Chris submitted his logo for PricingWire and left the following comment,

“The antennae concept is meant to convey maintaining an up-to-date awareness of how pricing impacts the overall performance and brand value of your business. Communicating the value behind your prices, based on in depth understanding of what customers value and are willing to pay for. I am open to other names, but also believe that a company makes its name relevant by the reputation they build based on the work they do (build a brand, maintain a brand, leverage a brand).”

The following critique is based on one designer’s opinion and experience. I always appreciate the readers thoughts as well. So, I’ll ask a question of two in the critique, please share your perspective in the comments at the end of this logo design critique.

Design Principals

I have to say, until I took some time and looked at the PricingWire website, I thought your logo was for a company/website that did price tracking over time similar to PriceScan. I guess what I’m saying is that I didn’t get the antennae concept. Instead I saw something more like trend graph.

I agree that a company makes it’s name and brand relevant by reputation. The logo gets it’s meaning from the company it represents, not the other way around. You can read more on what it takes to make a great logo here.

Functionality / Versatility

As it stands, the logo is versatile. It’s two color and very bold. Both of which will make for little to no problems on the reproduction front.

Does the Logo Work for the Audience?

I‘m not exactly sure who the customers for PricingWire are, however an educated guess tells me small to medium sized businesses are likely the main customer. The logo may be missing the mark if it is perceived as a pricing trend company instead of a research and consulting business focused on how pricing can affect your business and brand. I actually really like the idea of what PricingWire does, I’m just not sure it is coming through effectively. Perhaps. a more appropriate icon for logo may visually show the concepts thought/research or strategy.

Uniqueness

While the vertical misalignment of the two words might make the logo slightly different I’m not sure I see good reason for it. You’re already using color to separate the two words, so why not just align both words on the same baseline? Besides, the descender of the ‘g’ doesn’t reach the baseline while getting very close. This leaves the logo feeling unrefined and rough around the edges.

Typography

The typeface choice doesn’t feel right to me. As a matter of fact, it feels completely wrong. The bold weight of geometric slab serifs are designed to be noticed but in my opinion often work best for headlines not logos. By choosing a slab serif you have also made it hard for the antennae to appear like it belongs. The contrast of the circle at the top of the ‘w’ and the square serif on the other side just doesn’t feel right. Perhaps a sans serif typeface would better fit this concept. If you really like the slab serifs at least consider a light weight.

Possible Improvements

Designing a logo for yourself or own business is one of the hardest logo designs you’ll ever work on. 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 you have a good start on the logo design. And with some refinement you can definitely improve it. 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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