Detourist Logo

The Detourist Guide is a start-up web community focused on searching out the off-beat, unique and intriguing events, places and things to do in local tourism and recreation landscapes - the cool things to do in your own 'backyard'.

We need to severely punch up our current logo or create a brand-spanking new one on which to base new branding for our community launch in 2009.

Detourist (http://www.detouristguide.com)

We're looking to either update our current logo to provide depth and texture or entirely scrapping the old concept and proceeding with something completely new and fresh (we'd prefer the latter). We are launching our website in 2009 and want the new logo to convey passion and vibrancy but also the organic nature of the project, a sense of discovery with a dash of fun.

The current project is the Detourist Guide but the 'Detourist' brand will be used for other divisions of the project including, for example, Detourist Media or Detourist Press. Therefore creating a logo that encapsulates the 'Detourist' brand free of the use of the secondary term (ie Guide) is imperative. We are open to graphic elements or wordmarks and are excited to experience the creativity of this community.

The logo will be used in both digital and print media - therefore consideration for the printing process should be given including how the logo might look in mono.

Our client base is predominantly women and couples without kids including those young and young-at-heart (eg retiring baby-boomers). Therefore the logo should be hip and progressive so as to attract these groups.

We will be using this experience with 99Designs as a springboard to other work: we have print and web design work to be completed and if this experience is positive we would be interested in retaining you as a designer.

- Must focus on 'Detourist' brand independently
- Think 'local'. Logo should probably not incorporate airplanes or graphics of the earth
- Think access. The community integrates all small scale forms of travel - car, public bus, train, foot etc
- Can be a graphic element or wordmark
- Conveys sense of passion, vibrancy, depth, discovery, organic, subtle, cleverness and with undertones of fun.
- Must consider location in logo for secondary terms like "Guide", "Media" or explanation of how to best integrate these sub-terms into logo
- Appeal to women and couples without kids. Age ranges will be concentrated in the 20-40 and 55+ ranges.
- Even though our audience tends toward women, all masculinity in the logo need not be stripped. It shouldn't be pink with poofy flowers.
- Hip and progressive with a certain flare
- We're not married to our current logo - in fact we're kind of tired of it. It is boring and lacks depth. Feel free to take a new approach, create a character - anything that is memorable

We're open to all ideas...except pink ones with poofy flowers