What feelings does my logo design invoke [closed]

Question

I am a software developer, setting up a new company called mascot to sell my services. I don't really have design skills, but needed to make me a logo, so came up with this luck waving cat to be my mascot logo. I am hoping it's friendly, fun and professional looking, but historically have been a bit off the mark on all counts, so wanted to check with the community what kind of reaction this logo invokes.

p.s. if this is not the right forum to ask this kind of question, can someone point me to the right place to do so?

update:

Thanks everyone for such awersome feedback - I tried to take it all on board, and had a go at a second iteration. No colours, more considered shape, more friendly, based on hand drawn sketch.

I am not sure how to get feedback from you guys on the iteration, is this question locked for comment now it is on hold? I would love to know what folk think about cat mark two, especially with regards to original criteria: fun, friendly, professional

update two:

Ok, how about a much more geometric approach to the original idea?

Answer 1

I'm going to try and be as kind as I can, please be aware that I do not wish to offend you or to seem as if I'm devaluing your efforts. It is very difficult to give design advice to non-designers if they feel overly emotionally attached to their artwork. I do not know you, your personality, your emotional attachment to that image, etc.

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First....

Initial impression.... That, in my opinion, is not a "logo". It's a silhouette of a cat with some colors thrown in the middle. To me, it's a rather "creepy" looking cat. The uppercase "M" may even push the perception to a "creepy squirrel" due to the apparent buckteeth conveyed by the M.

Now, reduce the artwork, as all logos should work well at small sizes....

Comes across as a black squirrel to me. The last thing I'd perceive is "friendly" or "happy" .. rather more along the lines of "death squirrel" or "halloween squirrel".

I would suggest you scrap this and start over. There's no repair to be made to this image in order to get it to "logo" status, even remotely. The lack of clarity, detail, and definition are all so severe that the overall design is merely poor and unsalvageable.

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Be aware that a logo is the #1 most important, all encompassing, image any business will ever use. In an instant it conveys a wealth of information to any potential clients/customers.

Choosing to "do it yourself" is really not always the best option if you are serious about your business. Design isn't "rocket science" and there are many, many things one may actually be in a position to complete themselves. However logos really can't be some image you've slapped together until you are happy. There are a lot of underlying connotations which are conveyed by a logo.

I would honestly suggest hiring a designer or finding a friend/colleague with some design skills to help. Not everyone who plays basketball can be Labron James, and, well, your design skills with respect to a "logo" need some help. If a business is to be successful, they need to treat branding the same as they'd treat any product or service they provide -- if the branding (logo) looks terrible, that is the exact impression you give prospective clients about your business.

Answer 2

I'm not a designer myself, but we had to look quite deeply into this topic when we were looking for a logo for our own company. So here are my few inputs - happy for others to tell me where I'm wrong and where you think I'm wrong ;-)

A few general considerations first:

• print the logo in color / grayscale / black and white
  • turn your screen to grayscale while working to save some trees
• what are you going to use your logo for? what sizes?
  • favicon? business cards? banner? ...
• Does the logo reflect what you're doing? Is it representative of your company's vision / mission?

Now for your more detailed questions:

• Does it look friendly?
  • Honestly: not really. It seems to look at me in a mean way, cursing me...
  • I'm afraid it looks to me as if its right arm had been amputated
• Is it fun?
  • I think that depends on your cultural background. It may be fun in Asia, but I don't think it is in Europe.
• Does it look professional?
  • At least not to me - and I think the comments above seem to agree with that assessment. I'm not saying you need to go with a professional logo designer (even though you probably should), but if you want to do it yourself, you'll need to take the time to take feedback on multiple ideas, iteratively improve a few of the ideas and get a lot of feedback from friends and family along the way.
  • I think you could do a lot better with colors...

I hope this helps with the further evolution of your logo!

Best, Chris

P.S. maybe start with sketching some ideas before you draw them on a computer.