The concept is okay, in my opinion. But the overall feeling lacks finesse, subtlety. The capitals are rather insipid in contrast with the flowing forms of the central heart-piece.
The way the H sits against the heart leaves this little angle in the top-right corner. This needs to be corrected. Also, to my eye, the W sits to cramped in the heart. Due to all the diagonal lines of that letter, you need to orchestrate a fine balance between form and counterform here.
Have you experimented with other fonts, or a narrower heart, smaller letters? Might be usefull.

Jay what is a wellness center? Is it a spa? Is it commercial business? My first impression is the mark is powerful but not warm and friendly. It might make a good emblem for a car.

The wellness center is a workout facility. I thought the heart would be a good metaphor since it is so necessary to good health. Here's another variation on the logo. I took the letters out of the heart and made them serif to warm them up some.

That last version is much easier on the eye, Jay. Now that I know what a wellness center is, I think the color might be too 'medical'. And, in this version, the two elements are too seperate. Try to integrate them into a logo that is one.

a flaming heart seems to be the opposite of 'wellness'.

I get the "I heart NY" feel to this latest version. I don't read the flame as a flame and I don't know why you have it at all. At this point I would work on the type. This face is kind of dull.

Okay so the flame is the heart does not work. Here is another version. I put the original flame over heart in the middle of the type. I also changed the type to Adobe Jensen. I really like the feel of this type better. Thanks for the advice.

Jay, much better. I like it reads Houston Wellness. Center. I like the type alot better now too. Now work on the relationship between the type and the mark. I think the mark is to large.

One last thought they need a tagline. Explain the business in 6 words or less. Houston Wellness Center means nothing to the average person. Its not necessarly your job, but make it your suggestion.

I had already thought up a couple of taglines. One was Houston Wellness Center. Wellness is our middle name. One of the owners thought it was great.

I was able to talk with the other owner last week and he liked the new direction I was going in. I will follow up with him soon and see what he thinks of this new direction. I got the feeling talking to him that he is ready for a new design; it just has to be something that he is comfortable with.

I like the direction your logo is taking, but you might want to look at the flame shape and maybe make a small adjustment. As it is now, it is very similar to the shape of a descending dove, in that case it almost certainly gives a quasi religious feel to it - especially in some evangelical circles in the south. Perhaps another toungue on the flame would help or rounding the bottom a bit more. Unless of course it is associated with a church group or religious movement - in which case it would be very appropriate - right now it kinda seems to say Mercy Hospital of the Sacred Heart to me. As far as any ambiguity of the word wellness center - in Louisville almost ALL of the new health clubs are called "Wellness Centers" so I think that aspect is clear - is that a regional thing maybe? I do like the tagling though - very snappy. Is it possible to shift them to a deeper red - less bloody and more soothing? I think that will cut down on the medical feel - also maybe incorporate a softer color into the text to help even it all out.

I don't think I would go with a "deeper red". To me, that is even more bloody. If anything, I would lean more in an orange direction, which has no relationship to blood or medical institutional imagery. Also, I don't mean to be intentionally contradicting Hugh on all accounts, but the dove thing seems to be a pretty far stretch. Anytime a heart is used as imagery, my first concern is avoiding the image of breasts or a butt. In this case, the only alternative image I can see beside the intended one is a flaming fart exiting a butt.

I can't say I like the tagline at all. "Houston Wellness Center: Wellness is our middle name." It is redundant and doesn't add any explanation or description. Something like "Houston Wellness Center: Live a longer, healthier life" or "...Be stronger, live longer" makes a suggestion about what the wellness center is about. "...is our middle name" is an old school clich� that refers to the speaker instead of the reader. Today's customer/client wants to be communicated with in terms of theirself.

Good luck Jay.

yikes - forgot about the whole error thing - been three months since I posted (ugh) if a mod could just delete one of those.

LOL - Scott - boy oh boy I must be way out of practice at critique (heheheh) - Instead of deeper I should have said cooler reds- not quite as far as a rubine, but something of that more calm feel - but orange is an energy color so if you can get them to make enough of a shift to be an actual orangey (is that a word) red then you cold inject a ton of energy into the logo.

Scott you are probably right - it is a bit cliche, but I think that is what appeals to me - it seems like it is coming full circle. There are a lot of taglines for hospitals around here that are those kinds of statements. Norton - Experience. Better Care.; Baptist East - Feel Better. Maybe it was just the whole going for the cute punch line that got the nostalgic side of me.

As far as the dove - I swear I see it, but that may be the fact that I am from the south and you can't swing a dead cat without hitting a church down here. And I know of a couple that are actually called Hearts of Fire Church (one was located in an old firehouse so it was always a bit corny). All I am saying is I have seen logos for churches that maximize the similarity between a flame shape and a downward dove - (i've even designed one or two). If I am the only one who sees it - then you are probably safe. - Just thought to mention it.

The flame is really up to debate right now. I only put it in my logo because it was in their former logo. I don't see how I can avoid a "negative" feel of having a flame over a heart. So the flame will probably be gone soon.

I think just a heart would work fine and I like the suggestion of a differant red. When I first did the logo I was thinking really modern and progressive but now I think they need more of a sedate and passive feel.

Here is another idea. Any thoughts?

I'm trying out some other ideas. I think the heart may be too small and get lost but I wanted to incorporate it in with the type. What do you think?

Another idea. Exploring the hearts as more of a symbol. Any thoughts?

Jay the first one reads Houston Center Wellness. Not Good. I like the second one but I have a suggestion, Houston and Wellness are about the same length, try stacking the name on 3 lines (keeping center small) and let the heart-o work in the negitive space of the upper and lower case letters.

Here's another one. I like this one but I don't like the empty space between the top word and the second word. I also made the heart a little larger and kerned the letters closer.

Jay thanks for trying it but it doesn't work. Did you investigate small caps instead of lower case?

Jay - I like the look of "Post Number: 8". Do you think it conveys the appropriate action words for the Houston Wellness Center?

I think you are in a need of a definition of the center, probably in the form of a tagline. This would inform your design decisions.

One Idea:

� Houston Wellness Center: Be Active. Live Well.

The company has picked a logo they want to use. It is not the one I would have chosen but they were impressed with all the work I did. Now comes the fun part. Business cards. Letterhead. Signage.

Thanks for all the good input.
Jay