What are /r/Logo_Critique's favorite Products & Services?

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This is a modern logo, I think it needs a modern font. Probably a sans-serif. I think Kumbh Sans would be good for this. It's a free font from Google fonts: https://fonts.google.com/specimen/Kumbh+Sans?category=Sans+Serif

Maybe put the Mitt and 24/7 on the same line, without a space, the latter part in a thinner weight?

love the icon in the logo, but it doesn't really fit with the text at the bottom. your text at the bottom is rather bold and bulky, and the icon is very smooth and clean. I'm also not a fan of the blocked out A's, they don't really serve any purpose and really just make the text harder to read. If you wanted to keep the font, I would suggest a thicker outline stroke on your icon. in my opinion, I say keep the icon, and change the font family to something thinner. roboto condensed thin would look great here, as well as Yanone Kaffeesatz.

First, I want to thank you for realizing that you have a part to play and that if the logo isn’t coming out how you’d envisioned, it’s not solely the designers fault.

The first problem I see is that you talk about simple logos, but none of the logos you linked could be called simple at all. If you want something simple, you need to communicate that, but without a background in design it can sometimes be difficult finding the words. That’s why I have one requirement for clients that seem to have trouble putting words on what they want: show me.

If you spend 1-2 hours looking at boutique logos, you’ll get a VERY good idea of what you like and what you don’t. From there you can include that feedback along with pictures so your designer understands what you’re looking for. If you can resist the urge to mash 3 concepts together and simply choose 1, this process will get you 90% of the way to a logo you can be proud of.

To get you started, I found this logo that seems to be close to what you mentioned from other boutiques you liked.

Did you make this in MSPaint?

My personal advice would be the 'cigar' itself is pretty bad. I would advise that you go and read a load of articles about typography and try and get that down first. Once you've mastered typography, then start playing with graphics.

Here's some inspiration: https://dribbble.com/tags/cigar

Less is more- take a look around dribbble for inspiration

My advice would be to stick to one gaming reference, ie 8 bit coffee cup OR a Tetris theme. Design a symbol as the logo to your gaming cafe and have a clean font with the business name. Example.

I think you have some good ideas, but you have to focus on just one of them

Thank you! Here is the full project on my Behance, I have some past iterations and other variations on there as well. I think I included one where the outline was black. I'll definitely try antlers behind the text too!

This is the logo for my new side project called EmailThis - https://www.emailthis.me.

This is a simple "email me this webpage/article" service. It will extract useful content from a web page and send that to you as a nicely formatted email. Is this idea conveyed in this logo?

Any suggestions on how I can make this better would be much appreciated.

The font is definitely very dated. It also appears that you have distorted the font, either stretching it horizontally or squishing it vertically. It's best to avoid that practice, as it creates an amateurish look.

Have a look at alternatives like Exo 2, something that still has some character and heft to it, but a more modern look.

An important part of the design process is research. For logo projects, I'm looking at a lot of competitor products, their color schemes, font choices, and audience demographics, and deconstructing their design decisions. You want your "client" to be distinct and different (so you would want to avoid using the same colors as a competitor), but you want to understand the decisions that those competitors made. Google "Design Brief" and you'll get a good idea of the questions to ask. Not saying every logo you do has to be this involved, but my personal philosophy is that I should be able to justify every design decision I make to my client, ideally with data and hard evidence.

Regarding color selection, I use Adobe Color to help me construct palettes and find inspiration from other peoples' work. I also try to justify color selection using research. I did a travel blog design recently with a focus on hiking, so we used a lot of earthy browns, sand, with an airmail red and blue for accents. For your project, I just google image searched "sports colors" and got this, which you may find helpful.

Typeface selection is very subjective, but different typefaces certainly belong in different places. A classic example is that you might use a fancy script font for an upscale italian restaurant or a wedding invitation, but it would be a terrible fit for a company that makes industrial equipment. Again, if you're not sure where to start, research is your front. I google image searched "NFL fonts" and noticed something interesting... There are no lower case letters anywhere in the results. Everything is big, in-your-face, slab serifs and heavy set type. And actually, plenty of 45-degree-angled "university" lettering like you used, just applied a bit more carefully.

Im getting a gentleman feel rather then rugged.

Rugged style: Link

A quick search for the word rugged:

1. having a roughly broken, rocky, hilly, or jagged surface.
2. roughly irregular, heavy, or hard in outline or form: Lincoln's rugged features.
3. (of a face) wrinkled or furrowed.
4. rough, harsh, or severe: a rugged life.
5. capable of enduring hardship, wear, etc.: a rugged floor covering.
6. requiring great endurance, determination, etc.: a rugged test.
7. tempestuous; stormy.
8. rude, uncultivated, or unrefined.

I would use these keywords as a concept, it may be a bit generic but i would probobly go with hipster style damaged script type and remove the tophat and mustasche.

Inspiration

The font is called Vincent. And for those wondering - it's a motorcycle piston.

OK so this is more of a colored sketch than a finished product. Keep going with this but try to find some better ogranization. I would recommend using a grid and allocating the same amount of space for each icon/graphic that you have here. Move the title of your channel to the center, that's the star. Everything else is subsequent. Next, since you're using graphics that already exist for their intended purpose, it's probably a good choice to just use those actual graphics instead of trying to recreate them with a mouse. Finally, once you have everything cleaned up and organized, pick a single color scheme that represents you and your channel. Limit that scheme to 2-4 colors only. Maybe you could make all of the graphics 1-color grey, then make "Nick's Hub" a bright and vibrant color. That way your eye is drawn to where it needs to be. Also, I'd recommend a bolder, unique, and still simple font.

In terms of using a computer to make graphics, check out inkscape. Inkscape is a free vector drawing program and is capable of a lot. It has a lot of tools that will help you with your art and make your more efficient at creating it. When you're ready to step it up, sign up for an Adobe Creative Cloud account. That suite will have every software you will ever need in the communication industry.

Hope this helps. Keep at it!

Also, you'd technically want to post something like this in /r/design_critiques. I'm not going to split hairs about it though. Design is design.

How is the leaf relevant apart from a tenuous link I guess to nature and therefore environment?

I would go more for an arrow upwards:

https://dribbble.com/shots/3373294-Upcycle-logo

https://www.designcrowd.com/design/15533058

It'd be nice if you atleast gave credit to the original artist, instead of blatantly copying their work and passing it off as your own.

Original art : https://dribbble.com/shots/4505485-Mario Original artist : https://www.zcool.com.cn/u/2497801

I would stick with the serif, as i assume this is about learning so a bookish feel, and if you are still using a light bulb, youll want something that goes along with that, kind of rounded. Youre new, young and online so you want something fun that doesnt cross the line away from professional.

I would keep the capital B, but play with the kerning. I would make the lightbulbs stroke weight match the font, and not replace a letter with it. That is, have it sit next to the word, not be in it (you can change this up as you do watermarks and other things with it later).

This font is trendy yet little known, so it should work until your company can buy a designer: https://www.behance.net/gallery/Flagship-Free-Typeface/12499527

Something like that.

Edit: sorry im on mobile so copy paste is hard. If you want something less fun, this guy with a different icon: http://www.carlosdetoro.com/born-en/

Good stuff! I like the bottom one better. I'm curious to see what it would look like with Guestbook centered vertically with the tag line, though. I like the space you have given the chair and the text. A lot of people squish these days. This is good. My only other question would be, is the chair centered horizontally with the text? With the G on the bottom one, it is hard to tell.

Also, these colors look like FontSquirrel's . Be careful! I'm not sure if they have those color combos protected.

there are a ton of great ones, but the free font websites get overwhelming with their thousands of options...check out https://www.fontsquirrel.com/ they have a smaller selection, better quality. most of them are free.

Kudos for making an effort, but I'm not going to play your mom and tell you it's great when it's not. My subjective opinion is that it is ugly. But putting my personal biases aside, there are many problems with this that you probably didn't consider.

First of all, the message it's sending. Peaches are fat and juicy. Not fit. Depending on your target demographic, throwing off large drops of sweat might or might not be appealing. Are you making plants more fit?

Second, your color palette is all over the place. It follows no conventions of design. Clearly you have not studied this. Colors either go together harmonically or they don't. Sort of like musical notes. Use a tool like http://paletton.com/ and narrow your colors down to a small handful for your overall design, not just the logo. The logo should look good in black and white and inverted.

As someone else mentioned, turn it upside down and it is NSFW. It looks like an ass or a scrotum upside down that is ejecting fluids.

In addition to all that, it is rife with other amateur design elements that are going to cause you problems. The drop shadow, color gradients, use of many colors, and integrated words will all give you major headaches when you try to scale it small or use it over colored backgrounds.

Good luck.

I think it looks realy generic - 2000 era of doted logos:
https://www.google.pl/search?biw=1602&bih=1091&tbm=isch&sa=1&q=dot%20logo&=&=&oq=&gs_l=#imgrc=_

Something to be found on a shutterstock: https://www.shutterstock.com/search?search_source=base_landing_page&language=en&searchterm=dot+logo&image_type=all

As someone with not great color vision, I generally rely on external tools to suggest color combos. Adobe Kuler works well for me as a starting point. I find I still need to fiddle with the colors a bit to get them just right.

That should help you find some shades of blue and orange that mesh better together.

I don't think you need the 2 shades of blue, and the grey gradient is pretty bad. I would use this or this to help pick out a nice color palette.

If you're going to choose between them definitely go with the right. Two color gradients are too easy and as /r/dvanha mentioned "amateurish". With a little tweaking the right logo can be tuned up and you can make a quick animation of the electricity, maybe expand and even make a whole bodied mascot. Check out Dribbble for some creative robot ideas too.

I think it would be better if the words fit within the knife/sword. Rather than using actual black, use a step or two lighter (super dark gray). Same with the red, go to a color site and pick a less saturated color. Generally you can find a good colorset. http://www.colourlovers.com/palettes/search?query=red+and+black

What program are you using? It seems really pixelated. Try a program like illustrator, vector based.

Look at some actual blood splatter to get a more realistic look. I mean, I know its supposed to be blood, but the way its shaped it doesn't really convince me.

Link to the coloured versions here

"A new study by ... Siegel+Gale NY found that the most memorable logos to the general public use a clear and simple design."

While it is reasonably pleasant to look at, I'm afraid that your logo doesn't really fall into the category of simple.

Here it is as a stock image: https://www.shutterstock.com/tr/image-vector/illusion-triangle-vector-impossible-logo-design-301376159

The overall composition is bad. Very bad. Your use of typography is beyond amateurish. The graphic is nice, but you didn’t even design it... it’s stock. This isn’t your work so stop trying to pass it off like you built something. Hack.

What the fuck yo, it’s a stock image. Don’t try passing this shit off like you made something. Get the fuck outta here with that.

Opinion... the word you’re looking for is opinion. For what it’s worth I agree with you.

But more importantly I did google it just to see how quickly I’d find something similar AND IT’S A FUCKING STOCK IMAGE.

The original name was The Murder Kings, hence the red, so it was not supposed to be a white walker!

BTW you can see a black and white version here.

Your work seems to be heavily inspired by Nina Geometrieva's original pieces.

I think you would have a greater overall impact if you kept the "meteor" style effect to the O.

I'm not in love with the typeface either and think that they could be reworked to help compliment the rest of the logo.

If you want a critique you are going have to give us a little more info than that.

You want feedback on the concept, what is the concept?

What kind of ramen bar is it?

Is it upscale or traditional?

Is the client looking for a Japanese style logo or a more modern westernized style?

Since it's a restaurant i would strongly consider how the logo would look as a sign and how it will work with the interior/mood.

Have you researched other ramen restaurants logos?

Here's an example i found after a quick search:

Dassara Brooklyn

Interior

Great, definitely the left hand version. Maybe the strokes a tiny bit thinner so a bit more air.?

Can I suggest a different typeface? The current one feels like it’s fighting the style of the logo mark atm.

How about something like https://fonts.google.com/specimen/Baloo+Tammudu+2?category=Sans+Serif,Display&selection.family=Baloo+Tammudu+2:wght@600#about

In the 600 weight. Upper and lower case and the height of the block just to the top of the B.

Thank you for your kind thoughts! I'm new at this so it really means a lot.

Looks like the E is the issue so I'll have a play with it today. The font is Neuton: https://fonts.google.com/specimen/Neuton

And the colour swatch is here: https://coolors.co/f4f1de-e07a5f-3d405b-81b29a-f2cc8f

(I'm not a professional designer, but): In terms of your design process, it looks like you narrowed in too early.

I would suggesting forcing yourself to broaden the initial set of logo geometries/rough layouts before iterating on things like the color and background shapes.

For example, did you play around with the following arrangements?

----------------------------

Days

Of

Design

----------------------------

daysofdesign

----------------------------

Days Of Design

----------------------------

As for the specifics (shadow, font selection, background shapes), I agree with everything zcada said, especially the stuff about the shadow; it's quite jarring.

For font selection, I usually go here and click everything that I would even consider:
https://fonts.google.com/

Then make a short-list of 10-20 fonts you like, download/install them on your PC so you can use them in design software, and play around with different possibilities.

Your image is different to The Dark Side of the Moon cover and many similar versions are available on shutterstock https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/decomposition-white-light-on-seven-colors-2257278

I don’t think you have any copyright worries.

I appreciate the feedback, I've spent all day working on refinements and new concepts and narrowed down my top 3.

https://dribbble.com/shots/3626668-Personal-Logo-Drafts-02

I wanted to see if you thought the D was more noticable in the 3rd one now, or if it still looked like an O?

Anytime. There's alot of interesting variations you could get out of a shopping bag design. I would have definitely kept the handles but make the bag shape more two dimensional. Perhaps you can work the text onto the bag itself to make it so the logo is more of a self contained design? Mess around and experiment! Here are some examples on Dribbble of creative shopping bag logos.

If you're not a designer though and have never designed a logo in your life it's always best to hire a professional as this is something that takes a trained eye with lots of experience to come with something that works as a logo. There's a reason why big name apparel companies have good branding and that's because they hire skilled designers. If the company ceo came up with their own logos to use I'm sure their brand wouldn't be as appealing.

I think it looks okay overall, but there are some smaller issues:

•You might want to go a little more subtle on your pattern. The way it is now might be hard to read from far away.(Perhaps a texture like this (I'm referring to the font, not the background))

•This one is more nit picky but, you might want to fix the kerning. You can slightly see the tails of some letter which will give away that it's not a hand written font. (I feel like it would need this since your going for a rustic and authentic

•I'm not sure why there's the brush stroke between the lines of text but my opinion is to remove it. I don't see it interacting with a logo as a whole, as it it now. If you want a separation try a thing rectangle or make brushstroke interact with the script.

•Lastly play with the "The" font at the top to give "Man Shack" a better hierarchy and not overuse the script font.

It depends which font family you're using, rather than the software... A font like Monserrat, for example (free download from Google Fonts https://fonts.google.com/specimen/Montserrat), has nine weights, (thin, extra light, light, regular, medium, semi-bold, bold, extra bold and black). That can add choice, but the abundance of all those options can bring its own problems! I usually stick to two or three. Out of interest, are you having fun doing this? Enjoying the process?

Yes, the green and blue, I think the color combination makes it look dated. Maybe make it a single color, or change both of the colors to make it a little more current. I check Dribbble for current-looking color combinations. Also be very careful about gradients, we're in an age of flat design and extremely subtle gradients.

Yep, that's the problem I keep running into. There's certain elements to each rendition that I very much like, but we can't seem to pull everything together without some hitch.

The designer's portfolio if you'd like to gander: https://www.behance.net/radumazilu

Howdy! Second logo for another salon. I finished the logo for the first one (amongst other things) a while back.

So this is a gluten-free salon. I tried to incorporate the gluten-free symbol into this logo, plus the base font I used for the first salon and the leaf from said salon. These are like sister salons so I wanted some subtle similarities, those being the "ph" usage, the leaf as the tittle, and myriad pro as the base font. I numbered them based on the one I like most (1) to I like least (4). Let me know what you think!

you could try to see how it looks like if the bun isnt filled out? if that doesn't look well here is some more inspiration

If you're deadset on connecting the g from "lounge" with the name of the bar you can easily change the letter a small bit in illustrator by erasing a small side and doing this(this was a less than a minute PS edit).

You can do it with any font ya like I think. Even though I'd rather suggest using a sans serif font to complement the serif on your main name.

Dafont has a number of different fonts that you can use IIRC, check it out for a second to browse for the many varieties you can use.

If ya feel like playing around with setting the "lounge bar" part on a different location like somewhere on the under right part of "bacardi" or something, just to see what you'll get out of it? Dunno try multiple things to see what you can come up with.

Or use some other colors and choose what part you want to be read first. Big, bold and beautiful is easier recognized and read than supple, thin and wonderful; which is harder to notice at a quick glance. And usually you don't want people to look forever at your logo to figure it out.

Dunno, in the end I ain't exactly a student of these things, they're just suggestions on what you can do if you want to.

First thought: This looks like a car brand.

However, I don't know the style of the clothes, so as far as I know, this can be just what you want to achieve. But you might want to consider removing the circle surrounding the star if you want to get rid of the car brand feel.

Also, the font isn't too original either. Use fontsquirrel so search for free fonts to use for your logo (unless you are prepared to pay for it).

I like the mark, although I agree with another comment it looks like fangs. The text is no bueno. I would try something like Oswald or Brothers.

Keep me updated! I'm really interested in the final product.

Is everything in the box going to be lavender themed? If not, the logo might be taking your company name too literally. I see a lot of different fonts here and they all seem very random. I would take a look at https://fonts.google.com/ and see which fonts there speak to you with the same emotion, attitude, and character you would like to see from your company. For example, if your company is selling relaxing products, should your logo be using ALL CAPITAL LETTERS? It might be received as a bit loud or aggressive. Play with the font and see how much it changes the feeling!

It is starting to look more like a dove than an owl. too much detail lost, I liked it better without the stroke... just not enough contrast. Is there a reason for the vin diagram circles? If not I would try it with just 1 circle.

The typography needs some work. some of the shapes need to be merged so the gradient is not jarring (I'm looking at the W, t, and w in particular) It looks hand drawn without the expertise to look hand lettered If that makes sense. There are some kerning issues with the te and wl and inconsistent line height and line angles. Your brush is also making some poor line weight issues where the thin/thinck parts meet (probably a name for that but not sure what it is.)

I would look up some tutorials on how to hand letter, or just pick a nice font to use.

something like this might help with your color palette.

I plan to refine the U stylization a bit. What do you think about the font? Is it fine or there should be a more 'techy' font like Power Grid 2.0 or may be Changa One?

What do you think about the font? Is it fine or there should be a more 'techy' font like Power Grid 2.0 or may be Changa One?

When it comes to logos or branding script fonts have some real disadvantages to overcome. They're just a little harder to read (which can make a name less memorable) and they are especially more difficult to read at a distance (on signs, booth banners, shop windows ect.). It's not impossible to make it work but you're definitely sacrificing some initial impact and ANY drive-by brand recognition. I do think it's a style that lends itself to short names (under 5 letters).

For any business that wants to build a brand(even at the local level), I'd try to steer them away from a script font other than maybe using one as an accent in their marketing. Something like this pairing, but primarily using the sans-serif as the main logo.

• If you are going to have such a large shape, you should have heavy lettermarks outside of it or light letter marks inside of it to provide balance. As your name is sunrise, it would be wise to use a light weight typeface.
• Keep working on the tagline, I find it useful to write about 20 and narrow it down from there.
• Try using a more sunrise-specific color and not black. If you need help with a color scheme, try out adobe color or color scheme designer.
• Try an abstract approach. Sunrises get real cliche real quick. Maybe look at an actual sunrise or image thereof and see if anything, even random shapes, stands out to you.

Also, what does AVE stand for? Please keep me updated, I'd love to see where this goes!

Nice. You will probably have to do a version that will work on dark and one on light colored backgrounds. The yellows you have right now, the darker one is a bit muddy, and the light one is a bit over-saturated.

https://color.adobe.com/create/color-wheel/ might help picking out a color palette.

i would fill up all the space on the face. I understand you are purposely using lines to create face shapes, but I think it would look better with less white space * GASP *.

Check out this dude to see what I'm saying

And don't use lobster. It's becoming a very overused typeface. Here is some cardinal inspiration for you. Be original, and develop your own idea, or commission an illustrator.

I like this idea a lot. Just needs refining. Have you tried mono width lines and just "erase" the space needed to make the shapes? Confusing, I know, sorry. Don't take this example to literally, but see how the shape is inferred even though it's not connecting all the way?

https://dribbble.com/shots/690364-Cuelinks-Logo-Mono-Mark?list=searches&offset=65

Something like that. You could keep the caret shape, and "carve" a pretzel shape out of the inside of them. Ideas.

I do like this. You know the client though, make sure it fits their attitude and needs.

Your logo is creative and a great start. However, it looks hand drawn. Not a bad thing, but I’m concerned about the file format you’re using.

Are you familiar with creating vector art or the .svg (software vector graphics) image format?

Vector art is a way to create an image that can be resized as large or as small as you want without ever getting blurry or pixelated. It’s how every professional logo is created and a common deliverable to clients along with .png (portable network graphics) files in various sizes. Remember that SVG files are used for infinite resizing and PNG files are static images (no resizing without distortion) that can have transparent backgrounds, allowing logos to be placed on any background very easily.

If you want to get started in logo design, I’d recommend you pick up Affinity Designer for $50. It’s way cheaper than Adobe Illustrator and is fully featured. You’d be able to recreate this logo with vectors and you’d learn a lot doing it. Just download the trial and watch a few tutorial videos. In college I made $250-500 for every small business logo I did, so think of it as an investment if you buy it!

If you ever have questions, feel free to message me directly.

Do you have Illustrator or Inkscape? For something like this, you may be better using software that creates vector graphics rather than raster as the lines will be much cleaner. I highly recommend inkscape if you don't want to spend money on proprietary software.

Also, I think all lines in your text should be of equal weight - the centre '/\' looks a bit narrower.

Hmmm: https://www.ecosia.org/images?q=hazard+walk+sign

hmmm. I'm not seeing how you can get a good contrast with the white on yellow. So how would you rearrange/change elements so the white shoes are on black?

It's fantastic you're looking to prepare yourself for jobs going forward which is definitely what you want. Keep in mind, however, that most new graduate resumes I've seen will have their own visual identity so you'll want to be a step above your peers to truly resonate. One of the ways to do this is probably by serving a studio/employer above all else as a target audience when you make your logo/mark.

You'll find not doing anything too wild (creative, not silly/arbitrary) will leave a lasting impression. For example, stay away from popular resume tropes such as skill graphs that rate your Photoshop (no one knows what candidates think 9/10 Photoshop skill means). Ensure your resume can print through a black toner-based printer without bleeds and use that as a challenge, not a constraint.

More important than any logo I've come across on a resume: spell and grammar check the hell out of what you're sending a company. Have no less than 3 language-proficient individuals read it and run it through several digital software checks. It's 2020 and there's no excuse for errors - they make filtering candidates very easy and do far more damage than a logo ever will.

Go to Colour Lovers and you can search keywords and they'll show you user submitted palettes. Or check out 0to255, where you can search many many shades of different colors or pick a random one. Hope this helps

Read a bit about monograms. For me this opens a huge box of inspiration each time I have to do this. A few hundred years ago this was basically the only form of logos around. Albrecht Dürer's is probably the most famous one.

https://www.behance.net/gallery/4167153/Types-Monograms

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monogram

As a logo I think it looks great - but for a brand you should look at developing packaging/labels etc. as I don't think theres any character involved at the moment.

Older more aged looking https://www.behance.net/gallery/Bazis-Brewery/9360909

More modern/minimal https://www.behance.net/gallery/Cobra-Wit/11330587

I ended up with a polished version of the second one. Perhaps there should still be a bit more space around the tag, idk. If you want to try out the app or look at the final logo, here's the beta version (Android only for now): Tag My Knowledge on Google Play

Thanks a lot for providing feedback! I ended up with a polished version of the second one. If you want to try out the app or look at the final logo, here's the beta version (Android only for now): Tag My Knowledge on Google Play

​

I wanted to check out your logo, but it was already deleted :(

Thanks a lot for providing feedback! I ended up with a polished version of the second one. If you want to try out the app or look at the final logo, here's the beta version (Android only for now): Tag My Knowledge on Google Play

Thanks a lot for providing feedback! I ended up with a polished version of the second one. If you want to try out the app or look at the final logo, here's the beta version (Android only for now): Tag My Knowledge on Google Play

Thanks a lot for providing feedback! I ended up with a polished version of the second one. If you want to try out the app or look at the final logo, here's the beta version (Android only for now): Tag My Knowledge on Google Play

Thanks a lot for providing feedback! I ended up with a polished version of the second one. If you want to try out the app or look at the final logo, here's the beta version (Android only for now): Tag My Knowledge on Google Play

Yeah I'm a professional graphic designer. The school I went to had a pretty strong emphasis on branding, so I've had a lot of practice with it. I would just recommend making as many versions of your idea as possible. Let go of the desire to censor yourself when creating and allow yourself to build upon earlier ideas even if they didn't work out well before. This is just general advice about the design process, but applies directly to branding. Other things that have driven my success in branding is being aware of the symbolic and psychological implications of the mark. A lot of my process in branding starts in research. If you can create a compelling concept behind the mark, you will be better off when pitching your idea. Check out "Designing Brand Identity" by Alina Wheeler. Theres a free PDF somewhere of the 3rd ed.

I think you have too much letter spacing.

Also, in the second image, especially because of the coloring, “all things” looks like it's set in camo. Camo is almost never a good idea in a logo and has no relationship with the company's name or what the company does.

Is it a gift shop or a stoner emporium? These two things have very different connotations—trinkets for friends versus marijuana smoking supplies.

A few tips from David Airey's excellent book “Logo Design Love” which I think are important for you to keep in mind:

Work in black and white No amount of fancy gradients or color choices will rescue a poorly designed mark. By refraining from using color until the end of the process, you and your client are free from distractions of a preference for, say, green, which leaves you free to focus on the idea.

Remember legibility The public most likely will glance at the logos you design for only a second or two before moving on. So legibility is key, especially when the brand isn’t well-known. For instance, a client’s handwriting may look pretty, but if most people can’t read it immediately, then don’t consider using it as a logotype.

Aid recognition Keeping your design simple makes it easier for people to recognize it the next time they see it. Consider large corporations like Mitsubishi, Samsung, FedEx, and BBC. Their logos are simple in appearance, and they’re easier to recognize because of it. Keeping it simple also allows for flexibility in size. Ideally, your logo will work at a minimum of around one inch without loss of detail.

Absolutely. If this is something you are interested in, read Logo Design Love. Here's the free chapter if you haven't seen it.

David Airey knows what he's talking about, and I learned it from him :)

I love celtic knots so i'm partial to the idea.

Keeping that in mind the more circular line is not woven correctly. I also don't like throw the middle two loops cross over.

ALSO - i actually like the silhouette in white but you can tweak the shapes a bit to be better.

Instead of using shading why don't you try an outline?

I have this book, you can use it for inspiration

That would explain it! I would recommend reading some design books. Your university probably has a good selection in the library. If you can get ahold of syllabuses for intro design classes, check out what books they use. I recommend Grid Systems to everyone. We also used Graphic Design: The New Basics in school, and this it's a really great intro to design. I don't really have any suggestions for Typography books, but maybe someone else could jump in with a recommendation?

http://www.amazon.com/Logo-Design-Love-Creating-Identities/dp/0321985206/ref=zg_bs_3564965011_3

I have this one and it's fantastic. Check the reviews for it, too.

This one will probably be my next purchase on that same theme:

http://www.amazon.com/Designing-Brand-Identity-Essential-Branding/dp/0470401427/ref=zg_bs_3564965011_7