Logo / Brand for emerging markets mobile consumer website

Cheki

We're a diasporan start up based in Australia setting up an online marketplace business to contribute back in our home country.

We're starting by setting up an online mobile classifieds business under the brand Cheki which is Swahili for Check.

We're trying to get the balance right in contributing to our home country but also building a sustainable profitable business that helps consumers and provides great employment opportunities to Africans, whilst delivering a moderate return.

Our target market is aspirational African middle class, both male and female.

Although little realised outside Africa, the middle class in Africa is growing at a very fast rate; they are connected to international trends and technologies. Mobile phone ownership is around 100% of the population in this sector, and the use of data as opposed to voice is growing in the high double or triple digits. Much of the population is urban.

We aim to capture the attention of this market with our brand and range of products.

We are looking for a logo to represent our online business cheki. Ideally we would like a core logo with an icon and the word cheki, and a similar one with the URL cheki.co.tz or cheki.co.ke

We would love to have the logo incorporate the concept of motion or wheels; the fact that the business is a digital online / mobile phone based business is also an element that could be communicated.

The brand needs to be able to work on web as well as phone. A great example of this is http://www.frontlinesms.com/ whose logo works in SMS as well as other media. Simplicity is key - nothing overly complex or technical. We'd like the logo / typeface to stand the test of time and not be overly 2010 fashion.

Please feel free to experiment with colors! The files we will require are: Print file format - .ai (CMYK) Web file format - .jpg and layered .psd (RGB)

Please do not use any stock images or clip art in the logo

We're trying to avoid undesirable African cliches ie wildlife, tribal, nature, sunsets, landscapes, images of people with different skin colours etc.

A good guide to African logo style can be found here:

http://www.africandigitalart.com/20…can-logos/

http://www.africandigitalart.com might also help you break the cliche' mold of international perception of Africa