Wordmark Critique

mageQAZ

Hi everyone, I am new here. This is a wordmark I made recently for my self. I initially wanted the 'Q' and 'Z' forming a connected ligature. But, I thought it would affect readability hence, I disconnected the 'Q' and the 'Z'. I also hope to use the Q as a standalone icon for my calligraphy practice. I had a hard time balancing the 'A'. 

Kindly help with critiques and tips for improvements. Thank you. 

Craig Eliason

Welcome!
Because of the filled counter (and maybe also its geometric perfection), the black circle makes this rather imbalanced to my eye. Can you get more weight into "az"?

Matthijs Herzberg

Welcome indeed!

Is there a reason for the Q being counterless? I agree with Craig that it creates a very heavy area, and since this is a logo for your calligraphy business, why not keep the letters calligraphic?
Other than that, I'd make the thin strokes in /a and /z more uniform, and the top of the /z could be a little smoother.

Ray Larabie

The counterless Q is a great hook...don't lose that.

Joe Elwell

Maybe a smaller counterless /Q and more organic/italic shaped O to match the /a.

/z diagonal could be thinner, especially near the bottom-left join. And the joining strokes on the top-right and bottom left should be more similar in size to the /a stroke endings

Cool idea, though!

Nick Curtis

I have to agree with Ray. The filled circle balances beautifully/dynamically with the sinuous negative shape created by the ligature, kind of like the yin-yang tension. Its complete lack of pretension gives it a somewhat iconic power, which makes it an ideal brand mark…in my humble opinion.

AbiRasheed

Very cool looking. I feel you should go with a completely filled counter for both /a/z/ as well or just a tiny rounded rectangle counter or a stroke counter.  I attempted a counterless lettering piece several yrs ago that may give you an idea of what I'm trying to say, here's a [link] to the piece.  Here's an [Example] of what you can do with /a/z/. These letters can be easily worked into by having no counter which is why I think you should try it out to stay consistent with /Q. I also think /Q is a tad too rounded, it might look better slightly more oval, not excessively oval but just enough to not look too-rounded. The tail joints around /Q might need to be thinned out a bit and I feel it would be better it's not centered but offset to the right or left a tad more. How much offset is needed will depend on the stress. You need to change the stress which should be angled to the right since you're using script/italic letters for /a/z. Right about now /Q appears to have an upright stress because of the extremely round filled counter while /a/z/ is tilted. Which is why a slightly more oval shape + offsetting the tail is necessary.

Vasil Stanev

If a heavy Q is the problem, I would try a version in which the a and part of the z get inside the Q and are white. But this is only a proposition.

K Pease

/a needs to be more like your sketch: heavier, more closed, smoother round the bottom of the bowl. But not too heavy, as I think the body of /z is already ideal.

While I see how fully connecting them would possibly stop /Q reading as a letter, to perceive the tail as a continuation of /z is what makes this mark beautiful. This makes me want to see the tails' combined curve fully round on the outside as well as the inside, which of course is easier said than done when the break is there. Perhaps, instead of meeting end to end, they could lap past each other slightly, giving it the dimensional appearance of a twist.

Not fully knowing what uses you have in mind, I question the usefulness of an isolated Q mark, because it will be less distinctive alone, and because its dimensions are going to be essentially the same as the full wordmark.

Dave Rowland

Think about the tail of Q and bottom of z as being related as in the image. When you look at it like this you can see the contours are a bit lumpy. I agree the a needs more weight. It might be helpful here to have less of an outstroke, so there's more room for the a.