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For my brand identity class, I had to do a logo for a local bakery. The first one is what I started with. The bottom is where I am now

The problem I'm having: I need to show lines or shapes indicating grooves in the icing bag because right now it's not reading an "icing bag" & a crown, more so a carrot and a crown. All of the options I've explored thus far don't flow with the overall shape. Because of this not being resolved, I haven't been able to really explore the type portion so don't mind the type.

How can I make this logo look more obviously like an icing bag and crown?

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    Is it totally impossible to have the business name as the output of the icing bag? There are plenty of rich enough script fonts for it. Have the bag a little tilted and connected to the last frill.
    – user82991
    Commented Jun 7, 2018 at 18:12
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    @user287001 I don't see how that will improve visibility and recognizability. Plus "Elite Customs" screams regal and proper. If you have the text being piped out it would lose that and might become too playful. See example: logopond.com/logos/ed6f8d583cc516f7cd21d818b215fdd7.png
    – Stegathesaurus
    Commented Jun 7, 2018 at 18:17
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    @user287001 Mixing type like that sounds bad. Plus the type should be the ** the last thing** that should be considered when the form itself isn't nailed down. Ignore color > nail down form > experiment with type > compromise form > final solution
    – Stegathesaurus
    Commented Jun 7, 2018 at 18:24
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    @BrianaSmith the top 2 are the best options. Explore from there. Also, not sure what vector you cut apart to make this but the bottom is pretty off. imgur.com/a/ILeWw6t
    – Stegathesaurus
    Commented Jun 7, 2018 at 18:35
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    I like your original in bold. Simplifying a design does not always add.
    – Willtech
    Commented Jun 9, 2018 at 1:25

10 Answers 10

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An answer: The bag should output something - the text or something else in a cake. Let the business name be the biggest element.

enter image description here

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    These are brilliant designs--but be aware that there are a lot of cake-eaters (and cake-buyers) that don't know, or care, how a cake is made, and wouldn't recognize an icing bag if we saw one in the baker's hands!
    – CCTO
    Commented Jun 8, 2018 at 15:48
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    @CCTO That's a really good point, and a common mistake of designing a logo that is meaningful to the business owners. Design it to be meaningful to the customers.
    – Harper - Reinstate Monica
    Commented Jun 9, 2018 at 0:15
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Just to address the icon part of this, building on existing answers and adding a few things. I think the devil is in the details here. Quick blown-up sketch (n.b. the ratio of tip/bag is currently not ideal to represent a piping bag but not too bad for a logo which would have to be legible at small sizes):

enter image description here

You want to keep the small details that make the piping bag not look like a carrot. Working from bottom to top:

  • Build a metallic reflection on the tip and remove the horizontal lines which are often seen on cartoonish or schematized carrots
  • Keep the little bulge you already had on your first two proposals
  • Give the bag a lumpier shape and add some lines to show dimension
  • Adding a knot or twist or something that suggests a grip (without adding a full size hand) also distances this from being a carrot
  • Consistency requires we would also had some lines in the crown (which would not appear in a carrot's leaves but would in a bag)
  • Removing a few tips from the crown can also make your design relate more to a bag and less like carrot leaves. Making the points not too stiff also drives the connection to reading "bag"
  • Consider your choice of color (I'm not sure if you've mentioned the # of inks you can use for this): keep away from anything orangey looking for the bottom of the design and stick to something golden/silver-ish for the top. That color could easily be repeated on the metallic tip to give a better unity to your design.
  • Consider building metallic reflections on some parts of the crown if fitting.
  • I did not address the type component but I think you had a good lead in your first proposals of using the bag to put the dot on the i of Elite (as opposed to piping out the whole brand name which becomes complicated and removes a bit of the glamour you are aiming for). Conveniently, the "i" is right in the middle of the word so you could definitely implement this all the while keeping the symmetry of your design. Keeping the same really straight font you are using in the bottom proposals but adding a dab of icing as a dot would offer some contrast and create more meaning.
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  • That was really helpful thank you!! And I can only have two spot colors.
    – Briana Smith
    Commented Jun 7, 2018 at 19:29
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    I think you can definitely pull this off with two colors :) I'll be happy to answer further if you come back to your question with updated work. Best of luck!
    – curious ♦
    Commented Jun 7, 2018 at 19:31
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My first impression was not a carrot but a big misil bomb falling on the extensive typographical horizon.

bomb

  • I guess the color is distracting you in the development of the design. Design in black and white helps to understand the formal language.
  • It is true what Welz shows that the verticality is no the natural position of an icing bag.
  • On the other side, the typography is proposed as an entity completely separated from the image, this accentuates the pump-carrot
  • It would be interesting to integrate the image and its immediate action into the design.

enter image description here

cake

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    I particularly like the ones where the icing bag is crossing the 't'.
    – J.R.
    Commented Jun 7, 2018 at 21:28
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    To be exact, and fully agreeing to your point, it looks neither like a missile nor a bomb - it looks like a mortar round!
    – Volker Siegel
    Commented Jun 10, 2018 at 2:50
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Your main issues are the angles you picked for the crown and the shape of the bag.

I get you want to use nice lines but you are making the mistake of trying to make an organically shaped object geometrically rigid.

If you make the bag more "lumpy" and have more curves this will help break up the harsh angles and lines. I've also added some "cut-outs" that mimic the scrunched top of the bag when it's full and twisted closed.

enter image description here Second I would make the crown more proportional to the rest of the bag. You have a VERY large and extending footprint which throws off the balance of the rest of the bag. Making it narrower and more "crown-like" will help immensely.

Something like this is a good start.

enter image description here

Here's a final "concept" to further illustrate my point.

enter image description here

Second iteration showing how you could emphasize the crown and altering the proportions.

enter image description here

I think you need to refine your shape and then reassess the feel of the branding first. You seem to have conflicting ideas on your direction. Ignore the color altogether, start in black and white and get your shapes down first, THEN you can start playing around with color.

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  • Sorry - I just added the same thing to my own answer - it was actually an independent thought, though it does heavily echo yours.
    – Tetsujin
    Commented Jun 7, 2018 at 18:07
  • @Tetsujin No worries, it's the most logical step to take to mimic the bag.
    – Stegathesaurus
    Commented Jun 7, 2018 at 18:21
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    Hmm. I instantly recognized the ones in the question as piping bags but I'm not sure I recognize yours. :-( (Though, of course, your main point is the technique, rather than the result.)
    – David Richerby
    Commented Jun 8, 2018 at 15:34
  • @DavidRicherby Exactly, I'm not here to give the final result just guide in the processes.
    – Stegathesaurus
    Commented Jun 8, 2018 at 15:50
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Try adding in a little squirt of icing on the bottom:

enter image description here

I then applied a little shear to the icing

enter image description here

You can also try to rotate it around 45°, it makes it seem less like a carrot. enter image description here

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    First thing is that looks like a 3D printer's extruder, secondly the 45° just introduces a lot of disproportional negative space. Altering the angles and proportions are the way to solve this, not introducing more visual variables.
    – Stegathesaurus
    Commented Jun 7, 2018 at 17:51
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just a 2 minute tweak...

Anything wrong with breaking up the angle at the top?
How about 'jaunty'...

enter image description here

Or fatten the sides of the bag a bit; less rigid.

enter image description here

...quickly [& not very accurately] done in Ps using cut/paste for the crown, then free Transform.
Baggy sides using Liquify.

If you have only a solid single colour to work with, ie no shading, then add some 'bag squeeze' perhaps...

enter image description here

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    The crown isn't the issue as she stated. The bag doesn't look like a piping bag.
    – Stegathesaurus
    Commented Jun 7, 2018 at 17:37
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    Actually, the crown makes the carrot top; that's where psychology takes over. Remove the crown, it looks nothing like a carrot. tbh, it looks like an amphora whichever way you do it ;)
    – Tetsujin
    Commented Jun 7, 2018 at 17:41
  • I have to implement a crown in to show "Elite"/ I already told my professor the icing bag and the crown are the two objects I'd merge with one another. For that double read effect I placed them the way I did.... I just need to figure out how to make the bag look like an icing bag :,(
    – Briana Smith
    Commented Jun 7, 2018 at 17:48
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    @BrianaSmith I'd stay away with browns. Also, I'm not sold on thinking elite when you have this salmon color.
    – Stegathesaurus
    Commented Jun 7, 2018 at 18:18
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    @BrianaSmith Design in black and white then work on color. Based on their shop I'd try some pastel blues/teals. But design first color last.
    – Stegathesaurus
    Commented Jun 7, 2018 at 18:25
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It's not reading "icing bag" because there's no hand squeezing it. Include a hand (and maybe a wrist, or at least some fingers) squeezing the bag, and people will get it. I'd drop the crown; it just makes the bag too big (it's too big even without the crown).

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I think the darker border and lighter fill that were on the initial designs really helped sell the idea that these were transparent bags with something inside, rather than opaque, solid objects. Perhaps reintroducing the border, with or without the fill, would help. If you do end up doing that, you should keep the crown solid for contrast; I think it would probably also be best to keep it closer to the border color rather than the fill color, but that would probably be subject to how it looks when implemented.

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By going back to your initial concept, where the bag was doing the writing. The more you move away from this concept, the more it looks like a bomb.

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The problem here is trying to make the crown work visually with the icing bag, when you would never see a crown where you a putting it. So not only are you fighting the visual simplification of the elements, the stylization, you are also fighting logic.

The crown is a requirement but does it have to be part of the icing bag? If it were me, I would have the icing bag drawing the crown which the Elite type is wearing. That shows the Elite company is king (not the bag) which is on brand and it eliminates the problem of integrating two otherwise unrelated objects.

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