• A$160

• 53 designs

• 17 designers

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Logo Design Brief

I need a logo that will end being inlaid in mother of pearl on the headstock of a guitar. The guitars are handmade acoustic steel guitars made in Melbourne, Australia. The business is called "Donaldson Lutherie" and the logo could be a variation on "DL","dl" or just D or d.

I'm also open to the idea of a graphic symbol, see Lone Wolf below. The symbol could be something representing craftsmanship, reliability, musicality. I actually like this idea a lot but haven't come up with a design that is effective and executable at the same time.

The amount of fine detail needs to be taken into consideration, as it will end up being cut out of fragile sheets of shell (by hand) and subsequently inlaid into a shallow cavity in wood. It's very difficult to cut out and inlay something resembling handwriting for instance.

The simpler the design the easier it is to execute, but not so simple that it looks boring, it needs to look sufficiently sophisticated and creative befitting a handmade guitar. I am capable of cutting out a detailed outline, but I don't want to have to spend days cutting out a logo each time I build a guitar!

Long thin stretched of shell are difficult to cut out without breaking so keep this is mind please!

It also needs to be small, each segment of the final design needs to be less than 20 x 30 mm total area, because this is the size that the shell blanks come in.

Something curvy and flowing is preferable to geometric. Below are a couple designs I came up with to give an idea of where I'm coming from. The one in pencil is bit boring.The one on the post-it note I like better as it is more interesting in my opinion.

The shell can also be engraved with fine lines that are then filled with black. This is a way to add some detail to a design you come up with.

There's also a few examples of actual head stock logo for another company's that will give you an idea of what others have on their guitars.

My handmade guitars are meant to symbolise, class, craftsmanship, reliability, beauty, tone, aesthetics.

The final design does not need to be composed of one piece of shell, it can be multiple pieces. Keep it mind I need to cut and inlay each individual piece and I don't want it to be too laborious.

The shell is light in colour (think of white mother-of-pearl) and will be inlaid into a brown or dark wood background. The contrast between the shell and wood background should allow the design to pop.

It should fairly clean and elegant.

I look forward to seeing your ideas. Good luck!

Target Market(s)

Musicians amateur and professional. People who appreciate and are willing to pay for something that is handmade and unique.

Industry/Entity Type

Steel

Logo Text

D, DL, dl or d, or a graphic/symbol

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Logo styles of interest

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Font styles to use

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Colors

Colors selected by the customer to be used in the logo design:

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Look and feel

Each slider illustrates characteristics of the customer's brand and the style your logo design should communicate.

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Requirements

Must have

• It needs to represent good old fashioned hand crafted reliability. Many guitar builders or luthiers pride themselves or their use of handtools and their ability to feel a piece of wood and know how correctly use it to make it sing! It's an art and a craft and something a little bit spiritual too.
• The shell is light in colour (think of mother-of-pearl) and will be inlaid into a brown or dark wood background. The contrast between the shell and wood background should allow the design to pop.

Nice to have

• If it is something that can be recognised from a distance, i.e. while the guitar is on a stage.
• Something identifiable and interesting to look at. The winning design will most likely be incorporated into business cards, web design and a guitar label that will sit inside the guitar.

Should not have

• Practically speaking I must be able to cut it of a small piece of shell. If it is too intricate, like handwriting it won't be feasible for me.
• If you choose to just do a variation on "D or DL" etc., don't use an of the shelf font. Please design something that looks handmade!
• Long stretches of thin line can be difficult to inlay, so if possible give lines some thickness.

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Files

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