A Personal Logo

Recently, Shira and I were discussing an assignment from a training class where she had to design a personal logo. We brainstormed about it's look, and in the process I realized it would be a fun challenge to build my own. So after a few days thought, here's what I've arrived at:

I'm not sure you can call that a logo, but regardless, I'm pleased with the result. Here's what each of the components mean:

The ice cream represents Joy. As humans, we have the remarkable opportunity to feel joy and we should embrace that. This includes everything from simple pleasures, like a say a bowl of ice cream to the deep and profound satisfaction that comes after much hard work, sweat and sacrifice.

The toilet represents Contribution. When I arrived here there was indoor plumbing. And Novocain. And a Polio Vaccine. And schools were desegregated. And women had the right to vote. And there were countless other improvements that make life better. It's only fair that we do our part to make the world a better place for future generations.

The wrench and hammer represents Effort. No matter your dream or idea, I'm going to encourage you to start pursuing it today. Don't wait for permission or perfection. The effort may seem insignificant and the task may seem insurmountable but moving forward will always beat standing still.

The gray gibberish text along the top and bottom of the icons is my nod to Cleverness and shows my affinity for Problem Solving. The text, which was designed to be ignored, is made up of a series of A, T, C and G's. This is a common notation for describing DNA sequences. In this case, the letters are being used to represent Morse Code (A = dot, T = dash, C & G = pause). The code translates to a favorite quote by Arthur Ashe and speaks to the values noted by the graphics:

Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.

I've implement my logo as a JavaScript function that generates the output as styled HTML. This has a few interesting side effects: first, the logo makes use of the browser's built in Emoji characters, so it will render differently on different devices. Second, the Morse Code block uses C and G to represent a pause, picking either letter at random to fill out the quote. Therefore, every time the logo is rendered it has a slightly different sequence of characters. Finally, the code serves as a definitive definition of the logo, allowing you to recreate it even if you no longer had a browser capable executing the code.

All this is a very geeky way of saying that this logo is unusual and doesn't follow convention. Just like Me.

What's your personal logo?

Here are some more samples of the logo: