Logo critique for Hooch & Co

Question

Looking for feedback on logo lockups. Concept: Logo for bar concept in Austin Texas that will appeal to a causal, hipster, young urban crowd. Rooftop patio with yard games such as corn hole, washers, basketball hoop, darts.

1. What other objects are associated with moonshine, Hooch besides the obvious bottle?

2. Do you think the "H" With a handle on it is strong enough for a stand alone icon?

3. What can be done concept "E" to make it a stronger mark? Does it read like an H?

Thanks for your feedback. Greatly Appreciated.

Answer 1

Before Edit:

All five logos face one issue and that is they cannot be used for what I would classify as your target audience. Per your information

Rooftop patio with yard games such as corn hole, washers, basketball hoop, darts

1st Logo

Outside on a rooftop this logo would be ideal for big large print. It could be displayed as a one color with no issues. Although for large print areas like a wall or canvas mural a horizontal logo would fit better. This could work if it was on a door that led to the patio or outside. It could work on a corn hole board because it is vertical. This wouldn't work on a basketball hoop because a horizontal logo would be ideal. I doubt the engraving on darts would be possibly with the Xs. If you were to get this embroidered on a polo shirt most companies would not be able to stitch something so small.

2nd Logo

Hard to read from long distances, reduce the logo to ten percent and all I can tell is a jug. It could work on a mural and patio awning but still the & and Co are out of place. The Hooch should be larger but then you risk of distortion within the jug. If this were to be done in etchmark on a large window it could work but for this logo to really work it would have to be large. This wouldnt work on darts, washers, or apparel. Only way it would work on apparel is if it was a black shirt and the logo took up the entire width of the allowed screen when you went to screen print.

3rd Logo

I think this is my favorite but as stated with all when you get to a small size the jug in the circle will not come through. I would work on omitting this. I would also look into just one solid color. and it would look good on a rooftop patio, awning with a black background and a logo in all white. Again, look at this at 10% and the jug at the top and ATX should be removed. This logo could also work if you were to use it to print labels on beer bottles.

4th Logo

Remove Prime Times it collides with logo. Possibly consider lowering the & Co and remove the condensed type. I would possibly look into testing adding space and stretching it.

5th Logo

Not really any different than the 1st other than a color change.

Overall you should test and develop the logo as one solid color first then expand the colors. You need to consult with the owner on all forms of medium they end to use. Look at some logo mockups or do a search for logo mockups. Dont be afraid to test against what they intend to use the logo for. Make sure to right down the pros and cons of the logo and why it may not work on X this or X that. There are some you can buy that you can test against like on glass bottles, walls, awnings, building glass, etc. etc.

If it was me I would go with the 3rd logo and remove the jug at the top and atx at the bottom. Possibly test and lower the $ co to the bottom of the turn on the H.

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After edit:

What other objects are associated with moonshine, Hooch besides the obvious bottle?

The distillery, old school vehicles, mob bosses, etc. etc. Do a research on moonshine and the prohibition era that influenced moonshine. You could even scope it to a region. Did the region your client is in have a roll in the shine age?

Do you think the "H" With a handle on it is strong enough for a stand alone icon?

That could work but you should ask are you just trying to deploy the symbol alone or have this co-exist with a logo is a question you should ask yourself.

What can be done concept "E" to make it a stronger mark? Does it read like an H?

Concept E, to me would be very complicated to use in smaller size and if you want to use it try to simply it by possibly removing the XXX and testing.

To me a simple logo like this I would test against different mediums:

After suggestion of lowering the "& CO":

Answer 2

I'll give one piece of fairly specific advice on the logo which I liked best (The horizontal jug of 'hooch').

Choose between the ampersand and the 'nested' Co because it takes too long for the eye to make sense of this lower half. I personally would go with a small but full spelling of company ascending at a parallel angle as Hooch (moving the ampersand a tad to the left to give the longer word space to ride underneath everything.

All-in-all I like the selection, are you trying to arrive at one logo period or have a bunch of different logos depending on their marketing purpose?

Answer 3

Earlier comment:

The barley element is interesting; very subtle but nice. I think you should try to develop a version using only type, and the barley graphic more prominently. In essence I'd say there's too much going on in each logo - but I am viewing 6 at the same time which could affect my judgement.

As I commented about the barley element, I have taken the liberty to mock up an example that may help.

It's a terrible 20 minute mockup working from your raster image, but it should give you an idea of what I'm getting at.

With some proper work, that barley could look a million times better.

Answer 4

I think C is your strongest logo. I think I get the most lost with E. I just don't think it is as clear and clean as the rest. I don't love A only because I like the gold that you've incorporated in the rest. Everyone else gave you really good feedback as well.