CrazieKarensCreations

CrazieKaren · #1 (**permalink**) 01-31-2005, 01:46 AM

OK, just got the first sample logo's, they're showing up really big when I try to put them in this thread, so I'll give the link, and they're still gonna be huge! Please let me know what you think.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...enssamples.jpg

chiron · #2 (**permalink**) 01-31-2005, 05:23 AM

Best IMHO is design #3, primarily because the text doesn't touch - once they get reduced you'll see intense muddying of the logo with the other three, especially #4 with no color contrast.

On perhaps an unrelated note, non-touching text is also much cheaper if you plan to buy business cards with your color logo on them.

Last thought. The exclamation point. If you read it, as I do, with the intent that you mean to accentuate "crazy" I think it does this, but just as a nit-pick, "Crazy! (pause) Karen's Creations" reads as though crazy is a term like "Wow!" - however, presumption is you were going more for "Crazy Karen's Creations!" with or without exclamation, thus reading more like an adjective identifying Karen as being crazy. Make any sense?

Hope so - bye for now.

MarcieZoob · #3 (**permalink**) 01-31-2005, 06:19 AM

I agree with chiron on the placement of the explanation point - it separates Crazy from Karen's Creations.

I think the fonts aren't crazy enough. Find something wilder for the word Crazy and something less traditional for Karen's Creations.

I'd recommend leaving the explanation point out of your logo.

MarcieZoob · #4 (**permalink**) 01-31-2005, 06:20 AM

(got a double post somehow - mod, please remove)

CrazieKaren · #5 (**permalink**) 02-01-2005, 12:07 AM

Thanks!! Got the guys to make some changes, how's this??
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...karensamp2.jpg

I've been wondering if it'd be too strange or whatever to use a small sewing machine clipart, and curve the writing in a half circle over it?

Thanks bunches!!
Karen

chiron · #6 (**permalink**) 02-01-2005, 01:52 AM

I looked at your site sometime after my last post (the one on tripod, not the ioffer shop) and I remember thinking that in your particular case, the question I would have is whether you are revamping your site as well, or just the logo? If not, I would probably make different decisions about my logo than if the "whole place" were getting a makeover.

With that in mind but not too much so, normally I would say that even a very clean-lined clipart piece usually looks chintzy and resizing can make it look pretty bad to boot... but some examples can certainly come out okay, and you're in a market/audience with the "sewing" crowd that might be pretty unique in terms of what your audience likes - and you probably know them better than I do... heck, I can barely remember how to wash my clothes, leave alone patch them up. =)

But even considering a possibly clipart-liking audience, I was still thinking there can also be some other logo ideas that might be fun. For example, a simple stich pattern "Crazie" would be sort of cool, although it would be tough to reduce size on that without maybe going to red or something that contrasts heavily, and maybe having a pixel-drawn version of the crazie text (custom font in other words) at say 150x50 to use on your tripod-hosted site. Also, instead of a complicated machine, which goers back to my "fuzzy" point above (no pun intended), maybe you can also consider some of the many simpler, also-powerful symbols one associates with sewing? Needle, thread, quilting pins, thimbles, etc?

Just ideas, sorry I didn't quite address your current changes to the text-only logo, I think Marcie's done a better job in that department anyway!

CrazieKaren · #7 (**permalink**) 02-01-2005, 03:59 AM

Thanks chiron! I'm in the process of switching over to a paid website, but my new one will be very much like the current one. I plan and hope to make some changes, but I kinda feel like I'm falling into a rut with it mostly like it is now.

I'm using the Nvu program to create it, and having a difficult time learning how to run it, the Tripod free one was soo easy! I still gotta figure out how to get the meta and description tags on there, and whatever other hidden stuff I need.

Your right about the sewing machine being too much. I'm not even sure what I want in a logo, maybe I should just stick with the name? I just think I want it different somehow.

Karen

chiron · #8 (**permalink**) 02-01-2005, 04:48 AM

Nvu is a nice little program, since (in Linux anyway) for a WYSIWYG editor it at least lets you tab over to the code, which is where/how you can get your META in there. There are some good/easy tools out there to create META tags for you, and all you've got to do is cut-n-paste them above the </HEAD> tag in the html code view of Nvu... here's a link to help...

http://vancouver-webpages.com/META/mk-metas.html

In about ten seconds I used it to be sure it would work for you, and it spit out:

<TITLE>Crazie Karen's Creations - All your Custom Sewing Needs</TITLE>
<META NAME="keywords" CONTENT="custom sewing, seamstress, tailor made clothing, whatever else">
<META NAME="description" CONTENT="Crazie Karen's is a great place to blah blah...">
<META NAME="ROBOTS" CONTENT="ALL">

And that looks okay to me! Let us know when you've got a new site going, I'm sure we'd be happy to review it.

CrazieKaren · #9 (**permalink**) 02-01-2005, 12:39 PM

Thanks again Chiron! That link helps a lot!!

In your looking at my site, did you see any changes I need to make other than adding some buy buttons? Since I'm pretty much copying that site, leaving out some pages obviously, if I need to make changes, I'd just as soon do it now.

Thanks bunches!
Karen

chiron · #10 (**permalink**) 02-01-2005, 02:43 PM

Wellll... again, you have a unique audience here to consider, but from my perspective, your sidebar is a bit distracting, and in terms of general design and (SEO) it seems you could add to these concepts... and general "calls to action" such as buying stuff, contacting you, whatever are as you noted, I think a big need for the new site.

But if I were you, I wouldn't just take my word for it; let's see what others think... for example, I don't like the #1 Google site for "sewing" whatsoever - which makes me wonder if I am just not the right person to evaluate sewing sites (must be threader's envy)... it has the general requirements of some white space, a legible and consistent font, muted color scheme, and few/no complex backgrounds or tiled images - but I hate it: http://www.sewing.org/ and http://www.sewing.com/ is no better (for me).

Same goes for allcrafts.com, sewingcentral.com, etc - even http://www.nancysnotions.com which is a bit more like your site, in terms of intent and author and so forth, I dislike in many ways. Too many hard-to-read-green text graphics, too many images overall, but it's closer (for me) than the others above in it's crisper modernity, my preferred style as a consumer to view.

So again, if I dislike the top 10 or so sites in a given industry, sometimes I need to admit inherent bias that removes my ability to appraise the full benefit these firms may have in terms of knowing their audience and building accordingly.

Though (perhaps) to my credit, I will say I like http://www.thesewingplace.com/ quite a bit, and I like the ASG if I let the color scheme slide, especially their drill pages like http://www.asg.org/html/about.html, and for more modern-clean I like, best of all I saw, http://www.csnf.com/...

So I think that perhaps I would recommend a slightly "cleaner" template like these last couple of links, if indeed you are all for going about the rather challenging task of changing "everything" along with your logo... but based on a large majority of peer sites, I would be incorrect to say I feel you simply have to get a Fortune-500 schema to succeed - so it's really up to you!

Take care!

CrazieKaren · #11 (**permalink**) 02-02-2005, 05:41 AM

Thanks chiron, you always give me so much to think about!

I'm not necessarily going for a 'clean' look, but a homey one, one where they can brouse around and not get lost, get to know me, and feel comfortable asking me to make something special for them. I know shoppers are usually in a rush on the net, but hopefully I can grab their attention and get them to relax a little. Get them to thinking hey, I like that, but I want it like this!

Yeah, I'll have a few items up for sale, mostly to give suggestions. I want the primary focus to be on custom sewing. BTW, do a yahoo search on custom sewing, I think you'll be suprised at the first listing, and no, it's not me!

I think it's interesting that I, with none of the experience you have, share the same opinions about the sites you linked to me, tho a couple of them are favorites for the information or products they provide.

The small cottage industry sites, like I'm building are a whole nother story. We're expected to be cute, homey, oftentimes informational and comfortable and sell all at the same time. It's expected. If a brouser comes in expecting the above, and instead sees clean, white, and tons of stuff for sale or small font, they're gone in a heartbeat thinking it's just another comercial site advertising like a cottage industry. Or maybe that's just me?

Thanks again!!
Karen