Whats in an image?
Tags: webdev, programming, design
Published: 2019-08-18 13:23:38

---
title: Whats in an image?
published: true
description: Creating a logo
tags: webdev, programming, design
cover_image: http://www.webdad3.com/images/logo2_200.png
---

For PrayerSurfer my goal is to be inviting to everyone.  I've basically decided on the following rules:

* No religion
* No gender
* No words

It can't be strictly Christian, as other religions pray.  It can't be religious as there are also non-religious people that pray.  I'd like to keep gender out of it, if I can.  Also, I'd prefer not to have the logo a word/words.  This could be international, so iconography would be best.

So now the trick is to figure out what conveys prayer with non-religious and non-gender images.

With the rules in place, I began to think about what conveys prayer?

* Praying hands
* Flowers
* Candles

I can't draw worth a damn, but I can use paint.net.  I'm sure if I hired an artist they would blow me away.

<strong>UPDATE:</strong>

I wrote the above a week ago, although I agree with most of the rules above, I decided that iconography is good, but after playing with some images I decided to use some words as using strictly images got cartoonish looking.  Which is also an assumed rule that I don't want the logo to be.

<strong>Finishing strong!</strong>

After a week of not really thinking about the image for a week.  Today I decided to look at images of prayer.  I found a cool clip art of a person in a prayer position.  Then I found one with a person in prayer with the wifi signal above the head.  I loved this one!  However, I couldn't find a stock image of that one.  I used the praying person and the wife symbol to create my own image.

![prayingwifi](http://www.webdad3.com/images/prayingwifi.png)

I then started to look at surfboards for the "surfer" part.  What I decided was to just use a surfboard outline, then just combine the 2 images to convey the 
"prayer" & the "surfer" aspect.

![surfboardprayingwifi](http://www.webdad3.com/images/SurfboardPrayingwifi.png)

I think I found my logo font.  When I was looking for images of "Prayer", I found an image of a shirt that had the words Prayer Warrior in a Stencil.  I found a Stencil font, downloaded it to my machine created the text PRAYER SURFER.

![prayerSurfBoard](http://www.webdad3.com/images/prayerSurferBoard.png)


I started to go down a path with creating a simple sand dune, then I had 2  surfboards next to each other.  Then I was playing around with the orientation of the boards.  Then I added text to one of the surfboards...  Then I added a palm tree...  And...  It just didn't look right.  To me it looked cheesy.

![surfboardprayingwifi](http://www.webdad3.com/images/logo.png)

I decided that wasn't going to work, but I did like certain aspects of the original image.  I liked the prayingwifi image, and I thought the surfboard was simple but interesting.  However, this is where I decided to break one of my original rules.  I liked the text, but I didn't want it on another surfboard.  So I decided to make the text stand alone in the stencil font.  What I came up with, was this:

![logo2](http://www.webdad3.com/images/logo2_200.png)

The thing with logos, is that they can be tweaked.  This is version 1.  I'm sure when I show this to my friends and family there will be good suggestions.  I look forward to that.

Let me know what you think.  I'd also love to know how you create your logos.