SS,
We like your symmetry with the word, its appealing to say the least.
Your design progressions lead us to wonder what a logo would look like where reading from left to right, the letters would start big, slowly get smaller, until the middle of the word, and then start getting bigger again end at the same large size as the beginning (Big "L's", medium "A's", smaller "T,E,R")
Just a thought, thanks for your patience,
Lateral Team-