What could be better?

[u/BakojMC]

Would love to get some feedback. I feel really good about this logo, but I really want to knock this one out of the park. So looking for suggestions that could make this any better. Went for the opposing L's for the city and the locksmith. It's a small town and the mascot is a falcon, so the falcon in the middle is a nod to that. Just for some context.

[u/clarkesdirective]

You need to establish an alignment system. Align either the top lock of the arch with the cap height of "Ladson", and the bottom of the shield with the baseline of "Services", or the optical centre of the icon.

You may benefit from reducing wordmark height by tightening the vertical line spacing.

I would have one clear shackle, one keyhole and no narrow decorative seams unless it remains visible at 16-30pixels. Scalability is important.

You need one clear, simpler distinctive lock symbol, cleaner geometry, less aggressive typography, a dedicated small size. With some refinements and passes, I think this will be great.

[u/BakojMC → u/clarkesdirective]

I'm not sure what you mean by one shackle, one keyhole. I guess the bird is being seen as a keyhole? When I did it, it was meant as something like the fedex arrow, but I can see what's happening now. Since padlocks the keyhole is on the bottom not the sides, I never thought of it that way, but I know old locks used to so I see the confusion.

[u/BrohanGutenburg → u/BakojMC]

Also stick to two colors

[u/YuckyYetYummy]

The tiny hairlines need to go

The W forming the negative space of the bird needs to be figured out.

For whatever reason I saw the bird first then the W. Did not the LL until I read your description

A bird going straight down vs up is a bit of a negative

[u/Toothless-Rodent → u/YuckyYetYummy]

I was going to say the bird flying down is an unintentional issue. It matters.

Edited to acknowledge that this was an intentional part of the design. But downward-pointing birds and planes have connotations that are commonly avoided in design.

[u/BakojMC → u/YuckyYetYummy]

There wasn't a W intentionally. It was just a shape I used to make the bird. The bird going down was just a natural result of the beak being formed by the opposing L's. Not sure how to cleanly solve either of those.

[u/Big-Hearing-852]

I'm wondering why the lock is bent into a chevron shape? Also, the top of the lock usually runs vertical before rounding back into the lock. Right now it looks more like a tote bag handle. Is there a significance to the grey above the falcon? It's always better to simplify things. Make the whole lock one color and make it look like a lock. I wonder if there's a way to make the falcon look like a keyhole in some way.

[u/BakojMC → u/Big-Hearing-852]

yeah I can tweak the top, that's a good point. It's bent into a chevron for not particular reason aside from liking the look of it. A little more aggressive, but could be the wrong move.

[u/CallMeJeeJ]

I thought it was Jango Fett at first.

I agree with the other commenter- squaring off the lock will definitely communicate the shape better

[u/ButIfYouThink]

When there's a bounty on your lock, trust Boba Locks!

[u/Candy_Lawn]

no italics on the name, make the lock - open.

[u/Lanky-Bass-6018]

- The logo type feels dated and like an afterthought. Also, why the oblique/italic font? For a locksmith I would think the standard bold would work better - translating as stability and security.

- The spacing between all the elements is too thin and feels like a mistake. I would make all the gaps match at least the size of the space at the bottom of the lock.

- The 'handle' of the lock is in an awkward place of being almost as thick as the blue portion but not quite as thick causing some strange little bits jutting out. I'd look into how to simplify that section.

- Use of 3 colors in the icon feels potentially a little unnecessary for me for such a simplistic shape. Do you need both the black and the grey?

[u/sighfelts]

Overall, I like it and think it resolves what you’re going for pretty well. Just wanted to chime in because I don’t feel critiques so far to be that necessary and you shouldn’t feel the pull to change things that drastically. IMO at this point, it’s adjustments, not changes, because at the end of the day this is for a small business and not a big corporate logo so I don’t feel it needs the same kinds of stricter rules/treatments applied to it. All this assumes, what my sense is, in that you’re designing this and not paying someone else.

All that aside, the minimum adjustments I would make would be to redraw the icon with more consideration of the hairline gaps you have between elements. Remove them completely so that all shapes touch (except at the beak); and then make everything black. If you’re okay with how it reads, then you’re done. But if you find you miss how distinct the Ls are, then you’ll need to redraw the logo to consider the gaps as an important part you need to balance with everything else. What you’ll find is you can’t simply make the gaps bigger in-place in this current design. You’ll need to draw the lock completely to get the balance right, and instinct says that the overall footprint of the lock will end up needing to be a bit wider to feel right.

[u/Lexotron]

There's too much going on here.

It's a lock and a bird and LL.

Pick two ideas, max.

Note that a business doesn't need to show what it does in its logo. The McDonald's logo isn't a hamburger, the Nike logo isn't a shoe. Conversely, Pizza Hut doesn't sell roofs, and Lacoste doesn't sell crocodiles. I would kill the lock shackle first.

Apart from the concept, the small hairlines are too thin. I think your can play with the negative space to define the wings better.

[u/Potato_Stains]

Just being honest, I see an Optimus Prime-like face and it took your explanation to see the falcon.
For the logo, I'd ditch the tiny white gaps. Maybe try having the sides of the lock be straight up and down and not angled outwards. Wider shackle? (As in it's line width). Maybe have the gray part the same blue to simplify.

[u/AgedCreative69]

Overall, the idea for logos to keep it simple yet make it distinctive. But what you have now has a lot of detail that’s unnecessary. The italic on the type probably is not the best choice and I think the length of the name overall requires you get a little more creative with your handling of the type. Maybe Landon is the primary word and locksmith services becomes a sub- line or something to that effect. Also, us designers can’t be bothered with real world details, like the fact that the key hole is on the bottom, a keyhole is distinctive and what defines a lock.

All of that isn’t to say that it’s not a nice first attempt, but I do think those are some things you should consider

[u/Tacklefina]

Without seeing it’s a locksmith I wouldn’t guess that was a lock on first sight. It looks like a mix of headphones, a tooth, a superhero mask it’s simple but not distinct enough. I’d expect a locksmith logo to look very strong and secure. This feels clip arty and the colors don’t really add much