Project Detail

Description

I need a logo for a new online company that will go live this month. The company name is "wheresbobo.com" and has been just "sitting" on the web for a couple of years (if you're interested in the company history, PM me).

The logo should be very simple to complete, and whoever wins the bid should provide to me three separate logos that can be edited in Photoshop or Illustrator (the logo should be provided to me in .psd, .jpg, .pdf, and any other formats that can be edited with Adobe Creative Suite software). I want three separate designs so that I can decide between the three, and I want them to be able to be edited so that I can take the three designs and (perhaps) edit the three into one design.

The description of the logo is as follows:
The logo should have the words "wheresbobo.com" (without the quotations) and a monkey should be sitting on the words. The monkey's tail will form a question mark (?), ending at the period between the "o" and "c" (bobo.com). The monkey should be holding a banana in his right hand so that it forms an apostrophe (" ' ") between the "e" and the "s" in the word "where's". I've thought about having Bobo sitting with his legs up to his chest, his left arm resting on his knees, and his right hand moved away from his knees with the banana (you can decide how to do it - that's why I'm turning to GAF). Bobo is a sock monkey, so at least one of the three logos provided should contain a sock monkey, but not all three. I also DO NOT want any of the three logos to contain a "realistic" monkey. It doesn't have to be a cartoonish monkey, but I don't want it to be a photo or a picture that's incredibly detailed (if you want an example of a sock monkey drawing, please follow this link -- this is not my drawing, and I do not want you to copy this to put in the logo -- http://www.lemontreetales.com/lemon_tree_tales/files/sock_monkey_embroidery_designs.pdf).

Not to get TOO detailed in the post, but if Bobo could be a "line drawing" so that only the bare minimum of the monkey is drawn, that would be great. I'm not sure if I'm describing this correctly, or not. If you go to www.infinityinteractive.net and click on "gallery", it will take you to a page showing a logo for Staffing Solutions. You should be able to zoom in on the page so you can see what I'm trying to describe. On the right side of the logo, there is a nebulizer vial that has been drawn in a way that shows what it is, but it's drawn with only two lines. If that still doesn't make sense, please PM me.

When the logo is completed, it will become the sole property of wheresbobo.com, inc. and no other royalties, or any other payouts, will be given.

If you are interested in this job, you MUST be able to provide to me original artwork; I will not accept an edited logo, nor will I accept a logo that has been thrown together with a program, such as "Logo Design Studio" or any other commercially available logo program. I am not interested in clip art, so please don't bid if that is all you can provide. I am also not slanted, one way or the other, toward a Web 2.0 type of logo. If that is what you provide, and I like the design, then that is what we will use.

Also, anyone who bids MUST provide to me samples of logos that you have designed, or I will not choose you as the winner.

I also have a couple of ideas for fonts to use for "wheresbobo.com", but I'm (at this point) leaving it up to the designer. If you are interested in the fonts that I am leaning toward, PM me. I thought that I'd leave it up to the designer so that I don't add any (more) bias to the project. Also, at least one of the logos should be designed with a "playful" font, but I don't think that's the direction we're headed, at the moment. If the logo could be designed so that the words wheresbobo.com are in a separate layer (so that I can edit the layer and add a different font, if needed), that would be best.

The bottom line is, I've been trying to put this logo together myself for close to three years, but I'm FAR too emotionally attached to the project to produce something that I like. I've been designing logos for 18 years, and I've never been able to design a logo for one of my own companies, due to the emotional involvement in the project. I'm sure that anyone who designs logos for a living understands my dilemma.

I am not basing my decision on the lowest bid, so please bid realistically.



Thanks,
Joe


Additional information submitted:

12/08/2008 at 12:17 EST:
First, I appreciate all of you who have sent to me a link to your portfolio. It really helps me when I'm nearing a decision, if I have a chance to see your past work. I wanted, however, to further clarify what I'm needing.

As I've looked through your portfolios, I've noticed one common thread - all of your portfolios look as if they came from the same company. I suppose it's due to the push toward Web 2.0 graphics; I don't know. I'm looking for something unique and different; not something that is similar to every other Web 2.0 logo on the internet.

The logos I've posted below may not be the best logos, but these logos will give you an idea of what I'm looking for. They're different, unique, AND they're not typical of the Web 2.0 look.

I'm sure none of you used any of the logo design programs available, but I will say that a few of the portfolios I've seen look like they were taken from the library of some of these programs. I hope I haven't angered anyone, but I'm looking for something different; that's all. If the logos that are available from the freelancers on GAF are just like the logos in the library of commercially available software suites, perhaps I should pull out my copy of Logo Design Studio and design something. I don't want to do that, however, because I know that what I can find on GAF will be FAR superior to anything I could produce myself!

If anyone could send to me a mockup of a logo - nothing fancy, it could even be sketched and scanned into the computer - that might help. If you DO send a mockup, PLEASE don't post the link to your mockup on the Project Clarification Board!!! If you do, EVERYONE who looks at this project will have access to it. You need to send me a PM so that no one else will see what you've done.

I've posted logos for Infinity Interactive Design, Staffing Solutions, AND a logo that was professionally designed for our company by a VERY high profile design company located in Nevada, US. We were incredibly disappointed with what the company provided. I've posted this logo so you have an idea of what NOT to do. We like the look of the logo (it's not Web 2.0), but Bobo is not sitting down and didn't even come close to what we requested. The company took 6 weeks to provide us with this logo, and they wanted to go into a three-phase redesign process; we told them "NO!"

I also wanted to point out that my suggestion that the monkey look like a "line drawing" with the absolute minimum number of lines used to draw the monkey is still standing. If anyone could do this, that would be wonderful. If you look at the Staffing Solutions logo, you'll see what I am referring to when you look at the nebulizer vial - it's drawn with only two lines. Again, if anyone has a question, please PM me.

The logos are below. Please take a look at these and try to show me something that's NOT Web 2.0. Thanks!

Additional files submitted:
nerd-logo.jpg
Staffing-Solutions-Logo.jpg
wheresbobo-logo.pdf