“Reimagining” the OpenEd Conference Logo & Brand
By Cristina Springfield
Earlier this month, the Open Education Conference unveiled the official logo for this year’s event. Featuring a bright color scheme and distinctive design, the new visual identity is meant to reflect the spirit of open collaboration that has defined the #OpenEd20 planning process thus far. Read on to get an inside look at how a group of volunteers on the Communications Committee and a talented graphic designer worked together to produce this year’s guiding imagery.
Initial word cloud developed through feedback provided at a community call
The logo for #OpenEd20 started as a collection of words generated by community members during one of the conference’s monthly community calls. Using polling software, the conference Steering Committee asked participating community members to share what values the #OpenEd20 conference should embody. The responses were clear: participants hoped that the conference would embody diversity, inclusion, collaboration, equity and a welcoming spirit, and so much more.
The communications committee used the word cloud for inspiration when developing specs for the logo design process. The group considered many factors including tone, color, and readability of the design. For example, the committee felt it was important for the color scheme to not be suggestive of any one country or university, and that the font should be easily readable. Over the course of four weekly meetings, and many iterative changes, the image was refined until it reached its final form.
“Reimagined” logo design developed through community-driven process
To tell the story behind the logo, I sat down with Kim Henze (she/her/hers), the graphic designer behind it. By day, Kim works as an Art Librarian at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts (UNCSA) where she gets to do a lot of creative research with the school’s design and production students and perform visual arts research, like hunting down content in image libraries. By night, she does graphic design work with organizations including SPARC, one of the partners supporting this year’s conference.
CS: Could you tell me a little bit about the font choice that was eventually incorporated into the logo design?
KH: Typography is always really central in my design and the font, Cooper Hewitt, really came to mind immediately for this project both because the form of the type really fits the tone and the story of OpenEd; it’s modern, strong, and bold but still has personality and feels friendly and approachable. But the background behind that is that the font itself, which shares the name with the Cooper Hewitt Design Museum, was commissioned for the museum’s rebrand. The Cooper Hewitt Museum, as many museums do, works hard to make its collections and resources openly accessible and useful to educators and designers and the larger public. But Cooper Hewitt really lives that out, so when they did this rebrand, they actually commissioned this new font as an open resource–an open font–with the goal of promoting wider use and learning and exploration of good design. So not only did the form really fit OpenEd but it felt like the actual story behind the font was a full-on manifestation of the open ethos and OpenEd mission.
CS: During the logo design process, I know there were lots of different color schemes proposed. What does the final color scheme represent?
KH: So we went as you know, in the end, with a bold gradient. We went through a lot of different versions but I think that came out being an easy and strong choice for OpenEd because it's really a visual embodiment of a spectrum. It communicates inclusion and diversity and it represents the vibrant community that makes up the OpenEd conference and the OpenEd community. The color scheme is a spectrum of red to green which tells the story about moving from closed, scholarly networks to even more open, equitable, and sustainable economies of information. So it really fits on two levels, both in that it is really about inclusion and vibrance and color but it also tells a little bit of the story of opening things up.
All white logo on a gradient background, showcasing the vibrant color scheme of the new design
CS: I love that! And then there’s a little graphic element that looks almost like, to me anyway, it almost looks like a door? Was it supposed to represent anything in particular?
KH: I love that you see a door because in another of our early renditions I was playing with the motif of a door and that was one of the ones that didn’t end up going through but I love that you see a door! My original thought behind it was that a lot of the [logo] elements are approachable and playful and I felt like that linear mark was a little bit more of a nod to the conference being professional, sophisticated and foundational. There were words early on from the committee about “integrity” and “accountable” to be associated with the conference so I thought of this as a cornerstone piece that really not only takes the actual wordmark–the text–and moves it into a really strong, very useful shape, but it also makes it feel like a cornerstone of something.
CS: Is there anything else you’d like to share about the logo or branding design process? Or anything you think people should know about the significance that is there?
KH: The one thing that was really particular about the whole process was just how collaborative it is and I think that’s not always how branding processes work. So I was mostly interfacing directly with Nicole and Winni [two of the conference team members], but it was clear to me the whole time that this design should and would be of, and from, the OpenEd community. So the input of the committee, and the broader group, the word cloud that’s been featured on different pieces of communications was really central and that was community-created, so my job was really just to listen to those values and the mission and translate that into a visual form. I think the work I do, especially with branding, is always about the end-user community and the community it’s representing, but this one felt like it had a very direct connection and I think the design really benefits from that.
CS: Are you going to be attending the OpenEd conference in November and if so, is there anything in particular you’re looking forward to?
KH: Yes, I am and I am so excited! I haven’t been able to in the past, but this year I will. It’s one benefit of the need to go virtual is that it makes it a lot easier for more of us to get there. For me, as an Art Librarian, our industry, or our field, has been a little bit slow to take up OpenEd. A lot of the focus, at least that I’ve seen, has been on more foundational coursework so lots of 101 Bio, Chem, Econ, that kind of thing. So I’m hopeful and excited to maybe see some more arts-focused content or talk to some, and connect with some, arts-focused OpenEd librarians.
Through this process, it is incredible to see how the spirit of openness is applicable in all kinds of disciplines and contexts, like Universal Design. Beyond Open Educational Resources, you may want to consider how the value of openness can impact design decisions in many different contexts. Mark your calendars for the 2020 OpenEd conference and start getting excited about connecting with folks from across North America and beyond about the great work being done in different disciplines and different kinds of educational institutions.
Cristina Springfield is a member of the #OpenEd20 Communications Committee and OER Librarian at California State University Dominguez Hills.
