Some ramblings of an old guy who's NOT a trained, experienced professional Marketing Designer.
I disagree with
"... it isn't crucial the iconography be instantly recognizable by anyone as hang gliding or paragliding related. It's much more important to have recognizable and consistent branding. "
Branding, by a logo, phrase, jingle, or idea, let's a business make itself known and differentiate itself from others in the field.
We are not a business competing with similar marketers for customers. Through huge expensive ad campaigns Nike, Apple, and McDonald's have logos that are instantly recognizable so that people think of them when considering a purchase.
We want to spark interest in free flight, inform potential pilots that we exist, and that we have HG training to satisfy their interest.
Anyone actively seeking to become a pilot can easily find us, and won't really care what our logo is, as long as they can easily get information and answers. Most of our members found RAF on their own.
I believe our aim is to capture the attention of people who may not actively be considering free flight.
When wearing the RAF shirts and sweatshirts I've often had conversation opportunities prompted by someone seeing the designs. Most have been started by my hearing comments nearby like, "my brother went parasailing once", or "I used to see hang gliders near Dansville."
Some were initiated directly to me, "Do you fly?", "I'd love to do that."
If the design isn't easily recognized as a PG or HG, we're just making a logo for ourselves, not the public.
If our aim is to attract attention to the club's existence, Sara, who IS a trained, experienced, professional Marketing Designer, has offered some great designs.