Abstract. We study geometric properties of the image of the unit circle under a bounded locally univalent function g such that log g ′ belongs either to the Dirichlet space D, VMOA or the little Bloch space B 0 . Concerning VMOA and B 0 , our findings generalize the corresponding results for conformal maps shown by Pommerenke in the late seventies. In the case of D, we give a strictly geometric necessary condition for g to satisfy log g ′ ∈ D, and also offer two different "semi-geometric" characterizations of when log g ′ ∈ D.