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LOAA Graphics … and the winner is

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So it is time to publish the graphics I received for consideration here at Life of an Architect. A few weeks ago – several more than a few actually – I wrote a post sharing my frustration with the graphics on my site.

I could use some help … seriously

In that post I said that my lack of quality time and the complete black hole of computer graphic skills were starting to drive me crazy and felt that the graphics on my site were paying the price … something that isn’t entirely true but still, if your a designer you know what I am talking about. It’s hard to stop designing, you always think you can make it better, and you are painfully aware of your limitations even if others dismiss them. So I asked for help from the readers of this blog – and boy did they respond! I was a little overwhelmed and humbled with the response I received. These were people for no reason other than their love for me and this blog decided to dedicate their time, ability and creative horsepower in an effort to help me out. Of yeah, and I promised a Lytegem Lamp to the person determined to have submitted the best graphics for consideration.

(I should clarify that picking a winner just means that person gets the prize – not that I am going to change all my graphics out. This was really about having fun and giving people a forum to share ideas and express their creativity)

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The Lytegem Lamp was designed by Michael Lax  in 1965 has recently been reintroduced by Lightolier. The lamp is simple, elegant and classic in its design – or in other words, awesome. The base is weighted for tabletop use or it can be wall mounted with a included bracket. The telescopic rod extends from 6.5″ to 15″and the head swivels 360 degrees. The lamps brightness can be adjusted easily with a switch on the base. I have one of these in my possession and while I’m not giving it away, I’ll get one for you as a token of my appreciation. I know it’s not much but you also get my thanks – don’t forget about that…

So here are most of the submissions (a few bashful types just wanted to send me their work but not put it on the website) Please take a minute and scroll through the submissions and let me know who you think is deserving of winning the Lytegem Lamp either by voting in the comment section below or by sending me an email – bob@lifeofanarchitect.com

All of the images on this site are protected and cannot be reused without permission

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Scott Taylor

Bonnie Buchanan

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Morgan Murphy

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Brandon Burns

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Dare Munro

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Steve Jordan

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Scott Taylor (2.0)

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So there are so real goods at stake here so let me hear what you think, which one of these graphics and logos deserve a test spin here on Life of an Architect. Despite my somewhat cavalier attitude towards my site – I am willing to have fun with things, we aren’t saving lives here – I want you to take this as seriously as you are capable. The people who submitted the graphics here for review and consideration have given me their okay to publish them here but please be respectful of their time and efforts. I don’t normally moderate or censor comments but if anybody posts anything nasty or personally hurtful, I am going to either delete your comment or attempt to change your words but not your message.

I really do want to thank the people – Dare Munro, Bonnie Buchanan, Scott Taylor, Brandon Burns, and Morgan Murphy. You are all winners in my book.

even better stuff from Life of an Architect

  • Lorieb925

    Scott Taylor for sure!

  • Gofrogs69

    Steve Jordan’s for sure

  • Greg Swedberg

    Steve Jordan’s LoaA logo mark is nice. I vote his.

  • design4living

    Morgan Murphy’s has the strongest composition and seems to be the most fitting for a blog header. Some of the others are too bright or too busy. Morgan seems to understand your blog and what people should see & read it as.

  • The first Scott Taylor 2.0 version is my favorite… I like the banner format and its simplicity. It’s also crystal clear what you do and just feels more like your message than the others. I was quick to think Scott deserved it simply because of his two attempts and the diversity of his designs. I carefully looked at the others and really think all of them did a great job submitting a variety of options for you. I like including your own drawings in the graphic because it gives it starts really personalizing the Bob Brand…but I don’t think it’s necessary. Scott’s banner is neutral enough. You can tie in your drawings in another way w/o the site looking too mish-mash. My vote’s for Scott!

  • Richard

    Steve and Bonnie’s work caught my attention…Nothing wrong with the others but I like what they did more. Nice job folks!

    Cheers,
    Richard (House Plans BC)

  • Well, Bob, you’ve got a couple of pretty good options here. Still some room for improvements, but overall not a bad selection. I’d go with:

    1. Steve Jordan’s, with the possible exception of the third in the series.
    2. Scott Taylor, notably the final “roll of drawings” logo.
    3. Morgan Murphy’s “sketch” logo.

    Good luck with the final choice!

  • Arpi Nalbandian

    I like Scott Taylor’s!

  • MCM_arch

    i like the wood background (scott v2.0). it’s very calming and is a shout out to mid century architecture/ eames era stuff…you remember, when they used real wood.

  • I vote Scott Taylor (2.0)

  • ryannagy

    Steve Jordan with Scott a close second.

  • scarpa

    scott taylor

  • I’ll take a stab at narrowing down the awesomeness to a select few, and hopefully do so without going overboard on explanations (I make no promises!).

    Scott Taylor’s first entry grabbed my attention, not only for the bold color, but because it reminds me of a particular flag, and it made me gasp, then chuckle and proceed to ponder the meaning of architecture and its relationship with big brother (aka NCARB). All of that from a single logo image? So far so good!

    The rulers are cute, but I’m not sure if ‘cute’ is necessarily the word architects are going for. It also makes me begin to rethink my business card choice which prominently features – you guessed it – rulers. You can’t blame me though; it was a free 50 pack from moo.com.

    The drawing roll is clever, and I chuckled a bit when I saw it – which is definitely a good thing. I only wonder if non-architects would get it. Then I thought to myself, would they really get anything we do anyway? I give this one thumbs up because it’s just cool. It would be even cooler if it was a tab on the website that would unroll when a mouse hovered over it…but don’t ask me how to do that.

    I definitely have to say I love the direction Morgan Murphy took the book review concept. Being somewhat biased towards hand drawings, I’d have to give my vote to the first one.

    In summation, I would have to give my vote to Scott’s communist flag for an overall logo – it could be used with or without text. I would also choose Morgan’s first design for the book reviews.

    • “Communist flag” *lol* That is cool.
      BO from former Estern Germany

  • Sally

    I vote Scott Taylor…clean, modern, and sophisticated.

  • my vote goes for steve jordan w/ runner up scott taylor and special consolation prize for Bob Borson for repeatedly displaying skill, creativity and ingenuity. light for all!

  • Just wanted to check in and tell everyone I really appreciate their comments and their votes. I am not going to respond to any individual comments because I must remain the impartial judge and jury.

    To clarify, you don’t have to tell me why you like one or another, you can just plunk down the name of the designer you like best. I’m trying to keep it simple for you people – rock the vote!

  • lancotf

    Ok…I’ve decided. I think you should cut the lamp in half. Give the base, arm, electrical portion to Steve Jordan for the first design. Give the shade to Morgan Murphy for the first design.

    All in all, you should use the 1st design of Steve’s and add the martini glass man sketch to that, along with some side bar notes (nothing too cluttered, but something whimsical to match you personality). Shazam!

  • Dare Munro’s 2nd design is my favorite. All is tidy as well but the coffee stains. I like it.
    The other logos are very nice for U.S. American taste maybe, but for German eyes… ;o)

  • Emily

    Go Scott!

  • Sharon @ layers & Layers

    Wow, they are all great … BUT if I have to pick??? Scott Taylor and the “rulers” (either colour) and the Morgan Murphy option. (probably my #1)

  • Mike

    Any of Steve Jordan’s. Beautifully laid out and architectural for sure.

  • I’m going to add another vote to Morgan Murphy.

    conveys humor and sophistication, a hard combo to achieve.

  • OK, I’m totally going to play the architect, sidestep the designs and make a suggestions that is either “none of the above” or “most of the above” depending on your optimistic disposition.

    As for the basic logo, I really like Scott’s LOAA 2.0 logo with the wood background. That said, I really dig Morgan’s Book Review header, maybe the two can be integrated by adding a wood background to it. For my money, you can’t lose the sketchy guy with the martini glass.

    So that’s my vote, although Steve’s designs are all really swank. I really like them, but not for your blog…but for my my site…hmmmm

  • Nick Lovelady

    My vote is complicated:

    I would like Morgan Murphy’s sketch with Dare Munroe’s coffee stain and Steve Jordan’s ‘loaa’ monogram. Very good stuff!

  • hmmm… Think I like Scott Taylor’s Ruler images the best. The puke green one of course.
    & I’m stealing the coffee stain idea, be looking for your lamp.

  • I like Steve Jordan’s Header #2- with the asymmetrical v-shape. It has a very mid-century modern feel to it; there’s good contrast with the lettering and the background, and it’s masculine and visually clean. Good job, Steve!

  • Dave Munro easily, just move the “coffee” ring in the first graphic – sorry that placement is just wrong, a little to the left or right would be great
    2nd Steve Jordan, unfortunately the bottom two images didn’t show up for full consideration

    • smalltown

      I def thought the coffee ring placement was bad (intentional maybe?).

  • A tie between Dare Munro and Scott Taylor

  • Zach Evans

    The Scott Taylor (2.0) images are very readable and they offer an easily modified format in the event the blogger wants to update the look without reformatting the entire layout….simply change the background material! Concrete, glass, water, and perforated steel could all be easily inserted.

    Taylor’s original stencil/scale ruler image is also nice, although I’d prefer a less aggressive color so that Bob’s real art – the blog entry – is allowed to shine!

  • Bob, I’ve always had an affinity for your Martini Guy. He manifests the classic iconography of the trace book style of rendering. The caviler stance and the drink (and being in silhouette) give him a Mad Men feel; creative and fun yet at the top of his game. (Speaking of which, we should get John Slattery (a.k.a. Roger Sterling) to play you in the film version of “Life of an Architect” – I’m sure he’s your older twin!)
    Dare Munro’s first submission plays the martini guy up very well. I really like the coffee ring. My only suggestion on Munro’s work, try a less formal typeface. Any of the sans-serif poster style fonts would work better with the simple line work to reinforce the retro-coolness of the martini guy.

    Your blog is all these things; clever, fun, informal, modern – but most importantly it’s very personable. Keep up the good work.

    (By the way, to your graphic artist folks, I’m thinking through a Mad Men inspired theme for my blog. Please contact me if you care to discuss ideas.)

  • Shannon Haltiwanger

    I really like Morgan Murphy’s sketch. If it had more of that blueprint feel I would be 100% sold

    I also like Dare Munro second one because it kind of captures Bob really well. I think if there was a slight black transparent bar behind the title the daVinci letters it would shine.

    Finally Steve Jordan 1.0 is crisp clean and dare I say stunning.

    Job well done to all of you they are all pretty kick butt.

  • Ginny Powell

    I am voting for Dare Munro with Steve Jordan a close 2nd.

  • Bob – I know you can sketch… love those doodling images you post sometimes. that quick water color flower.. whew, lovely. For these, Steve Jordan’s #1 black reverse b/c its simple, fills the whole space, has that cool little logo I guess he designed? and says your very excellent subtitle “what its like to be and work w/ an architect.” You could reduce the height, seems tall to me. simple, memorable, contemporary. you could play w/ the color, does not have to be black. but i am a black kind of person too. that’s our albatross, isnt it? the turtleneck migrating to all kinds of things. heh. fun stuff… good luck! cindy

  • eatshouston

    I vote for Scott Taylor 1-4 (blueprint) for a banner and Steve Jordan 4 as an icon logo

  • Wow, they are all excellent. Can’t I just have the light and you can say they were all the victim of a grand tie? My favorite is the sketchy type one that has a note saying “Is that supposed to be you?” and it’s signed in the bottom right corner. My second fave is the one that has black on the bottom and 2 angled lines with lime green on the top (Steve Jordan?). The coffee stain one made me smile – you should loan it to Jody.

  • ebarchdesign

    Hmm, I like Scott Taylor’s red Text only “Life of an Architect” but I’m also quite fond of Morgan’s napkin sketch.

  • Pam

    The first wood panel iteration of Scott Taylor 2.0 is simple, clean, catchy, and readable. The ruler in Scott Taylor 1.0 is also really nice.

  • Mike Frechette, RA

    Scott 2.0 and morgan murphy are both strong!

  • P Anater

    My vote goes for…

    Scott Taylor (1.0) and his final title block. Short, sweet and to the point. Bravo!

  • If I have to choose just one, I’d go with one of Scott’s rulers. However, I like aspects of many of them.

    I think the Soviet flag is clever — I suspect that Bob requested it (always knew he’s a commie). Morgan’s Book Review graphic is well done though I think it requires reverting to your old graphic (otherwise it is incongruous). I really like Dare’s use of Leonardo letters. Finally, Scott 2.0 has a mid-century vibe that is groovy.

  • Did you pick the wood panel one? I think the best one is the napkin sketch!!!

    • I haven’t picked any – it’s in the hands of the voters. I have me preferences but those are a secret….

  • smalltown

    Morgan Murphy, the first “sketchy” one, gets my vote (although truthfully, I rather like the Rockwell image of a drafter you currently use).

  • Scott Tayler’s rulers are clean & modern… & his v 2.0 is nice & sophisticated. Plus, I give him an A+ in effort….
    I vote Scott !!! 😀

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The complimentary advice provided on ‘Life of an Architect’ is based on an abbreviated examination of the minimal facts given, not the typical extensive (and sometimes exhaustive) analysis I conduct when working with my clients. Therefore, anything you read on this site is not a substitute for actually working with me. Following my casual advice is at your own peril … if you want my undivided attention, I would recommend hiring me. Cheers.

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