Logo: improvement, what software to use, general guidelines

I'm an amateur interested in graphic design.

What I'm doing is a logo for a brand called Shelves. I started sketching with the idea of the letter S + a book, shelf, sheet of paper or something associated with the name. That's what I've made:

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Then I changed tactics and just started creating a simple S logo in Photoshop. I ended up with some weird stuff looking like they are made by 5 years old kid playing with PS. I'm talking about these:

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So my questions are:

• Is there potential in any of my sketches to become a nice, clear, simple logo? And which one according to you would turn out a good one?


• What would you recommend as software for creating the logo? Right now I'm using only Photoshop and I'm not sure if I'm not using it right or there's a better software (should I use Illustrator!?) ?

I would be glad if you recommend me some tutorials, techniques, rules, articles or anything that's going to help me learn how to create a nice professional looking logos and designs on the whole. Thank you.