I like the area where the counters are shown, have you tried kerning the GDC even closer and then just use the counters? However the ligatured letters in Graphic Design Club are not working for me especially the junctions of RAE and EU and the redrawn B, they leave more questions than you can answer in the logo, for example, why are the PI and EL not joined?
Tim

Keep the logo GDC but its over kill to make ligatures out of the spelled out name. It just looks silly.

Agreed.