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The logo is for a lyrics website called Bêjebêje (meaning sing sing). The target audience (Kurds) for the logo have a special relationship with the mountains.

logo

I feel like it works fairly well, but I've shown the logo to two of my friends, and they couldn't see the mountains, they said it looked like a bird's head with a cartoony beak!

What do you think? Do you see mountains and the shape of a B? And if not, any suggestions on how to get it to be instantly recognizable as mountains and the letter B?

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    You tainted my mind whit the header name so i can not help but to see mountains because im primed.
    – joojaa
    Commented Apr 24, 2020 at 8:39
  • 15
    Looks like a broken heart, i think maybe it can use a bit more work.
    – lmlmlm
    Commented Apr 24, 2020 at 9:12
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    I didn't see the mountains until I read the word "mountains" in your question. I couldn't work out what it was supposed to represent, my initial thought was that it looked a broken heart. Even with your explanations, I really don't see what it has to do with singing. That aside, it may be a cultural thing in your country to associate mountains with singing, so it might work in certain cultural contexts.
    – Billy Kerr
    Commented Apr 24, 2020 at 9:44
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    I didn't see mountains either. Because I was primed for the 'lyrics' part, I saw a weirdly heart-shaped text balloon with the light part on the bottom left the balloon's pointer. My mind could make nothing of the rightmost mountain.
    – Vincent
    Commented Apr 24, 2020 at 9:46
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    I saw a breaking heart, then a few seconds later I saw the mountains. I didn't notice a "B" shape until I read the name of the website, but that is clear to me also. I really believe this is a pretty brilliant design.
    – Keavon
    Commented Apr 26, 2020 at 0:38

6 Answers 6

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The reality is that it honestly doesn't matter what anyone sees in the shapes. There's no rule or "law" stating logos must be literal as they relate to the company when viewed. Ambiguity is not always a bad thing. If it is a strong, striking, mark, it's good. I mean, the Amazon smile looks like borderline profanity to me...

Eventually people will see mountains.

I'd merely question the small, almost "lightning bolt looking" shape at the bottom left.

I think it merely needs slightly more attention to the mountain aspect... making the mountains larger, or the B less overwhelming, should detract from the "heart" appearance to a degree. I'd play around with that. It's still going to look like a heart to many, but so what.

enter image description here

Note that once you see the mountains.... the tendency is to always see them. Kind of like the FedEx arrow... once you see it, you always see it. In my book, that sort of ambiguity is a very good thing.

Related: Designers response in an adverse situation during the presentation of a project

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  • .. in support of my theory regarding the Amazon smile, I encourage you to Google Image search for the rocket, Blue Origin, that Jeff Bezos wants to launch into space.
    – Scott
    Commented Apr 24, 2020 at 13:08
  • Would removing the rounding from the first section of the B (at the top of it) and straightening the back of it make it more clear as a B, or is that frowned upon?
    – Anoplexian
    Commented Apr 24, 2020 at 17:51
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I also saw a heart, breaking up at the bottom.

I would suggest not breaking the B, and containing the mountains within it.

A quick and dirty redraw below. I's advise also to keep working on the mountains, they're not all that obvious.

People will probably keep seeing a heart also, but that's not really a problem, since that's a positive symbol of 'liking' or 'loving' something.

enter image description here

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    It's supposed to be a "B"?!?! Oof, I was way off. I agree with your rendition.
    – MonkeyZeus
    Commented Apr 24, 2020 at 18:58
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    I agree that keeping the border makes it read like a "B". (That's a B? I really had no idea.) But also consider that mountains within border = more contained, less powerful; mountains breaking border = more powerful and dynamic.
    – eac2222
    Commented Apr 26, 2020 at 14:25
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I didn't see a mountain at all. The main problem is that you can't see the difference between the two peaks. Try something like having a background-color line cut the behind front mountain to add to the perspective. Example logo

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  • 2
    That actually helps making it look less like a broken heart.
    – Wolff
    Commented Apr 25, 2020 at 13:37
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Ok, the jury is out in the comments. Seems to me that the image is very multimodal. As in it can be seen in many ways. I think the heart is such a strong symbol that everybody recognizes it. This might override the B for many people to see a heart (I didn't see the B initially), also a broken heart is a common symbol so again that overrides a lot. I can also see a bird, hunched over man with a lightning beard, etc.. And the mountain.

But here is the thing none of this is bad as such. Having a broken heart for mountains in shape of a B, that evokes a bird and zeus. If that's your intention. Its also not necessary for people to know what the logo is. I mean take the Citroën's logo (below). Did you know it is actually supposed to represent a herringbone gear. Not knowing this does not detract form the logo, in any way.

enter image description here

Image 1: Citroën's Logo, what does it depict?

So I mean it is not necessarily a bad logo. But it might need some work... As I feel it may be a bit too busy for a logo.

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-1

Try making it all an outline, I think that would help making the B look more like B not a heart.

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-2

I would say keep the original design, and add the name (in an appropriate font) along with. I think having that would tie things together.

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