I have become fairly well acquainted with the library staff at Derbyshire Healthcare Foundation Trust, who are fabulous to say the least. Nothing is too much trouble and the team have been so supportive, so when the Library Manager asked me to help design the logo for the new joint venture between the clinical libraries on Derbyshire I jumped at the chance.
There are three clinical libraries in the county, one in Chesterfield with DCFT, one at Derby Royal Hospital and the third at Kingsway run by DHCFT. The staff at the Community Foundation Trust are spread widely over the whole county and so the three sites are working together to offer library and information services to DCFT staff at every site. This shared venture, the Derbyshire NHS Libraries and Knowledge Service, was what I need to pull something creaitve out the hat for.
The logo needed to represent the different strands of the libraries as well are create a unique feel that was seperate from all three of the member organisations. I pulled designer and creative Guy Evans to work on the project with me.
We initially organised an ideation session with three library managers, during which we discussed colours, shape and layout. First designs were the sent out and refined over email as we were all too widely dispersed to meet regularly. There was a requirement for a high resolution version of the logo for printing as well as those for web and a greyscale version for black and white alternatives.
Researching colour schemes that were representative of Derbyshire led us to the country flag which consists of three contrasting colours; green, blue and gold, which of course also fitted well with the need to accommodate the three organisations.
Together we explored different visual representations that the logo might use. The Venn diagram concept, representing logic and the relationship between parts integrared well with the mission of all libraries, of developing knowledge and understanding, as well as demonstrating both the convergence of resources in the co-working arrangement. When combined with the three colourway we pulled from the flag, the basis for the final design was decided. At this point it was just a matter of finalising the last details – would colour be graduated or solid, or transparent for example.
The final design included versions with the full service title and its ancronym. I’ll look forward to seeing the design included in the final webpage later in the year.
