Make white text standout on light backgroud

Question

I'm designing a new jersey for our cycling team. Our logo can be white or black text, always with orange 'o' and graphic image.

The jersey is offered in multiple colors : blue, red and green.

Using the plain logo as is, it doesn't standout from the background.

All I can think of is using dropshadow, but this might look dated over time? Leading drop shadow seems to be more readable.

Any other suggestions / design tips? Looking for some advice / insight.

1. I tried with outline of the objects.
2. Perhaps a background a bit larger, following the outside of the design?
3. Note : we can't use gradients / blur.

WeTransfer link : Source files

Black drop shadow

Accent color drop shadow (more subtle than black, perhaps lacking contrast on red design)

Answer 1

Here is another possible solution.

I executed this with the Transform Each tool in Illustrator. Select the logotype text and navigate to Object > Transform Each. Than you put in Move 0,1px (whatever your preference is) Horizontal and Vertical. And click 'OK'. After that You copy this action by doing Control+D of Command+D. I hope this helps.

Edit:

Ooh sorry, I forgot the mention that part of the section.

As follows: You take the those copied object from step 1 and unite them with Pathfinder. Except for one layer, that becomes the with text. See image below.

Next you select the new united objects and go to Object > Path > Offset Path...

At last you get the Offset Path window. In this section you can try and experiment how thick you want your border around the hard shadow. With the Offset part. As seen in image below.

I hope this explanation is clear enough for you. It's kind of a weird method I suppose. If you got any suggestions or questions please ask.

Answer 2

First off, I think the harsh shadow works fine as does the version without the shadow imho.

Maybe you can try to blend the shadow layer by trying some blending options such as Multiply so it doesn't look that harsh.

Are the teal, red and blue colours part of the brand identity? If not, perhaps you can try and take a lesser bright colour scheme?

Other than that you can try and play with a sort of black banner square underneath the logo. But that doesn't feel quite right in this context.

As what @Billy Kerr said; there is no right answer. Try and play with the elements and print those design so you can take another look at it.

Answer 3

Here's one possible solution. I don't personally like the drop shadow around the smaller text. To me it looks quite illegible.

If you add a stroke, then add it around the white filled text, don't just stroke the text. For example, this was done in Adobe Illustrator in the Appearance panel by moving the Stroke under the white Fill.

Answer 4

Making a light text readable on a light background is tough, especially if it has to be visible from a distance. Have you considered adding a black abstract splat as a background for your logo? This way it will be readable no matter what color the background is, and can still look cool. Right now, that orange tornado is barely visible on the red background, so an option with an "abstract splat" seems to be the most viable.