For this project I decided to design a logo of a horseshoe to advertise riding lessons. It is related to my course topic because it revolves around the ability to teach lessons based on my history of riding which was portrayed in other elements of previous projects.
The only design influence I had was the description of the project. Since it was recommended to use a simple design, I chose a horseshoe. I drew out a few sketches of horses and jumps and other designs, but I am glad I chose the horseshoe because the others would have been way too hard to execute in Illustrator. I researched tutorials on how to design horseshoes on illustrator, but nothing was of use. I ended up using techniques from the pencil tutorial and the logo tracing tutorial. The significance of my elements includes the actual horseshoe and the text in it. The horseshoe obviously relates to the aspect of horseback riding and the text which says “Littleton equestrian Lessons” is what my logo advertises. Littleton is my home town. My design process included mostly the rectangle vector tool and the ellipse tool. Using two rectangles for the sides and two ellipses for the curve on the bottom. I also used very small circles with light gradient to act as nails. The text was fun to design because it could be more complex since the horseshoe was simple. I used different fonts and colors then added the lines underneath using the zig zag effect on a straight line.
No outside elements were used in this process. I started with a blank file and only used vector shapes. When my logo was completed I grouped the objects together, went object>expand appearance to make sure the logo was scalable. In the beginning, I had no idea how I was going to make a horseshoe shape, but once I went back and watched tutorials the technical challenges I faced were minimal. Most of my challenges were coming up with a logo that would portray my topic that was achievable on illustrator.
Logan Goetz 
I like how the name of the company is a horseshoe as it incorporates what the company does, provide horseback riding lessons in the Littleton area. For the actual text inside the horseshoe, I like the effects used for ‘LITTLETON and ‘LESSONS,’ but the equestrian part is hard to read. I think that it could be better if instead you used a different fill or a different font. Also, the drawings underneath take away from the design as they seem fairly random. It would be cool if you had a horse or a lasso that would tie in more with the overall theme of your design. I also really like the gradient you used on the horseshoe and how it looks metallic, but the spacing between the circles looks uneven. Overall, I think the concept is really strong, and with some final edits and touch ups, it will be really good.
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Thanks for the feedback! I agree that the font and/or fill should change so that it is easier to read. I could also ad another horse should and make it a little smaller and cross them in the middle. I have seen some equestrian logos with 2 horseshoes rather than one and it looks a lot better. I could also change the wording from “Littleton Equestrian Lessons” to something more simplistic and personalized so that my idea would work better as an all around logo. This way, the logo may be more scale-able to read on a smaller object or letterhead. After reviewing more logo ideas and designs online, I think I need a more simplistic design to work better for the actual purpose or a logo, rather than portraying more of an advertisement. It also needs to be spaced out differently so it does not look so concealed in one place. I still face challenges of changing the fonts and seeing what works best to fulfill the logo criteria.
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Hello Logan,
The horseshoe looks really good, I can tell you worked hard on it! As for the rest of the logo though, I would suggest using just one type of font for your whole title instead of a different font for each word. I like the font that you used for the word “Lessons” the most because it shows up the most clearly on the white background, but the font you used for the word “Littleton” could work too. I would suggest not using the font you used for the word “Equestrian” though because it could be difficult to read especially if you were to scale down your logo to a small size. But the overall colors of the logo, the blues, greys, and the white background, all work well together. Also the other artwork below your text is not bad but I feel like it could be arranged differently to make your logo look better. The artwork just above and below the curvy line could be placed just above and below the text and you could center the text so that it doesn’t start right at the top of your logo but rather in the upper middle part of it, or alternatively you could make 2 of the curvy lines and use those in the same way instead and remove the other artwork. But otherwise I like the way that your logo is looking so far.
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This logo looks good considering it’s just a draft, the text is cohesive and mostly readable, the graphics in the horseshoe attract attention, and the horseshoe itself creates a space that’s perfect for inserting text. The text in the horseshoe could use some work. “Littleton” and “lessons” are easy enough to read, but using cursive on “equestrian” and putting a messy pattern with lots of variation inside the letters makes it kind of a pain to read and sort of distracting, drawing attention away from the rest of the logo. The design of the horseshoe is good, but I think it should be in a more correct horseshoe shape and curve a bit more where it is currently straight. It would be tough to get a perfect horseshoe shape for the final project, but if it was done correctly I think it would look really good. Finally, the graphic under the text in the horseshoe seem randomly placed, I’d like to see one of those “spiky” graphics above the text while the other graphic remains below, and also the removal of the curvy graphic so the text is evenly spaced in the horseshoe.
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