Critique request: logo for sneaker marketplace app [closed]

Question

I am working on a logo for a sneaker marketplace app in the same vein as GOAT. The brief from the client is covetous, sneakers, marketplace, trade. Here are my concerns:

1) I do not think I have the proportions in place, I want the shoe to fit into the hand and maybe represent someone coveting it. I am not sure how to express this as a logo.

2) Are there any mistakes in terms of elements and composition?

3) Does it relate to the target audience?

4) What could i do to make it better match the client brief? The keywords are exclusive, covetous, sneakers, marketplace, trade

Answer 1

I do not think I have the proportions in place, I want the shoe to fit into the hand and maybe represent someone coveting it. I am not sure how to express this as a logo.

Proportions are off. A foot is larger than a hand, and therefore its shoe is larger still. This looks like an adult hand with a child's shoe floating above it. Just grab one of your shoes and hold it.. compare it to the size of your hand.

Are there any mistakes in terms of elements and composition?

If the goal is two, completely independent, non-related, static, icons, then it's there. If the goal is a single cohesive image that conveys a message, this fails miserably. There's no relation to the two images other than consistent stroke weights. It's a floating shoe with a floating hand under it. At the very least eliminating the space and actually placing the shoe in the hand would help this considerably.

Does it relate to the target audience?

Uncertain. What is the audience? There's no mention of that in your question.

What could i do to make it better match the client brief?

Create a single image, not two separate pieces floating. The hand holding a shoe is a decent concept to track, but to convey "covetous, marketplace, trade" it may be wise to rethink the imagery. All I see really expressed here is "sneaker".

"Covetous" would need some connotation of greed, desire, envy. "Marketplace" would need a connotation of purchase, acquisition, desire, shop. And "trade" could be conveyed with the same greed, desire, envy as covetous and the same acquisition as marketplace.

It's also a very static image set. "Covetous", "Marketplace", and "Trade", to me, convey some action and liveliness. Not really seeing any of that in your image.

Answer 2

1) The sneaker seems very small or the hand is gigantic. The hand is neutral. It doesn't seem to want the sneaker, not even taking it. There's no interaction.

2) No, if the intention was to present independently a hand and a sneaker

3) There's no link to sportiness nor fashion awareness, only a sport shoe and a hand

4) An abstract icon would be possible. It actually would be my choise. Unfortunately I'm not able to spit good designs out like a cornucopia.

If you want to develop your idea of recognizable hands and sneakers, you should make the hands chasing the sneakers or receiving them, maybe from another hand or one hand holds them available to take. The sneakers can have some focus making graphic trick that gives to them a highlight.

ADDENDUM: The sneaker or a pair of them can be available on some kind of servicing plate. This is dangerous, because it is very easy to lose all solemnity (remember the diner in Chaplin's Gold Rush)

To be presented as covetable need the object to be equated with something covetable. That can be in the text or something visual. Again the danger of losing the solemnity is apparent. But the problem is interesting. I insert a short treatise of that.

Answer 3

My design studies left me with something I'll never forget when related to logo design. KISS.

Keep it simple, sincere.

Try to break down your icon to as simple of an idea as possible, and then see what you need to add to convey your message perfectly. You don't have to use it, but both perspectives allow you to see your design from a new point of view.

Answer 4

I see I am rather late to the party, but I have an answer nevertheless. Critiquing a logo design is a very subjective thing, and will often depend on the taste of the critic. So, you can take what I am about to say with a pinch of salt, if you want to!

I would ditch the sneaker and the hand idea, and go for something completely less obvious. It's just too corny/hackneyed. Logos don't have to be a literal or pictorial representation of what a company does or deals in.

Did your client's brief actually say you must use a literal image of a sneaker? If so, I think this is far too restrictive, and you probably need to speak to them, or advise them on why this is so limiting.

For example, take the company you linked to. It has a logo that has nothing to do with sneakers, and yet it's quite unique and memorable.