Comments on: Lowell.com Logo Update

By: Michael

Michael — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 04:35:28 +0000

hello elliot!

i am a graphic designer from austria and would like to give you my opinion.

technically its good, nothing to worry about.
but there is just too much going on.. you have the (1) domainname, the (2) claim, the (3) map, the (4) star on the map and last but not least (5) a very detailed illustration inside this circle. these are just to many things in one logo.

the viewer doesn’t know where to look at.. the name itself (lowell.com) gets lost because of all the stuff around it.. the map is probably the most problematic element because of its shape.

i would recommend to get rid of the shape and the star and trying to concentrate on the illustration inside the circle – or to simplify both the shape of the state and the illustration inside the circle dramatically.

By: Kirin

Kirin — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 06:17:53 +0000

I agree with the sentiments expressed by many above. Too much going on with this version of the logo in my opinion but I am not an expert on this sort of thing by any stretch.

By: Sanchay Kumar

Sanchay Kumar — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 02:11:09 +0000

Elliot, my honest feelings are that the logo does have too much going on. I like the star for the location on Lowell on a US map but Lowell is magnified on the left. I understand why as you cannot magnify on top of the star of course. Also putting Lowell.com and the slogan on a curvature kinds of puts an illusion that the logo can be crooked because the US map does not follow that.

Logos are trial and error and opinionated of course. Great job with your site and blog, soon I will be addicted to Lowell.com as well:)

By: David J Castello

David J Castello — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 00:26:17 +0000

Good point, but you may have to worry about that regardless of what building you use.

Actually, right after I wrote that post I realized it wasn’t a good idea for another reason – the city may accuse you of trying to come across as the official City of Lowell web site. And you don’t want the city’s attorney getting any bright ideas. The City of Lake Worth (Florida) went after LakeWorth.com knowing full well they didn’t stand a snowball’s chance in hell with UDRP arbitration just to harass the owner.

However, it’s perfectly fine to show Lowell’s skyline like we do with our Nashville.com logo. On the other hand, does Lowell even have a skyline?

By: David J Castello

David J Castello — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 23:57:23 +0000

Three suggestions:
1) Pull the chimney from the building in the logo. Industrial chimneys don’t score highly on the visual food chain and give off too much of an unattractive industrial vibe.
2) I browsed Lowell on Google images and there is a building that captures the historic element and is quite impressive: Lowell City Hall. You may want to consider using it.
3) All in all, if the mill with chimney is that essential, you may want to change the slogan from “You’ll Love Lowell!” to “Ever Spend The Night In A Renovated Mill?”

***UPDATED BY ELLIOT***

My concern with using an image/likeness of city hall is that it will be protected under law so that I can’t use the logo with it on t-shirts, hats, mugs…etc.