Box of Danger

Alrighty, there's one big thing hindering the launch of this thing:

We need a logo.

I'm alright at design, but I wouldn't be surprised if some people here have better design chops than I do.

We're not looking for anything terribly fancy or overdone. Here are some general trains of thought I've had so far.

1) The design itself cannot reference any specific anime. I know our main series is Pokémon, but we're going to be adding several different series in the near future, so a logo that is simply a logo for our group would be the best solution. Something like a studio logo.

2) The logo itself needs to be a fairly modern design, and has to be something that will work well with the template we have on the main website right now, as well as the forums. Basically, the more universal, the better.

3) A logo that could be used independent of color would be sweet, that way if we have to change designs/templates for our sites, all we'd need to do is make a color palate swap for the logo, and we're back in business.

4) Simple is better than elaborate, but I'm not throwing out the idea of having an elaborate logo.

5) Definitely needs to be a box in there somewhere.

6) Doesn't necessarily need things on it implying danger.

7) Must be legible and easy to make out what the logo is for.

8) The logo should be made for a 250 pixel wide by 121 pixel high box so it will fit in the logo area on the main website.

9) The file it's exported as should be pretty scalable. Various size .jpg files would be good, but a .svg file would be best so we could scale it to any size we need. Transparency for the background would be swell.

10) You must be able to prove that any "special" graphics (like let's say a box graphic) that you use in your logo are either your own creation, or were pulled from some resource/image repository that allows their images to be used by anyone for any reason at no charge. This is for LEGAL reasons. We can't be using someone else's design items in our logo.

So if anyone wants to take a crack at coming up with something sweet, that would rock. I've sketched a couple of design ideas down, and I'll try to post them later if I can.

Naturally we reserve the right to go with any logo submitted, or none of them opting to try and design our own instead if we feel the submissions just aren't what we're looking for. We also reserve the right to edit the final submission, though we'd likely ask the creator to do that for us since they would have the files necessary to make those changes.

Should you be in this kind of business, or looking to do it in the future, we will give you full credit for the design, and you are free to list us as a reference on any resumes and portfolios. I mean even if you're not, you're still going to get credit for the design. We don't like it when others try to steal our jokes or take credit for our work, so we wouldn't want to do the same to you. We're nice like that.

Unfortunately we can't pay you for the design effort. This would be a labor of love and possibly some resume fodder for you. I think I could talk WGS into giving you a shout out thanks in a future episode of PTAS, though.

Upload and attach your submissions here to this thread in a reply so everyone can see them and provide feedback.

Good luck!

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This is just the rough draft of an Idea I had. If you want I could get to work on better versions of it. I just want an opinion on my rough draft first.

I like the direction you're going, and I'd like to see what you can come up with.

I'm thinking having "Box of" on one side and "Danger" on the other looks a little funny.

Might try a variant with just the word DANGER on it, maybe kind of angled or something.

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How bout these apples?

...does the bear have to be there?

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"I don't really think I'm a master of the [English] language. I just sort of use it. It's just that other people tend to wipe their asses with it. And they don't even do a very good job with that. Like they shuffle out of the bathroom with their pants around their ankles and the assisted living professional just shakes her head." -Andrew Hussie-

oh lol.

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Yes... yes it does. That's what makes it dangerous. XP

That bear makes us look like b-tards. Although that's probably true, we don't want people to know that.

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"All of my dreams involve combing my hair."

-Armen Tamzarian AKA Principal Skinner

First off, I love the Pokémon Abridged Series. I'm looking forward to season 2.

Anyway, I came across this thread and thought I might as well give it a go. I seem to be good at designing stuff.

If your not a fan of the color or certain aspects of the logo (or the whole thing) let me know and I'll try and fix it. You asked for simple and modern, so here you go.

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Dodge Viper SRT10 by http://redxibi.deviantart.com

It's not that dangerous... all of us are older than 18.

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I say that the box of danger contains this warning...



Maybe we could play off of that, like, "Warning! This box does not contain furries!"

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"All of my dreams involve combing my hair."

-Armen Tamzarian AKA Principal Skinner

Wow. My design kind of sucks compared to everyone elses. But since I'm limited to the basic Paint program that comes with Windows theres not much I can do, except present to you version two!

It still sucks I know, but at least this ones in color

Front runner so far. I really like this design, simple, but recognizable. Holds to the color independent aspect I was really wanting as well.

A few changes I'd like to see to compare:

1) A flatter text with no emboss on it. The site's primary font is Helvecta if this helps.

2) The "OF DANGER", could you place it bellow the "BOX" part of the logo? The overlap works really nice when it's embossed text, but for a flatter text it would get lost.

Try and make those changes, plus any other variations on it you think might look nifty. Excellent work so far, eleven, excellent work.


I like what you were going for with this, but it is a bit exorbitant. I also agree that Pedobear shouldn't be there, as that's from 4Chan and I don't think it'll send the right image for us. This logo needs to be unique to us. Stylistically it's very eye catching though, but definitely eschews the color agnostic theme I'm hoping to see.

You definitely have some design chops though, and I'd like to see more from you if possible.


I like the direction you're going with this, I really do, but we'd need something a bit less MS Paint-y. Should you need a graphics editing tool, check out GIMPshop (http://www.gimpshop.com/index.shtml) which is a port of the GIMP editing tool to emulate Photoshop more closely and is totally free, and Inkscape (http://www.inkscape.org/) which is a free vector graphics tool.

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This is a rough copy. I have it in a bigger size as well. I need to use more universal colors.

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For all your Diamond/Pearl/Platinum/HeartGold/SoulSilver Pokémon needs, Check out dat Breeder
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Tell me what you think of this, right now it is just a working model there are a few things I still want to try out with it but this is a simpler version. I've got a bunch of ideas running through my head and this is just one of them.

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I got rid of the embossing, moved the "of Danger" down. I also made two versions, with and without shadows.
Unfortunately I don't have Helvetica on this computer, my main PC isn't working right now.

Here you go:

With Shadows


Without Shadows


I'm not sure which one I like more.

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Dodge Viper SRT10 by http://redxibi.deviantart.com

WGS showed me this while we were hanging out today, and we both went "oooo" right away. Very nice design phoenix. Just a few questions:

1) Did you design the box logo, and I mean EVERYTHING about it, yourself? If you've pulled it from another image you've found on the Internet, then we can't use it for obvious reasons. Not accusing you of anything, I just want to be sure.

2) Could you make a version with the word Danger the same style as "Box of" and the other way around? WGS and I agree it looks a bit funky with two fonts.

Otherwise, well done. The admins are all between this and eleven's design at the moment.



As a working model, the direction is good so far. I like the look of the box in the middle as it is actually and the black circle benieth it. The only things I'm finding "off" are the word Danger overlapping the box (hard to read and looks a bit funky), the color of the text (bit of a strain on the eyes), and the gap between the word Box and of leaves a lot of empty space in between.

Other than that, looking good, and I'd like to see what you develop with this working model.



I agree, they both look fantastic. The drop shadow was something I hadn't considered, but after seeing it I think it works surprisingly well; very subtle, not overdone.

However, I also really like what I see with the second image with no shadow. The design itself is very understated but stands out REALLY well, which is no easy task.

Same thing with phoneix above, is the box graphic your own, or did you pull it from somewhere? Free repositories that let you use their images for any purpose are fine, but if this is possibly copyrighted or something, then, well, yeah.

Alright, so no rule I'm thinking we need: any "special graphics" you use in your logo, you must be able to prove they are either:

1) Your own creation;

2) If they are not, that they are freely usable for purposes such as this.

I'll append these items to the initial post above.

Again, not trying to accuse you guys of anything, I just want to make sure a potential law suit doesn't land in our laps.

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This is where I got the box from. As stated on the page, its "public domain royalty free clip art", so no worries there.

http://www.clker.com/clipart-10813.html

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Dodge Viper SRT10 by http://redxibi.deviantart.com

Most excellent, and that's exactly what I meant.

Heads up to everyone else, this is an example of what I was talking about. Any images here can be used free for anything.

Public domain rules.

For the record, I'm a huge proponent of open source solutions and technologies.

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Oh yes I drew it all free hand in GIMP. I did do an image search for a picture of Trapinch(that's what's in the box if you didn't get it. I figured it was general enough to use as a logo) but just used it for reference. I didn't copypasta any part of the image.

I'm glad you like it . I will change it in the way you asked and try a few other minor things.

P.S. Are the colors alright?

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"Got it memorized?" -Axel



For all your Diamond/Pearl/Platinum/HeartGold/SoulSilver Pokémon needs, Check out dat Breeder
http: //thepokemonbreeder.webs.com/ (SUSPENDED DUE TO HOMELESSNESS)

The colors are fine, but your design goes with the color agnostic aspect I mentioned, meaning it doesn't matter what color it is because we can change it to fit our needs in any way possible.

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Ok I took your advise and changed it up a bit, here are several different versions. The text on the left probably needs to be changed but I'm not 100% sure what to replace it with. I was going to do some things to it but I feel like it would make it too complicated so this is probably near the final version.

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Here's a better quality version of it. For some reason it looks blurrier than it should even now. I'll have to look into that. I redrew it completely and made small changes while keeping it as close to the original as possible. I have a 2x and 4x size version if needed.

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"Got it memorized?" -Axel



For all your Diamond/Pearl/Platinum/HeartGold/SoulSilver Pokémon needs, Check out dat Breeder
http: //thepokemonbreeder.webs.com/ (SUSPENDED DUE TO HOMELESSNESS)

Looking good, although it still looks a bit unbalanced. Danger is still a bit hard to read. I do like the font for Box of though, give it a shot with that font for all lettering, and all the same color.

Work on the balance of the logo so far, but I think you're on the right track MSDF.

Also, can you provide evidence that your box logo in the middle is either your own design or a public domain image?


Can I see it with the font you used for "Box of" in the previous version?

Also, I'd like to see the drawing(s) you referenced for the little creature coming out of the box.

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I'll give it a try with the text being the same. Yeah, I can proof that it's all mine, I can send you the pdf files.

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