My New "logo" needs feedback

Hey everybody,
I've been working on this logo thing but its still not to my taste, (I still get a feeling of it being a fish mounted on a plaque or something) I was wondering if you'd take a look at it and give me some constructive criticism.
Thanks to all.
<img src="http://www.angelfire.com/comics/rawshark/images/shark.jpg">
and in case the img src doesnt work, here's a link :
http://www.angelfire.com/comics/raw...mages/shark.jpg

First, are you trying to achieve something or what do you want your viewers to feel whenever they see your logo? It's easy to criticize whenever there's a theme. Anyway, I still suggest to get rid of the plain-blurred shark, why? Cause the shark represents you, so I suggest instead of blurring the shark why not the background. Also, why not putting a real shark there, then make it comical, like it has big eyes, the shark has arms or wings, half of his body is just a bone, etc...

hi there,
the logo lettering is busy enough, i would lose the blurred shark.

i think crackerweb idea is not bad at all.Ur logo is a bit dark.Kepping things simpler what I suggest is that don't blurr the shark , then with help of lighting effect (u can create another aqua color light) lighten the base of ur text giving it kind of aquarium/sea look and a shark which is shown through it .. making shark 's eyes a bit more prominent won't do any harm.You can avoid the bg.

Without knowing the purpose of your logo or who your target audience is, it's hard to pass judgment, but I do have some general comments.

A universally recognized test for the usability of a logo is whether or not it will also look good reduced to fit on a standard business card (3.5x2) in B&W. Your logo might have a bit much in terms of detail and tonal gradations. Reducing the logo will completely wash out those elements.

Overall it's a good start, but here are some things you might experiment with:
1. Manipulate the background. The "watery" treatment won't last in a reduction. Try maybe a diagonal gradation or something with more contrast. Or see how it looks without a background at all.
2. Sharpen the shark. Blurring it lessens its relevance to the name.
3. See how the shark looks without the eye dot. If it's a silouhette, you wouldn't see the eye in real life anyway. Otherwise, make a representation of the eye that's closer to real life instead of just a dot.
4. Change the font to something a bit more current. A strong, sans-serif will definitely have more impact.
5. Minimize the reflective/3D treatment to the lettering. Don't eliminate it, but play it down a bit so the lettering stands more on its own. However, do eliminate the outer glow. You can do without it by adjusting the lettering's contrast to the other layers.
6. See how the lettering looks in small caps versus C/Lc (caps/lower case). Sometimes, that works better.

Just some thoughts.

seems too blurry.

I just got one thing to say:

Read this.

aha,

did you think about your logo...

what are you trying to say, I don't get it. The boat left and I wasn't on the boat...

looking at your site. the logo doesnt match your background at all. the white square inside the green table background doesnt look very good.

I would suggest take everyone's opinions and combine. i would suggest taking out the blue rectangle and make a comical shark like suggested earlier. and tone down the letters as suggested.... a little does go a long way.

just my thoughts.

keep trying and it will work, check out my forum avatar, it's my company logo. It started out as a flat 2d house with two colours, plain but catchy, soem people may think this a bit lame but the logo came first then the name Grafic House (because thats what it is) after my first version of the website I had learnt a few more photoshop skills and my taste changed and the logo got a makeover and after a few attempts I ended up with this. I am now very pleased with the result and it works really well on the website I even made an animated flash version to dance around for an intro. It looks very cool on a plain white business card with my details in pale blue, it is alos on my letterheads and CD face stickers. If your logo is going to be used in different places make it simple to it can be easily resized and reproduced. If it is only to be used on the web, there are so many site that have big detailed elaborate logos which have been saved at such low quality to keep the file size down that they lose all definition and impact. Some of the best logo's I have seen on the web have been the tiny grey logos you find on various affiliated graphic designers websites links sections. check out the affiliate logos at the bottom of this site http://www.mikaelweb.com/index2.php
hope this helps, good luck.

Like has been mentioned, I think there is a difference between a logo and a banner.

I've attached a small pic of what I think you should be looking for in a logo, you're welcome to it if you want it - took me bout two mins, and maybe make an abstract banner, maybe a collage of comic book heroes or something??

Anyways hope this help and good luck

errr...lachesis, what you did and suggested about a logo and banner are good, but the attached picture seems to be a stamp, don't you think so?

Yeah... take out the blue bar at the top and the waves at the bottom, and maybe move the "Est. 2004" part next to the shark or beneath the text or something, and you'll have a nice logo. Make it bigger and you'll have a very nice logo.

i really like the text but i think your backgrond is far to insignificant. you need to make it stand out more. try beveling it or use a new image

Has the creator even come back? I was gonna post my comment, but after reading only the second post in this thread I realized that RawShark hasn't come back to answer the first question.

If he does, someone let me know :P