What is your experience w free/$$ site templates?

Hello, I have received the first draft of the logo. Not quite what I was looking for, but here it is for your viewing pleasure :)



Here was my feedback to the designer:
I prefer the colour scheme of logo #1. I think it's a great start, but I didn't get the "THIS IS IT!" feeling -- I'm sure you know what I mean. What if we tried to give it a more "realistic and athletic" look/feel? I'm not sure how this can be done...what if we tried using a silhouette of a person "in action"? Also, the "blue dot" in the logo is powerful...too powerful, so it should not be the main eye catcher of the logo. This needs to be taken out or incorporated differently (I understand that it is the horizontal part of the "A", but the eye focuses on it too much.)

Also, the wrong site name is in the logo (simplyathleticgear.com -- simplyathletic.com was registered).

In brief, the vision statement is the following:
"To be the leading online retailer of athletic equipment by providing quality products and exceptional service."

I know that there are many experts here, so I would appreciate any additional feedback!

Regards.

Edited by simplyathleticgear - 11-November-2009 at 10:09am

That's awesome feedback...I like how you connected the colours to "exercise" and blue to "healthy lifestyle"...and green for "outdoor". I never thought of positioning the company brand in this way, but I like it.

What do you think about incorporating "gears" into the logo? This would be to help give a more visual representation of the site name. For example, a silhouette of a person, but the person is made up of gears? I don't know, I'm just thinking on my feet.

Thanks.

I agree with Katharina on the colours. The word 'Athletic' would suggest something more vibrant.

I'm no design expert, but here's my two cents worth.

The logo, with the words underneath is quite "tall", so in your sites header it would either need to be quite small, or you would end up with a tall header, taking a lot of screen space. Of course that comment is completely dependent on your site design! One option, have a variation with the text to the side.
- I can see the logo has energy, but If I was presented with either of them without the text
 I would think of :
   - For the first one, water into steam? Cooking / Energy  ??
   - For the second, A coffee brand perhaps.


   
 

Hamish wrote: I'm no design expert, but here's my two cents worth. The logo, with the words underneath is quite "tall", so in your sites header it would either need to be quite small, or you would end up with a tall header, taking a lot of screen space. Of course that comment is completely dependent on your site design! One option, have a variation with the text to the side.