geo-nerd

...that's what I am, and I'm proud of it! Ahhh, geocaching...the sweetest thing since ice cream sandwiches. If you're saying to yourself, "What the heck is geocaching?" then we're probably not friends. Actually, let me restate, we may be old friends pre-09/12/08, and we just haven't hung out in awhile. (Yes, that's the date of my first cache find. No, I didn't have it memorized, I just had to look it up. :) Anyway, for those of you not in the know...grab your gps, go here, and explore this big, beautiful world! You'll thank me later.

Ok, clearly I'm passionate about geocaching, so I'm sure you could imagine my delight when I discovered that there are groups of cachers that get together to talk treasure hunting and have cache competitions! The regional club in here in Memphis is called GOWT, or Geocachers of West Tenessee. When I discovered this, I went straight to their website. I was impressed that they put together this organization for geeks like me, but I thought their logo was weak. Call me a snobby designer, but I immediately wanted to change it.

It breaks like the top 5 rules of logo design:
#1- never incorporate a stick figure.
#2- don't make miniature details that get lost when the logo is scaled down.
#3- make sure it's legible (that T about disappears).
#4- use color appropriately (don't use France's(?) flag, we're in Tennessee! ;)
#5- ok, I exaggerated a little, there's only 4.

Instead of just critiquing it, I decided I would make it goal #77 and redesign it! A couple weeks ago, I looked up some compass roses for inspiration, then started doodling one evening...

The bottom right logo seemed to be working, so I threw it in Illustrator the next day. Here's how it ended up:

I sent it to the GOWT webmaster after I finished it, but I haven't heard back. (Maybe he designed the original and was offended I was suggesting to change it?) haha, anyway, if I ever hear anything, I'll let you know what happens. :]