Logo designs
About identity
I have designed banners and logos for a number of organisations and campaigns.
My first was a logo for my own printing, and this was based on an old woodcut of a candle maker. I usually print it in red to stand out against the black text, but it also works well in black. I had the block made in various sizes, but I have only used the smallest size.
When we set up the theatre company, I was printing the stationery to save money, but I wanted the company to have a feeling of substance and quality reflecting its work. I also needed a logo I could easily print. The design using Castellar echoed by the double lines of different thicknesses was the result, and it had just the classical feel and a sense of quality I wanted.
When Michelle Shine, Ursula Kraus-Harper and I started the homeopathy campaign, we chose a name based on the title of a book by Dana Ullman – Homeopathy: Medicine for the 21st Century. It said everything which needed saying, but it was very long, and so it got shortened to H:MC21 for practical use. When I came to design a logo, I realised the similarity of this acronym to Einstein's formula for the conversion of mass into energy, a very appropriate link! The typeface I chose also gives a very positive message; it is Optima.
When the King's Lynn Trades Council needed a logo I was looking for something which would instantly say King's Lynn to local people and also give a sense of strength. The image is of the mediaeval South Gate to the town, with the background in the photograph stripped away to a plain green field. The type face was an appropriate Stone sans, and the whole has a sense of solidity and determination.
When a local campaign group sprang up against the Welfare Reform Bill I thought they might like a logo of their own. The initials immediately brought to mind the idea of a claw, and it seemed only right that the sharp end be directed at Welfare Reform!
When the Cambridge Pub Poets moved to quarterly meetings and set up a Facebook page, I designed a logo for them, based on the idea of a pub sign. The background is typical Fenland countryside.