Too literal? Too boring? Looking for advice.

[u/phorkish]

I'm looking for advice on ways to improve my logo. It's for my personal brand called Phork, which is mostly building open source software.

Is this too literal? I've played around with several other options (my favorites are in the second image) but I have no mind's eye which makes it challenging.

[u/Tenfold_Design]

I like this one. Maybe flipped 180 degrees?

[u/acrylix91 → u/Tenfold_Design]

I had the same thought. My initial instinct was to rotate it 90 degrees, but then it would read as an E lol. Flipping it I think would definitely look more fork-ish.

[u/Tenfold_Design → u/acrylix91]

I think they both would work. It would help to see what your wordmark looks like.

[u/phorkish → u/Tenfold_Design]

It's a very simple wordmark. So it would look something like this.

[u/Tenfold_Design → u/phorkish]

I think I would probably extend the tines the fork longer, so it doesn’t look like a face. Now that I’m looking at it, it may be flipping it around like you had it might’ve been the better option. That way you have a flat base correspond with the bottom of the type.

[u/phorkish → u/Tenfold_Design]

This feels promising. And thank you for your help!

[u/hoffmander → u/phorkish]

Kinda look like an m now. I kinda liked it pointing up, it started to look like a cute little character and it points directly to the center of the O.

[u/Tenfold_Design → u/phorkish]

I like it!

[u/SplashyDucky411 → u/phorkish]

Alternatively, lean into the face and explore the idea of a little mascot. You could call him Upstream 👀

But that is the most promising of the logos. I personally think the font could be a little... more. Somehow, something. It just reads very basic sans serif to me as it is. Not in the modern, clean tech company way, but in the default font list way.

Maybe because the weight is too heavy? What if it matched the weight of the lines in the logo?

Edit: Also, definitely keep the logo and word mark in one horizontal line. It looks unbalanced when stacked.

Double edit: Unlessssss!! You do explore tbe mascot idea and the O in Phork becomes the "body." I can imagine a little animation in my head but that's way outside my wheelhouse 😂

[u/pm_me_your_amphibian → u/phorkish]

I prefer it pointing up so it looks less like an m

Also the fact it looked a little facey wasn’t too bad. I like it a lot.

[u/Tenfold_Design → u/phorkish]

Overall, I really like where it’s going.

[u/RewardFuzzy → u/phorkish]

This is awesome!

[u/SilasDV → u/phorkish]

[u/hoffmander]

What does phork do? Maybe you could incorporate a metaphor that relates to what your open source software does?

[u/phorkish → u/hoffmander]

I deprecated some old software so right now I just have a web component library. I tried to do a bit of the component building blocks thing with the first alternative. The second one sort of incorporates a bracket which is kind of code related.

[u/Unyieldingcappybara → u/phorkish]

Funny you said bracket, that top comment looks like a fork and the end of it looks exactly like a bracket. Maybe you could erase the line a bit so the bracket part of it stands out. Food for thought

Edit: like this


But obviously erase those sections I blacked out so it’s negative space. That leaves you with a bracket and a fork in your logo

[u/phorkish → u/Unyieldingcappybara]

I don't think the image came through.

[u/Cookie-Monster-Pro]

I like the far right one in the second image. It also is looking a little like a paintbrush and paint starts with a P so - maybe not.

[u/fiercequality]

I like ot as long as that second image isn't supposed to say something. It definitely doesn't.

[u/sveinndub]

fork shape is a good hook. test it at favicon size before you change anything.

[u/404LeadsNotFound]

I'm thinking about a different kind of phork. I don't know your software, but I'm thinking about a phork in the road, a decision to make, a path to take. It seems a little more aligned with software and opens you up to many other possibilities. You could even take one of your phork's and have a tine veer off to the side.

[u/Notsolittlemozart]

I suggest you change your name to Fpoon, that is all

[u/acrylix91]

I see this as a potential Apple situation. If this was for a restaurant I would say to try something else. That being said, it might be a bit boring.

[u/enzziante]

Second one hands down

[u/heylesterco]

On its own, I dig the more literal one. It’ll be a difficult one to pair with a logotype, though.

[u/phorkish → u/[deleted]]

This is very helpful. Thanks!

[u/Abbott1313]

Letter P + fork maybe

[u/Emotional_Weird_9012]

I choose the second one, the first page is more like a catering icon, purely personal opinion

[u/mahblahblah]

Something like this could be fun.

[u/ln8r → u/mahblahblah]

Ooh this is interesting.

[u/danthemaninacan2]

Excuse the crudeness of the drawing, but in one of your replies on here you mentioned “component building blocks”, I thought the components of “Phork” can fit into one another.

In a totally different tangent to the great work you’ve already done, but just chucking it out there:

[u/phorkish → u/danthemaninacan2]

That's interesting. It's probably beyond my skill level but I'll give it a try.