More logos

This three-color logo is visually interesting, but it is not clear why the V is a pink stroke. Again, they have a great slogan. Bravo to them for shying away from using a book in the design.

Looking closer at the sun icon, we can see a problem. Laying the gold over the pink could cause a printing issue such as blur or discoloration. It also looks a bit messy. The solution? Pull the stroke down a bit.

This logo is an animated gif. Click on the pic to see it in action. While it is neat to see different images of North Carolina, the logo needs some attention. It might not fax or copy well, and overall it does not have a positive visual impact. I want this logo to be more sophisticated and clean, befitting the organization.

Library Logos

A solid logo is one of the cornerstones of your library’s brand, and designing a logo takes a great deal of thought and skill. Three considerations should be made when creating this unique image:

1. Color: will the image look good in print and on the web?
2. Relevance: does the logo represent your library adequately?
3. Usability: what does the image look like faxed? can it be vectorized?

I randomly selected a few logos to analyze. Please don’t be upset if your library’s logo did not receive glowing reviews. Images are only used as examples to teach others.

I like this logo a lot! The boat represents their community very well, the colors are well chosen and easily reproducible, and the entire image could be converted to grayscale for faxing or laser copies.

The slogan in this logo is great, but it is hard to read on the curve. While this logo would probably look decent on a copy or fax, the small-sized font and sketch in the middle might not be readable. This image uses three colors (red, black, and blue), and could save some ink by making the blue text at the bottom black.

Academic Library Web Site Design

In her article “Engaging Users: the Future of Academic Library Web Sites,” Shu Liu compares the content, function, and design of 111 ARL college library web sites. She concludes it would be best for schools to implement a portal design (similar to the Harvard site below) but divide the splash page into user types such as student, faculty, etc. It’s an interesting read.

Liu noticed recurring design patterns on the analyzed sites:

• columns by category
• horizontal sections by category
• mixed columns and horizontal sections
• four equally divided sections with sidebar(s) (Liu, 2008)

She recommends that designers,

Reduce the intimidating appearance of library homepages’ by using as little text as possible to convey only the most necessary access points and by employing an appealing graphical design that accomodates usability and accessibility requirements. (Liu, 2008)

Her ideas are definitely something to keep in mind for your library’s web presence.

Liu, S. (2008). Engaging users: the future of academic library web sites.
    College & Research Libraries, 69.1, 6-27.