This logo will be used on business cards, email signatures, invoices etc and will be used as a header in the company web site. It should also transition well to a t-shirt or corporate gift like a coffee mug or pepper mill.
Core to the image should be a visual play on the black pepper concept. Designs should emphasize either/or black peppercorns or a traditional pepper mill and be simple, minimal representations of the image that will scale well.
sans serif/clean type styles
icon/logo must work as a stand alone element but should also work with the following byline/descriptive elements
Tax Incentives for Research, Growth & Profit Recovery
SR&ED Claims Preparation - Tax Credits for New Media Development
A 3D element is desired, though not required
Must be a vector based design that scales well in all media.
Preferred colour scheme is black and one colour. Two at the most
Preferred colours are deep bright vibrant reds or bright sky blues
Should be shown against a white background
cursive type styles
direct references to monetization (no dollar signs or coins grinding out of the pepper mill)
top of a pepper shaker - design is too close to a similarly named software company and I don't want to infringe/copy their look