Krftd

I received this logo from Jeanette over at Krftd, an online magazine. Check it out if you haven’t already. There is some fine inspirational material over there. Anyway, Jeanette offered this bit of insight when submitting this logo,

“Defined as the arbiter of style and taste, Krftd is the clever resource for individuals with a well-dressed mind. Krftd curates the world of design, interior, art, fashion, travel, popular culture and technology through its cosmopolitan lens and celebrates the most inspiring ideas in our pages.”

Jeanette went on to say,

“Considering that Krftd is an alternative spelling to "crafted", the typeface was chosen to make it easy to read. The pencil icon on the Krftd logo adds a casual and slightly playful feel. And also because it sits nicely in a discreet manner. This overall clean and simple logo does not attach to the content and allows it to speak for itself.”

Design Principals

The Krftd logo is tastefully designed and offers a good starting point. Even so, I see some areas for improvement. First, I’m confused by your copy and messaging in conjunction with the stye and message of your logo. You mention ‘well-dressed’ and ‘cosmopolitan’ which call to mind sophistication and polish. Unfortunately, I think the logo lacks these qualities. Just as you mentioned in your message “... the Krftd logo adds a casual and slightly playful feel”. Why the juxtaposition between your brand and your messaging? I feel your website and it’s content are more similar to your copy and messaging than your logo. I just cannot make the connection from playful to sophisticated.

Functionality / Versatility

I have seen the logo used both on dark background and light backgrounds. In both cases I think it works well. The blue tagline and grey type stand out from the background. This logo would work fine without color as well. Lastly, the mark should scale pretty well, although at the smallest sizes the tagline may become problematic.

Does the Logo Work for the Audience?

I cannot speak to who your actual audience is because I don’t have that info. So I will speak to your aspirational audience based on your statement above. While I see a certain level of class or sophistication in the mark, I think more could be done with it. To me the playfulness that the pencil adds in unnecessary and distracting from the message. When I see the pencil I think editor rather than an arbiter or judge or expert. It may just be the style of the icon. On the flip side I think the serif typeface is a good choice to show sophistication.

Uniqueness

This logo is unique and memorable by it’s use of a clever alternative spelling for ‘crafted’. The pencil icon as a part of the ‘k’ is unique as well. While I do find the mark memorable, I’m not sure it is in the way intended. Meaning I might remember the mark for it’s cleverness, but not for the company it stands for.

Typography

As mentioned earlier the serif typeface does add a level of polish and sophistication. Nevertheless, the alignment of the blue tagline doesn’t feel fully resolved to my eye.

Adjusting the size and/or location of the tagline might be something to examine. The tagline could change to a smaller point size or switch to a two line version. Consider dropping the ‘and’ and using an ampersand instead to save a little space.

Possible Improvements

So what is the best way to improve the logo? Well I think have made some comments above that can certainly offer some direction. Here’s a list of actionable items.

Overall, I think the current state of the logo is pretty well done, but there is room for refinement. Please know that my intention in critiquing your work is not to hurt feelings, but to offer constructive feedback. I hope it was helpful. Best of luck to you!

I appreciate and welcome your comments, and look forward to hearing from you soon. I purposely don’t cover every possible improvement that can be made to this logo, so go for it if you think I missed anything. All I ask is that you keep your comments clean and appropriate.

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