Logo needed for new and different IT consultancy

The logo should embody our core values of simplicity, honesty, experience, authenticity and skill. It needs to differentiate itself from the glut of IT consultancies already in the marketplace via a simple, clean style which is the polar opposite of the cold, overly high-tech branding pervading the industry currently.

We don't have a name as yet, just some ideas (see description below)

We are a new and different IT consultancy who strive to “make the complex simple”.  This, combined with our honesty, authenticity and plain-speaking, are the foundations of our firm (we feel these values are hard to find currently in the industry).

We don't have a name yet, just some words/ideas from which we'd like you guys to come up with a logo:

Simple, clear, wisdom, pure, tree, path, hand, box

As an explanation, we quite like organic imagery (hence the "tree" or "hand") and also the Zen-like ideas behind a simple, straightforward path (cutting through the bull).  As we said before we think "simple is clever" and like the old adage that the best diagrams have no more than four boxes.  So pick a name based on these words (e.g. "4Boxes") or others like them which lends itself to a nice, simple design.

We're a relatively small company but see this as a strength rather than a weakness, i.e. we’re small enough to care.  Our logo should be simple and understated, yet clever and surprising (if possible).

As far as rules go, there aren’t many.  It just needs some kind of name (inspired by the description above) along with “IT Consulting” alongside or underneath, whatever suits the design, e.g. "SimplePath IT Consulting".

The colours and fonts are completely at the designer’s discretion.  We like nice, clean design, which can be hand-drawn or vector-based, whatever suits the design.  Basically, let your imagination run riot.  The trick here is to create something which implies simplicity combined with effortless skill.

I think folks like Harvard Business Review, New Scientist, Fast Company, etc, carry this stuff off really well, even though they have a business focus.  Business shouldn't be boring.

As you can probably tell, we don’t like the overly corporate/business look of many IT brands these days, with clichés like handshakes, globes, suits, laptops and Blackberries. There’s also way too much black, grey and navy blue used as corporate colours.  It’s all a bit grim (and heaven knows, times are grim enough!).

We also hate business bull-speak, e.g. “leveraging your synergistic arbitrages”. No, no, no!

Lastly, although we’ve said we like nice, simple, clean design, it can't be too trite or “cartoony”.  We’re aiming more for “classy” than “kiddie”.