On my desk, there is a pamphlet from the upcoming Canadian Student Leadership Conference (CSLC 2020). It was printed to encourage people to sign up as billets, though that鈥檚 not why I bring it up. Instead, it鈥檚 because I鈥檝e been thinking about logos, and I found the one they drew for the event pretty interesting.
The logo itself is a tree, to reflect the theme of the event 鈥� From The Roots Up 鈥� but that鈥檚 also not why I noticed it just now. Instead, out of the corner of my eye, I caught that smack in the middle of the logo is a little circle wearing an orange cowboy hat.
This isn鈥檛 the only place an orange cowboy hat can be found in the pamphlet, and the hats are going to start popping up all over the place fairly soon. It鈥檚 the trademark of the Yorkton Regional High School, and if they鈥檙e doing anything the hat isn鈥檛 going to be far away. A previous CSLC conference is what made the hat a school trademark, they鈥檙e going to put it in the logo.
But I didn鈥檛 notice it in the main logo right away, and when I did it made me happy. It鈥檚 a nice subtle nod to the school without overpowering the logo. You might not even notice it the first time you see it, and the way it鈥檚 used is a symbol of the school鈥檚 role in the conference itself. It鈥檚 about a lot more than YRHS, but they鈥檙e at the center of it.
But then, I鈥檝e been thinking about logos a lot lately.
It all started when the Yorkton Chamber of Commerce updated theirs. I didn鈥檛 think much of it for a while until I needed to use it for something, and I thought to myself 鈥渢hat logo is a bit more optimistic than it used to be.鈥� Why did I think that? Was it the use of colour? They went to a combination of blue and gold. Was it the fact that it has a lot of lines that move upward? I wasn鈥檛 entirely sure, but I saw some optimism in the design.
Optimism is a good look for a Chamber of Commerce. Business does well in an optimistic climate, it鈥檚 easier to get people to spend money when they think everything is going to get better, so it鈥檚 appropriate to have an optimistic logo.
We are surrounded by logos, and all of them are trying to fit a mood or give you some kind of feeling towards the product you鈥檙e looking at. The logo on the bank calendar to my right is trying to look serious. The logo on a pamphlet for a children鈥檚 charity to my left uses messy crayon drawings to make people think of kids, and perhaps feel a bit parental.
Sometimes it can go awry. The pen in front of me has three logos on it, each representing a different aspect of the company that produces it, and since all of them are in a different style I鈥檓 not sure exactly what feeling the pen is trying to evoke. The result is visual chaos, which is a weird thing for a writing instrument, but the ink works.
The work of a logo is mostly emotional, it鈥檚 supposed to make you feel a certain way about something before you use, experience or interact with it. And while I don鈥檛 think a bad logo is going to ruin anything 鈥� I鈥檓 still using the pen 鈥� I can recognize that the positive feelings associated with a good one can really make a difference for an organization.
