In a private message, I was asked to provide feedback to help those of you who are looking to improve your design skills. This post is only intended for those who want truthful suggestions and is not meant to be taken as an insult.

2 main points.

The fact of the matter is that when it comes to graphic design, you need to have an eye for what looks good. Some of the submitted designs just didn't look good (color combinations, font choices, etc). Spend some time looking through the contests run here at SitePoint to train your eye for the sort of designs and color combinations people are looking for. Also, spend time looking at professional quality websites. Don't be afraid to model yourself after certain design patterns that you see time and time again.

Second, some people just need to learn to use the information given by the customer. Pay special attention to the description. Show the customer that you're taking this contest seriously if you want to be taken seriously by the customer. Check and double check that your logo meets all the standards set forth by the customer.

In the end, I chose Lugosi's design (notice it was his first and not the subsequent iterations) because I thought it fit best with our site design and the request for a glossy, sports magazine look.

Some things that matter:

1) Background color
2) blending well into the new site

When considering a background, you might want to take a look here:
http://www.phillysportsline.com/

Some general feedback:

1. Many of the designs are using bright colors that remind me of the colors I see in Saturday morning cartoons. We're looking for darker, deeper colors (maybe even maroon on the red...you can see the exact colors we're looking for in the description)

2. I'm looking for a dark, shiny, glossy, magazine cover look. Many of these designs are too flat (and as I mentioned before, some are too bright).

3. If you're capable, please try to show your design in the context of the posted site. Even if we like your logo, if it doesn't fit well into the site design, we won't be able to go with it.

4. The logo we pick will be the one that we can just drop into the current site design. We don't want to do any in-house graphic design. So please design the logo with an eye to the entire 960x100 space that you'll be filling.

Again, here's the page where you can go to see the space that you are being asked to design:
http://www.briangardner.com/demos/i…illysports

Sure, I could pay via 2Checkout.