Vocations
Jesuit Vocations (2009)
This logo came from the need for masthead design for the new Jesuit Vocations website. I probably could have been less creative - especially as it was a "do something quick!" situation. I thought this would be a really difficult one to get, but it came together surprisingly quickly.
Of all the other Vocations logos we'd seen, the best was a minimalist one with four squares - arranged in a square with one breaking away from the rest. We liked it but it seemed too Scandinavian for Irish Vocations. A bit too De Stijl. Too Mondrian. Too Ikea flat-pack.
I started by thinking softer, more human, and of "following your calling", "taking a different path", "stepping into a new world", that sort of thing. I even sketched and worked up images in which the first 'O' in Vocations opened like a door or portal to another place. Literally stepping through the word. Even if one or two looked pretty good on paper - they didn't work in a the more defined medium of the computer graphics application.
I had wordplay in mind too, something like vocati-on. Emphasising 'ON'. "Are you on?" That sort of thing. But it didn't go anywhere fast and sounded more like an invitation to go for a pint - or a bungee-jump.
Somehow - it all suddenly came together and I ended up with the logo to your right. I like the typographic combo: 'Irish Jesuit' wouldn't look out of place in a bible, and 'vocations' has a refreshingly modern touch - with rounded corners. The orange is warm and positive. The greys and whites a sort of silvery purity. For the website I'm hoping to keep things nice and fresh with "lots of white space" as we designers often say.
Nice and open. Calm. No fuss.