posted
This is rough. The elements are here for a large new grain terminal that ships corn by rail. Here's where I am. Let the picking begin.
-------------------- Jeff Vrstal Main Street Signs 157 E. Main Street Evansville, WI 53536 1-608-882-0322 Posts: 670 | From: Evansville, Wisconsin | Registered: Sep 2001
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How's your sense of humor today? First glance, i thought a prisoner exploded from custody and caused a train to derail airborne through a cornfield. LOL.
On a serious note, I think there should be more white than black complimenting the corn. The fresh look is in.
I'm wondering if you could switch the color schemes for the train and the starburst oval. The starburst demands all the attention and the beautiful blues/greens on the train don't offer much detail...but would look great as a bevelled starburst with the turquoise lightened at the top for a "big wide open sky" feel.
Maybe another thought to ponder on down the line...could use white gravel and black RR tracks in the foreground to help with contrast issues.
The corn is balanced in the logo, yet the ribbon is "askew." If it were me, I'd pick one concept or the other.
I noticed the "S" in the ribbon sits high, vertical spacing issue.
I'd like to see the letters in the outer oval a little bolder.
I love the way the corn jumps out and the train slamming through is fabulous! I think the red ribbon is nice, but would love to see it softened up a bit. Seems angular...if that makes sense. It seems wadded up a bit.
The thought occured to me that corn is a farm product and you know how folks are about blue ribbons. I wonder if you tried a blue one.
This is a great design to play with! Please take what I said with a grain of salt, just lots of ideas came to mind all at once!
posted
WoW Jeffrey! That's cool! I would just change the Southern Wisconsin Grain to a plain font and put it in white.
Posts: 3729 | From: Seattle | Registered: Sep 1999
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I went way overboard there didn't I? LOL. I'm used to working with a room full of kids that get creatively blocked sometimes, and tossing out suggestions to yank a hole in the fog is sompn I do. I don't expect Jeffrey to redo his design to suit me, just had lots of ideas this round, LOL.
I agree with the white Cheryl, but didn't say anything about it because I figured the company's colors were yellow and green. Maybe Jeffrey will share the specs he was given at the begining of this job.
posted
I always have a (moderate) to great sense of humor! It's FAR from where I want it yet, so the input is great.
There were no specs, just the manager of this place saying that along with the zillions of signs for truck and train traffic, they also need a logo. So, these are the elements: the name (actually it's an LLC so that should have been included), CORN is the only product shipped, and it's all shipped by TRAIN.
What I don't like: The Train. Looking to improve the design and the color scheme while remaining a generic train engine. The Corn. Way too much black in there. I'll post better pictures eventually with better detail. The Ribbon. I like the blue idea. I guess I just have this "red and green" thing in ny head... will consult with a therapist to overcome that problem.
Anyway, I'm pretty tough skinned so don't feel bad. When you're 6'8" and 360 lbs. you can take a lot of crap. When I find someone that fits that description, I'll give him a lot of crap.
-------------------- Jeff Vrstal Main Street Signs 157 E. Main Street Evansville, WI 53536 1-608-882-0322 Posts: 670 | From: Evansville, Wisconsin | Registered: Sep 2001
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posted
Whew~! Glad you didn't start cussin me Jeffrey! I'm only 5'7" and a third of your weight, hence the trembling with apprehension type submittal hahaha!
I can't wait to see this one progress! It looks like fun!
posted
I'm having another moment here, I'm saving your pic to my puter long enough to draw sompn up in corel and then I'll email it to you. It's gonna be different but oh so simple. And flexible as well.
Great logo and congrats on what looks like a very profitable and long term business relationship.
I would lose the fifties era F unit locomotive artwork. A modern freight unit with one or two of the type of freight cars used to ship the product might be better. The angle can be the same but, show the train at speed to give the image of fast to market service. Look up a couple of TRAINS magazines for the feel of railroad logo's and artwork that appear in many of the ads.
I look forward to seeing this work evlove and the finished product.
Good job!
Joel
-------------------- Joel H. Peters Peter Pan Sign Graphics Cary,Il. "Doin' it Good since 1974" Posts: 114 | From: Cary,IL,USA | Registered: Mar 1999
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I like the overall logo, but I didn't recognize the train right away. I agree with you that you need to find a different train. I'd like to see one in black (or a bolder color), and then tame the black and white stripes down to a light grey and white.
Just my two cents worth! Good work.
Suelynn
-------------------- "It is never too late to be what you might have been." -George Eliot
Suelynn Sedor Sedor Signs Carnduff, SK Canada Posts: 2863 | From: Carnduff, SK Canada | Registered: Nov 1998
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-------------------- Jeff Vrstal Main Street Signs 157 E. Main Street Evansville, WI 53536 1-608-882-0322 Posts: 670 | From: Evansville, Wisconsin | Registered: Sep 2001
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Now yer talking! What a big improvement. Keep it coming. Very kool.
Joel
-------------------- Joel H. Peters Peter Pan Sign Graphics Cary,Il. "Doin' it Good since 1974" Posts: 114 | From: Cary,IL,USA | Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
Hey, that second one is great! I like the train much better...looks more like a freight. I think the corn could use a little more color tweaking, but I like it!
Everyone else, thanks for the input (I'm a banner fan too but thought it was just a little too much.)... I'll keep plugging away at this thing for a while.
Thanks again.
-------------------- Jeff Vrstal Main Street Signs 157 E. Main Street Evansville, WI 53536 1-608-882-0322 Posts: 670 | From: Evansville, Wisconsin | Registered: Sep 2001
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posted
Jeffrey, I liked the relative proportions of the corn and the train in the first layout. The train in the second layout is much better, great,in fact, but now the train is the predominant element. Does it make sense to increase the emphasis on the corn in the second layout? Vic G
-------------------- Victor Georgiou Danville, CA , USA Posts: 1746 | From: Danville, CA , USA | Registered: Dec 1998
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posted
Looks Great Jeff! You must not be too far from Marquette Iowa right? There's a Letterhead Meeting in the planning stages for next June.....sssssshhh, it's a secret! Keep up the Southern Wisconsin Look!
-------------------- Mike Meyer Sign Painter 189 1st Ave n P.O. Box 3 Mazeppa, Mn 55956
We are not selling, we are staying here in Mazeppa....we cannot re-create what we have here....not in another lifetime! SO Here we are!!!!!!!
posted
Hello Jeff, and everyone else on this wonderful site.
I am new to this board ( been surfin it for about a week) I started making signs a year or two ago, started sandblasting mirrors for a buddy, then I was doing garden stones and stone signs, then cedar signs, then signfoam etc. etc. and it evolved and looks like it may just take off.
Now back to the awsome sign jeffery is designing. I think I can answer why several people just do not have a good warm fuzzy feeling from the ears of corn.
-------------------- Matt Rothhaar Maple Grove Signs North Central Ohio Posts: 5 | From: North Central Ohio | Registered: May 2002
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posted
Hello Jeff, and everyone else on this wonderful site.
I am new to this board ( been surfin it for about a week) I started making signs a year or two ago, started sandblasting mirrors for a buddy, then I was doing garden stones and stone signs, then cedar signs, then signfoam etc. etc. and it evolved and looks like it may just take off.
Now back to the awsome sign jeffery is designing. I think I can answer why several people just do not have a good warm fuzzy feeling from the ears of corn. I think if you would take a lot of the brown ('Silk' as we call it)out of between the kernels it would show a desireable ear of corn.. Growing up on a farm, Most ears of corn have the kernels so tight together you cannot pry one out without another coming with it. I think an image where the kernels are so tight they look as if they are just going to burst out of the ear would give everyone a good feeling on the corn. I think the design is a great one, PS I took the image to the local grain coop and asked a few of the residend grain experts and they agreed .
Hope this helps. Nice to meet everyone on this site!
-------------------- Matt Rothhaar Maple Grove Signs North Central Ohio Posts: 5 | From: North Central Ohio | Registered: May 2002
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posted
Minor stuff... playing with some EyeCandy tools. Thanks Glenn Taylor. Also playing with the corn here. I drew the husks and then scanned them in and did a little colorizing and editing in Corel Draw and PhotoPaint v.10.
I was not happy with the corn, so I went to the local Piggly Wiggly to purchase props for $.86....2 ears of corn. Being sweet corn, the color was not right for field corn so I "enhanced" the ears with Krylon. Yes, Krylon, he said. Then I took some digital pictures of the ears. I manipulated them a little and then ran them through Corel Trace... then superimposed them over the husks.
I also was not happy with the corn silk. In Corel Photopaint I would do this:
1. Create new object. 2. Select airbrush tool. 3. Scribble some lines in cornsilk like colors. 4. Feather the Object. 5. Repeat as needed.
-------------------- Jeff Vrstal Main Street Signs 157 E. Main Street Evansville, WI 53536 1-608-882-0322 Posts: 670 | From: Evansville, Wisconsin | Registered: Sep 2001
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posted
By the way Jeff, it's okay if some of the silk is still in tact (unruffled) gives the impression the shippin and handlin end of this "corn thing" is honorable.
posted
Looking good. Nice progression. I would agree that the dominance of train to corn could be adjusted some. The foreshadowing & detail on the front of train would allow (in my opinion) for the corn to be in front of the train without losing any of the impact of the train detail, but maybe helping to bring the corn up in the overall balance of things. Also thought the lettering looks like the contortions required to conform it to the oval distorted it a little more then you may have wanted, I would probably be tempted to try again to get a less distorted letter to fit that arc, (but that may not be possible either?)
Being from Illinois originally, good looking corn makes me hungry!
ps, NS (railway) has mainline engines that look like that in case that was a concern.
-------------------- Ricky Simpson Simpson Signs South Central VA, USA "railroader aspiring to be fulltime SignArtist." Posts: 246 | From: VA | Registered: Jan 2000
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-------------------- Maker of fine signs and other creative stuff. Located at 109 N. Cumberland ave. Harlan, Ky. 40831 606-837-0242 Posts: 4172 | From: Ages-Brookside, Ky. Up the Holler... | Registered: Jul 1999
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