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The first concept is the strongest and will work for your purposes. The stacking and spacing of the words bothers me a bit. Maybe try messing some more with the kerning. The colors are also bothering me a bit. There dark browns, light browns, tans and yellows. The color differences are also very slight. Try using one or two colors that differ quite a bit.
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The Idea with the yellow circle behind is to give the idea of an aura of the ambient. I don't think it's too clear to understand.