Open Logo for an Open Geographic Web Startup - No Globes Please!

TexasWideOpen.com

We are looking for an eye-catching logo for a new technology startup. It combines open records information with mapping technologies to be the hub for all publicly available information about your property. The first application of the product will be regarding property tax valuation in Texas.

The logo will appear prominently on our website, but it will also be featured on billboards, so it cannot be too detailed. Texas Wide Open is about transparency in government and the free and open exchange of information. It is about having the information you need to make the right decision. It is about giving power to everyday people through contextual information that has only been available to those with money and power.

My current ideas are a window or door, but we are very open to ideas.

We have and will run a good contest with lots of feedback. Let's have fun developing this logo.

The target audience is property owners. It is a wide demographic, so it needs to have board appeal without being boring.

Real Estate agents, developers, landlords, and home owners will all use our product.

We need a simple design that can include the texaswideopen.com url. We want to communicate openness and ease of use. A large part of our interface is a map with multiple colors for various shapes. See the attached screen shot for an idea of the interface. We would like to include the multi-color aspect of the map into the logo. For instance, perhaps each word could be a color from the map. Please don't include a globe. This is a much over-used metaphor in this industry.

We want people to be drawn into the product and spend time browsing to see what they can learn about local property and how it affects them. We want people to feel empowered and excited about what the product enables them to do because of the knowledge they gain.

While we are now specific to Texas, we will most likely expand to other states. Therefore, any state specific elements need to be easily changed without affecting the core message of the logo. No boots or cowboy hats please.