I totally agree with Carla about the need to distinguish goals, (and with Terri about “cute”). Certainly the pictorial logos draw the eye the first time… but does it help anyone remember where they saw something? Or the value they found there? Or will they be left trying to Google “cow” and hope we turn up?

Refreshing the look might be a good thing, but I suggest caution with respect to the inclusion of anything that distracts from what ought to be remembered if we are to grow brand/market segment.

Sorry for speaking up so soon!

I agree.. We’re going to focus on getting rid of all ‘Cute’ and yes, we’ll be working on freshening up our core regular logo. When ready, I’ll share with our blog readers first. :)

I commend you and your staff on a great product and service. This is one topic that I know well. Branding is crucial…but so are first impressions. Sometimes it is necessary to take a leap of faith, and make the essential changes in order to keep evolving.

As a designer I try to see the bigger picture from the perspective of the target client and market. That being said, I have to comment that anything “cute” belongs in a child’s nursery. I like the idea of identifying the individual categories with graphics…however, I for one believe that it should reflect a higher level of sophistication. Cut the cuteness. And if I may be so bold as to say, I would also update the existing logo as well. Just my 2 cents.

The Big Rig Truck – http://www.truckwashguy.com/fundraisers.shtml should look kind of like that, plenty of clip art you can blend in.

The reason I mention this is because “Trucks” mean to the public – Trucking Trucks and Fancy Truck Accessories like http://www.SEMA.org

In fact, you could actually separate your categories on this one to keep both audiences happy. The trucking industry is huge in itself, everything we buy, eat or use to make stuff all comes by truck, this is why high fuel prices is raising costs. http://www.worldthinktank.net/pdfs/futuretrucktechnologies.pdf

And the automotive aftermarket business is huge and incorporates itself into many categories here like GPS, mobile video, trucks, auto, etc. etc. I think you could add to this picture and continue the combined category or you could divide these categories and hit each sub-sector like no other article submission site has ever done before?

If you’re looking to improve your brand image, personally I don’t think these logos do that, in fact I think they weaken it and look a bit like Microsoft Word clip art, like someone else mentioned.

I think the design time and investment would be better spend in polishing up your existing logo, keeping it recognisable with the “@” symbol, but more professional and shiny.

That’s just my take on it.

Dan

Want you to know that we are not adverse to change.

We’re sensitive to our members being adverse to change.

You should see our transition legacy systems behind-the-scenes work as we’re still supporting things from the way people did things many years ago to help them move to the way we do things today.

Most of all, we’re fearful to mess with what works.

We’re highly data-driven in our decision making and the data says, DON’T MESS WITH IT.

:)

-Commander Data