Here's my final entry for this contest! It was a great challenge to find balance between a completely new logo (primary goal of this contest) and to include elements from the current logo. It seems many people think the current logo is great as it is. That's a discussion that will likely continue after this contest. In my opinion the winner is someone who took serious effort to come up with something high quality, new and refreshing.
I ended up with three scalable logo's. The first logo is the new one. The Q represents Quark: speed, security, safety, confidence, solidarity and simplicity. The Q embraces the core (Earth).
The second logo is my redesign of the current logo, trying to balance out the elements it contains. It's now fresh and crisp with everything in correct proportions.
The third logo is a combination of the the previous ones. If you think about it.. I like the idea.. I've tried to keep everything as simple and clean as possible and focus on what matters most for now. In my opinion usage of the logo's can be combined.. They are modular (each element/logo can represent a specific purpose and they can be combined to form a whole), recognizable and will stick in the head!
Also, take a good look at the Quark text and subtext. It's solid, scalable, elegant and.. recognizable.. I've seen way too many logo's with text too thin or not scaled/positioned the way it should be.
I really like the retro-feel from the current logo. So I've tried to incorporate that retro feel in my logo's as well. The color palettes used support this retro earthy look and feel. And even more important, it gives a feeling of where Quark is at right now! I would strongly advise against using too many colors and too many elements in a logo. Simplicity is key which is a very hard (and time-consuming) thing to accomplish!
It was great fun to create the physical coins. Six rings each.. The inner circle of the red-green-blue coins each represent a part of the earth. Look from a distance and you'll notice the multidimensional effect in there. Together they form a whole.. Again, only added elements that matter.
As mentioned before I'm willing to participate in the development of the official Quark website and give it the Quality it deserves. That is, if my logo('s) is/are selected.
And I'm not only talking pixels here!
Let's bring this baby to the next level! Happy New Year everyone!
Enjoy!
Martijn
ps Quarktalk was down for the last few days.. So couldn't post my entry there as was requested! Is up now, so posted there as well!
Logo's only with earthy retro color palette:
Logo's with text:
Quark accepted here (full size):
Quark coins:
Quark physical rounds:
ASCII character:
Wallpaper fun (2560x1440):
