Help Design Asphalt & Rubber’s New Logo

10/20/2013 @ 3:47 pm, by Jensen Beeler14 COMMENTS

asphalt-and-rubber-logo

It’s that time of year: the almost-end of a (thankfully) exciting and penalty-ridden MotoGP season, and soon we will be into motorcycling’s long winter hibernation: no weekend racing, little street riding, and hours spent in the garage, counting down the days until the start of the season in 2014.

Here at Asphalt & Rubber, we have found ourselves finally getting a chance to dust out the shelves, clean the office, and oh yeah…redesign our beloved logo. Inspired and humbled by the arrival of our five-year blogiversary, we decided to give the logo a nip and tuck, but we need your help.

Because of our deep appreciation for community resourcing, we have turned to DesignCrowd.com. As the name infers, designs are crowdsourced from around the globe, and a variety of design perspectives are submitted in the hopes of becoming the chosen one.

This is where you come in: we are inviting our Asphalt & Rubber readers to participate. You can submit as many designs as you like before the October 28th deadline, then we will choose the winner. Think of it as Beyond Thunderdome for logo designers, and what motorcycle fan doesn’t like a good Mad Max analogy?

What’s in it for you? A small cash reward and the ability to peacock in front of all your friends. You’ll see your designs on our website, our leathers, and eventually, the World. Imagine how popular you will be.

Visit DesignCrowd, read the creative brief, submit your design, win our eternal gratitude.

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  • Jensen, I think you should reconsider changing your logo. Your logo is the identifier of your brand, which you’ve worked hard to cultivate over 5 years. In fact, were I you, I’d make sure that you not only retain the sweeping tach logo, but also change your favicon to suit.

    My opinion, of course, is worth precisely what you paid for it. :)

  • marc

    Just my humble opinion too. Don’t change your logo!!!!!!

  • SPEKTRE76

    Maybe a modernization? I’ll get to work ASAP.

  • Danno

    I agree. Easily recognized, elegantly simple, and considering it’s near redline, speaks to all our hearts.

    All that AND it’s not easily confused for anything else, I’d say you have a rare winner here.

  • The problem with our logo is that the tach details get lost super quick when it’s miniaturized. Also, when it’s coupled to the words “Asphalt & Rubber” (something we really need to do more of) it becomes super wide.

    I need something that’ll work t-shirts as well as it does on the website. Think 4:3 dimensions. If someone can restylize the words to work better with the current logo, that could work.

    For a fun backstory on the A&R tach logo, it’s actually been around for over a decade. Freshman year in college I was a part of a business plan competition, and the company we entered was an aftermarket motorcycle parts business, surprise surprise.

    The company ultimately never got off the ground, though our designs suspiciously ended up in the industry anyways — you can see them on just about any modern sport bike now. Anyhoo, we all disbanded from the venture (good friends to this day), but when I started A&R, I repurposed the logo (different color scheme). Everything comes full circle I guess.

  • irksome

    Jenson: It’s a shed, not a garage. Thanks for your great coverage, although you should probably talk to someone about your exotic unobtanium Ducati obsession.

    As to your logo, 5 yrs in your pretty well established with it. If I did anything, I’d flesh out the outer edge of the tach and turn it into a motorcycle tire.

    But if you think I’m gonna draw it for you, you can’t afford me.

  • Matt

    I’m thinking… something along the lines of a dildo and an exhaust pipe?

  • smiler

    Why do you want to change the logo?

    If you do then:

    rear wheel of a race bike with black line underneath
    The tyre is black rubber all round

    then Rear sprocket extending from 6 o clock up until @2:00pm

    Keep the needle extending from the spindle / axle hole

    Add name in italics underneath or as the name of the tyre.

    Best logos have the name and the log together.

  • Gabe

    Find out which website steals the most from your stories and pictures, and steal their logo.

  • Chaz Michael Michaels

    Being a native Michigander this would be about the time to hibernate the bike in favor of the car. But since moving to California 10 years ago there’s no hibernation period. I hate riding in rain…but getting more used to it. Heated grips and rain gear keep my hibernation periods short.

    I like the logo. I’m kinda hoping you don’t change it.

    If you must change the logo, change it to something that doesn’t suck.

  • That was a fun business plan competition…. Just a bit ahead of our time, that’s all.

    Good luck with the redesign, and congrats on the 5-year blogiversary!

  • jr2

    Jeez… I already thought it was a tire combined with a tach…. or a tire and a kickstand (the tach needle is all out of proportion and position for me)…

    BTW congrats on 5!! Keep up the good work… miss the occasional lawyer rants…

    I show my support by randomly clicking the ads every couple of day, so you get paid and give Google something to chew on…

  • Nick N

    I like the logo. It’s easily recognizable and I like seeing it in my browser. I think you would be making a mistake to change it.

  • singletrack

    If you’re going to change the logo, then go whole hog and change the name too. ;)

    You’ve already shown your acceptance of off-road motorcycles (truly enlightened, btw) in the A&R world.

    Keep the slick tire and tach as the upper portion of the logo.
    Continue the ‘tire’ around the bottom (2:00 – 7:00) but make it knobbly.

    Then call the site Dirty Asphalt & Rubbers.

    Or, just stay focused on creating great content and stick with what’s been working. I can guarantee you that no one has stumbled across your site and left because of the logo.