Logo rough draft

I’ll check it out. Does it include vector file?

Shoot me an email. I’ll reach out.

what is more important seeing the name sandia vista
or the fact that you clean windows.
i think the fact that you clean windows is the most important but it will be difficult to read being much smaller and in script.
does the yellow ‘c’ signify something?

I don’t like it very much. People will think your Sandia Visa. I like the swirl concept just don’t like the lettering and the squeegee. I think all one colour would look nice, all blue better for printing and decals. Add in a white sparkle on top right side of the V. Try making it all capital letters.

Squeegee is played out, should put a water fed pole horizontal with Sandia Vista on the top and Window Cleaning on the bottom.

When I made my 3rd and final logo I was overthinking it, wanted something really clever and amazing. Marketing friend helped me see the light of simplistic logos. Symmetrical and simple but unique.

I strongly agree with this. When you look at most successful logos, you’ll see simplicity (think coca-cola, McDonald’s, at&t, Microsoft, etc.).

That being said, i like yours, especially after you added the colors. When you do the electronic version, you can experiment with different colors and compare more easily. When it was blank, i immediately felt like the logo projected a certain warmth and really wanted to see warm colors, so i think the yellow was a great choice.

As far as the squeegee cliche, i avoided putting a squeegee in my logo at all costs. However, a squeegee does make sense for a window cleaning company and i think how you used it turned out nice. To think about though: does every construction company have a hammer in their logo, or cell company a phone, or tech company a computer?

If you google “principles of logo design” you’ll find some great information. Some of the biggest keys are to make it simple, memorable and timeless.

As for a good free vector drawing program, i highly recommend Inkscape. I’ve used it for so much including my logo, business cards, door hangers, thank-you cards, pens, truck magnets and more. YouTube has some nice tutorials that will teach you what you need in just a few hours:
Inkscape Beginners’ Guide: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL534205D85E494E80

Sometimes you’ll need a pdf version of your graphics, for which you can use PDFCreator, also free.

I hope some of this helps. Can’t wait to see what you come up with!

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Valid point. It isn’t a “C”, it is an elliptical. It doesn’t signify anything other than a squeegee swipe, but I have read that a circle makes people feel trust. Inclusion, Wholeness, Focus, Unity, Completion, Womb; I can see why people associate these feelings to the circle.

@WndwClnr I was concerned about being misconstrued with Sandia Visa as well when I initially drew it. I think the addition of color helped, but I still have to consider how it looks from a distance when people can’t see the squeegee clearly. I like the WFP idea, but I know what that is. Most people don’t associate that with window cleaning and wouldn’t know what they’re looking at. I’ll wait to see the digital image and go from there. If I scrap the squeegee then it is back to the drawing board and I’ll likely farm it out to a pro.

@WVWindowWashing Thanks for the feedback. I think your feeling of warmth reinforces the idea that a circle invokes comfort in people. Interesting. I may have to figure out a way to use it even if I don’t use the squeegee. I haven’t decided on the yellow yet, but being that it is a complimentary color to blue, they do go well together and it probably helps the logo pop off any media, be it print, digital, or embroidered.

I sent it off to Fiverr to get vectorized last night ($10) so I’ll see how it feels and go from there. Thanks to everyone for the great feedback! You guys are great and I appreciate it!

i was only trying to make the point that different people see things differently, to me that is a c even though i know it is a swipe.

Without a doubt. Remember a few years back when JCPenny put a coffee pot on a billboard and the whole world thought it was an antisemitic Hitler endorsement?

Don’t use Gimp! Gimp is great for photoshop style image editing, but it won’t work well for vectors. Get a program called Inkscape. I have done a ton of professional work in it and it compares very well to Adobe Illustrator.

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Great tool! Good tutorials on YouTube.

Using illustrator is almost as much fun as being kicked in the face with a golf shoe.

Yes! The resources available for learning Inkscape are numerous and many are free :smiley:

Ya I was kinda just kidding about the wfp logo. Don’t forget to picture how its going to look on your vehicle. I mean looking at it again I do like it I just don’t like the squeegee at all!

Just don’t get to hung up on one idea that’s what I did.

I think that’s a very good point. I proly sketched about 25 ideas before digitizing a dozen of them and finally deciding on one after testing and getting others’ opinions on the finalists.

this relates to what i was saying about the size and legibility of “window cleaning” being very secondary in the logo it will be lost on a vehicle.
something like this on the other hand

I’m waiting to get it digitized, but the idea is already evolving. Might have to sit with Inkscape and learn it a little. You’re right, I need to develop a few ideas.

@WVWindowWashing, I thought about that too. It wouldn’t be bad to ask people what they think. I would likely pick up some marketing info in the process or even get a few customers.

@cactus27, I see what you’re saying, but window cleaning isn’t my brand, Sandia Vista is. Window Cleaning is the service that my brand provides. The window cleaning can be bolder to make it more noticeable. I want my target market to think of Sandia Vista when they think of window cleaning, not window cleaning, what was that company’s name in the logo? See what I mean?

Great conversation! Really getting my gears moving. Thanks again!

Then why not use “Sandia Vista Services.” because your business in time will offer more services to your clients.
Dont categorize your business from day one has “Sandia Vista Window cleaning”

Unless thats the only service you offer ever.

Just trying to get you to think outside the box more! :wink:

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I can’t help but to keep looking at your logo and thinking “Watermelon View Window Cleaning” lol …Just doesn’t have the same ring to it in English. :stuck_out_tongue_closed_eyes:

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My 2 cents on logo design:

It MUST be simple - both in design & colour. No gradients, no sparkles, no nuances like water droplets instead of the dot over the eye,… it needs to be something that can be instantly recognised and understood, even if only glanced for 2 seconds by someone driving past. I like flat design, and I like text-only logos.

It needs to fit a specific shape - think about the space on your website, on your stationary & business cards. It depends on your branding, but 90% of the time a design that is 3x wider than it is tall is the best fit for the widest variety of spaces.

It needs to be vector - scaling it up to vehicle signage (maybe even billboards in the future) is something you need to think about now & plan ahead for.

The standard of graphic design that you can achieve in a week is probably going to be worse than what a professional can produce in an hour. Don’t wast your time learning to use software, sketch out your ideas, search google images for examples of logos you like and dislike, and hire a pro to do it for you. The result will be better & you can use those hours to build your business in other ways. I use fiverr a lot for logo design - at $5 a pop it is loose change, so I usually start 3 or 4 designers working on the same concept at once, then pick my favourite from their efforts - and while I do occasionally have to do a 2nd round of designs, most of the time I get a fantastic logo for $20 and with a 24 hour turn around.

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Those 2 cents are worth gold… Great post.

I especially agree with the simple graphics for this reason: you must consider how this logo will be used. Will it still look good or be recognizable when it’s as small as a business card? How bout if you get it embroidered? If you have truck magnets made or vinyl lettering, can people actually see it from 50 ft away or will it just be a blur? Will the colors work easily with the overall design of a website? You get the idea.

Not saying your current draft fails these tests, just for for thought.

I was recovering from a car accident so i had the time to waste doing a lot of things myself. And i really enjoy doing things myself. However, i did feel my time would have been better spent actually getting business. I did all this planning and set up, even learning web programming… But then had no jobs when the busy season started. Turns out, so much stuff just wasn’t necessary, or at least not immediately. Meanwhile, you hear of success stories where someone literally just bought a bucket and squeegee at home depot and started making money that very day. Now for me that’s an extreme i wouldn’t be comfortable with, but the point is that you can over prepare, or at the very least over do-it-yourself, spending time on nuts and bolts rather getting the machine running. Definitely not saying that a logo, website, etc aren’t necessary - they absolutely are - but just stay balanced with it and make sure to get yourself actually working and making money as soon possible.