Forward Lookout needs a new logo

Three years ago, when Lukas and Brenda brought their blogging efforts together onto one site, they also did a favor to some of the rest of us by inviting us in to blog on the site as well. For myself, I’ve been very thankful for the opportunity to reach a wider audience, and hope that I’ve contributed pieces that help advance what’s been the unchanging mission of the site since day one: shining a light on what’s happening in our community, and advancing a progressive agenda.

Something else that hasn’t changed since day one: the basic look of the site. Except for a few minor changes last spring, what you see now is about how it looked at the blog’s launch. Now, blogs and websites go through redesigns all the time, sometimes seemingly only for the sake of doing a redesign, but sometimes it’s necessary.

And to be sure, there are some shortcomings in the current design. The pages are visually very busy, and in fact so busy that it can be hard to read the posts.

So, we’re working on simplifying the design and cutting down on the distractions. We’re not sure just how minimal we’ll go, but there will definitely be less on the page than there is now.

One thing that would improve a minimal design is a new logo. The current logo is more of an icon for Facebook and Twitter than a site logo:

It doesn’t even appear on the site that often.

In my mind, the name ‘Forward Lookout’ implied, well, a lookout of some kind. I also thought it should incorporate some sort of directional feel. Now, I’m pretty terrible with Illustrator and Photoshop when it comes to creating new art, so I’ve spent some time searching for vector images that are either Creative-Commons licensed, or available for low cost. I was super-excited when I found this image not too long ago.

Sure, it’s a lighthouse, and not a “lookout”, but a lighthouse and a lookout aren’t that different, I suppose. When you flip it around it’s got a strong “forward” directional component, and even better, the beams of light have “shine a light on dark places” connotation, which fits well with the site. It was super-affordable to boot. I was very excited and thought we were set.

Alas, when I went to actually buy the artwork and I read the fine print of the license, it turns out that you can buy and use this image for pretty much anything – except for a logo. Drat.

So, we’re back to square one, and that’s where I’m hoping that one of our readers can come in. Can you help us out with a some or part of a new logo? Either something with our “tower and beam of light” theme, or something else original? We’re open to just ideas of what the logo should look like, pointers to Creative Commons or other suitably licenseable material we could work with, or full-out submissions of part of a logo or an entire thing.

Making the site easier to read from a cleaner look is something I really hope to make happen. If anyone can help me with that, thank you very much in advance!