The Compare Hosting logo is currently in its third iteration, having undergone quite a transition between versions two and three:

As such, we thought it'd be of interest to delve into the process behind this latest iteration.

Earlier versions

Versions one and two were similar, both utilising a lowercase 'c' and 'h' in the Lobster font (a script font available as a download from dafont, as a web font via Google's font API, and from various other sources).

Lobster is an attractive font, and whilst the lowercase 'c' and 'h' of Lobster flowed nicely together, there were two clear issues:

• the font felt unbalanced when placed in context alongside the Futura Std bold of 'Compare Hosting', the Arial body text, and the general data driven nature of the site content
• 'ch' in a circle felt too generic to serve as a logo... to the untrained eye it might have looked as if we'd just drawn a circle and written 'ch' in the middle ;)

Alternative designs

The words 'Compare' and 'Hosting' do not easily lend themselves to graphical representation. Most often 'compare' or 'comparison' are represented in logo form by arrows, whilst 'hosting' or 'host' are shown in the form of a server (either an actual server or an icon-ified server).

The challenge was that whilst these interpretations were clichéd, moving too far from them could result in a logo which was abstract and distant from the brand. So we determined to focus mainly on designs which combined the 'C' and 'H' of Compare Hosting whilst not doing so in an overly literal manner (as in versions 1 and 2 of the logo).

Various alternatives were tried and rejected, amongst them:

• 

  This version attempted to merge the 'C' and 'H', using a mirrored 'C' as the uprights for the 'H'. The idea worked, although the result lacked finesse.

• 

  This version re-worked the previous attempt, utilising overlapping circles whose crescents represented the mirrored 'C'. The central circles between the two crescents then formed the horizontal of the 'H'. However, it looked indistinct at smaller sizes and somewhat abstract.

• 

  This version retained the merged 'C' and 'H' but moved away from the previous circular designs toward a square-edged look. It felt more balanced, although too messy.

The current logo

The current Compare Hosting logo further developed the square-edged approach, overlaying two capital 'H's, one positioned vertically and the other horizontally. At the same time, it can also be read as a combination of four 'C's.

It was selected because its symmetric nature plays on the idea of comparison, it provides a crisp, balanced feel, works well at all sizes, and combines the 'C' and 'H', whilst not appearing overly literal. The logo is finished with a subtle bottom corner gradient and a small border radius.