C&C for Wildcat Logo Please

[werbear]

So I work for a parochial school and they utilize a myriad of free logos of varying quality. Here are 2 that they use more often. They use about 5-8 interchangably with an emphasis on free and generic.

I have been playing around with and doodling a logo quite a bit. So I put it together in Inkscape and am wondering what some pros think of it. I talked to the Athletic Director and he said that they weren't looking for a logo, but if they were they would want a cross, the school name, mascot, and Initials prominently featured, with no more than 2 colors and be able to used in printed black and white documents, and must be professional enough to be used outside of a sports setting. I was a little surprised at the list. Anyway, here's what I have, what can I improve?

[ThePeam]

First of really great start and awesome idea. My only suggestion to fix the only nitpicks I have are to...

a) fix the whiskers, it kinda looks like a mustache right now I think you should inverse them so that the white whiskers on the snout become black whiskers on the/"in front of" the mouth

the white fur on the ear doesn't fit right make it fit within the black part of the ear

c) the neck feels to long in the front

d) the line on the roundel has inconsistent spaceing you should fix that in my opinion by increasing the space between the paw logos/letters and the line.

[sportsherald]

I see what you're trying to do, and I respect your effort, but it's hard to see these letters as forming the profile of a wildcat's head, without knowing first that it's supposed to be a wildcat. My eye can also form them into an elephant, anteater, duck, and probably others. I think part of my problem is interpreting the dark and the light components as consistently "in" or "out" of the creature.

As a strict monogram, I see some potential to fit S,T, J and L into an overall shape like this: ʄ, with the cross bar shifted toward the middle.

[davidmiller5]

I saw an elephant at first (the S is the trunk), and I was very confused. Then I saw the wildcat. I don't know how you can make it more immediately obvious that it is a wildcat, but once that happens it will be a much stronger logo.

I wonder if your best option is to to with two logos; one an institutional logo and the other an athletic logo. It isn't that unusual, and what you have looks better as an institutional logo than it would on uniforms.

[Whitefoot]

I get that you are trying to do a Washington State kind of logo, but I would suggest two separate logos. One wildcat mascot and one monogram. Then they can be used separately or together, but not integrated.

With all the schools logo demands you might want to think about a heraldic shield logo. Although they aren't the most exciting for athletics.