John I. White

Democracy

The Conversation on Democracy in Ireland (2008)

This mark was developed for an important Jesuit initiative - emphasising Irishness, being heard, and most crucial activity of conversation: listening.

My client already hand it in mind to use a Gaelic 'D' in his logo. No real difficulty there other than in keeping the whole legible and making that font sit sympathetically with the others. I was sure that we'd have to use classic, neat fonts as this is quite a serious business. The board is made up of well-known members of Irish political parties from one extreme to the other.

I drew the Gaelic character and then - thinking that we needed a good strong motif that actually explained what they're about rather than just indicating which country they're doing it in (Ireland) - the Ear image came to me.

Then began the surprising tricky process of integrating the 'D' into The Ear.  It took a lot of work, revision after revision. I was tempted at various times to ditch the Celtic-style D and use a big curve - like the outer edge of the ear - to indicate either the first letter of Democracy, or of Conversation.  We'd even been tempted to revert back to straight text - nothing else, no motifs; but we stuck at it and finally got a composition that worked.

The warm blue and orange makes for a good complimentary 2-colour combination and keeps printing costs manageable. The orange presents the organisation in a warm light too: a serious business with its heart in the right place. A happy positive colour.