Not only did my wife hook me up with everything I need to start building my own fly rods, she even made me a logo. She is asking for suggestions/critiques to make it better. Her vision is for me to use this as a decal on the blank of ant rods I build. Let me know what you think.
I like the rod, line, flly and script. I can not figure out what the line between the rod and the name represents.
Bedlam, FWIW my career includes 30+ years in major brand marketing and 15+ years as a marketing consultant. I’ve reviewed a lot of logos in that time. No brag, just fact: I’d be amazed if you did not instantly recognize some of the logos I’ve approved.
I think it is a fine logo, approve it, and have no suggestions to make --unless your name is not J.L. Harris.
Buy your bride some flowers, give her a kiss and tell her she’s done a fine job!
Brad
I had this same exact feeling.
But it might not look right without it.
A nicely done logo. I think the line just left of the name is line coming off the pole in an abstract, artistic fashion. I doubt the gold trim that outlines the rod and line will be seen when it is reduced to decal size and may just add to the cost of the decal. Still very nice though!
I have seen logos which corporations spent a lot of money for that did not look nearly as good. You have a talented wife.
I like the logo but, because of the rod and line being higher than the script and it will wrap around your blank, if you shrink it enough to get the whole label in, would it make the script to small to read. Maybe, if it makes the script to small, you can just use “J L Harris Rods”
You will have to shrink it to the size you want before you can really make the decision. As is, I like it, it is very artistic. I’m just concerned whether or not you will be able to read the script once it is reduced enough to fit the rod so it doesn’t wrap over itself, if that makes any sense to you.
Thanks for all the input and compliments, she will be pleased. We were guessing at the size using some info pulled off the Internet for rod decals. Before ordering decals she will make sure the sizing is correct and make any final changes. She is making it something called a vector graphic so it can be reduced or enlarged with no graphic degradation. The loop coming off the reel is her artistic representation of fly line, turvy got that dead on. I understand where djo and John are coming from as I pointed it out as well, but she explained that logos are artistic representations, not literal which makes sense. How could I argue with a stay at home, mother of three that clearly decided to marry down. There may be some tweaking to color and borders as well, but until it is printed and sized that will have to wait.
Any opinions on the fly?
I took the loop of line at the bottom to represent the line that you hold with your non-casting hand.
It took me a minute to look at the logo to figure everything out. But that’s a good thing. I mean, how many company logos do you take one single glance at…and that’s all.
With only one glance, the logo get’s less than a second of your brain’s thought. The longer you look at something, the longer your brain spends time one it…and that’s good.
I like the logo. I think your wife did a great job.
Hope your rods are as good as the logo, if so, they should be awesome.
It’s an excellent rendition of a mayfly natural. Which only raises the question do you want the logo image to be of casting a natural or a fly pattern ??
The issue of size comes in here, too. Relative to the rest of the logo, it might end up looking like a size 32 something or other, or just a punctuation mark at the end of the line.
I’ll join the others in complimenting your wife. Not to worry about the final product - with talent like hers, it’s gonna work out just fine.
John
I think it’s an outstanding logo as is. Don’t over think it.
there’s a china company already using that exact same one…lol
I’m with the others …great as it is …but since you asked I believe that the fly is too much of an eye catcher with the rather bright white wings…it takes away from your name which I think should be the eye catcher…just trying to be constructive.
With the comments about actual size for a rod I did a little size comparison. A 3/8" (0.375") diameter rod is approximately 1.17" in diameter. So I sized the graphic to a nickel, 0.875". I think it will work fine, you may want to lengthen it to allow rod data and date.
Good job Jesse. That took the guess work out of everything. Now we can clearly see that everything will work in perspective. Great job on the logo and yours is not the only one who married down but, I’m glad she did. Now get that first rod done so we can see the logo where it belongs and if it were me, the first rod would go to my wife with a nice inscription.
Scott
I think I would do this to it. I might check around and see if I can get a heat transfer on a tee shirt and/or a cap embroideried.
Keep in mind that the logo does not have to be wrapped around the rod horizontally. I can also be applied vertically. If you go the latter route, though, you might want to consider having the background color of the logo being a reasonably close match to the color of the finished rod.
I stand by my original post. Buy the flowers!
Great feedback everyone. My wife is still working on it as this was her working concept. I like the addition of rod info and thanks to Jesse for getting the size figured out.