Our First Logo

The Center for Election Science

The Center for Election Science is a nonpartisan organization dedicated to the objective study of all facets within and related to group decision making and electoral systems. We apply that scholarship to educate on electoral systems and then advocate for those systems which most benefit social welfare. The Center for Election Science is in the process of incorporating into a 501(c)3 nonprofit.
-- http://www.electology.org/about-us

While the subject of our organization may sound dry and mathematical, we are comprised of some very colorful and passionate people. I myself am a Ruby on Rails engineer in San Francisco, and have a day job with an advertising company. So my hope is for our logo to have a bit of "web 2.0" flash to it. That being said, we do have to "compete" with mature and respected organizations such as FairVote (our arch-nemesis) and the League of Women Voters.

We strive to build relationships with elected officials, and have thus far made some headway with e.g. a mayor and the Secretary of State of a US state. We have to come across as a serious organization.

However, we also find that the highly technical aspects of our subject matter are often more accessible and interesting to a younger collegiate audience. There's a fair amount of traction with the demographic who reads Daily Kos or Andrew Sullivan, or watches Rachel Maddow's show.

Ideally we want an aesthetic that straddles the line between professional and hip.

1) The logo needs to somehow embody "elections". Maybe you can use a ballot box, or a ballot, or a capitol dome or something. Surprise us.

2) Ideally it should also convey "science". You could use an atom, a test tube, a microscope, or something like that perhaps. But only if you can find a way to incorporate these aspect, which naturally fits with the rest of the image.

#1 is a requirement
#2 is a "nice to have"

3) The image should include our name "The Center for Election Science", in a SMALL font, no more than 15% to 20% of the total size of the image.