SEMIOFEST

A CELEBRATION OF SEMIOTIC THINKING

The brief from hell

Designing the Semiofest Logo
by Lucia Neva

must confess that during my entire career as a graphic designer Ive never encounter such a challenge as the one I faced when designing the logo for Semiofest. My colleagues in the Semiofest committee never imagined that designing a logo for semioticians could be such a nerve wracking job. I knew that whatever the result, the final piece of work would be deconstructed, commented upon and analysed to death by more than 50 semioticians, not to mention the 1000 odd members on the Semiotic Thinking Group; I decided to feel the fear and do it anyway. Looking at the debate on London 2012 logo shows how polarizing one logo can be, particularly with such a design literate group. I did my best to make it work. People seem to like the logo and have asked me about it so I thought I would provide a short rationale of the thinking behind it.

The central idea behind Semiofests identity was to reflect the vision of equal sharing and joining together in an environment of celebration. You might not necessarily have noticed, but the Semiofest identity is arranged in a pictorial order that precisely combines three concentric symbols interlinked to create our desired associa1

SEMIOFEST
A CELEBRATION OF SEMIOTIC THINKING

[Contd]

The brief from hell

tions of conversation, dialogue and connectivity. The emblem and word design were guided by notions of rationality and dialogue, but especially that of celebration. So lets consider the logo circle by circle, from the outside. The outer perimeter of the logo represents a symbol, a pink flower, referencing festivals across the world and seeks to transmit a festive spirit and the idea of contained celebration. Inside the flower, the second symbolic circle represents individuals who are formed by eight dots linked by a single line forming a circular group. At the core of the logo there are two inner circles which create the third symbol, both a discussion table and a target point; the dots represent the individuality, equal dialogue and live participation. The white background inside the flower represents the influence of each individual in the event. Semiofest was founded to be: A Celebration of Semiotic Thinking, so it was decided to let both name and tagline work as a word mark. The typography used reflected an informal encounter yet a formal and serious topic. The colour palette was intended to blend the ideas of rationality as well celebration, as by using a deep bluish green to emphasize professionalism and pink to embody gender neutrality. I am glad that it worked, because I never want to have to do such a job again!

SEMIOFEST
A CELEBRATION OF SEMIOTIC THINKING

The design was guided by notions of rationality and dialogue... especially that of celebration