One thing you should know is that I LOVE a good metaphor! I also spent 14 years helping design students understand how visual (tactile, auditory, and scent) clues can influence occupants and customers.
So, when I came across the article “Why The Shape Of A Company’s Logo Matters” from Fast Company Magazine, I had to share. Take a read over it and see what YOUR logo says about YOU and your customers!
When determining the name and designing the logo for Fort Mill’s first Coworking community, we wanted to make sure that it had more than just a surface meaning. Potential members and clients shouldn’t simply feel “good” or “bad” about your business, but rather should understand its culture and be motivated by it. The intention behind our logo was also that the sign couldn’t just be peeled off and stuck on the façade of any other coworking space …. that it would be tied to the past and the future of the community itself. As a tribute to our area steeped in textile history, this Coworking community, called LOOM, represents a contemporary take on a traditional art form and an effort to weave together the talents, people and passions within Fort Mill.
Weaving is an art form that is functional and creative. Just as different colors and textures of yarns create endless pattern possibilities, the range of experiences, skills, ideas and personalities intertwining at LOOM supports infinite possibilities for local professional’s creativity, innovation and growth. The common thread is the mindset of those choosing to work in a more family-friendly, lifestyle enhancing environment with people of shared values and goals.
It takes different types or yards to create a fabric. The warp yarn is the underlying structure on which the fabric is built. This represents the community, shared values, common goals, and the invested members of a community. The weft are those aspects (like innovation, inspiration, collaboration, etc.) which serve to create colors and patterns that didn’t occur before and to establish bonds across the entire fabric.
Throughout history, the loom and the art of weaving have been used as metaphors and in analogies regarding creation, evolution, collaboration:
- The enchanted loom is a metaphor for the human brain invented by the neuroscientist Charles S. Sherrington in his book Man on his Nature.
- Writer Susan Clark in her article Penelope’s Loom uses the loom as a metaphor of women’s development at midlife.
- Aristophanes wrote in the Magistrate that wars could be won by untangling yarn and weaving a cloak of unity
Even the language of textiles is part of our vernacular:
- “a tightly knitfamily”
- “patching up a relationship”
- “a well-woven“
- “falling apart at the seams“
(photos taken at our amazing SC State Museum in Columbia, SC)
Even our logo epitomizes the values and goals of the community:
The two colors of the letters represent the diversity of our current and potential members (in age, race, gender, industry, talents, etc.)
- As discussed in the article, the circular elements contrasted with angular elements represent the comfort and support of a family contrasted with the durability, sustainability, and economic viability of a company.
- The interwoven nature of the letters (and the above concepts) speaks to their interdependence. There is no beauty or product without both types of threads.
- The red “L M” continuum, beginning above and continuing below, has meaning of its own. Our town, with its rich textile history, was here long before we were and will be here long after we are gone. The closing of the mills and plants put a perceived “kink” in economic development. However, it is our hope that by interweaving the success of our independent workforce with the success of our town, we can continue to revive and bring new life into Fort Mill for the benefit of all.
Clearly, branding isn’t just about eye-catching colors and tag lines.
So … what does YOUR logo say about your business, its culture and its mission?