Xenia Church of the NazareneLogo Design Contest

re: COLORS - now that we've seen designs with golds (the flame) and red / orange, it is clearer to us that these colors are probably not what we're going for - they seem to lean the design in the direction of traditional/conservative.

While our community is conservative, our church is rather progressive (contemporary worship, casual dress and atmosphere). A more modern color palate would be best.

In addition to this information about our worship style and atmosphere, note that we are a large church (avg. 550 in attendance).

Watch our custom Welcome Video to get a sense of the media / aesthetics we use in worship: http://vimeo.com/29245573 (sorry I didn't think of specifically including this sooner!)

Thanks to all designers for the entries. We're getting excited for how this contest will turn out.

We put this in the brief, but just a reminder that we've had 2 different versions of a "tree" logo beginning in the late-90s, and we think we're ready to get away from this. So no more trees. (The leaf concept is good though, as it signifies growth, and is distinct enough from the tree.)

Let us emphasize again that we want something strong, clean, iconic, modern, more masculine than feminine.

We've left the image / symbol up to the designer, but it would be great to see some logos using other common Christian symbols, e.g. dove (holy spirit), cross, various symbols (traditional, or something original playing on 3s) for the Trinity.

FYI, the official symbol of our denomination (the church of the nazarene) uses this dove: http://www.fellowshipnaz.com/images/home/logo_nazdove.jpg (ignore the colors)

Random thought: the community of Xenia is a major bicycling hub (our water tower says "the bicycle capital of the midwest") - could a symbol be conceived that could play on that somehow? Something that you look at and first see a spiritual/Christian meaning, but then on closer look realize it's a bicycle wheel, or something?

The other important thing about Xenia is that we're "the city of hospitality" (the name "Xenia" means "hospitality"). This is very important to our church as well.

Go nuts!

Note to designers: a sans serif is probably best (the serif fonts all look a bit too conservative / conventional to our tastes).

You might refer to the font used for the new website we are building (the font on the menus and in page content - not in the logo, which is our current logo and just there as a placeholder) - this is the fully operational demo of our site template from Clover - http://demo.cloversites.com/demo/2agic/greenhouse/demo/

Thank you to all designers who have contributed so far. We have requested an extension to the contest to allow the opportunity for more submissions to roll in.

Here's an idea - the pineapple is a traditional symbol of hospitality; Xenia is the city of hospitality (the name Xenia is greek for "hospitality"); we want to be a church that practices hospitality.

Anybody want to have a crack at something incorporating a pineapple as the "icon"/symbol? That could be very cool / original... we can't think of a church we've ever seen that uses that - it gets us outside the box of many traditional "church-y" symbols, but it is a symbol that still is very resonant with the Christian life and faith.

If you decide to try this, it would still need to be very MODERN looking interpretation of the image of a pineapple - don't get too "elegant" or elaborate with it.

Thanks! We love seeing these entries roll in.

UPDATE: We are not in agreement about the pineapple - the very valid concern is that it is not well enough known to be a symbol of hospitality, and we don't need something that makes people wonder, "what does that mean?" (We have that now with our tree.)

Sorry for the change of direction. There's no doubt that some of those pineapple logos are wonderful.

We'd be fine with seeing more recognizable images, e.g. crosses, doves, anything else you can think of.

Client asked for extension to get more ideas.

Okay, let us extend a HUGE "thank you" to all the designers who have worked on this project so far - we do not take your talent or your time for granted, and we very much appreciate you entering the contest. Your efforts thus far have really helped us hone in on what we're looking for.

Now that we have seen several different concepts (doves, leaves, pineapples, lighthouses, crosses, etc), as a staff we're beginning to discuss and consider what it is we're really going for and what we want the logo to communicate.

**We'd like to move toward a design concept that communicates an "external"-focus - sending out, leaving the church, being "missional" in the community and in the world.** We share this organization's ministry philosophy (and they have a nice logo too!) https://www.facebook.com/externallyfocusednetwork

Some obvious images come to mind for us - arrows, a cross with arrows on the four sides - but we'd like to see what you come up with. Something like this is on the right track: http://www.biz-logo.com/pre-designed-7/church-logo-05.gif - BUT this design is not modern enough, too busy (don't need 8 arrows - just the 4 is plenty), we don't care for the "sun" thingy behind the cross.

Stylistically, our top ranked logos come nearest to the "feel" we're attracted to - clean, modern colors and lines. Strong and understated. We've not ruled out the dove yet, but we would love to see some ideas that convey this idea of being "sent forth" into the world, rather than huddled together behind the doors of the church.

It is important to us that the logo be pretty immediately understandable (this is the problem with our current logo; nobody knows what it means) - it should not require any (or much) explanation. We realize this is a fine line to walk - if it's too simple / obvious it will probably be cheesy, but if it's too modern / stylized, it will likely be obscure or unclear. It needs to get the message / point across without much thought or effort, but still be cool, simple, modern, slick. Hope this helps. I feel like we're getting close to something that will work for us.

Thanks again to everyone who has participated in the contest. You guys are amazing, and we so appreciate your talents and submissions and the way you've helped us close in on a concept - we started out with very little idea of what we wanted, and now have a clear direction that the "external focus" symbolism (i.e. that we're a church that is here to serve our community, not just a "holy huddle" of people coming together to escape from the world) is the key factor that we need the logo to communicate. The top ranked logos reflect this.

One of our staff came across this piece of stock art - we like it conceptually but aren't crazy about it stylistically - it's a different direction than the "cross with outward-moving arrows" but it communicates the same idea. http://www.jeffjonesillustration.com/stock-images/custom-logos/1056/hands-outreach-logo/?page=1

If anyone has the inclination to run with this before the contest ends, it would be given strong consideration.

Just wanted to thank ALL the designers who submitted logos. Thank you for the gifts of your time and talent; we appreciate each one of you and how you helped us figure out what we needed in a logo. Blessings!
~Xenia Naz