Create a visual identity for Zephyr, a think tank focused on people and the future

Zephyr Institute

People and the Future

The Zephyr Institute is a resource for the Stanford and Silicon Valley communities in research and intellectual inquiry. Through seminars and support for academic work, the Zephyr Institute seeks to enable members of society to understand, value, and contribute to human wellbeing and the common good.

Our target audience are college students and academics, especially those focused on one of 3 areas:

1. Religion and Society
2. Education (k-12 and higher ed)
3. What it means to be human, and to live a meaningful life

No specific colors in mind

Images to play with could include wind or a wind pane (North, south, east west). Zephyr means "west wind" and was chosen both because Stanford's motto is "The Wind of Freedom Blows". It is a favorable wind, and in many languages, is similar to the word for soul, spirit, essence of the human being.

If the pictorial mark could be a bit abstract (better that than cartoonish).

Regarding the 3 example logos we like from the 99design gallery, the Brickell group is nice in its use of the just the letter in the diamond--simple and elegant, although that logo seems pretty generic--it could be the logo for just about any real estate firm. The other two are nice in that each has a single image that could almost be used by itself to signify the company.

The following comments correspond to the attached pictures I uploaded:
1: We like the idea of have the "Z" be stylized and act as a logo. This one also evokes wind kind of nicely. The Logo could also be "ZI" (Zephyr Institute)
2-4: These are images of the god Zephyr. There is something about the abstract dynamism of this that we like. 2 also evokes a creative force, which is central to the spirit of Silicon Valley.
5: The font here is nice, and the logo incorporates the purpose of the organization (a lavendar farm)--obviously a very different purpose than ours, but we like how they evoke their identity.
6. This simple symbol is ok, but a bit too abstract--almost looks like an electrical outlet
8-10. These would be too corporate / tech startup-y for us. We are more of an academic organization.
11. We don't like the face or the font--too swirly.
12. The font here is OK. The face blowing wind is too obvious, but the "Zephyr Eco" icon is a little too abstract. Visually, they are OK though.
13. This is an institute similar to ours, located in Berkeley. We like that they used a local trend--an arts & crafts stained glass window--to tap into the local flair. This particular style wouldn't work for the Stanford community though, because that trend isn't prominent here.