Name On Logo: Bicycling In Greensboro

BIG

Bicycling In Greensboro (BIG) is a volunteer-run, grassroots advocacy organization, focused on improving conditions for, and awareness of, bicycling throughout the greater Greensboro, NC area. BIG carries out its mission through Advocacy, Alliances, Education, Events, and Service, with the ultimate goals of safe and convenient bicycling for transportation, recreation, health, environmental quality, and energy independence.

Industry: Non-Profit

1. Bicycling Advocacy & Awareness

2. Recreation & Transportation

3. Sense of the Greensboro area

We are targeting bicycle riders of all ages and abilities: daily commuters, to recreational riders, to racers in the Greensboro, North Carolina area. We are working to increase membership and provide discounts for our members at local bicycle shops, coffee shops, restaurants, and retailers.

We need a simple logo that can be identified in a store window from a distance and readable on wallet sized membership cards. The logo could possibly include our websites bikegso.org or bicyclingingreensboro.com. Possible ideas are:
-include the word “Greensboro” and somehow incorporate a bicycle above the ‘oro’
-adapt the acronym “BIG” in a fun and inventive way
-use the color Green creatively
-use an iconic Greensboro symbol (skyline, monument, historical reference, etc)
-You are the designers – I’m sure you’ll think of something we didn’t!

Designs we like:
-the simplicity of the bpsa.org logo
-the simplicity of the bikedenver.org because the use of the arrow can symbolize mountains, forward progress in advocacy, or a bicycle traffic marking

(Web)  (Print Media)  (Billboards & Signs)  (Television)  (Mugs & Tshirts) 

Attention designers:
We would like the text content to emphasize "BIG" and de-emphasize "Bicycling In Greensboro" so that the logo symbol stands out better from afar. We want the graphic content to convey Bicycling in Greensboro through the image more than text. A small reference to bikegso.org would be OK though.

It may helpful to know that Greensboro, NC is a typical southern city named after a Revolutionary War general, and the city has a few iconic images like the statues in Country Park or the Lincoln Financial building. If you can think of something creative along those lines, that would be great!

Update 9/15/11:
Designers, there has been much discussion on our Friends Page. Here is some of the feedback:

1) I would also like to see more of the character of Greensboro incorporated. Nathaniel Greene is the Revolutionary war hero for whom the city is named. The city is also known its colleges and universities. For recreational cyclists, Greensboro has a major rail trail as well as some mtn. bike trails that people travel good distances to use.

2) what about converting the "circle" encompassing the BIG logo/skyline with a cog instead of just a circle...also rmember that just because others are using the Lincoln Financial building there are other unique things about greensboro- Nathaniel Greene statue..international civil rights museum, that there are 5 colleges/universities in the area, the "Quaker" influence etc.

3) So here is my analysis of several other potential symbols of Greensboro, and why they're unsatisfactory: Our namesake, General Nathanael Greene -- first, his likeness is already being used by the Natty Greene's Brewery, and although he's got name recognition here in GSO, no one from elsewhere would immediately think Greensboro upon seeing his image in our logo.
Much of the problem is that Greensboro has no defining character. It's a predominantly suburban city without an identity. As far as using a building or skyline image in the logo goes -- what's the point? Greensboro's skyline is hardly distinctive, so it's not going to signify anything to outsiders, and the skyline doesn't say anything about our organization or its purpose.
Effective logos communicate almost immediately the essence of the thing they represent. The more intricate and detailed the design becomes, the less effective it is in packing a visual punch. BIG is about bicycling advocacy. For my part, I believe that BIG's logo should be focused on images related first and foremost to bicycling. Trying to hinge our organization's image on some existing symbol of Greensboro should be a distant second on our priority list and should be a very minor element of our logo, if present at all.
Alright, how about inanimate symbols? There's the "Leafy 'G'" -- but that's the City of Greensboro's logo. Okay, well, Greensboro is often referred to as the "Gate City," so how about some sort of gate? -- Maybe, but outside of North Carolina, who refers to Greensboro as the "Gate City?" In fact, who outside of North Carolina, refers to Greensboro as much of anything?
Okay, here's one that probably has a more global recognition in association with Greensboro than all the others -- The "Greensboro Four." Some of you I know are thinking "who?" And I'll admit that I had to look up their names too: Joseph McNeil, Franklin McCain, Ezell Blair, Jr. (later known as Jibreel Khazan), and David Richmond. Still stumped? They're the four NCA&TSU students who began the sit-in movement on February 1, 1960, at the Greensboro Woolworth's department store. Along with Rosa Parks and the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. are among the most universally recognized people associated with the1960s Civil Rights era, and the Greensboro Four are inextricably linked with a single highly visible event that took place in our downtown. But their fame has no connection to bicycling.
Edward R. Murrow -- I don't want to take anything away from the man's accomplishments or George Clooney's film depiction, but seriously?
Dolley Madison -- Another famous resident of Guilford County, but she was actually born before Greensboro existed. She lived in the vicinity of what is now Guilford College, but it was mostly wilderness at that time. She probably has the best overall name recognition of any historical Greensboro native, but who would recognize her face, and then make the leap to associate her with Greensboro? And what's her bicycling tie-in?
William Sidney Porter, aka O. Henry -- 19th century author native to Greensboro, who for a time was more popular than Mark Twain. But most of his literary career came long after he moved away from Greensboro, and like Gen. Greene, even if they would recognize his face, no one but a Greensboro resident would associate him with us -- plus how is he in any way related to bicycling?
For what it's worth, I also feel that incorporating our web address into the logo is important. If we make a sticker, or a shirt, or other stand alone merchandise with our logo on it, including the web address will ensure that folks who see these things out and about, are able to find our organization's website.

4) The Greensboro skyline should be easily recognized by anyone that’s been here a few years, and if it is on a logo that says Greensboro even someone that doesn’t read or speak English could probably figure it out – just in case we want to go national/International? Greensboro is just as important to the name/logo as bicycling is – Bicycling In Greensboro, Inc.. The community tie is important and a legitimate part of the logo. The logo should “say” bicycling and Greensboro, that is who BIG is. When using BIG as the logo there will always be the problem of explaining what it is within the logo. And for that matter the acronym “BIG” is cute and catchy, but maybe it’s time to take a more mature approach and use Bicycling In Greensboro prominently in place of BIG. The acronym makes a great catchy title for rides or casual reference, but it doesn’t have to be the formal reference. We need a good clean design that needs no explanation. With the addition of a small “.com” to some logos and the use of bicyclingingreensboro.com we could have something that doesn’t need any explanation, will work in any situation and when it’s posted on Natty Greene’s door every drunk that passes won’t point at it and say “that’s what she said”.

“The obscure we see eventually. The completely obvious, it seems, takes longer.”, Edward R. Murrow