This is meant to be a simple and flat design that will print well on various things (shirts, mugs, etc). There is a sun to highlight the use of solar energy. Embedded within the sun is a simple diagram to depict charge separation and transfer. Also, burnt orange is used throughout as it's a good color for the sun, and it provides a subtle reference to UT-Austin, where the center is located.
We like the inspired use of the electron/hole pair in the sun graphic! We would like to see the sun mark de-empahsized a bit, made smaller to be more in-line with the text.
Might also be nice to come up with a way to include a component of the other half of our research team (lithium batteries) in this logo...I don't want our solar people getting an unfair bias.
This is an update to entry #2 with the sun graphic sized down to approximately the same size as the text. also, this graphic uses a circuit diagram theme to incorporate the standard symbol for a battery in attempt to better represent the battery research at the center.
Very clever! We like the incorporation of the battery very much. The plus/minus are difficult to discern on this one, though. Is there any way to make them more visible, perhaps?
We would also like to see a little more variation in color in the graphic. A golden yellow sun could be a start. Perhaps different colors for "EFRC" and "CST," or maybe a suble gradient in the text. Just something to make the graphic a little more eye-catching.
updated version of entry #3 but with more colors, 3D effect on the sun and wires, and also the charges have been moved out of the sun and on to the terminal leads. graphic suggests you're now "wiring up" the sun to harness its energy. also, the green lettering is meant to give the logo a "green", environmentally friendly feel.
Between #16 and #18, we prefer #16, with the heavier font for CST. Another option might be to use a different Color for CST (perhaps a blue). Please see our new comment on the general contest discussion board regarding colors.
Minor criticisms, but would it be possible to change the shading effects on the vertical bar between EFRC and CST so that it doesn't appear overlaid on the two horizontal bars?
updated entry #18 with blue color for "CST". also put the vertical wires to the right and left of CST underneath the horizontal wires. if you think the heavier font in entry #16 would be better, i can certainly update that version with the wires and also the blue color if you like. i can also change the blue; it may be a bit bright.
#19, please try to update the lettering with blues and greens that complement the color palette on the UT colors website (link provided on the general discussion board for the contest).
At this point we're interested in seing some variations of this theme. Perhaps a blue EFRC and orange CST, since the CST part is the part that's unique to UT....and then maybe another different color for the circuit, since orange is used for CST in that case.
Blue is good to use for EFRC because the Dept of Energy itself uses blue lettering in their own EFRC program logo.
Morning update: The voting committee is indicating that they'd like a more 3D effect within the text. Perhaps a gradient? There is also some concern that the sun might appear too "cartoon"-ish. If you can think of ways to resolve those issues we would love to see them. Thanks for all your hard work! We really appreciate it!