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I have been working with this image for a few years now, but have never been able to get a good balance in my opinion. We are updating our website so I figured it would be a great time to ask. falconcentered box logo, example usage

I tried using the Nike symbol to match it's balance b/c it's close to the same overall shape, that's how I got the fit on the 2nd image nike/falcon

Thank you in advance!

Update

Great suggestions from all, thank you very much!

enter image description here

https://graphicdesign.stackexchange.com/users/141076/kyle

Kyle's image is what I'm going to work with, and I'm going to see if we can switch things up to that.

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    You should also consider your color use. Now you have conceptual color blue is ble blcak is black brown is brown. But the blue should have much more contrast to black right now the color contrast between the blue is barely visible. If you need the colors make the difference bigger or just let go of the color altogether. Your contrast ratio is 1.3 to 1 and it should be around 3 to 1 to be good enough maybe better 4.5 to 1. Though it mey work out better in print
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7 Answers 7

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The sharp point on the left draws my attention that way but my eye wants to move to the right (and look at the eye, the beak, etc.). It feels my eye wants to go back and forth- which is unsettling.

Similar to another answer, I want to extend the bottom down a bit- but with a point and a curve. Just a simple balancing which seems to move my eye in the right direction.

An added bonus is that the outline is a pretty unusual shape. This can assist if the Logo ever needed to used at a smaller size. The details could be simplified and the Logo could still be easily recognized.

enter image description here

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  • thank you all. I do like this image, I agree with the way the eye isn't pulled to the tail of the image. Unfortunately, despite all of the great answers, I do not have the authority to change the colors or the shape. I might be able to sneak this one in, though, such a simple, elegant solution; thank you!
    – Rick Fittipaldi
    Commented Dec 10, 2021 at 20:12
  • Larger eye and beak … it’s right now wearing a giant helmet.
    – Randy Zeitman
    Commented Dec 12, 2021 at 9:23
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I don't know if you can edit the logo or not, but it might be worth considering. The problem is because the back portion of the head is too long, making the logo look extremely unbalanced.

For example, here's a rough idea

enter image description here

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  • I like this one a lot also, thank you. We're pretty committed to the current design, though. I don't know why they made it look like this originally, our other logos are almost square, this always throws everything off.
    – Rick Fittipaldi
    Commented Dec 10, 2021 at 20:17
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In simple terms, you don't if that's the desired design. To really balance something like this it would require abandoning the current iteration and redesigning. That's a large step at times and not always warranted based upon the history of the mark.

The Nike logo is not a balanced logo either. However, you are using it backwards. (Unless you look at the shoes from the left side :)) The swash specifically goes up and to the right for a reason - to promote good, happy, impressions. Imbalance in this direction also promotes the sense of movement or motion - which is fitting for Nike products.

For an unbalanced logo in its own, as much air around the logo helps. The imbalance it's perceived as motion or movement more if it's not surrounded by other elements.

In a layout, the key is to use other elements to make the logo appear more balanced. Essentially you imbalance a layout to counteract the logo. i.e. play of the imbalance more than fight against it.

Since you used Nike as an example... Examine a few Nike ads and see how they offset the placement of the logo or placement of other elements to rebalance with the logo....

enter image description here [enter image description here] enter image description here2 enter image description here enter image description here enter image description here

Some marks are simply not balanced. That's not always a bad thing, but it does mean a designer should be aware of it when designing collaterals.

I agree with others that curves and angels could be refined (top angle of eye should match the angle of forehead, top of head could be smoothed or sharpened more depending upon desired aesthetic, etc.), but I don't think that has anything to do with the overall balance.

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  • I actually flipped the Nike logo b/c in that orientation it fit with the general shape of the falcon (kinda teardropish); I should have flipped it both ways to get the curve of the Nike to be at the top like the curve of the bird. I used it b/c I was looking up other team images and saw the Nike symbol and it hit me that they kinda have the same flow, but opposite.
    – Rick Fittipaldi
    Commented Dec 10, 2021 at 20:16
  • I don't think that first picture (the one with the turquoise shoes) is a real Nike ad. It looks like a parody in bad taste.
    – Sophie Swett
    Commented Dec 12, 2021 at 22:40
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In addition to the layout points provided by others, another way to help rebalance is to change your use of colour. The right hand side is largely dark colours; the white feathers are purely to the left. To my mind, simply making the beak white helps significantly:

enter image description here

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    wow I agree, scrolling down all of the messages brought me here and I went back up and the grey beak doesn't look right to me anymore. Thank you.
    – Rick Fittipaldi
    Commented Dec 10, 2021 at 20:19
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A couple of elementary suggestions:

The proportions of Nike logo may be good for Nike, but your falcon is different - it's looked otherwise because it has more details. I'm afraid you do not gain anything with the Nike-idea. It doesn't make it worse nor better.

But you can make some curves resemble more each other. It would make them diverge more smoothly from each other when the eye scans it. Here the forehead is rounded and the top edge of the neck is straightened:

enter image description here

It also doesn't look too long any more, because straightened edge gave to it an easy to recognize form: spearhead. Someone who doesn't want to see any or at least this edit can also call it woodpecker. Prevent it beforehand by doing like the others have said: Make it shorter or extend it downwards.

Sorry for poor image quality, but I guess you got the idea.

As you see, the black stroke is sliced off. It caused strain when my eyes tried to see what there actually was and found nothing at the edge of the dark blue area.

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As a non-designer but photographer, I'd say it works when it's got a lot of room round it but not when it's tight. It's balanced right-third-heavy, so it appears to be looking out of the frame. In photography/cinematography, that's often shorthand for a feeling of isolation or dissassociation. Not a good one for drawing people in ;)

BTW, you've got your Nike swoosh the 'wrong' way round. I know it's always mirrored on shoes, but it goes the other way on all other imagery. It flows left to right not right to left.
In effect you're matching/balancing against the 'wrong thing'

I'd be inclined to give the guy a good haircut [feather cut] to get rid of all the long neck & pull the whole logo leftward. If it were a photograph, I'd have used the one where he was looking more like 45° to camera, but I've no clue how you'd draw that in this style.

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  • thank you very much!
    – Rick Fittipaldi
    Commented Dec 10, 2021 at 20:41
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Does it need to be centered? If the logo was moved to the left, so the bird is always looking toward the center of the page, then that lends an air of "looking ahead/forward" to whatever is coming.

enter image description here

This carries a messasge of intent, taking things head-on. As part of your logo design usage text, consider adding something about "the bird must always look to the right, and must never be mirrored or rotated."

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    You know, it seems to help a lot to center the eye rather than the mid-line of the logo itself as in your graphic. The eye is where I expect it to be (center of the left-half) so my eye doesn't want to drift left as much.
    – DKNguyen
    Commented Dec 13, 2021 at 0:35
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    I like that, it would work for this situation, but I was thinking of an overall solution for other placements. Thank you.
    – Rick Fittipaldi
    Commented Dec 13, 2021 at 22:03

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