The WMSC logo

2004: I thought that it would be intresting to fill you in a bit about our club's new logo.

To begin with, we've had a logo since the first year the club was put together back in 1988. Over the years other logos were tossed in here and there throughout the mid 1990's and our club symbol got a bit "misplaced".
So, last year we finally decided to get this straightened out once and for all and this is what we came up with.
The profile of the skater is was one of our founding members who helped start the club back in 1988. I wanted to really make the logo personalized to the club and what better way than to use a member as the model. The stance that he is in demonstrates excellent low speedskating form (a hallmark of ice speedskating) and has the short track skates (not really seen much in speedskating logos) and a helmet. Having the hands on the back suggests the long track speedskating that many in our club also do and where the sport came from. There is a bit of a throw back to our first logo because of the side view stance but the emergence of precise detail is something new and stands out from the all too common whimsical forms seen in many other logos.
The Lower Peninsula of Michigan speaks for itself because this is where we do almost all of our skating. The Upper Peninsula is not included as there are currently no speedskating clubs there. Detail was very important as many of the areas of Michigan have importance to our skaters. One example is the two little islands near the top. There is an Native American legend that tells about how a bear and her two cubs were swimming across the lake and a storm came up before they reached the shore and the mother bear made it but the two cubs didn't and they became the islands while the mother waits on the shore in the form of the Sleeping Bear Dunes to watch over her cubs.
Of course the website address needed to be included as the exchange of information has been revolutionized by the internet and being able to tell people where to find your information is vastly important especially in such a small sport as speedskating. The address also displays the letters "WMSC" which is how our club is often referred to.
The lettering needed to have both a bit of class and a little roughness while also being readable. This was achieved by modifying just the right font and then offsetting the words to visually balance the picture while also allowing the words to interact. I didn't make the lettering too big because the words needed to become a part of the logo and not BE the logo by themself as words have a different focus. The difference in density from the other elements also helps to give balance to the picture.
The frame serves to bind all the elements together and connects the words "Michigan" and "Speedskating".
It's simple, detailed, well balanced and tells you what it's about.