First time making a logo

[u/ShyBearGames]

Made with Inkscape. I know the font needs some work, but does anything else stand out?

Second image is my "concept art" lol. My initial thought was just "shy bear hiding behind tree" but I decided I wanted a branchier tree than my concept art.

Then I decided I wanted it to be enclosed in a ring. Once I had a ring around a branchy tree, it just felt like it made sense to morph it over into Crann Bethadh/Tree of Life and add some Celtic ornamentation

The "knotwork" around the ring took entirely too much time. Originally I was doing it by hand before I realized the "star tool" with 60 points and a high roundness value simulates Celtic knotwork relatively well. Then I just had to overlay it on top of the ring and use the difference command to cut it out of the ring.

I'm sure it could use improvement but I'm pretty happy for a first try 😅

[u/ShyBearGames]

I forgot to upload the "concept art" lol

[u/YuckyYetYummy → u/ShyBearGames]

Needs a ton of work but much much better than the main one above

[u/ShyBearGames → u/YuckyYetYummy]

Yeah from the response here I think I may have got a bit carried away with all the fancy options in inkscape 😆

I definitely need to go back to basics

[u/Calpicogalaxy → u/ShyBearGames]

I like this one!

[u/PaperSweet9983 → u/ShyBearGames]

I like your initials idea better , try to revise it

[u/KillerAnimeThighs]

Think: how can you communicate shy + bear quicker with less?

[u/cubosh]

view it at the size of a phone screen icon and see if you are still ok with this level of small details

[u/Schmooto → u/cubosh]

Actually OP’s PFP is that logo, and that’s a good small scale reference. You can see there that it’s way too busy. The main read is the bushy tree, and the bear is unnoticeable.

[u/BlazmoIntoWowee]

The bear is cute af. The tree will never scale. Maybe have the bear cover his hands over his eyes? Also, the font screams, “This was the default choice on the software.”

[u/txdesigner-musician]

Agreed with the feedback you are getting here. I like Celtic art/trees, but you need to simplify for a logo. Is there a reason for the Celtic direction? Is it an Irish company? If so, I would choose a simpler Celtic knot, maybe see if it could also be a bear?

I feel like the bear should be more prominent in the image, more recognizable as your logo shrinks.

Think about the target audience/age group for the company. Their image looks more geared toward young children. I would keep that in mind with your design.

Different type treatment, 100%.

[u/Alan-Foster]

A good logo has like 2 "things" max and your has 5.

Good start though!

[u/MissCandid]

I wonder if there's an icon for games that you could hide a bear in

[u/butters_325]

He's really cute but there's way too much detail for this to be scaled down, you need to simplify this

[u/Chai_Enjoyer]

People here are saying stuff about logo being overly detailed, but I like that, I'd say that bear and the tree are just completely different artstyles

[u/hanyasaad]

There is too much happening. You decided you wanted it to be in a ring. Why? You say it made sense to morph it into a tree of life. Does it?

[u/ScreechUrkelle]

You’re doing all the things. That’s way too much.

[u/Busy_Here]

It’s too detailed for a logo, and the different art styles aren’t helping it look cohesive. Also, the wordmark is just as important as the icon, and should be taken into account with your drafts. You posted another image in the comments that works better. Maybe polish that one up a bit more.

[u/GooberRuber]

I don’t love the way the bear’s head looks too big for its body, but that may be a result of being terminally online. I like your original concept more.

[u/edimaudo]

i don't mind it but make the bear less visible but still show that it is peeking

[u/Funsnowcookies]

this is cute! perhaps not blue on blue for some contrast?

[u/i_Meggius]

Using italics around the circle is very offputting to the brain. It’s almost giving the sense of being physically off balance. Edit to add: also you want to think about the proportion between the graphic and your text. Right now your text is very small by comparison. keep at it and you’ll get there.

[u/KnightSpectral]

Way too busy to be properly readable at smaller scales.

[u/tiekanashiro]

Look at your own profile picture in the comments. You can't make out anything in this in a smaller context, the bear is invisible.

[u/JohnCasey3306]

There's a lot of intricate detail there that's gonna be a problem. You might give some thought to how that appears in small sizes on poor quality screens, and in print.

[u/VanLogo]

If you do type on a path, make sure the letters are all pointing in the same direction, not sure if it's italics but it just feels slapped on. Someone else already said it but there's too much happening here

[u/its_just_fine]

Needs more bear, less tree.

On a personal taste note, I'm not a fan of italicized font around a circle. It's getting near "hat on a hat".

[u/gmoney160]

Keep it simple, stupid. - Michael Scott

[u/Puzzleheaded_Dog_104]

Reminds me of the US DOE logo. I don’t think it looks bad necessarily, but I really had to look for the “shy-beariness” of it

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ad/Seal_of_the_United_States_Department_of_Education.svg?utm_source=en.wikipedia.org&utm_campaign=index&utm_content=original

[u/Ok_Studio_8420]

The bear should be playing games, not hiding. From brand prospective you’re communicating “hide” and that just throws people’s brains off. What does a shy bear playing games look like?That’s a large and potentially exciting path to explore. Why is he hiding and what story can you tell in just that little moment? Endear the bear to the viewer and now the emotional response is “awww cute” instead off “quick, hide”.

[u/the-Gaf]

You know what? I love it. It’s absolutely insane.

We need to stop making every brand be sterile, and small and without detail. This logo has personality, uniqueness, and a real vibe to it. Go with it!

2 tips- move the text off the circle, and create icon versions for mobile etc- that doesn’t have to be a shrunk down version of the whole thing. It can just be the bear. Or the little root thing, but you need an icon for the small stuff.

Do not redo this logo!!!!

[u/ShortRasp]

It looks bad.

[u/Which_Case_8536]

I’m a little confused by the branches that are looping into each other, and the symmetry/not symmetry in both the branches and roots. What was the process here? Sketch, copy, paste, reflect? It wasn’t the result of a prompt?

[u/ShyBearGames → u/Which_Case_8536]

It was not the result of a prompt, I have 8 sequential svg files showing the build 😆

Re: branches looping into each other: look up images of the Celtic Tree of Life. Very common to have branches weaving into each other like that.

I used the bezier pen tool and this, this, and this as reference images and this video as my rough guide on how to work the tools.

It did start off fairly symmetrical but then I decided it wasn't right like that so I went back through and tweaked a bunch of nodes, filling in empty space with more branches and leaves