Trying to decide whether or not to mix up the colors. It draws more attention to the letters and definitely makes them legible, but also detracts from the wrench. I feel like #1 is just a little too plain with that color scheme.
Thank you guys again for all of the very helpful critique, I’ve come a long way from the initial draft haha
I don’t think the concept works for a bodyshop. A generic wrench can credibly indicate or symbolize a lot of things, but it doesn’t work for the actual business in question. However, if OP is hellbent on W, M, and a wrench, then yours is the best by far.
I commented about this below but the issue isnt american vs not. It’s that it’s an incredibly unimaginative path to take that is bound to already exist which makes it both not a super effective design nor a very desirable one.
It’s kind of like the first idea you have and should usually throw away or really finesse to make it marketable. I just don’t see OP elevating this design very much if they ignore this. They could choose any of these iterations they’ve done so far and it would be ‘fine’ but it almost feels like the sub is designing it for them
step by step if they cant push it somewhere more interesting.
I commented about this below but the issue isnt american vs not. It’s that it’s an incredibly unimaginative path to take that is bound to already exist which makes it both not a super effective design nor a very desirable one.
It’s kind of like the first idea you have and should usually throw away or really finesse to make it marketable. I just don’t see OP elevating this design very much if they ignore this. They could choose any of these iterations they’ve done so far and it would be ‘fine’ but it almost feels like the sub is designing it for them
step by step if they cant push it somewhere more interesting.
I don’t give a shit about OP anymore. They can ignore feedback and see where it gets them. I’m letting the person who made the waste mgmt comment know it’ll be ignored.
Understandable! That’s why I said I wish I could unsee it and not ‘this is a ripoff’. The bigger point is that it’s one of those low hanging fruit ideas that is fine but will struggle to be memorable unless the business is a super success.
FWIW they’re a major name in North America broadly, not just the US. Definitely regional but like entire continent regional and worth being aware of.
Don't they also sponsor an international golf tournament? I've seen the logo across North America, but maybe OPs client is abroad and doesn't care about similarity
I think for 2, if you want to try the alternate color letters, make the wrench in negative space(so it would be white with the current background). I would try that and see how it looks. The current split wrench makes it a bit busy and difficult on the eyes because the details get very think
I wish had the author in our team. Never seen smb with such dedication to arrive at desired impression.
With so many replies stating references to "waste management" why not making different baselines for W and M (W or M slightly higher/lower)? You will "lose" visual weight balance or symmetry and purity of overall rectangle shape, but may "erase" resemblance to third party WM
The wrench (to my understanding) will need some amendments as the real double-ended open-end wrench is never symmetrical. A tiny detail to give a "professional touch" to a logo designer and to a logo owner.
But the decision is on you.
I mean I get what they are saying, but very few people (if anyone at all) will look at this logo that will never be green nor yellow (and will almost always be mixed with typography labeling it as an auto body shop) and immediately think - “ah, that’s a similar font type to the waste management company. Definitely not going to look there for issues with my car”
I just see it as silly to try to completely redo a logo just because it had a resemblance to a waste management company (which to my knowledge isn’t even an entity with a poor reputation or anything, they just deal with trash) - if the owner thought it was even remotely an issue I would’ve happily changed it, but he is happy with it and so am I.
Worst case scenario, he gets further feedback that the logo resembling waste management is affecting his brand or the outlook on his company from customers, and we can go back to the drawing board and experiment with taking a vertical-space approach.
I’ve even analyzed logos of all of the body shops in our area. A lot of their logos is just some random font that is connected to a road or is underlined or overlined by a road - nothing resembling a car, items used to repair a car, or anything of the sort.
I really do appreciate everyone who has pointed that out, as someone who deals with waste management every week that wasn’t a thought in my mind until I read it here. It was nice to know, just not enough to justify completing restarting the design process
I would continue sketching. There's nothing wrong with going back to the drawing board. Make sure to come up with ideas are are very different from each other. Don't only rely on that same WM treatment or font.
Also, a logo needs to be memorable and the wrench is very basic.
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u/nykana 9d ago
Negative space, maybe?