Salon HQ Logo Design Critique

Zoran submitted this logo for Salon HQ and left the following comment.

“Salon HQ is a new, worlds first, patented business building tool for aspirational Hair & Beauty businesses. It provides benchmarking and business comparison analytics for Hair salons and Beauty spas. Should be appropriately professional and original, but still slightly cool and a bit edgy.”

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 Principles

I like the boldness of the Salon HQ logo. The combination of red and grey evoke feelings of action and authority. I don’t understand the reason for ‘HQ’ running vertically and find it visually distracting. It also creates a somewhat playful appearance which isn’t appropriate for the logo. Is there a specific reason for the vertical text that I’m missing? There is something about the outlined grey text that triggers the image of a scissor icon in my mind. I know it’s not there, but I keep looking for it. Have you considered incorporating the the “HQ” into the handle of a scissors? It seems an obvious solution, but it may interesting if done right. Lastly, I’m not sure if it was intentional, but I can see a head and body represented by the letters ‘HQ’. If it is intentional, the ‘why’ behind it is lost to me. Zoran, I’d love to hear a little more about your thought process on this mark.

Functionality / Versatility

This mark will reproduce well. It’s actually 3 colors, but I’m not sure that’s necessary. The contrast between the two greys is minimal at best and tends to look more like an error than something done on purpose. Why not just make the tagline the grey as the letters for “HQ’?

Does the Logo Work for the Audience?

The salon HQ logo has a modern and professional tone to it. I don’t get the ‘edgy’ feel that Zoran spoke of in his commentary. Nevertheless, I think the tone is appropriate, but pushing the playful side a little too much. Zoran, did you explore any concepts that portrayed elements of benchmarking or analytics?

Typography

As I mentioned before, I like the boldness of the mark and typography however, the tight kerning of the word ‘salon’ creates some awkward negative space that should be resolved. Redrawing the ‘s’ and ‘a’ to fit better with one another will solve the problem. When reworking the letters you may want to allow for a larger gap where the top of the ‘s’ and ‘a’ meet.

The choice to place ‘HQ’ vertically along with the typeface selection creates a playful feeling that doesn’t fit the business and messaging Zoran described. Perhaps, choosing a different typeface and rotating the letters will remedy the playful appearance.

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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