New logo for unfoldscience
I have been thinking about a new visual identity for unfoldscience for about a year now. I really love how the word “unfold” empowers our wandering imagination to think about how science can open out if we allow it to. I wanted a logo that would reflect and support this meaning.
Opening out
In January 2008, I attended the Biodevices conference in Madeira (see my article about Biodevices). I also took a few days of vacation to visit the island after the conference. It was not yet the season for flowers, but it was really beautiful and flowers were growing all over the island; among them were strelitzias, also called birds of paradise. When I saw them, it hit me: they were a perfect symbol of unfolding. Besides, they were orange and blue, my two favourite complementary colors. They were just perfect. I took a lot of pictures of strelitzias and I used them to design a draft logo that represented a bird of paradise unfolding.
A bird of paradise in Madeira
Design principle: user testing is mandatory
First draft logo
Every designer will tell you that no matter how hard you work on a product, you have to seek feedback from users and people who have not been involved in the process. I would even say that the harder and the longer you work on it, the more you have to seek external feedback. In the case of my draft logo, I had worked on it so long that it was obvious for me it represented an opening strelitzia.
However, the first two people I asked did not think of a strelitzia; instead they asked me why my logo was some sort of chimera that would be the improbable result of a one-night stand between a slug and a hedgehog. Thanks to their comments, I managed to see through their eyes and I had to admit they were right, so I tweaked the logo a bit.
Final logo
In order to avoid the confusion with a sludgehog, I added a small stem to the flower. Now, if someone does not recognize a strelitzia at first, they will think it represents some sort or bird, which is much better than the previous mythical creature.
Final logo
Unlike most of the website, this logo is not released under a free license for an obvious reason: a logo is meant to identify a unique entity, and this entity is unfoldscience.
Links
- Download the vector graphics logo (SVG, 23.5 KB)
I am a South African student studying Surface Design. I am doing an assignment titled ‘DESIGNING FROM INSPIRATION’. As a surface design student we are encouraged to conceptualise our inspiration, so that our designs are personal and will consequently differ from another person’s. We are therefore encouraged to find inspiration from designers whom we identify, follow similar processes.
The topic is a flower indigenous to our country and I chose the Strelitzia reginae.
During my research I came across your website and the process of the new logo design for unfoldscience; it is undoubtedly an example of ‘DESIGNING FROM INSPIRATION’!
I have come across other designs using the Strelitzia, but it lacked the conceptualisation, symbolisation and the personal significance you added to the process.
Thank you!
Candyce