Updates

PS Design Tip - I want you to work up the design however you want BUT what I need fundamentally is something simple that can be stuck on a T-shirt, used in a blog header, graffiti-ed on a wall, OR even tattooed on my arm. Basically, it needs to work in black and white. Added Thursday, June 4, 2015

Hi: I've had a few submissions in. Thanks to everyone. I thought I'd update with a couple of thoughts.Firstly, on the balance between sigil and logo. By sigil I really just meant 'magical symbol' - I appreciate that's a little vague - but what I want is for someone to look at the design and not see it simply as a logo. There's plenty of magic in the money & fire symbols themselves, so its really a matter of letting that come through in a way that's instantly and immediately recognizable. Secondly, the balance between the two symbols is really important. I couldn't get that right in my attempt. For example, even though the square and circle are the same size they look different - unbalanced. And the fire and money symbols look similarly unbalanced. Also I'm tending to like fire symbols that are simpler.Jon Added Friday, June 5, 2015

Tip# INVERSION - A few designs have come in where the circle and square are a block colour (or black) and the flame and £ sign are cut out of it. I'm really liking this idea as it seems to have the simplicity I need but also gives balance and substance.
Added Saturday, June 6, 2015

Hi all: Some designers have been working hard on this making multiple submissions. I really appreciate that. So I've dug deep into my burning fund and funded a 2nd place award of £60 and two participation awards of £10 each. I know its not much, but hopefully it'll go a little way to recognizing the effort and hard work. Many thanks to everyone submitting. Jon
Added Saturday, June 6, 2015

I had an exchange of message yesterday with a designer and thought what we were taking about might be relevant generally so thought I'd stick it in an update. Its about the use of the £ sign. Because its not a symmetrical symbol it is causing a few issues in the design. The designer wanted to know why - if my target audience is the universe and everyone in it - I've chosen to go with the £ sign. The answer is simply that I'm doing this in the UK (at first, anyway - no point in limiting ones ambition). As a symbol I much prefer the $ sign . Its symmetrical AND it has a great back story (there are different versions but some think - myself included - that it comes from the Christian monogram IHS ['In Hoc Signo' - By this sign). Join the IHS together and you get the $ symbol. But we all have to start somewhere. And I figured that any design that will work with the £ sign is sure to work even better with the $ sign, and at least as well with any currency symbol.
Added Tuesday, June 9, 2015

Hi - Thanks so much for all the designs. I really appreciate all that people have run with their imaginations on this - however, the designs that are in contention tend to be those that haven't strayed too far from my brief. So if you want to submit in this final week, please bear this in mind. I mean, if you feel compelled to submit something that's completely off-brief, I'll very happily look at it. It could be that something completely off the wall could capture the whole 'money burning' idea - I just I don't think that's very likely. Now. The big problem in the design seems to be the £ sign. As my brief and updates show, I've been fairly convinced that the design needs the £ sign. However, after showing it to a few folks I'm not sure I'm right about this. In particular, for those outside the UK the flame and £ sign had little meaning. There is a universal symbol for money (aside from and image of notes of coins) but no-one knows it (its a square with lines extending from each corner). BUT OF COURSE - for most people in the world the most powerful symbol for money is $ . SO - I'd like to encourage you to try and work with this symbol. Its definitely more aesthetically pleasing than the £ symbol. I apologize if this contradicts what I've said earlier. Living in the UK the £ symbol has a strong hold on my imagination - so its hard to let go of it. But in the few basic mock-ups I've done I can see that the $ offers all sorts of design possibilities. Good luck. I look forward to seeing the last batch of submissions. Many thanks for all your hard work and creative effort.
Added Sunday, June 14, 2015

Thanks very much to all the designers who contributed to my project. I appreciate all the efforts that have been made. Good luck with your future design projects. Jon
Added Friday, June 19, 2015