“I am designing …”

Are you sure …?

I am not a graphic designer, but an architect as well. We would hire a graphic designer, except as a nonprofit, we have absolutely no money. This is something we are doing on the side, working with local communities to rebuild homes that are still uninhabitable after Hurricane Katrina. The logo isnt even that important, as we have no physical presence, office, website, or anything. We all do this in our spare time outside our regular jobs.

Thanks for the sarcasm Andreas, hope it made you feel better about yourself for the day.

I would suggest that you not try and get a Southern touch out of a font. The US doesn’t really have much in the way of geographic font associations aside from people associating the mythical old west with fonts that were actually in use all over the country.

James,

Thanks. I guess what we were thinking is something like the text on a Jack Daniels bottle, the word Whiskey at the bottom.

I think that the Jack Daniel’s letters are custom letters, but Brothers or Council from Emigre could work.

"modern and clean but also has some kind of southern touch to it"

In architectural terms, that seems a bit like asking for something that is mid-century modern but also log cabin rustic.

Maybe stick with modern and clean for the type, and consider a secondary element to tie in the regionality (is that a word?) of it. An icon or symbol to go with it. Given that you are architects, the obvious (if maybe a bit cliche) suggestion would be a sketch of a traditional southern covered front porch.

I think I agree with aluminum; drop the search for the 'southern' font and go with something else that will give an immediate visual trigger for your area. Maybe not a porch, but a colonnade or portico? Or maybe an even bigger cliche for your particular area: a stylized fleur-de-lis that could get across your group's mission?

You could get quite a bit of mileage out of a slightly watermarked loose sketch of any of these, and going with that option would give the modern look your organization is wanting.

Good luck!