Logo for the Midway Go Club

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One of my customers on Etsy, William Sheehan, was happy with his order and asked me if I'd consider doing a private commission for him. William is 54 years old and has 20+ years of experience in chess under his belt. Only recently, about two months ago, he got into go and has already reached the level of 14 kyu. Previously William ran a chess club and as he is now fully submerged into go, he plans to start a go club. He showed me the logo of his chess club that he made himself (see picture below), in which he incorporated the blue and red colors of the flag of Chicago. The stars in the top left corner are taken from the same flag and the buildings in the background form the skyline of the city. We exchanged some ideas and soon I understood that the go logo was to be quite similar, but that I was free to include my own wittiness. William told me that he lives very close to the Midway International Airport, and that's where the name of his club comes from. Soon after, I got the idea to include an airplane in the design and have it lift off from the go board. William had also mentioned the tarmac of the airport and this gave me an idea for the go position: the go stones shown in the logo form a ladder that resembles a tarmac and emphasizes the movement of the plane. The ladder is good for White: White is in atari, but can move out with the next move, connecting up to his corner stones and breaking free, just like the plane. We ended up chosing a mechanical-style font for the letters, called 'Noise Machine'.
If I'm ever in Chicago, I look forward to dropping by at the Midway Go Club.

The original Etsy order that kicked things off, displayed on a go board of the Midway Go Club.

Logo of the Midway Chess Club