Affiliate Education Site Needs a Logo Design

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This customer received 96 logo designs from 34 designers. They chose this logo design from ArtSamurai as the winning design.
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Logo Design Brief
We're completely rebranding the site at www.associateprograms.com and are looking for a new logo.
You'll see that we teach people how to start their own online business online. We are not locked into those colours and are happy to have a new look. The typeface for the new site is Open Sans so you'll see the design style feel we're going for from that.
I'm looking for a strong, clean, minimal and authoritative logo, but with a fresh modern feel, not old school corporate or dated looking.
It should appeal to a male skewed audience of online entrepreneurs.
The design should work well as a website header, so if you're including an icon element, make it so that it sits to the left.
Underneath it, it should have a tagline of "Growing Your Micro Business". (UPDATE: Don't worry about the tagline. It just makes it look busy).
Here are some minimal logos that I might serve as some inspiration.
http://www.pinterest.com/zedseven/logos/
Updates
Thanks for your submissions so far. Just to clarify something. I don't want it to look like the old logo. That logo is 7 or 8 years old and barely even a logo.
Added Thursday, February 20, 2014
Target Market(s)
Men mostly. Tech savvy entrepreneurs.
I've uploaded some typefaces that I would like to be used.
Industry/Entity Type
School
Logo Text
AssociatePrograms or ASSOCIATEPROGRAMS or associateprograms or ASSOCIATE PROGRAMS
Logo styles of interest
Pictorial/Combination Logo
A real-world object (optional text)



Abstract Logo
Conceptual / symbolic (optional text)



Character Logo
Logo with illustration or character


Wordmark Logo
Word or name based logo (text only)


Font styles to use
Look and feel
Each slider illustrates characteristics of the customer's brand and the style your logo design should communicate.
Elegant
Bold
Playful
Serious
Traditional
Modern
Personable
Professional
Feminine
Masculine
Colorful
Conservative
Economical
Upmarket
Requirements
Must have
- Must be bold and clean and somewhat minimal.
Nice to have
- Perhaps a strong, clean icon to go with it.
You could use the AP in a circle in between the ASSOCIATE and PROGRAMS.
I don't mind if you use all caps or AssociatePrograms.
I like the Avenir, Montserrat and other similar style gothic typefaces (attached)
Should not have
- Should not be elegant or have any wispy parts. It just be strong and bold and could work as a stamp. No old styling. Clean, modern styling with a bold typeface (probably a sans serif typeface).