Designing the CULTIVATE Project Logo
By Jan Chipchase - July
2000
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What's the big deal about a project logo?
This article is about the origins of the CULTIVATE-EU project
logo. Big deal you say, the logo looks pretty - thats what logos are
there for. Well, if you're thinking that you are partly right,
and partly wrong.
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Figure 1: Branding |
The logo plays an important role in the branding on any web
site. It's what tells the user that they are on
your site, not somewhere else. Its what greets them like
an old friend as soon as they arrive, reminding them that the
time they spend on your sites will be time well spent. Our logo
is designed to be approachable, trustworthy and unique. It has
got its mind on the future, and its eye on the past. If you don't
believe me that a logo can be all this - read on.
The many roles of the logo
The logo can communicate in many different ways:
- The font that is used Verdana is sans-serif - fairly plain
and to the point. The weight (thickness) of the font and its
vertical alignment implies that it is will be around for some
time to come. This implies trust. If we wanted
to imply that the project is dynamic, then perhaps an italicised
font would be more appropriate.
- The 'I' is a classical column. Whilst not native to any
particular country - perhaps Italy, Turkey or Greece, it is
recognisable to natives of all member countries.
It is the kind of thing you might see on a trip to a
museum, where other cultural artefacts are on display.
The 'I' looks deliberately hand drawn. When we think of culture
we are more likely to think of things created by people rather
than machines. If the logo was too clean it would look like a
machine had created it. The 'I' puts the Culture into
Cultivate
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Figure 2: Different versions of the Culitvate I |
- The star that sits atop of the 'I' serves two purposes. The
first is that it acknowledges the European Union's
role in funding this project. (For those that don't know
the EU flag, it is made up of stars on a plain background.) The
second is that it provides the viewer's eye with a strong
focus point. Without the star, or some other shape, the
logo would be more like any other text that appears on the page.
We want the user to recognised the shape at a glance.
- A common request on European Union (EU) funded projects is
for the site design to use EU colours - blue and
yellow. Whilst I'm not against using these colours, they
are somewhat predictable and overused. I'd also
used them on the EU funded DESIRE project. Fortunately Concha -
the European Union representative (who holds the purse strings)
supported this approach. The colours we use are
designed to be approachable and distinctive from
one another.
- Having the logo in a bold single colour makes it possible to
use the colours in other ways. The design for the Cultivate Hub, Interactive and Node sites will utilise colour
as a navigation aid for indicating which site the user is
on.
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Figure 3: Logo for Cultivate Node - Germany |
- Lastly some comments on how we made the design appropriate
for use on the web. All the images I create for the web are
optimised for that media. All unnecessary
information such as colours and margins are removed to ensure
that the image downloads as quickly as possible. The logo was
saved as a GIF, which is appropriate for most Illustration type
images. Our logo started out in PhotoShop being 41 k. After
optimisation it was reduced to 1.2 k. Like a good friend, it
doesn't keep you waiting.
Tips for creating your own logo
If you are working on creating your own logo - I've put
together a small checklist of things that might like to think
about.
- What will the logo communicate?
- Who is going to see it?
- Where will it be seen? If your answer is in
print then you will need to create the original design in a
vector graphics program such as Adobe Illustrator, or Macromind
Freehand. For displaying on the web you'll be using software like
PhotoShop or Paint Shop Pro.
- What are the limitations of these
media?
Viewing the logo on the web requires fast download times, in
print requires high quality, on mobile phone displays - it will
have to work in 2 colours.
- Is it worth the effort? To create any logo
requires skills in software like Adobe Illustrator and PhotoShop.
Is it worth spending your time learning these programs? Or is it
more efficient to hire in someone else to do it.
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Jan Chipchase [ GomaGoma ]
Heights Aries
Setagaya Ku
Tokyo
Japan
jan@gomagoma.com
<http://www.gomagoma.com>
Jan Chipchase is the User Interface Designer for the Institute for Learning and Research
Technology, <http://www.ilrt.bris.ac.uk>
where he has worked for clients such as the BBC
and the Bank of England. Jan lives in Tokyo.
Note: from August 2000, Jan will will be working as a
freelance designer. If you wish to contact him please email
jan@gomagoma.com
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For citation purposes:
Chipchase, J "Designing the Cultivate Project Logo",
Cultivate Interactive, issue 1, 3 July 2000
URL: <http://www.Cultivate-int.org/issue1/logo/>
