There are many elements to a good webpage. They include a good URL, a nice design, a blog, and, very importantly in the age of branding, an attractive logo. When I was in Portland, where my good friend and incredibly talented designer/artist/musician/animator Christopher Doulgeris lives, we sat down with a pad of paper and started brainstorming for a new logo. We came up with the general idea of writing out “Engage” using various symbols of science. It took a bit of work to convince me that this wasn’t going to be silly, really juvenile, or hackneyed. Christopher made a powerful argument: “Science symbols aren’t cliche to non-scientists, and in fact often let us know what to expect.” After asking Facebook for some advice, I was all for it. The next morning I wrote to the other organizers of Engage and told them the idea. They liked it. Christopher very quickly put together the wonderful logo you see now. The most amazing part is in the details. The cluster of stars to form the ‘E’ reminds us that Engage started in astronomy, one of the oldest sciences. And that beautiful ‘N’? The original idea was for some ivy or some other representation of botany. Rachel suggested a much better idea. Instead of using ivy, an invasive plant that many in the Pacific Northwest rightly dislike and spend hours removing, why not use Arabidopsis thaliana, which is one of the most widely studied plants in the world? Christopher found a nice picture and turned it into an ‘N’. That first ‘G’ is not just a ‘G’. It’s actually a 3D modeled double-helix bent around into the right shape. The ‘A’ of course is a beaker, and the ‘G’ a microscope, both classic symbols of science. The final ‘E’ is made of chiseled rock, a reference to the Earth Sciences.I hope you all like our logo as much as we do and appreciate the attention to detail that Christopher put into it.
You can see some of Christopher’s musical work at http://christopherdoulgeris.com/
