Outside Critique

So I had my outside critique yesterday with Todd Lipscomb, a senior art director at Intrinzic, Inc. in Newport, KY (the agency I interned at summer after sophomore year). I think it has been the most beneficial critique so far. We sat down and he gave me his opinions about what I had accomplished so far and what was not quite there. He also reminded me of something that I had not been thinking about this whole time which was vital. Throughout this process, I have forgotten who my client was... ME. He reminded me that a senior capstone project such as this should push the envelope because when you have real clients, most of the time you're going to have to play it safe, so have fun during this project. He encouraged me to push my concept past something that has to work and function in the real world. I then started going through my project and realized that I had lost a lot of the fun that interested me in this concept in the beginning. Monkeys are fun... my mark right now is not fun.
After I explained my concept and reasoning for my mark, we went through all of my process and sketching. He really thought that my main components for my mark were very well thought out, but just needed to be reorganized to create something more dynamic and fun. There was a disconnect between the clever name and the static mark that was dangling above it. After looking through a couple of the previous logos that I had come up with he noticed one (the one I have shown here). He noticed that their was something happening in the counterforms that made it look like a monkey. So I began doodling and working with it as soon as I got home and I think I have found something that will really push my idea and fit the attitude I have been trying to convey.
He also encouraged me to sit down and really construct the copy of my messages which will in turn build a stronger brand.
I have a lot of work to do over the next month but nothing out of my reach. I'm glad I had my critique when I did because he gave me significant feedback that will need time to develop.