New USA7s logo contest

[JohnCh]

Note: I'm intentionally putting this thread in the wrong forum to maximize visibility and will move it to Forum Evolution in the future.

 

The forum turns 20 years old this June.  Two years after Mazda's (@slngsht) inaugural post on 6/10/2005, the current logo was developed for the 7-7-7 event at the Tail of the Dragon and has held station at the top of the page ever since.  I think it's time for a replacement. Perhaps one a little more T-shirt friendly.  

 

The creativity and designer genes are missing from my DNA, and although I've taken a stab at a logo, I'd like to open this up to the community to see what the more artistic among you can create.

 

A few things to consider:

• The logo needs to remain readable when scaled down to fit at the top of the forum pages.
• The design and color palette should be simple to aid printing and embroidery on clothing.
• The color palette should also work well with the current forum colors.  e.g. no fuchsia.
• Bonus points if it includes an element that makes it clear this is about cars inspired by the Lotus 7
• There should be no copyright issues.
• Rights will be donated to the club.

 

I suspect we may have a situation where someone comes up with a winning design, but they aren't proficient with graphics software, and we'll need someone to clean things up.  Therefore, there are two prizes on the table.  One for the designer, and if needed, one for the person doing the graphics rework. The winner(s) will receive:

1. The community's undying gratitude.
2. Lifetime Club Membership.  You will be moved into a newly created Lifetime Club Member user group that will exceed the Paid Club Member benefits and won't require payment or annual renewal.  This will be displayed under your username and the winner(s) can even select the font color.
3. A small gift to be named later (I have a couple of things in mind).

 

Feel free to post your ideas here, but to make an official submission, please send a PM to both @Croc and @JohnCh with the subject line "Logo submission".  We'll close this down at the end of April, but if nothing compelling comes through, we'll extend it indefinitely.  Bottom line, we don't want to make a change just for the sake of change. 

 

To kick things off, here is the design I've been playing with, and which is an example of something that still requires an expert's touch to clean up and vectorize.  I've included a small version to show how it works with the existing forum design and a larger one that would fit on a sticker or shirt.  Keep this size disparity in mind when working on your designs. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks,

John

[wdb]

What, no clamshells? 

[JohnCh]

The first version had clamshells, but I decided to simplify and add lightness  

[IamScotticus]

Perhaps a serif 7 more like the Caterham?

  

   

Edited March 21 by IamScotticus

[KnifeySpoony]

 

 

Replace the "super" with "USA"?

 

 

 

 

[KnifeySpoony]

here's a drawing as a starting point:

[JohnCh]

Are you sure that logo is in the public domain?  As mentioned above, I don't want to play fast and loose with copyrights.

[KnifeySpoony]

There's a bunch of people selling knockoff stickers, wheel center caps etc with that and similar logos - I mean - Lotus hasn't sold the 7 for 52 years - I doubt they'd come after you...

[KnifeySpoony]

to wit...

 

 

[JohnCh]

I believe that is owned by Caterham.  Years ago, they went after a lot of businesses for simply using the number 7 in the name, including businesses in the UK that serviced the cars.  Different ownership now, but it created a lot of churn for a lot of people.  Unless you are willing to personally indemnify me from any action, and reimburse me for the time I waste dealing with it, I need a little more reassurance than the above.  

[KnifeySpoony]

LOL IANAL. This is just my day job.  I just posted a picture from the internet as an idea. Thought it might make for a good jumping-off point. Crazy you can copyright a number...

 

 

[JohnCh]

It got bad enough that in a form of protest, the se7ens.net mailing list automatically replaced all mentions of Caterham with badgerum.  It would always confuse the hell out of new people who couldn't understand why their mail would show up with that word instead of what they initially wrote.  

 

To close this out, as a person who has a vote on the final design, I can unequivocally say that I'm not in favor of a logo that borrows heavily from something that already exists. We should shoot for originality.  

[SENC]

I'm no artist so can't draw or design it, but I've always thought the front view of the 7 was among it's most unique and distinctive.  A more artistic rendering of the following that uses "USA" as the windshield and "7s" as the grill?

 

[JohnCh]

I've always liked the Se7ens.net and USA2005 logos.  Sharing for inspiration.  I believe I may know how to reach the person who did these.  And yes, clamshells  

 

 

 

-John

[Vovchandr]

I think your logo in the original post is the top runner with more polishing 

[KnifeySpoony]

  On 3/22/2025 at 12:40 PM, SENC said:

I'm no artist so can't draw or design it, but I've always thought the front view of the 7 was among it's most unique and distinctive.  A more artistic rendering of the following that uses "USA" as the windshield and "7s" as the grill?

 

Expand  

I really like this idea. Maybe a simplified line drawing of the car. Sorry for heinous mouse drawing in MS paint.

 

 

 

[KnifeySpoony]

Even more simplified:

 

[JohnCh]

We do need to be careful of the shape of the 7.  When I wrote there shouldn't be copyright issues, I meant that from two perspectives: (1) avoiding potential legal headaches discussed earlier, and (2) given this is a brand-agnostic forum, the logo shouldn't have elements easily associated with an existing brand.  Caterham uses a very specifically shaped 7 and does have that shape registered as per the screenshot below.  Being inspired by something is fine, but let's avoid crossing over to derivative territory.  

 

[KnifeySpoony]

Make it any font you want, it was just intended to be a jumping-off point, spitballing off of SENC's idea. I am also not a graphic designer (if that isn't already abundantly clear). 

[JohnCh]

Not a criticism of you @KnifeySpoony, just making that clear to everyone who may try to riff off that shaped 7.