“Sit Kits” needs a fun, memorable LOGO (& biz card)!
a logo project by nutboltandpixel

Brief updates

11-Nov-08 6:17 p.m. GMT

Please note: Not all of Sit Kits products are related to coloring; many are tactile toys/games. A crayon-centered logo may instantly mislead the target customer into thinking that we supply bulk crayons or an array of drawing products rather than a spectrum of keep-em-busy products (including crayons). Thanks again.

12-Nov-08 7:06 p.m. GMT

Hi again all you talented people! We are now applying cS "star scores" to all of the designs... PLEASE BE AWARE: the scores are NOT our high/low opinion of your skills; we appreciate every perspective! We are scoring based solely on the logo's possible fit to the company's value proposition and business model. So far, ufotofu (#5) has really nailed it with a tight cohesive design that reflects kid/calm/creativity/customer, ramataetae (#11) mixes child creativity and business nicely, and peg770 (#18 & #22) came up with a color scheme and clean identity elements on the biz card that could really set our collateral apart. Thanks so much everyone.

14-Nov-08 7:13 p.m. GMT

PROJECT UPDATE (at the half-way mark!)
All Contributors Please Read:

This process is buyer-torture. We see so much effort and so many fantastic entries that we almost can’t bear to “score” them less than 5 stars. But it is a business and we have to find something that’s a good fit. So here is where we are so far on the entries…

#1 ufotofu (entry #5) is still the front-runner. Even though the design hints strongly of “coloring” – something we were hoping to avoid – and perhaps inaccurately communicates “school” or “education” themes, it strongly captures the value proposition of Sit Kits to restaurant / store owners—that the products keeps kids calm, occupied and entertained in a chair. We also like that it is cohesive, legible in tiny size, uses few colors (although we don’t love the color palette), and has a slight “business” feel. We can envision the logo’s impact on large shopping boxes as well as minute pencils. Ufotofu, perhaps you might consider one or two more iterations that draw away from the crayon / school vibe?

#2 ramataetae (entry #11). The truck hints strongly of “transportation” or “shipping” which doesn’t work (even though we considered changing the tagline to “happy kids drive bigger sales). But its structure and font say “business” and well as “kidstuff.” The three-color palette is attractive and unisexual, although it reminds of Rit dye packaging. Scribbles are a really nice touch without saying too much about “coloring.” The business card version doesn’t feed a robust identity, it would need richer elements like peg770 & OliveTone presented. Ramataetae, might this work as a wagon somehow?

#3 shannonjyl (entry #32). Shannonjyl put some good imaginative thought into what Sit Kits is about and came up with a great symbol: busy bee for busy little kids. This design works really well in two colors and alternate palettes, and could add a lot of options to our identity (bee lines, stripes, swirlies). As much as we love it, though, we can’t decide if it will hint a clear message about the company to our prospects. What if the bee was sitting on squished letters, like on OliveTone’s entry (#44), think that would improve the visual message?

#4 peg770 (entry #22). After receiving a “too /narrow focused concept” comment about the crayon kit (which, incidentally, our team’s kids strongly favor of the gallery), peg770 quickly switched gears with a great tic-tac-toe theme in a marvelous primary color palette. We like this design because it says “activity” and works for virtually any age group and gender. It is also “mature” enough for business. For activity boxes in stores, it definitely says “hey kids of any age, there are games inside here!” We’re not sure about the composition—the last “s” seems to be floating oddly and the tagline doesn’t plug in seamlessly. The business card design is fab; we can envision carrying that into all of our collateral.

#5 we just want to gush for a minute on a few others (we’ll comment on the submissions individually as well)… jillchristinebrown’s font choice and bright-eyed character are simply charming attention-grabbers (our team’s kids gushed on those too). Artbyaudree’s line drawing of her own child is very enchanting. shannonjyl’s entry #28 is delightfully weird and could be memorable / a lot of fun carried in the collateral. OliveTone’s boy and girl (calm but active), color choices and collateral design are clear and communicative.

Please note: we are very open to “crowd” suggestions even though cS yanked out the “crowd scoring feature” this week. Because design can be subjective, we are planning market research: taking our four final choices to business prospects and letting their first impressions help with our final decision. Their opinions will have a lot of pull.

Thanks again to everyone for your incredible effort.

19-Nov-08 3:43 p.m. GMT

For future marketing endeavors, we will need to know the names of the fonts used in the winning entry, and where to acquire them legally. Please let us know if this poses a problem for any entry.

20-Nov-08 4:53 p.m. GMT

Here we are with 6 days left in the project. When we reached 80 total submissions, we took the top 8 logos to the field to get some independent feedback. (Remember: we judged these pre-#81 “semifinalists” based on suitability to the business, not what we “liked” – there are a ton of well-done designs in here!) In order of submission:

#11 ramataetae
#23 jillchristinebrown
#28 shannonjyl
#56 peg770
#71 chiz
#72 LeeJones
#79 ufotofu
#80 shannonjyl

We were kind of disappointed by some of the unexpected/unforeseen subjective reactions of our prospects (as you will read below), but this is how we learn, right? In the end, the biggest message we got is that we need a concept that combines what we see in #71 chiz and #79 ufotofu. As we look at the designs submitted since #80, #88 OliveTone just might be hitting the sweet spot after all. Got any other fonts you might try? (Note: people really like the “cap” element in #71 chiz). We’re going back into the field with 2 days left in the contest, so we’ll let you know what happens.

Listed in order of prospect “votes” high to low (we asked them to choose their top two), here are the notes we gleaned from the field:

#71 chiz. People really like this design. However, everyone agrees that it wrongly communicates “childcare.” And the SitKits folks still worry that there’s an awful lot of detail there for a “logo.”

#79 ufotofu. People agree that this communicates “business” more than all the other designs, and is very legible when reduced. At the same time, they feel that it wrongly communicates “school” and “seriousness.” Oddly, two people said, “Why is that guy an ant?” They mistook the hair for antennae.

#80 shannonjyl. Oh shannonjyl! How much we love your art. We wanted to buy into this design, and the kids love it… But the field response was rather shocking. Almost all male managers we interviewed “see something” there that we didn’t. They gave themselves quite a chuckle. We’ll give you the gist by quoting one of the prospects, “That one should say TitKits!” We know, jaw-drop. Female managers said, “A bug is not a good idea for targeting restaurants.” Ugh. So we’re not sure where to go from here on this one. Could we put things in his hands so he doesn’t look, ummm, eager and grabby on round things? Or, the alien you submitted in our other contest was fun and funky, think he could work somehow? Please know we really appreciate your work, we think you are incredibly talented.

#56 peg770. Communication and versatility are strong with this one. People felt it could work for the business, but relatively speaking it didn’t excite the prospects with personality.

#28 shannonjyl. Even though our team didn’t see the “plate and spoon,” the prospects immediately recognized them. Some liked this logo a lot, but we fear it will hinder our ability to diversity into other markets as a plate and spoon. It’s still in the running though. Everyone agrees that it’s weird and fun and could be adapted well to collateral.

#23 jillchristinebrown. Kids love this logo. Every little girl we interviewed squealed, “Oh that’s cute!” Also, when we randomly asked some non-contributing designers at cS what they thought of our contest-results up to #80, your design came out ahead as “good design.” However, kids and designers are not our audience. In the restaurant biz, it didn’t strongly impact anyone.

#11 ramataetae. Relatively speaking, it didn’t really communicate to or excite the prospects.

#72 LeeJones. Relatively speaking, it didn’t really communicate to or excite the prospects.

[Quick, like a band-aid, write it and exit the site for the day!] Again, a lot of the feedback surprised us too. We don’t plan to let our small focus group make the final decision, but we do need to learn from it what the drawbacks of our decision might be. We’re open to your comments and insight as well, feel free to send us PMs!

Here’s a fun marketing tale about the reliability of focus groups: When Sony came out with the first boom-box, it took black and yellow models to the focus groups. Unanimously, people were keen on the yellow model. Yet at the close of each session, when people were invited to take a boom-box home, they unanimously picked up the black. Illuminating, no?

Thanks a lot everybody.

20-Nov-08 5:19 p.m. GMT

ONE MORE IMPORTANT COMMENT on the pre-#81 designs: Separating the words somehow, with a space or a line break or capital/lowercase, makes them much easier to read.

24-Nov-08 7:01 p.m. GMT

We would like to sincerely thank every artist that came into the creative ring with SitKits.

We have a love-hate relationship with this project! It is difficult to see such clever, fun contributions every day when only one can be selected (which has to suit the company/customer, not our individual tastes).

Plus, “feedback” is a rough job in itself… We all sit here and stare and chew before thinking of what halfway-coherent response to write to each of you… Which is the least we can do in return for your individual volunteer effort. We’re very appreciative; sometimes we’re at a loss for words/score.

Our next step is to take the second-half “finalists” to the field again. Just like last time, the field prospects will have a fairly powerful impact on our final choice. We hope you’ll all approve of the winner.

We’re going to pull the “finalists” from edgar, intrepidguppy, chiz, olivetone, ufotofu, peg770, ramataetae, m3designs, shannonjyl, jilchristinebrown and lindaeckel. Hopefully we’ll have an answer for you in just a couple of days.

We’ve really enjoyed working with you all on this project. If you’d like to keep working with “nutboltandpixel”… This week our tequila project is heating up (send us a PM if you want to contribute, it has “pro” status), and next week we’ll be posting a brewery label in the $600 range that looks to require some illustrative skill and rustic insight.

Thanks again everyone. Wishing you a relaxed holiday break (in the U.S.) and a great week everywhere else. Good luck with your contests!