Earlier this month I began working on a logo design for this site to put on the banner and, at some point, on a jersey. As on my previous websites, I always create my own graphics -- I do have a bit of a design background, though much neglected, as well.
While I put up a temporary banner without a logo, I began the design process of the logo by looking for ways to bring both cycling and long beards into a single, simple image. As mentioned on the about page, big beards are more often associated with biker culture than with cycling culture. I'm hoping to do my part to fit beards, man's natural adornment, into cycling culture -- not all cyclists are into shaving, be it of legs or faces.
I shared an early attempt on a beard community forum to get some feedback. The feedback was helpful -- supportive, practical and humorous. One member pointed out how the two components of my original attempt, the big beard and the bicycle, did not mesh. The bicycle was somewhat simple, though not highly stylized, while the beard was too realistic. Another member came up with a very funny design of his own, posted below with his permission.
After leaving the process for a couple of weeks, being extremely busy and overworked at work, I decided to give it another shot last night. I ended up staying up somewhat late working on the logo, using the open source GIMP Image Editor. I really, really like the program. Anyone possessing basic Photoshop skills is able to use this free tool rather quickly. Anyway, I ended up using a more stylized cycling image and redesigned the beard to be similarly simple, stylized and abstract.
Jihan was already asleep by the time I completed the logo last night, so I had to wait until this morning to show it to her. She really liked the new logo, but had some issues with the banner. She provided some useful feedback and I kept tinkering for a bit, finally coming up with a banner that we both liked and on which the background image -- usually scenes from the road on cycling trips -- can be easily updated. The logo and title can also be easily repositioned. That's the magic of layers.
I think, while sufficiently geeky, this logo works well on the banner and may actually work quite well on a future custom-designed jersey as well.
