Design Fstoppers' New Logo And Win $2000

4 years ago Patrick and I came up with the idea for Fstoppers.com. We needed a logo and so I went into Photoshop and created the "FS" inside a circle that you can see above. It took me about 5 minutes and neither Patrick or I have ever really liked it. It's time for a change and we will pay you to help us get there.

Fstoppers.com is about to be totally revamped. The blog itself will work exactly as it always has but we are adding 2 completely new facets to the website that will a big jump forward. To match our new site redesign we would like a new logo. You can submit your logo ideas to us at contactfstoppers@gmail.com. If we end up using your logo design we will give you $2000. If we like multiple logos we will put it to public vote on Fstoppers.com. If we don't like any of them, we may decide to stick with what we have but we hope that won't be the case.

Now before you go out and start designing let me explain to you what we want. The first thing we need is a "Mark" similar to the FS we currently have. We like the idea of the "FS" being a unique shape but it's also very important that the "F" and "S" are easily legible. This "mark" needs to be accompanied by the full name "Fstoppers". Both the "FS" Mark and the "Fstoppers" text need to work together and separately.

Below are a few "marks" that I like for one reason or another. You'll notice that each of these examples are extremely simple so please do not over complicate your designs. Feel free to use them as inspiration or create something totally unique.

We had a design firm come up with some concepts and our favorite was the one directly below. We agree that it's an interesting concept and it has potential but it looks too much like a bank or IT company's logo. The other issue is that the "FS" is pretty difficult to read. The circular one below that is something that I created. Again we like the basic direction but it feels a bit too "star trekish." Feel free to take either of these ideas and tweak them.

CONTEST RULES
1: All submissions must be emailed to contactfstoppers@gmail.com with the word "logo contest" in the subject line by Wednesday June 12th.
2: All submissions must contain a "mark" with the letters "F" and "S" and the word "Fstoppers" written out in full.
3: You may submit as many logos as you like.
4: If you use aperture blades in your design I can almost guarantee we won't choose it.

May the best designer win.