$60 USD Professional Logo Contest - Ends December 24th

Good evening, DP designers!

I am looking for a well-designed, professional logo for use on a web site as well as for printed materials (letterhead, business cards, etc.) and will pay $60 USD to the winning designer through PAYPAL for these two versions (color and black & white requested for both). The logo must be posted here (no PMs please) in a vector format and any non-windows font(s) must be provided. I reserve the right to extend or amend the contest if no suitable logo is submitted within the week time period.

The logo to be designed is to be used for a residential mortgage business based in Massachusetts (United States) with a marketing name of "The Massachusetts Mortgage Broker" with the URL, MAMortgageBroker.com (website is not up yet). If possible, I would like the URL to be incorporated as part of the logo since it does not have Massachusetts spelled out, but I realize that this may be trying to stuff too much into the design and may detract from it (use your best judgement).

I'm also thinking that the logo should incorporate some kind of element(s) that is instantly recognized as being from Massachusetts (for example, an outline of the state, the Massachusetts capital, etc.), but let your creativity run wild and don't be glued to these ideas coming off the top of my head.

I would like the logo to communicate that I am The Massachusetts Mortgage Broker in that I am the one that consumers should go to first for their mortgage needs as I am one of the most professional, ethical, trustworthy mortgage brokers in our state (and I do have the credentials to back it up).

I will make sure to give timely feedback on each entry on at least a daily basis so you can have more guidance on where the design should be going.

I look forward to all your entries and should you have any questions, please let me know.

 

Good morning, everyone.

I posted late last night, so I'm bumping this thread up to catch your attention for today.

Looking forward to your entries.

 

I'll enter this tonight.

 

Here's a shot at it (Note: The House & Hands were Hand drawn then Layered - 100% original)

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Thanks, mac_crazy. I look forward to seeing your design soon.

 

Thank you for your entry, scorpionagency.

Good first entry and I appreciate the time you took in hand drawing, but I am looking for a more professional looking logo and font.

To be honest, I am not a fan of the house being held in hands as it conveys more of a "caring" feeling whereas I want to convey a more professional feeling along the lines of trust, integrity and honesty blended into a Massachusetts theme or using an image instantly recognized as being from Massachusetts that communicates these values.

I hope this helps to clarify what I am looking for.

Thanks again for your entry, scorpionagency. I would welcome you submitting another design as I have seen your work for other contests and am impressed.

Thanks.

 

Thanks for the feedback, I will submit another one for you before the end of the contest. The real challenge here is the ample amount of text to be displayed in the logo.

I'm starting to think that a circle Might suite the logo better, keeping the text wrapped & the image in the center pure.

Just thinking out loud I suppose, at any rate, thanks again for your quick response, I'll get something else out to you in a day or so.

 

Thanks, scorpionagency.

If it makes it any easier, you can lose the "The" and just use "Massachusetts Mortgage Broker". I realize that this does not help with the longer words that still must be incorporated in the logo, but it may help to make it a little more tidy.

Looking forward to your follow-up entry.

 

Thank you for your entry, xpressions.

Nice simple, professional looking design.

Suggestions for improvement would be to remove the "MMB" as the branding effort is to be known as the "Massachusetts Mortgage Broker", not MMB. I'm not sure if you can fit the text "Massachusettts Mortgage Broker" in the state silouette, but that may be a better idea.

Also, I am unsure as to what the sun burst is to meant to represent other than being a styling element.

Overall though a pretty good effort.

Thank you for submitting your design.

P.S. I just noticed that the URL is incorrect. It should be "mamortgagebroker.com". Thanks.

 

First attempt, feedback appreciated:





More to follow, and also changes based on feedback given.

 

Thank you for your entry, tmash.

The design is a little too simple for my taste and should portray more of a professional image.

I am looking for something a little more creative and professional looking while conveying an authority figure image. Remember that I am looking to present myself as the one and only Massachusetts Mortgage Broker to consumers within the context of communicating trust, integrity and honesty.

So for the benefit of your and other entries, I would like to see entries a little more creative than just providing an outline or silouette of Massachusetts. While I would agree that a picture of the state instantly communicates Massachusetts, there are also other images that communicate this as well which could be used in combination with the Massachusetts shape or by themselves. I would list a few here now off the top of my head, but I'm afraid that it will stifle the creativity of other entries (I'll provide more guidance if I see that it is needed, but I am not as creative as graphic designer types so I would rather see your ideas).

So with all of this mind, let's see some more creativity here!

 

Will try this as it sounds like a great contest.

 

I am now realizing that I am taking for granted that others would know what would constitute something as being a symbol of Massachusetts which is probably not a good assumption to make. However being from Massachusetts and having lived here for almost my entire life, you'll have to forgive me for being so presumptious.

In any event, for the benefit of those that do not know Massachusetts well, here is a list of images in no particular order that would be instantly recognizable as being a Massachusetts symbol and which *may* work for designing a logo (keeping in mind the requirements in my previous posts). This is by no means an exhaustive list, but I thought it might help so you don't have to do tons of research on what is a Massachusetts symbol.

- Massachusetts State House
Example, http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/43/Mass_statehouse_eb1.jpg

- Minuteman Statue
Example, http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/91/Minute_Man.JPG (Concord version) or
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d7/Minute_Man_Statue_Lexington_Massachusetts.jpg (Lexington version)

- Paul Revere's ride on horseback warning of the British
Example, http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...by_Cyrus_E._Dallin,_North_End,_Boston,_MA.JPG

- Lighthouses
Example, http://www.elohi.com/photo/lighthouse/highland-light.jpeg

- Old North Church Steeple or Lantern
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_North_Church

- U.S.S. Constitution (Old Ironsides)
Example, http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/84/USS_Constitution_1997.jpg

- Custom House Tower
Example, http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a2/Custom_House_Tower.jpg

- Old State House
Example, http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/1/11/Old_State_House,_Boston,_Massachusetts.JPG

- Boston Skyline

- Colonial Style Home

There are other symbols too like Boston baked beans and lobsters, but I don't think they would be appropriate for the logo I am looking for.

And if you really want a history lesson and learn more about Massachusetts, feel free to visit the following link :

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massachusetts

 

Thank you!

Yes, not being from Massachusetts, I don't know any of the trademark symbols of the state. I googled it, and all I got was the state outline, the coat of arms, flag, and plymouth rock. Not really much of anything to work with!

 

Nice follow-up to your original design, tmash.

I initially could not figure out the shield design behind the state outline of Massachusetts. However when I was researching images that would be associated with Massachusetts, I took a look at the state seal for Massachusetts and realized that the shield you used came from the Massachusetts state seal.

Kudos to you for being so creative, but unfortunately I do not think that the average Massachusetts person would realize that the shield design is from our state seal (after all, even I didn't ). I still think it has potential though (especially the 2nd version) and may work with some further revision.

The features that I think could use improvement are increasing the text size so it is not dominated by the shield design, styling the word "The" differently (or omitting it altogether) and capitalizing "Massachusetts Mortgage Broker". Also using another font that is more "professional" yet has style may help improve the design as well.

In any event, thank you very much for your revision and feel free to post a new version based on these comments if you are so inclined.

 

That's excellent feedback, gives me alot to work with, especially combined with the post before listing other symbols for massachusetts. I'll get a few more mockups done tonight, I'm technically supposed to be at my "real" work right now

 

Thanks, NsaneNoob.

I look forward to your entry!

 

Havne't had a chance to work on any new symbols yet, but I modified the previous one according to your suggestions, hope this is a little better.





edit: Added this one too...