The William Buchanan Spoken Word Project is an annually produced collection of readings both from and inspired by the late Olivet College professor’s poetry, lectures and writings. Produced by an Olivet College alum, the aim of the project is to carry on the traditions and legacy of Buchanan, highly revered during his time at the college, as well as to raise funds for a scholarship in his honor.
Entering its second iteration, the project was completely devoid of a brand upon which to build recognition among college staff, alumni, current students and friends of the college.
The late professor, William Buchanan
My Approach
INTENT
The client was seeking a logo to operate as a brand icon that would represent the project and, more so, project the values and meaning of William Buchanan himself. Impressions on the meaning of Buchanan, his life and his work were collected via client survey and encompassed the ideas of great thought, impressions on archetypal symbols, art, music, poetry, ancient myth, world religions and psychological insight. The client also preconceived that the logo mark would take some visual cue from the form of a mandala, a spiritual and ritualistic symbol of both the Buddhist and Hindu faiths.
Early logo form explorations
FORM
In the spirit of the project, the logo was constructed to be modern, funky and engaging while taking root from the deeply spiritual and traditional arrangement of the mandala. The constructed and highly stylized “modern mandala” takes shape from variations on a single quotation mark. This operation works on two levels: suggesting the literary and scholarly work of William Buchanan while simultaneously calling to mind the literal spoken word.
Blending the modern and highly traditional, the mark is aimed at the varied audience of the project, both former and current students, faculty, staff and friends and peers of Buchanan. The mark is vibrant and visually energetic, striving to appeal to and carry layers of meaning for this diverse audience. The icon stands as a modern logo with thoughtful nods to tradition and spirituality.
Final icon form
COLOR
A color scheme of similarly-hued primaries was developed to aesthetically and conceptually complement the logo form. The first color selected in the scheme was the “Amaranth” (Greek for “unfading”) shade of red. All shades of red connote passion and Amaranth is no exception, though the proliferation of yellow in this particular hue allows it to lean more towards a reserved, familiar shade. In traditional applications, this color has come to represent eternity, immortality and everlasting love.
The next color incorporated into the scheme was the blue, added to compliment and add stability to the warmer Amaranth. Blues of all shades tend to lend a calming effect and speak to serenity. This particular hue, a darker shade only very slightly hinting at green retains the calming effects while also calling upon the connotations of strength, dependability and fidelity that a “deeper” blue brings with it.
WBSP Logo Final
Rounding out the core of the color scheme is the sandstone color, implemented to “hold the form” as the predominant, yet least visually potent color in the scheme. This hue of yellow carries just enough red to imply the earthly and natural connotations of brown while remaining visually light enough to allow the above listed, much more dominant colors to express themselves. Tightrope walking between brown and the vibrancy of pure yellow, this hue also subtly carries with it the sense of confidence and optimism that yellow carries from its associations with sunshine and gold.
“Zach’s success on this project stemmed from his accurate compre-hension of the project’s philosophy and intent.”
Andrew Johnson
Executive Director, WBSP
Lastly, much of the form has been rendered in black, which, from a purely aesthetic standpoint, adds visual weight. Thematically, the proliferation of black in the mark helps this quasi-traditional form to read as more sleek and modern. A closer examination sees the Amaranth and blue skewed off of the weight-carrying black in an arrangement that foregoes the rigid geometry of the mandala for a more “painterly” approach.
View more of the WBSP identity design on my Behance Portfolio.
If you’d like to see how my approach can benefit your organization, get in touch.