit, flickr user: whellendoorn

After having settled that, I can understand the image a bit better. I can see the clothespin/peg, but the execution isn’t the best. If the clothespin/peg were drawn or represented better I would have likely been able to make the connection without doing the research I did. Sometimes, as designers, we get to close to our work and forget that the eventual viewer may not see an image in the same way we do. The shape of the clothespin/peg is far too abstracted to be easily recognized in my opinion. Reworking this illustration to better represent an actual clothespin/peg is highly recommended. Adding the horizontal break to divide the two pieces that make up the clothespin and clarifying the shape of the clipping end (left side of the logo) would both be helpful additions to begin with.

Functionality / Versatility

Recognizability aside, the simplicity of color (or should I say, non-color) makes this mark versatile. It can easily be reversed out of black, as shown, or work in black on a white background.

Does the Logo Work for the Audience?

Peg Productions described their audience as,

“We design almost any kind of website for anyone who requires it. However our main customers are small Local Businesses/establishments, for whom we often give face to face consults.”

I’m curious as to whether the clients of Peg Productions are able to recognize the logo as a clothespin/peg without first being told what it is. I view this as a problem for the business, they may be thinking just a little too far “outside the box” with this graphic in it’s current state.

Uniqueness

The mark is unique, so much so, that is hard to recognize at quick glance.

Possible Improvements

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.

I hope you have found the above information useful. My intention is not to hurt feelings, but rather to offer constructive feedback and critique. Best of luck, to you Pez.

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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