Wow, I didn't realize there would be so much activity at the end of the contest. I apologize for being absent on the last few days of this competition, it was unfortunately unavoidable due to a death in the family. And I don't feel right awarding a winner without having been able to give everyone feedback on these great designs. I can't extend this contest either, since it's already ended, so instead I intend to create a new contest in a few weeks when I can guarantee the prize and will contact each of you directly so that you can resubmit these designs to the new contest. The design brief for the next contest will be more specific, however, if you've already submitted a design here, I'll guarantee consideration for your provided design in the new contest. Thank you all very much for some wonderful designs, and I hope to see you all in a few weeks. :)

I may have to extend this competition because it looks like I might be out of town for my borther-in-law's funeral over the next few days and may not be able to provide much feedback during that time.

Thanks to everyone for your time and your enthusiasm! :)

http://www.athenaconstruction.net/i…nalogo.jpg
http://www.evaluance.com/Images/athena_logo.gif
http://www.athenainfrastructure.co.…a_logo.jpg
http://gis-web.jacobs-university.de…go_150.gif
http://www.hermes-softlab.com/news/…ogo_US.gif

There's still lots of room for more entries -- I'd like to see more entries similar in style to #13 and the designs I linked. I'd really like to see another one from Diana like #9, but more stylized (2-dimensional, less detail) more like #13. :)

The flame design in #13 is the current forerunner.

http://www.tmbc.gov.uk/images/Mayor…t_Logo.JPG

http://www.parthenoncapital.com/images/logo.gif

http://www.owlinsight.com/images/owl_logo.gif

Here are some additional samples of logos we like:

http://www.onlyinhouston.org/attach…nWhite.gif
http://www.wave-front.co.za/Design_…s/Logo.gif
http://johnlepinski.com/images/800/…G_Logo.png
http://www.easterndrafting.ca/inclu…s/logo.jpg
http://swahvay.deviantart.com/art/b…6-93330254
http://www.harlowtech.com/images/main_logo.jpg
http://pvanhoesen.com/images/170_co…n_logo.jpg
http://www.saministryresources.ca/U…e_logo.jpg
http://www3.niaid.nih.gov/NR/rdonly…t_logo.gif
http://www.fotosearch.com/bthumb/OM…6P0102.jpg
http://www.blohmcreative.com/Images…goFull.jpg
http://bejourneys.com/Aristotle_Logo.JPG
http://www.philosophicfilms.com/ima…white2.jpg
http://swansat.com/images/logos/swa…d_logo.jpg
http://lh3.ggpht.com/_0gAZrX778kM/S…e-demo.png

Design #8 is my current favorite for style... BUT... it's got several problems. First it emphasizes the text. People won't recognize the silhouette of the face if I remove the text - that's a problem. De-emphasize text. Second, although looking to the sky is great symbolism for hope, I'm still not getting much in the way of TRUST in these designs.

The pair of hands in #10 could be a good start on the trust concept... BUT... they're photo-realistic and won't translate very well to printed business cards. Symbols in the designs should be stylized like the silhouette of the face in #8. Designs #9, #10 and #11 are generally a bit too complicated / busy. Designs #4 and #6 are good for being simple although they're a bit too generic.

This logo could almost work if the intellectual property didn't already belong to someone else: http://www.afcna.org.au/images/logo.jpg

Some good examples of other companies that have done a good job inspiring trust are Allstate Auto Insurance ("your in good hands"), State Farm ("and like a good neighbor, State Farm is there") and Prudential ("get a piece of the rock" with a picture of the rock of gibraltar).