The latest articles on DEV Community by Wordsmith (@wordsmithcloud). https://dev.to/wordsmithcloud https://media2.dev.to/dynamic/image/width=90,height=90,fit=cover,gravity=auto,format=auto/https:%2F%2Fdev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fuploads%2Fuser%2Fprofile_image%2F852256%2F11139d6d-bc7a-47e2-a6ca-31c53dc94262.jpg https://dev.to/wordsmithcloud en Wordsmith Sun, 24 Apr 2022 11:56:09 +0000 https://dev.to/wordsmithcloud/the-power-of-dev-community-feedback-391d https://dev.to/wordsmithcloud/the-power-of-dev-community-feedback-391d <p>Yesterday I introduced our company Wordsmith to you all (briefly) and then asked for feedback on our logo design...</p> <div class="ltag__link"> <a href="/wordsmithcloud" class="ltag__link__link"> <div class="ltag__link__pic"> <img src="https://media.dev.to/dynamic/image/width=800%2Cheight=%2Cfit=scale-down%2Cgravity=auto%2Cformat=auto/https%3A%2F%2Fdev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fuploads%2Fuser%2Fprofile_image%2F852256%2F11139d6d-bc7a-47e2-a6ca-31c53dc94262.jpg" alt="wordsmithcloud"> </div> </a> <a href="/wordsmithcloud/introducing-ourselves-plus-we-want-your-opinion-on-our-logo-or--4cm9" class="ltag__link__link"> <div class="ltag__link__content"> <h2>👋 Introducing ourselves [plus we want YOUR opinion on our logo...😍 or 🤮]</h2> <h3>Wordsmith ・ Apr 23 '22</h3> <div class="ltag__link__taglist"> <span class="ltag__link__tag">#webdev</span> <span class="ltag__link__tag">#firstpost</span> <span class="ltag__link__tag">#showdev</span> <span class="ltag__link__tag">#a11y</span> </div> </div> </a> </div> <p>The feedback was great!</p> <p>Sorry, let me rephrase that...the feedback was <em>useful</em>, most of you thought our logo sucked!</p> <p>And you know what...the people who commented were right!</p> <p>Who knows what we were thinking trying to combine 20 different things into a logo! </p> <p>We got a little bit too caught up in trying to be "clever" instead of designing a good logo!</p> <p>Hopefully we learned a little from the feedback we received!</p> <p>So here is the before (our original complicated logo) and after (hopefully cleaner while maintaining the "essence" of the original) based on the feedback given!</p> <h2> The old, over complicated logo </h2> <p>As per the feedback, there was too much going on!</p> <p><a href="https://media.dev.to/dynamic/image/width=800%2Cheight=%2Cfit=scale-down%2Cgravity=auto%2Cformat=auto/https%3A%2F%2Fdev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fuploads%2Farticles%2F30k0wgoppk9vkyggur7n.jpg" class="article-body-image-wrapper"><img src="https://media.dev.to/dynamic/image/width=800%2Cheight=%2Cfit=scale-down%2Cgravity=auto%2Cformat=auto/https%3A%2F%2Fdev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fuploads%2Farticles%2F30k0wgoppk9vkyggur7n.jpg" alt="Logo combining a W and and S, shaped like an anvil with "></a></p> <h2> The new, simpler logo </h2> <p>We got rid of the pencil and fountain pen feet. </p> <p>We removed the thin line from above the logo as well!</p> <p>We kept the idea of an anvil and combining the W and S in a stylised way.</p> <p>However we slightly restyled the bottom to account for removing the feet.</p> <p>And we decided to lean into the "smithing" (blacksmith) part of "wordsmith" more, as we think we can have a lot of fun with that (prepare for puns like "forging ahead", "steel yourself" and maybe even "riveting" articles! 🙄🤣)</p> <p>As such we chose a stronger font, more industrial looking, and then modified it slightly to allow the "W" to be larger (while making sure the barbs sticking out of the side of each letter still aligned!)</p> <p>See what you think now!</p> <p><a href="https://media.dev.to/dynamic/image/width=800%2Cheight=%2Cfit=scale-down%2Cgravity=auto%2Cformat=auto/https%3A%2F%2Fdev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fuploads%2Farticles%2Fpfzpjucanp1q04nd3ejz.jpg" class="article-body-image-wrapper"><img src="https://media.dev.to/dynamic/image/width=800%2Cheight=%2Cfit=scale-down%2Cgravity=auto%2Cformat=auto/https%3A%2F%2Fdev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fuploads%2Farticles%2Fpfzpjucanp1q04nd3ejz.jpg" alt="W and S combined in stylised way and shaped subtly to resemble an anvil. The font is industrial looking with small barbs sticking out of the side, all block capitals with the W of "></a></p> <h2> The power of feedback </h2> <p>As always many brains are better than one (or two). </p> <p>People love to share their opinions and thoughts and offer value where they can (most people!).</p> <p>I am thankful for the time that people took to comment and help in that post, I think we now have a logo that is "good enough" to work with for a while.</p> <p>So if you are working on something, share it! </p> <p>Ask for feedback. </p> <p>Obviously you then have to work hard on filtering what is useful and what is not, but sometimes even just the prompts people provide are useful!</p> <h2> Did the feedback work? </h2> <p>I believe the feedback was valuable. But who knows if this is actually an improvement (I think it is obviously!)</p> <p>So, to find out, same question as the last post!</p> <p>Do you:</p> <p>😍 think it is beautifully aligned, designed and refined?<br> 🤮 hate it and really don't rate it!</p> <p>Hopefully the feedback is a little more positive this time...but don't hold back if you hate it, I find that the most valuable feedback is the "negative" feedback!</p> <p>Thanks for reading! I hope you have had (or are having) a great weekend, and I hope you have a fantastic week! 🚀</p> watercooler showdev Wordsmith Sat, 23 Apr 2022 15:00:29 +0000 https://dev.to/wordsmithcloud/introducing-ourselves-plus-we-want-your-opinion-on-our-logo-or--4cm9 https://dev.to/wordsmithcloud/introducing-ourselves-plus-we-want-your-opinion-on-our-logo-or--4cm9 <p>Hi everyone, great to be here! </p> <p>We are Wordsmith, we are building tools to make your content creation faster, rank higher, convert better and follow best practices for inclusivity and accessibility. </p> <p>We know that getting your message out (and not just "shouting into the void") is becoming more and more difficult. </p> <p>You need to make sure your content is search engine friendly, easy to read and above all, engages <strong>all</strong> of your readers!</p> <p>That is where we come in! </p> <p>We are building the tools you need to turn your writing from "meh" to "my gosh it is beautiful". </p> <p>Tools to turn you into a wordsmith!</p> <blockquote> <p><strong>WORDSMITH</strong><br> defn: a skilful writer</p> </blockquote> <p>Now, it will be a few weeks before we have a Minimal Viable Product (MVP) to show you...and we have no fixed milestone dates yet, so all we can say is we will launch "soonish™".</p> <p>So in the meantime we thought we would write a quick post to say hello and share our draft logo with you, to see if we can get some valuable feedback from you all! 🙏</p> <h2> Our Logo Draft </h2> <p><a href="https://res.cloudinary.com/practicaldev/image/fetch/s--brL6Gxpn--/c_limit%2Cf_auto%2Cfl_progressive%2Cq_auto%2Cw_880/https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/nwj42vpg0a5usbmxb3lm.jpg" class="article-body-image-wrapper"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/practicaldev/image/fetch/s--brL6Gxpn--/c_limit%2Cf_auto%2Cfl_progressive%2Cq_auto%2Cw_880/https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/nwj42vpg0a5usbmxb3lm.jpg" alt='W and S combined and stylised into the shape of an anvil. The "feet" of the anvil are replaced with a pencil nib and a fountain pen nib. The logo is white on a charcoal background with the word "wordsmith" underneath in block capitals' width="880" height="495"></a></p> <p>Now it still needs a little caressing, a gentle polish and some love from a professional graphic designer, but overall I think it works!</p> <p>But what I think is not important, I want to know what <strong>you</strong> think!</p> <p>So do you:</p> <ul> <li>😍 think it is beautifully aligned, designed and refined? </li> <li>🤮 hate it and really don't rate it!</li> </ul> <p>We want to know either way!</p> <h2> It is lovely to meet you all! </h2> <p>We look forward to interacting with you all over the next few weeks, months and years!</p> <p>If you create content (on DEV or anywhere else!) or are trying to promote your own product through content creation, then it might be worth giving us a follow!</p> <p>We promise it will be interesting as we share all the trials and tribulations of creating a SAAS product designed for writers! </p> <p>We will share the whole process "warts and all" with you so you can learn from our mistakes too!</p> <p>👇 We look forward to connecting 👇</p> <div class="ltag__user ltag__user__id__852256"> .ltag__user__id__852256 .follow-action-button { background-color: #1a1a1a !important; color: #ffffff !important; border-color: #1a1a1a !important; } <a href="/wordsmithcloud" class="ltag__user__link profile-image-link"> <div class="ltag__user__pic"> <img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/practicaldev/image/fetch/s--4AD7rz4g--/c_limit%2Cf_auto%2Cfl_progressive%2Cq_auto%2Cw_880/https://res.cloudinary.com/practicaldev/image/fetch/s--Au-UcQ3L--/c_fill%2Cf_auto%2Cfl_progressive%2Ch_150%2Cq_auto%2Cw_150/https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/user/profile_image/852256/11139d6d-bc7a-47e2-a6ca-31c53dc94262.jpg" alt="wordsmithcloud image"> </div> </a> <div class="ltag__user__content"> <h2> <a class="ltag__user__link" href="/wordsmithcloud">Wordsmith</a>Follow </h2> <div class="ltag__user__summary"> <a class="ltag__user__link" href="/wordsmithcloud">https://Wordsmith.cloud helps you create content more easily, faster and with greater impact.</a> </div> </div> </div> <p>Enjoy the rest of your weekend and thanks for reading!</p> webdev firstpost showdev a11y