HN: Help me pick a logo

Site: http://www.caterpi.com

Contest: http://99designs.com/contests/35426

My favorites:

http://99designs.com/contests/35426/entries/44

http://99designs.com/contests/35426/entries/47

If you go with logo 44, the 'i' (and thus all the text) should probably have a different font face, or should not be capitalized. I say this because:

(a) There is ambiguity between that capital i and the lowercase l. Although the rest of the text is capitalized, it is not worth the risk potentially confusing your customers.

(b) Caterpi and Caterpl are both reasonable ways to shorten Caterpillar, so which adds to the confusion if there is typographical ambiguity.

Cheers!

Go with #44, but change the type.

I prefer #47, it's been made with quite a bit more attention to detail.

The glasses suggest intelligence which is good for a translation service and it does better in greyscale suggesting that the contrast has a lot of information and is memorable. The font is a little broken though, particularly the "a" and how the ".com" doesn't align with the baseline.

Against what most have suggested here so far, I actually like #47 significantly more. Here's why: When I hear 'translator', I immediately think of someone furiously typing on a computer or transcribing something on paper - nerd-like behavior, which the glasses really do emphasize. Also, with #47, the face of the caterpillar is the main point of focus, with the rest of the body relatively undemanding of attention. That sort of emphasis and meaning isn't in #44, imo. And the type in #44 is too styled. You want something effortlessly readable.

These are both very good but I'd go with 44 for the simple fact that the caterpillar in 47 is looking at you, which is awkward.

I recently asked HN to help with a submission for my upcoming project (http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1059075). I used CrowdSpring and paid $200+$30 for the contest. I got a lot more submissions than you did with 99designs for $150, but it looks like your submissions were in general a lot better quality than the ones I received on CrowdSpring. If I need to get a logo designed in the future, 99designs seems like a good alternative.

I think #47 is more unique and therefore recognizable with minimal context. If I saw #44 in a favicon cropped to just the head I'm not sure I'd be able to tell what it was, but I'd definitely recognize #47.

Logo 47 seems more memorable to me. Meaning if I surfed off your site and 1 month later seen #47 somewhere else I would be more likely to remember it is associated with your company.

I like #47 more, not doubt about it. It fits the brief better, and leaves a stronger brand impression IMO. However, I agree with matt1 that having the character looking directly at you may be an issue. I think it's okay... I'm trying to remember another logo where that's the case. To be on the safe side I'd probably pick #44 though, if unsure, as it's certainly nice enough.

If I may: Suggestions for the site itself, not the logo...

I love the one-stop "what do you want to translate" on the homepage... but you should definitely add an "advanced" section w/ bulk rates, translation by "guaranteed professionals", upload forms, etc.

Nice idea though! Definitely would use it to translate some software.

You may want to consider a lowest-bid approach too for the future.

I like #47. For some reason, I feel that 44 is more suited to a site for children. When I look at #47, I think of a book worm, and it is easy to associate it to what your site actually does.

I wouldn't choose any of them really

try http://pickfu.com/, it's what we've used before