crowdSPRING

Creative brief

LET ME TELL YOU ABOUT US:

We are building a news portal that is unapologetically pro-consumer. We will have information about product recalls, consumer safety, consumer scams, and similar information that a careful consumer would consider interesting and helpful.

HERE IS WHAT WE NEED:

We need a banner with our logo that will look great with the BlogNews Premium Theme we're using. A link to a demo version of the theme is here: http://www.gabfirethemes.com/demos/blognews/ . The current banner says BlogNews and we want to replace that with our logo. There is also an ad space (currently advertising Bearbeiten von Wikipedia) on the right side of the banner, and we'll probably want to continue placing ads there ourselves, although we might make them a little smaller if we really needed to do that. We hope that our logo and the current-sized ad leaves enough space somewhere on the banner for an easily seen Search Box. We really want a Search Box that is more prominent than the existing one in the BlogNews theme, and some top News sites have them on the banner where they can be seen easily. We like that, and our developer tells us we can move the Search Box to the banner and delete the small Search Box above the banner.
We have used crowdSPRING.com to Crowdsource our logo. We've got 4 more days to make the award and we're still hearing from people expressing their opinions. We've decided to go ahead and post this project before awarding the final banner, and just tell you who the finalists are. You may have an opinion about which logo works with the overall look of the home page, and we would be interested in hearing that. Please note that, if we choose a logo that is mostly blue, the red block around the "Home" button, the red line under the menu, and the red topic headings can all be made blue by using a different style option in the theme, so we aren't constrained to the red-friendly if we don't want to be.
We've narrowed the logos down to 5. They can be seen at http://tinyurl.com/lqxfpv . If I can see the gallery because I'm logged into my account and you can't, please let me know and I will figure something else out. As you might guess, we're sort of new here.
Our favorites are all on the first page. If you start counting lines at the top, and then count columns starting at the left, the favorites are:
Row 3, Column 2 by logostate
Row 4, Column 2 by joobs84
Row 5, Column 3 by HotDogPr
Row 7, Column 2 by logostate, and
Row 8, Column 2 by logostate.
The banner can be the same size as the existing banner on the theme, or it could be a little taller if that would look better. I think a white banner looks better than a black banner with our theme.


OUR TARGET AUDIENCE IS:

Well-educated, informed consumers who want to be aware of current issues affecting them.

WE LIKE THESE DESIGNS:

ABC News
USA Today
Los Angeles Times
MSNBC
Chicago Tribune
Fox News
CNet.com
Bloomberg
I'm aware that the last two have black banners, but I'm not sure a black banner would fit with our theme. The banner will need to fit with the theme, and the banner from some of these sites might not do that. But, I admit, I am no designer so I may be entirely mistaken about what would look good.

WE ABSOLUTELY MUST HAVE (or we don't want to see) THIS IN OUR DESIGN:

Nothing cartoonish or amateur-appearing. Nothing that would lessen the site's credibility.

Update 2-Jul-09, 4:34pm GMT

This may not have been clear, but I only need one banner for the Home page. The logo will contain the site's name, so I don't need you to put ConsumerNews anywhere. I just want the logo, the search box, and the place to serve ads.
Thanks.