Illumina - these are great, and have quickly risen to the top of the pile - there's a definite "Oooh - that's cool" factor here. :-)
I think you've hit a good balance of a modern design and color palate, and (as you say) without being too obscure or too obvious. My only concern (having had a couple people look at it) is that it's not immediately clear whether it's a dove or a flame (I assumed dove - my wife assumed flame).
One logic would be that that ambiguity is actually cool, and a good thing - both have spiritual significance. I'm not sure what it would require to make it more obviously one or the other, and I'm not even sure it's necessary, but it's just a thought / point of feedback.
Thanks - you've clearly got great talent for this. We appreciate you participating in the contest and putting for this effort. If you have time and inclination, don't feel locked into the dove concept - we aren't, necessarily - it would be sweet to see what else you come up with. For better or worse, we're (as a church staff) kind of at a place of "we'll know it when we see it," without any real clear conceptional guidelines for the symbol at this point.
Could we see this concept with the dove flying "horizontally"? maybe facing left (away from the text)? Might help make it more clear that it's a dove.
And actually, in terms of Christian symbolism, in would make more sense for the dove to be "descending" (signifies the Holy Spirit coming down) rather than ascending. Experiment with it and see what you think works...I think the challenge with it up OR down is to make it clear that it's a dove without it being too cheesy or obvious.
Thanks - you're nailing the style/look we like. Really nice. Please note our latest update to the contest discussion page - I'll paste it in here, since we're preferring your designs the thus far. Also, we've extended the contest for 3 days to allow more time to come up with something we'd be willing to abandon our present logo for... always gotta have consensus in church world! :-/
From the discussion: 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.**
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.
P.S. Illumina - if you do any more work on the "dove" concept, why don't you try something with it descending (not straight down kamikaze style, but more "coming in for a soft landing" (like the nazarene logo I linked earlier), and facing right (TOWARD the church name / text...again, like the denominational logo). Does that make sense?
However, we'd love for you to take a crack at the cross/arrows concept or something else that implies an outward/external-focus.
I need to take a step back and think a little on this. Spending too much time attempting things without thinking them through, so I need to clear my perspective! I will be back for sure :)
I'm at a loss on how to make another variation of the dove/flame combination. But here is a cross with arrows. I thought perhaps arrows facing inwards would also imply a "coming together", as in the people of the congregation coming to Nazarene to be together in a shared belief, and friendship.
Cool! That implication of the arrows is certainly part of church life - coming together, fellowship, etc - but the quality we most wish to convey is an outward/external focus - arrows moving out into the world. Thanks! Good to have you "back"! (I'm glad we're finally honing in on something on our end.)
Thanks Illumina! We really like #125, the arrow/cross - one of our staff said the texture behind the cross reminds him of broken glass, which could signify that we're all "broken" and imperfect. Good stuff. If you have any ideas for alternate takes on that theme, don't hold back! It might also help for us to see the same design in another color palate or two - obviously this is your area of expertise, not ours. Thanks so much!
We saw the stained glass, too. :-) we liked it! even the person who was seeing the "broken" implication meant that in a good way! We like the new one, too, though - stylistically it seems a bit "stronger" and cleaner.
Thanks again for your contributions! We're quite fond of #167. We've ruled out the "hands" concept - as we discussed it today as a church staff, it was clear that it wasn't easily or universally understood.
Is there any was in #!67 to made sure that the "arrows" that constitute the cross aren't mistaken for just a stylized cross with little fancy ends? I'm not sure what - as I say, we're quite keen on it as it is.
Thanks again for sharing your time and talent with us. Oh, and even though we've ruled out the "hands" concept as our church logo, our children's pastor loves #131 - the more "handprint" feel of it would be great for something related to children - keep that one in your portfolio!! It is a great design, just won't work for our main logo.
I can try to make the arrows more pronounced, I was celebrating valentines day with my husband today and havent had time to design. But I will have changes ready by this afternoon :)