New Learning Website Logo: Curious Reef

LET ME TELL YOU ABOUT US:

Curious Reef is a new learning community targeted at adults. People who have similar interests can organize a class around freely available content on the web. People can learn computer programming, foreign languages, music, math and science, arts and crafts, and more.

Curious Reef doesn't offer degrees. Instead, it allows people to track their progress for what they've learned and provide ways to give and receive feedback for their work.

I developed Curious Reef out of my own need because I like to learn new things.

I have run a crowdSPRING contest before and I was extremely pleased with the results. This is an awesome community and I'm looking forward to what you all can come up with for this website.

Every submission will get a rating and feedback. I promise. I did this for the last contest I ran, and it was very successful. I can't give feedback during business hours though (9 - 5 Eastern), so you may need to be a little patient.

HERE IS WHAT WE NEED:

I need a logo.

It will be used in the upper left-hand corner of my website.

OUR TARGET AUDIENCE IS:

My audience is adults who are interested in learning or teaching something new. Autodidacts, so to speak.

WE LIKE THESE EXAMPLES:

Sorry, but I can't provide much guidance here. It really can be almost anything, and I can't find a logo that's similar to what I want.

I can give guidelines though:

- The page layout will be reminiscent of underwater, meaning the whole page will have a blue background. The logo should compliment the semi-underwater theme.

- Colors: anything goes! blue is going to be a dominant color on the page, so it should match blue (can be almost any blue, I'm flexible) and also stand out. Maybe add orange or some other contrasting color to the logo.

- Style: Something that is a little playful, but not too gimmicky or childish. It should have a soft feel instead of a hard-cold feel.

- Fonts: Anything is possible here. Maybe cursive for Curious and a fat font for Reef? Whatever you think would look good. I might avoid blocky fonts in favor of rounder fonts, like the crowd spring logo.

WE ABSOLUTELY MUST HAVE THIS IN OUR PIECE:

Main requirement is that it be legible. Some creatives may want to try to make letters out of pieces of coral. I only suggest that if you do go that rout, make sure that it's not childish looking and that it's clearly readable.

It should be on a blue gradient background. I've attached an example blue background that you can use. Feel free to modify it or create your own blue gradient background. It should go from light on top to dark on bottom.

It should not be too big. I know it's a vector, but it should definitely be legible inside the 136 x 500 background image I've attached. I would prefer if it could look good at about half that size though, about the size of the crowd spring logo.