Logo design

A friend of a friend commissioned me to do a logo for a techno record label he was setting up.  He had been given a grant from his university were he studies music production.  He had to do a business plan and they chose to give him the grant, anyway, long story short he wanted me to do a logo for him.

He had chosen "Sa:Fire" for the name of his label and he sent me a couple of examples of existing techno logos he liked.  Some of the things he said he wanted the logo to be were "sexy", "bold", "grungy" and "contemporary".

I decided to use letterpress to get the "grungy" effect and to try and get something a bit more unique and original with imperfections you just cant get with a computerized font.  I then scanned in and manipulated them in photoshop and illustrator.

I had a talk with Clinton about the logo and what I had done so far because I wasn't happy with it.  He told me to look at the composition of the logo from a distance and to re-jig some of the picture elements involved in it because it wasn't working.  I tried to use just the letterpress for the logo and this seemed to work in giving the most impact but I know that the client wants something more intricate.

After speaking with clinton and also the Steve Smith lecture I decided to go back to pen and paper and began sketching the logo from scratch.  I used my computer images and traced over the top of them so that I could manipulate them as I wanted to

I feel like the logo has lost its personality because I got rid of all the texture and made it flat.  All of  ink around it doesn't help either, I reckon its completely lost its impact now... :/ im gunna go back to the original letterpress i think.

I'm still not happy with the logo. Still working on it. (sighhhh)