the italian garage

First and foremost, don't use drop shadows as part of logo design.

Second, I'd find a different font. That one looks like a free one you found somewhere. It certainly doesn't look like it was meant to be used in all caps.

Finally, the symbol looks more like it would be used for an airline, rather than an auto shop. It looks like you were maybe trying to go for a stylized Mercury logo or hood ornament, but I can't stop picturing an airplane taking a nosedive. Yikes.

Oh, and one other thing: convert your colors to web when exporting. There should be a "save for web" option in Illustrator under "File > Export."

Hope this helps; this could have potential. Good luck.

I wholeheartedly agree with my esteemed colleague.

That font is terrible. Very badly designed, with characters which are in proportion with one another. The kerning is all kind of wrong too.

The symbol looked like you didn't spend much time doing research, getting inspiration and most importantly research. It rather feels like you've came up with it from the top of your head.

You also uploaded a JPEG in CMYK, apparently. That's the reason why the green is eye-scorchingly vibrant. Always save your file in RGB when they're destined for the screen.

Ho and that drop shadow is from the devil. Never ever use one, even if you think it makes your logo looks cool. Pro tip: it doesn't.

Sorry to be a bit harsh in my feedback, but this logo doesn't work at all. It's rushed and poorly thought through. If it's for a real business, it's definitely not up to professional standards.

As with the previous critiques, I share some of their concerns. But perhaps we can suggest something to make the next version a little better.

There are a few reasons why a designer shouldn't include a drop shadow in the design of a logo. In my opinion the two biggest reasons are overall aesthetics and reproducibility. It seems that a lot of designers these days try to use all of these new digital tools that are so easily available now to achieve this kind of modern/sophisticated look. And although these tools have a proper use and time to use them, a logo is not necessarily that time. Think about any good logo that has stood the test of time - essentially all of them avoid these kind of gimmicks because it distracts from what a logo is supposed to do - portray a message and identify a brand. In terms of reproducibility, several printers have difficulties with transparency groups and transparent objects (trade.4over.com for example in the US), as well as the fact that drop shadows and transparent elements cannot be easily produced on things that are required to have a physical background (like a building sign!). Hopefully this gives a little explanation as to WHY you shouldn't use these drop-shadows or similar effects. So first critique: Remove drop shadow.

I have a hunch that the reason you went with a more abstract mark than a more easily identifiable one (like a car?) is because of how overdone that symbolism is for auto garages. If that was the case then I can understand and appreciate that mode of thought. However, in my opinion this mark is a little too abstract, and the use of the red, white, and green almost seems like a forced connection to Italy. Maybe the mark could change to an abstracted representation of the first car that the owner of the garage ever worked on? Or maybe an abstracted mark to represent Italy as a whole? I guess my point is this: the mark doesn't seem to directly connect with either garages or Italy, so perhaps it should be changed to something that more easily represents either one or both.

Lastly, the typography really should be worked on. You don't have to go over the top on fonts, or purchase the most expensive or popular one you can find, as long as what you find works appropriately with the rest of the logo. Unfortunately this typeface doesn't really seem to fit that bill. Specifically what I am referring to are the proportions of each letter compared to the rest of the type specimen, and the over-stylization of each letter. If you look at an 'A' for example and then compare to an 'L', you can clearly see how much thinner the 'L' is than the 'A'. A better designed typeface would have better proportions. Also, as xKillswitch mentions, because each letter is overly-stylized it becomes pretty obvious that either this typeface was not designed to be used in all caps, or, that the typeface was poorly designed and only gave one option for its usage (all caps). In either sense it probably wasn't the best choice. If I were going to make a suggestion, I would probably use a typeface with a small x-height with wider letterforms (not bolder, wider).

Also, try focusing on the tracking, leading, and kerning of the type. Remember what Beatrice Warde wrote (paraphrased), if you can see the words, your doing it wrong. Type should be invisible. When I read 'The Italian Garage', I shouldn't be focusing on what those words look like - I should be thinking about an Italian garage.

Hope this helps. Cheers.