Help decide on a new company logo!!!

OmegaBoards · Newbie Joined: 26 Mar 2007 Posts: 6 City: Richardson

Hey guys, I have just started a company called Omega Boards, not named after the Liquid Force Omega. We are an up and coming board company that is looking to build quality boards at an unbeatable price. Anyways, we need help deciding on a logo. I have created a few, and there will be more to come so tell me which one you like best. After I get your input I will make some changes and repost the new pics in a new thread.

As far as what the company is about: We build wakeskates, wakesurfs, and wakeboards (later on). The advantage of an Omega Board is that it is significantly less expensive than what you could call a "Brand Name" Board. When you buy a Hyperlite, Liquid Force, Ronix, CWB or whatever else, you are not only buying the board, but you are paying for their advertising. Now I am not putting any of these companies down, don't get me wrong they make a fantastic product, but they are not as versitile because they advertise to such a wide market.

At Omega Boards you let us know what style of board you want (type of rocker, how much rocker, fins, what ever style it will be used for etc.) and we build it. This is a great advatage because you can own a board that plays to your strengths. We consider them great boards because they can take the same, if not more of a beating than "Brand Name" Boards and they cost aroung 50% less.
Thanks!

Logo 1:

Logo 2:

Logo 3:

OmegaBoards · Newbie Joined: 26 Mar 2007 Posts: 6 City: Richardson

Logo 4:

Logo 5:

Logo 6:

Thanks for your input, I will keep ya'll posted with the progress of the company!

tonality · Soul Rider Joined: 20 Aug 2004 Posts: 435 City: DFW

Congrats and good luck!

As a minimalist, I'd say just using the symbol would be pretty sweet, but if you have to choose from the ones you've got, i actually like the 1st one for its olskoo surf-style look.

NorthwestRider · Posted: Mar 27, 2007 12:00 pm Post subject:

First off, I want to wish you the best of luck with your company. But I am very curious to how you plan on beating the major brands' prices and still put out a respectable product. So are you going to offer custom boards to the customer? I am assuming the only way you can do this is making wood skates and wakesurfers, and thats why you aren't offering wakeboards right now? If you making all wood stuff as a consumer I suggest you try make some flex, roam style decks, cause I would totally buy one of those for under 100 bucks.

The Logo. Everybody is thinking it, I am just going to say it; none of those look very professional. I think to keep costs low, you should make blank decks and provide simple stencils of your logo and people can customize there board. I think burton did this, or some other snowboard company. If you need some professional graphic design, pm me. My brother does it for a living and I am sure he would make you some rad stuff for about 50 bucks.
Again, best of luck you and I am looking forward to seeing some of your product.

OmegaBoards · Newbie Joined: 26 Mar 2007 Posts: 6 City: Richardson

none of these logos are going on the boards, just the omega symbol. These templates are for the stickers I am goign to print up.

LakeIolaLuke · Posted: Mar 27, 2007 12:26 pm Post subject:

Use the Greek Letter. Church it up a little though. Make it rustic, put it on a shield, give it some personality. I'd like to see a rustic looking omega symbol on a shield with some feathers of olive branches behind it.

STPHNSN23 · Guest

i think logo 5 is the best of the bunch. i also like the idea of blank boards that NorthwestRider suggested. how are you going to offer custom boards for this low price? what types of materials are you thinking?

devon · Posted: Mar 27, 2007 1:31 pm Post subject:

i have to say logo 4
but ist this a copy of liquid force omega series
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Canucked · Addict Joined: 12 Apr 2005 Posts: 873 City: Edmonton

2 or 5 for me. I like the idea of a "Customizable" top using stencils

RufioSwashbuckle · Posted: Mar 27, 2007 2:42 pm Post subject:

devon, You cant copyright a name. The only way it would be copying is if a board was the same shape as the LF Omega, or the graphics were exactly the same. Plus, the word means "great" or used to describe the "ultimate in a set"...So using the same name is only meant to hype up the product, not define what it is. Anyone with that argument might as well be saying that only one company could be allowed to call their product "wakeboards" and everyone else should come up with another name for it like "watersurfer" or whatever...

Ronin · Newbie Joined: 23 Mar 2004 Posts: 49 City: Canada

I say 5, cause then can also use the Omega symbol as well by itself.

smwilliam2 · Soul Rider Joined: 16 Apr 2006 Posts: 252

i like 5 and 4 and best of liuck to you what stat eyou based out of?

LFADAM · Posted: Mar 27, 2007 3:22 pm Post subject:

Id say go with 5. The Greek is a cool idea thatll make it stand out a little.

I think its awesome what you are trying to do. Its tough starting up your own company, best of luck! I love the idea of customized boards, I would buy one. Good luck.

wakeboardcamp · Soul Rider Joined: 05 Nov 2003 Posts: 496 City: Halifax

I like 4 and 5 aswell.

if I had to pick between them I'd say 4 but either one are cool!

pancoast · Outlaw Joined: 25 Mar 2004 Posts: 193

Use logo 5 with the Ohm symbol, it looks sweet.

nfn · Soul Rider Joined: 25 Apr 2005 Posts: 388 City: Sioux City

First of all good luck. It always exciting to see a new company try to push into the market. I really like the alternative approach as well. I like NorthwestRider idea about build "roam type" boards as well.

As far as the logos go. Id say 5 or 6. I think 6 would look better if you rotated the crescent moon shape around the first O 90 degrees clockwise.

savage3221 · Posted: Mar 27, 2007 4:23 pm Post subject:

5 & 2, and I agree about using the omega symbol alone. sweet

criswb · Soul Rider Joined: 09 Mar 2006 Posts: 310 City: Guayaquil

As all have said, good luck with your new company. Hope it works out.

As for the logo, i think none would work as good as they could. The name doesnt say anything about the company (or what the company does) so the logo should say something about it, so when I see one of your stickers on someones car down the highway I can tell whats it about, and not think its a new brand of medicines or just a new version of omega watches. I know there are some exceptions to this rule, but a logo that has this, will be much quickly positioned and last longer.

I am almost done in my studies in graphic design so I speak from what Ive learned, not only from doing but from learning to criticize and detect how to make logos more effective. Its not that they do not look professional, cause they are well done, but as nice as they look, they have the same problem. If you need some help, pm me, I can send you my logo portfolio.

Erik · Posted: Mar 27, 2007 5:04 pm Post subject:

To be honest - I'd start by hiring someone who is creative. http://www.omegaboards.com/ also illustrates this point if that is your site.

People can really rally and get motivated under good branding. And normally I'd expect a lot of this to be galvanized before "going public" with something like this and announcing your companies presence this way. PM me if you want to talk.

None of those logos really blow my boardshorts up. MAYBE logo 3 on the first post but really - the logo needs to be very flexible for a board company - as you plan for sticker cutting, logo type reuse and resizing and so on. These look like logos that would come from messing around in Photoshop for an hour and you have a much more serious issue at hand. I would also avoid drop shadows as you play with these concepts. The logo should be strong enough to not need drop shadow, inner glow or other similar treatments.

In sum, I would nail a lot of this down and go into a little quiet period as you do so. It is very much OK do approach it this way.

Tell us more about yourself too. My comments will be altered by knowing if you're a 17 yr old kid with some ideas - or if you're a 30 yr old person with a round of funding secured. I'd love to help - but you need to tell us more. Way more. In several years working for Wakeboarder.com I have seen almost this exact same post, but within the context of a dude and his buddies' interests in launching a web site or having a short run of tshirts screenprinted. I want to make sure we steer you clear from approaching this in the wrong way.

Sorry if this comes of as snarky. Branding & corporate identity has been a huge part of my career and I have seen it done right and I have seen it done enormously wrong. An excellent case study in doing it right is Ronix's recent rise, for too many many reasons to get into here. I'd look at their last 18 months very carefully. I doubt you'd find anyone from Ronix posting logo concepts on message boards soliciting input.

You need a creative person with major veto power in your organization. Someone very good. Someone who will push back on you if necessary and help guyide your brand correctly. That person is not going to be you, assuming you are the president of this company. But I know first hand how hard that can be - in terms of budget, and the feeling of just wanting to develop these items on your own. Particularly if you are a do-it-all kind of person as most entrepreneurs tend to be. It would be worth paying someone a reasonable amount to go off, develop 3-5 professional looking concepts for you and then having them approach you with their reasoning behind each one. That is how I have observed things like this working well in the past.

Then - I would copyright it or go for a trademark. Which brings me to that name. If you have already decided that you will be formed under "Omega" - then so be it. But Liquid Force may own that name in some form as it is one of their models - and at the very least you are forcing yourself to share more than I would personally feel comfortable. I have a business concept that I am about to launch which suffered a setback because I found that my company & product name (they were the same in my case) were sort of in use by another firm, and although they did not own a trademark on the name, and I owned the Web domain, I changed the name of my company and product so that I didn't have any mindshare issues. In these cases, it is best NOT to share. While it is still not too late, you may want to reconsider Omega. These days companies are having good luck coming up with new words - rather than existing ones (iPod, Muvo, Ronix, Zune).

Hope this helps. I am a Marketing, branding and design super-dork.

wviveen · Addict Joined: 03 Mar 2003 Posts: 705 City: Loosdrecht

My vote is for number 5 or mabye 6. They look the cleanest. I just dont like the red one's, a little old fashioned for my taste.
But that is personal ofcourse.

Number 5 would be sweet for on a board..!

spyd4r · Addict Joined: 22 Apr 2006 Posts: 701

#2 and #6 personally

OmegaBoards · Newbie Joined: 26 Mar 2007 Posts: 6 City: Richardson

Erik, I appreciate the help, you would be surprised by how much that did. But I thnk that most of the people on this thread have misinterpreted my company. We are not looking to start up some new huge brand like Ronix just did. I consider what Ronix did to be insane, insanely awesome that is. My goal is the same as most entrepreneurs, be in three cities in three years. The vision for my company is to be one of those companies that few know about but it cranks out an awesome product. For example, it's just like when your buddy needs something and you "know a guy" that can get him a good deal. That is all we are doing, incredibly durable boards, that you can customize, and not break the bank on.

As far as the name, its Omega Boards. I would really be surprised if Liquid Force picked a fight.

The logo is being created on a relatively cheap program, but that is cause the company founders, myself included, find pleasure in simplicity. It doesn't take much to make a cool looking logo, and from the feedback I have gotten so far, this program will do just fine.

About the Company:
My son wakeboards and wakeskates, he is on this forum actually. Well anyways, we like to go look at boards and demo them, and we just never understood why they were so expensive, cause the materials definitely don't cost as much as you are paying for the board. We also never liked how none of the companies would let you slide your board and keep your warranty. So a few of my dedicated life-long friends and I started building boards. We have been doing this for quite some time, and have tuned it to a near art, because they are handmade of course.

Our company is an advantage because you pick what kind of board you want (rocker style, degree of rocker, number and location of fins, and even graphics). Say you want some Hyperlite wakeskate, but its $150-$200, we can build you a board that resembles that same style but for around 50% less! As of the moment we have 5 going on 6 styles, that you can choose from (and customize aspects), or we can build you your own completely custom board.

Here is the best part, you can slide the board and keep your warranty! Though the length of that warranty is still being decided.

Thats really it, what do you think Erik?

devon · Posted: Mar 28, 2007 7:12 am Post subject:

i think that sounds pretty awesome when will people be able to get boards
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devon · Posted: Mar 28, 2007 7:13 am Post subject:

that remindes me of New Wakeskates excopt theres cost alot more
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NorthwestRider · Posted: Mar 28, 2007 11:14 am Post subject:

OmegaBoards, So are you guys making foam boards or wood boards?

Blindside_137 · Posted: Mar 28, 2007 12:16 pm Post subject:

5 without a doubt

fatkidscanwakeboard · Criminal Joined: 20 Apr 2006 Posts: 56 City: Rossville

i vote logo 2, 5, or 6

OmegaBoards · Newbie Joined: 26 Mar 2007 Posts: 6 City: Richardson

We are making both foam and wood boards

andrewt · Outlaw Joined: 04 May 2005 Posts: 140 City: lewisville

When will people be able to order a board? (wakeboard)

jhilly8982 · Addict Joined: 04 Oct 2006 Posts: 782 City: Northville

OmegaBoards, would omega boards even be profitable? considering the handmade custom boards you are manufacturing i would think that alot of man hours go into producing a product that is sold very cheap. From a business stand-point 'custom' products usually produce higher prices.

Also, big board companies also produce more boards with very little production cost but sell them at a mark-up to create a profit. Have you ran all the numbers for producing one board and does it fetch a profit? Just curious

QNev · Posted: Mar 28, 2007 5:26 pm Post subject:

Tough call between 2 and 5.

#2 would look good without the bevel (bevels just make logos look cheap)

#5 would look good with a bit of a stroke around it. I also think that logo would look better as a sticker.

Geoff Standish · Addict Joined: 13 Jan 2003 Posts: 843 City: Calgary

Tossing my vote out for 5 or 6. Good luck!

OmegaBoards · Newbie Joined: 26 Mar 2007 Posts: 6 City: Richardson

wakeboarderdave1 · Posted: Mar 28, 2007 7:36 pm Post subject:

You aren't just copying other people's boards and selling them at a cheaper price are you? I'm sure that is breaking some sort of trademark/patent/copyright law.

Also I would seriously look into changing the name of your company. The first thing I thought of when I saw your name was the LF Omega board. I would try and come up with something that has never been used before and more original.

Good luck with your company though!

QNev · Posted: Mar 28, 2007 8:24 pm Post subject:

Good point. It's like Epic seemingly named after the Toyota Epic.