WATMM WATMM Logo Variations

When I rolled out the new masthead, reaction was mixed - some liked it, some didn't, others offered suggestions and some great input, and some of you even took a stab at doing versions of your own, which provided me a good perspective on what I want in a masthead or "logo" for the site.

Jules and Godwin Austin both came up with some interesting treatments that I incorporated into these designs (although Godwin's very creative re-imagining of the WATMM "W" as a sine wave, as great as it is, for some reason to me loses clarity as a letterform and doesn't stand out as a "W" as much as the current logo I designed long ago for WATMM/ WATMM Records.). That's no slur on his work for sure; capturing the essence of our community's focus in the most fundamental of symbols - a sine wave - was a creative stroke I wished I could incorporate into these designs (I may still do some more attempts at doing so).

I couldn't sleep last night, so I spent a few hours fixing the issues some raised with the current logo, as well as variations using modified typefaces to achieve various looks and effects.

I'd like some more feedback, as well as any further suggestions and ideas you may have, as I'd like the logo to have as much community input as possible so we have a stunning, professional and cohesive logo to represent the site and any other output that might feature it.

The original - presented here again as a comparison between the current design and the new variations and alternates below.

Variation one - taking your feedback into consideration, I moved the words around to 'read' more clearly, and adjusted the kerning and spacing of the elements to make it clearer. Alterations were done to the "r" per suggestion to lessen the space it took up. A thicker stroke was also applied to the logo.

Variation two - spacing out the tagline to offer balance to the overall design.

Alternate one - here's the logo presented in a different typeface, with adjustments made to the "t" - I had considered removing the dot of the "i".

Alternate one variation two - I took Jules' great use of positive/negative space and reversed out the "are the".

Alternate two - Another modified typeface - I wanted to create something tight and brick-like, with little space in between. This might hark back to what I was trying to achieve with the original attempt, so some who were put off by the tight kerning might see issue in this variation as well.

Alternate two variation two - I removed the three horizontal lines and spaced out the tagline, again to offer balance.

Alternate four - some might recognize this as the original typeface WATMM had for some time; adjustments were made on the kerning.

Alternate five - Another modified typeface - this one is much more open and airy compared to the previous attempts.

My vote goes down for alternate two. I like the bold type face and the underlines. My only problem with it is it makes the logo seem very light. Maybe make it slightly lighter, and make the logo slightly darker, to meet somewhere in between?

My second vote goes for alternate one, without the funky negative space stuff.

i rather like the original now, just the way it is. i really enjoy the black on white with grey as opposed to the blue on white color scheme

Alternate one variation two. Slap some color on that and it's totally 60's!

Alternate four. Cleaner, easier to read.

I like alternate three, the three lines remind me of Activision's Atari 2600 covers. The only issue I can see with this one is that "Your electronic music resource" is all one word. But really, who cares if it's legible? The spacing on the variation is awkward.

Edit: I mean alternate two. The filename is alternate three.

The original is also fine.

Alternate five is cool, though I feel the "w" should be bigger. It's hard to compare that logo to the rest of the bold ones.

Alternate two. I guess it's a bit busy/crowded compared to the others, but I don't like the awkward spacing on "your electronic music resource" all the others. Also the horizontal lines are kind of cool. And I like how the bodies of the letters are more similar in width, which looks much more cohesive. I do think it's a little too heavy/bold, though.

original looks best to me.

  On 5/24/2012 at 7:01 PM, kinski said:

original looks best to me.

The original with the odd 'read' of the words?

variation 1

I like alternate two best but it could use a little bit of spacing out to make it clearer

yeah alternate 2 is nice as well.

I like alternate 4. It's the easiest of the bunch to read.

5 or 2