Hi Eddie, Thank you for your entries! Great job! Your take on it is different and I like the simplicity. The reason I ranked #26 second is that the design element could become iconic, separate from the complete logo - possibly even more so than design #3. I like the colors, the energy, and the compactness of both designs. I need to check them out with some teenagers to see how they respond.
Re. #29, I just prefer #28 better. Re. #30, I prefer #26 better - in both cases, because the words have more presence. Re. #27, don't like it quite so much.
Hi Eddie, I've been polling a number of "youth" today and several have liked #28 - my concern about it is whether the accent element can stand on it's own and become iconic, without the words.
The response I'm getting about #26 is that it reminds them of Apple (I'm a Mac user, and I'm thinking it must remind them of the user icons), so I don't think it'll work. I liked your idea, though.