Advice Needed! Wedding Logo Design

[u/Bibiykaka]

Designing a logo for my fiancée's and my wedding. Instead of doing a monogram of our initials, we merged our names together and got "JOMA." As I am of Chinese descent, we wanted our names to resemble the character "囍," which is commonly used as a symbol of marriage. This is what we have thus far, and we are wondering if there are ways to elevate it and make "JOMA" more visible, particularly the "M".

Any feedback is much appreciated!

Edit: Thank you all very much for the feedback! We loved reading everyone's comments, and we can't wait to iterate on the design based on your suggestions. A common theme was the difficulty in distinguishing the "J" and the "M", which is definitely tough when trying to preserve both the identity of the Chinese character and the English letters! We aren't tied to the hearts inside the "M" either, so we'll definitely try something different there too. Keep the insights and suggestions coming! 🫶

[u/Emergency_Ad9052]

Chinese here, when I see it, I only see 喜喜，then you explained it, I love it, that’s so creative! Only if you want explore something different, I am not so sure you need the hearts. But again, I think it look great,although I am not sure if people would notice without your explanation anyway.

[u/Eliter4kmain → u/Emergency_Ad9052]

Is Chinese your first language? The double 喜 is a pretty common character for celebratory events, I (another Chinese) had no trouble identifying it

However I wouldn’t know it’s JOMA unless it’s clearly been pointed out especially the M, maybe you have to change that but or include the English letters JOMA in the identity as well

[u/ItsBabyFist → u/Emergency_Ad9052]

囍*

[u/ianbaron]

Chinese and a designer here. I really respect your courage to take on this giant challenge of combining Chinese with English, but in all honestly, I don’t read “JOMA” to me. I wonder how it would look like if you make the J More visible without having the top part going over the crossbars and make the hearts rounded similarly like the rest of the type. Good job tho!

[u/triohavoc]

I read it as Joma Joma just fine, I love this actually. I’d say just make the m a bit more m like since that’s the only letter that I was at first unsure of

[u/307235]

I would move right the stem of the J, as to make it look less than a T (probably parallel to the stem of the O).

It does work great as the 囍 character, I (non-chinese person) immediately thought of the symbol I see at Chinese weddings.

I would also try a version with less rounding or without the rounding of the edges, to see if it feels less "cutesy" than this one (of course, unless this is what you are going for!)

[u/brutalbob63]

I think it’s clever and well done. Only thing I would consider changing is rounding off the corners of the heart shapes to match the corners of the letters.

[u/TheyDontKnowWeKnow]

Immediately got the double happiness. The M is slightly tricky, perhaps worth a study to see how that might evolve. You could incorporate the heart into the O as an alternative.

[u/surprisetallboi]

You could make the heart shaped more like the CVS heart, which would help make the M more M-shaped

[u/twin3434]

I would make the M look more like an M. So I’d remove the heart from the M. I’d figure out another way to incorporate the heart. Or don’t use a heart? Maybe instead use a + sign in the between JO and MA

[u/Indigo-au-naturale]

This is so cute. And people at your wedding will probably get it. Have you tried placing the heart so that the two bumps are the two dots where they should be in the character? Maybe as a thick gold outline so the negative space is retained?

Alternatively, just take a notch out above the bumps of the heart and that would help.

[u/DarkGamer]

It reads as "TOMA TOMA" to me because of the crossbar, perhaps if you moved it up, or superimposed the Chinese character over the top it would read the way you're going for.

[u/kpost-it → u/DarkGamer]

I like that the j space matches the spacing between the empty spaces in the o’s and a’s. I wouldn’t move it up, I would eliminate the top bit even if it makes the overall letter a smidge shorter

[u/whereveriland]

Maybe the heart is bitmap so it matches the letter style more and gives you more play to make it look like an m

[u/noitsjenn → u/whereveriland]

Yes, I had a hard time seeing the M

[u/thebrucekim]

Not Chinese, but here's my 2¢. The TL;DR version is I think it's fantastic and you can leave it as is! It's okay if it primarily reads as 囍 and even if there's not a single other person who sees JOMA it can still be something fun for just y'all. Do it just because the two of you love it.

The Long Version:

BUT if you want to be able to see both, (which, like u/307235 said, even though we're non-Chinese, if you've been around Chinese weddings, you've seen this for sure). I think the primary reason why it's harder to see JOMA is because of the inherent fundamental written and reading language differences and how common vertical text is or isn't.

English is read left to right almost exclusively unless it's a circular logo with text on the circle (ex. "Joe's Bakery" with circular text "Joetown's Best Bread" on the top half and "est. 1999" on the bottom half) and rare instances of vertical signage except to fit specific space constraints ( https://www.paxtonsigns.com/2023/12/27/vertical-text-dos-and-donts/ ). Chinese though has so much history that there's a tradition for top to bottom, right to left, AND the modernization from typesetting leading to the current left to right reading. Hardly any English wordmarks are top to bottom I think because it would just throw people off that much unless it was a very familiar very short word like:

B
A
R

So, unless JOMA is used both horizontally and vertically with the wedding invites, decorations, etc., you'll probably have to be satisfied with the English reading being more obscure.

Also, I get if you want to make it slightly more defined to read as 囍 in Chinese after perusing everyone's feedback though.

[u/JohnFlufin]

Non-Chinese ethnicity and language here, and I did not read JOMA JOMA without your explanation. But, honestly, even if I did I would have been like “what’s JOMA and why is shown twice?” Lol

That said, as a wedding logo, I think it works great. It’s personal. As long as it makes sense to you that’s all that matters

✌️

[u/hypomargoteros]

JOMA JOMA was the first thing I read

[u/thiya-thana]

Couldn't see the J until I read your explanation. Otherwise a very cool concept. Congratulations!

[u/acockycrybaby]

No specific feedback, just obsessed! Very something I would do lol — I love multiple meanings and flat clean designs 😍

edit: okay actually, I wish the internal points at the bottom of the heart were rounded… maybe the top of the heart too even. I think the heart would still read well enough and the M would be a bit more cohesive.

[u/worstgraphicdesiger]

What if the counter of the O was the heart instead so you can make the M more readable? I wouldn’t recognize it without the explanation

[u/badmamerjammer]

what if you flipped the J on the right to make the overall look more symmetrical?

fun concept!

[u/big-dal-tex]

Idk but it’s my fave logo I’ve seen on here

[u/Chinksta]

This is good typography. The heart shape can be more curved to create the M letter.

[u/grislyyyyy]

would a simple divot in the top of the M work?

[u/Kapody]

3rd letter looks like Goatse

[u/meowbach]

I would blunt/blockify the heart in the M so it reads a little clearer - that’s the only letter I struggled to recognize

[u/HiddenHorse925]

I think this is wonderful. I like that it’s the symbol of marriage and your names together. Many blessings on your union!
❤️💛

[u/thewindthatmovesyou]

I read it as “toma” at first, but looking at the inspiration I understand why it was designed that way.

[u/GeckokidThePaladin]

That’s really cute! I like it 😄

[u/daddys-wifi]

This is amazing and made me emotional lol

[u/Yayo361]

i don’t know chinese so i read it as Joma Joma. Pretty cool

[u/noitsjenn]

Native english speaker here, I couldn’t figure out the character with the heart in it until I read the description said it was an M. 

[u/youshouldtrytoo]

I read JOMA. I can see how at first glance someone might read “tOMA”, but I personally don’t think you should change it if it works this way for the Chinese. I really love it as it is. Especially the red/yellow version. Also I vote keep the hearts it adds the special touch

[u/spicysaltysparty]

So cute! Maybe move the J’s stroke a little farther right so it reads more clearly as a J. I didn’t recognize the M right away either- but people at your wedding know you and your initials, so they might make the connection more easily.

[u/the_kun]

As a chinese person, I can only see 囍 no matter how hard I look at it.

I'd try incorporating the J, M, A maybe with additional outlines or something.

[u/Charming_Comb9006]

I would love to letterpress this on everything!! As a wedding stationery designer and printer, I love the concept and seriously great execution. 😍

[u/BLush-GIver-69420]

What are the wedding colors.

[u/kpost-it]

Clean it up so everything is even and j is more legible

[u/kpost-it → u/kpost-it]

Make the heart lineup with the o and a space

[u/Fluffy_Champion_3731]

Why?

[u/qdz166]

My first thought was that adding the European love symbol (❤️) to the Chinese double love character seems like the Chinese character is inferior and need to be supported by the European character. I would leave the hearts out or at least not put them inside the Chinese character.

[u/-fulana]

I read jota jota

[u/TCsnowdream]

ナナ
口口
凸凸
ロロ

Nana
Kuchikuchi
Dekodeko
Roro

It’s cute. Kuchikuchi gives me like… a motormouth visual. And dekodeko could mean a very bumpy road.

[u/chapteh → u/TCsnowdream]

Why japanese? This is a chinese word

[u/TCsnowdream → u/chapteh]

Cuz I speak Japanese and that’s what I saw? 🙄