Connect 4 Life
Brief from client
According to a landmark 2012 study, nearly 40% of America’s homeless youth identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender. The LGBT Technology Partnership has developed the Connect 4 Life project to partner with the tech community as well as organizations serving homeless LGBT youth to offer free cell phones and a limited service plan to LGBT teens experiencing homelessness. Studies have shown that this is a relatively easy structural way to get them off the streets
Develop a logo for Connect 4 Life that speaks to all stakeholders from potential sponsors and donors of the project to corporate and government entities while also connecting in some way to the problem and the youth.
The Connect 4 Life logo began as a stylized version of the command key.
The command key symbol is found in several places throughout history and has been used to signify important locations.
The symbol for the command key is used in Nordic countries as an indicator of cultural locations and places of interest.
Like a cell phone in the hand of a vulnerable LGBT youth, the command key provides access to otherwise unseen tools, a key principle of the program.
The heart-shaped upper right quadrant reminds us that the project is about people and humanizes the logo.
It also stands for the more than one-quarter of youth that experience homelessness after coming out to their families.
The colors purple and gray denote the somber reality that homeless LGBT youth face every day.
The change occurring in the color of the logo represents hope.
8 Comments
Cool idea, but unfortunately this logo fails to deliver.
Right off the bat, remove this terrible drop shadow effect. It doesn't bring anything good, it's gimmicky and amateurish as hell.
Also, remove these strokes. They'll be a nightmare when the logo is blown up or reduced, and they're pretty much useless.
The main font is ok, nothing great, but the kerning is atrocious and that o made to look like a smartphone totally kills it. You don't need it; always keep one single symbol in your logo. Anything more is superfluous.
The tag line or claim shouldn't be part of the logo itself. It just overload the whole think and kinda defeat the whole purpose of the logo, which should be self explanatory.
If the colors represent hope, than the future looks pretty dull and sad for the homeless LGBT... Seriously, there are millions of color more positive and hopeful than these depressing grey-ish blue shades.
Lots of work for you to do to do this cool idea justice. Keep it up!
I'll expand upon what Shawali said, as I agree with all of his previous points. The heart quadrant doesn't match up with the rest of the quadrants. Its weights are inconsistent as well. If you're trying to give it the stylized hand-drawn look, make it more different. Otherwise, make it more similar. At the moment it appears accidental.
Also not a fan of the smartphone O. I think it draws too much attention to a minor detail, and it looks a bit gimmicky as well.
I agree with what the others said, but I will offer a suggestion for you to try. Rather than bringing the heart out of the command icon, just do the heart in the negative space. I think the larger heart pulls the symbol out of balance. I don't care for the font at all. It just seems so outdated. I am also not a big fan of the use of the number 4, but I am guessing that is part of the official name.
My changes based on great feedback. Thank you.
I was inspired to try a few more versions....
A quarter turn and things are way different
another headed version...
Make a new post. This one is now on page 2, nobody will see it.