OK guys, here comes some feedback. I'm really glad I decided to go with a contest instead of spending some money with another site and could have gotten this done with one group, end of story. Some of the items I like here and, while they may not win, I may want to just add as clip art for the site and keep your info on file as our needs grow for this kind of work. (1) xfactorlogo - I like your new addition it's pretty sharp. The site is a white background, like most, so we need to see how it can look as such. The typeface seems in the right direction being rounded (although I like l3fty's) and the graphic seems to approach a web 2.0 type feel - all good. You don't see the "wave" in the type as that's too subtle and I think the fish graphic could be perhaps improved - I've seen it used here before and I was wondering if you could enhance it slightly or make it sharper looking. Excellent entry and you've got a good eye for design. Note - guys, do keep use of space in mind. Since this is a logo and has to fit on the top left of a page, you don't want it to take up a tremendous about of vertical space. (2) offieri0 - I confess, this is very cute and friendly. I've got to think more about this one since I wasn't sure this was my direction but it has this tremendous personal appeal. I might put the logo on the left since it's easier to read on most web pages that way but I can't be sure without seeing it. Also wondering about whether you might want to add a shadow or some effect to get the logo to leap a bit more off the page - but I don't even know it's necessary. Hard to visualize. Very good entry. (3) l3fty - Great idea and funny having what looks like bettas in a circle. Not sure it connotes as fun a place to be as some of the others, perhaps it's the colors. The font is very good and very creative use of space with the Q and the A. Very creative but at the moment, not as much fun/community as some of the others. (4) Neticule - Great use of graphics and very creative. While I think this is a great graphic I might want to use on the site, I don't know that it would be usable as a logo. The little details require too much space and is better used as one I might use in a section. (5) eRiQ - Very clever. I love the 3-D feel and the sense of depth one gets from being in an aquarium. I'm not sure this provides the friendly community feel the others do. I'll have to think about it. I'm also not sure that the shadowing below works well and seems to only serve to confuse the eyes. (6) shortbus408 - A nice idea and nice use of graphics. I'm not sure that this one strikes me as sharp as the others, which seem simple, clean and get the vision across. This feels a little more clip art stuck in with text. (7) xaralee - Yes, you can submit. I'm an easygoing guy and can forgive and forget. Just think a bit as to sometimes the consequences of where you post since you can't delete or modify here. So as you can see, this does help showcase talent. As I need graphics regularly, I also need to find people that can produce them and this was a good idea.
OK, here are my last set of comments and I'll award a winner by tomorrow. I'd also like to award the runners up consolation prizes, even though I didn't mention one, since the results are great, I appreciate the efforts and also would like to exchange contact info since I'd like to commission work on a going forward basis. (1) Solutions - love it. Both 1 and 3 work well and extremely well done. I'm guessing the font's "A" is sharp at the top but I wonder if it shouldn't have been rounded to fit the feel of the rest of the font. Even as is, great work. (2) Ariestoteles - excellent feel but as mentioned before, I need a white background. The top example is nice, simple and gets the job done although I might not block the bottom of the "p" with that line. Makes it difficult to tell what the letter is. The graphic is very funny but I'm wondering if it promotes what's going on, lol. Also it's quite high vertically as is and makes it challenging to put as a header on a web page. (3) offiri0 - thanks for giving me an idea. I still like this and I'll see how it compares against the others, which are pretty slick and nice too. (4) eRiQ - A very good effort. Not sure if I'm feeling it as much as the other entries. The competition and talent level is high. (5) xfactor - All your entries are quite good. I will have to reconsider your earlier one with italics too. Really nice work. (6) neticule - I appreciate your effort but it looks like I've got a really tough time right now with the choices I have, all of which could easily fit the bill. So at this point I guess I'll wait for one last revision by Ariestoteles and if we have one additional entry that was promised and then I'll make a decision.
We'll have a decision late tonight. Truly great work and it was difficult! I will award consolations to the runners up. Great stuff all of you.
OK guys... today is the day. We've got 3 we really like and are having a tough time. The work is all diverse and good. I'll award runner up prizes too so that people will be compensated for their good work and great submissions.
OK guys... we've got three winners and we're going to hand out more prize money than originally budgeted. We need to finalize the order today. The work is great. Ariestoteles, Solutions and XFactorLogo - congratulations! All of you have winning entries and we'll post here and notify you guys to make arrangements. It took longer than expected because I was arguing with others between the two primary ones I liked - sometimes NOT having good choices is a good thing since then a decision is so much easier! In the end, everyone felt that these three were the most polished and conveyed a great sense of the site. I've got some other sites and look forward to working with these artists in the future. To everyone who participated, there were no bad entries here. Honestly, this contest turned out far better than I expected and these three just seemed to stand out in this event. Thank you very much for your efforts everyone.