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New
Badminton NZ Logo?
(Early version of the Silver Fern Logo for Badminton NZ)
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At the time of "press" with this magazine Auckland
badminton through the efforts of Angela Wei (Under
16 Auckland Badminton Rep) and Claudia Lo have
submitted a brand new Badminton NZ silver fern logo.
An early version is pictured above. We are
awaiting approval from Badminton NZ but thought it
was a good time to show the process behind the
development of the logo. Latter versions are
not listed as they may be trademarked and have not
yet been approved by Badminton NZ but it gives you a
good idea of the core of the logo. |
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Why Do We Need Our Own
Silver Fern Logo? Cliff Freeman
(Development Manager Auckland Badminton) had identified a
problem when trying to use the standard silver fern on line
in articles, profiles, or any association with our NZ
players. Using a standard silver fern puts us as risk of infringing intellectual property
rights. The only sure way to get around this was to design
our own unique logo.
There was also no fern logo that was ours, that signified who we are and what our sport is. A
new logo could
send a signal to the public without having to say anything
that we are badminton and NZ. The logo is an integration - unique as far as we can tell
- of
the feathers in the shuttle and the silver fern.
The final version will also have a koru at it's base.
The logo is not to replace the Badminton NZ shuttle logo
shown below in blue and green but simply to give us our own silver fern logo.
The
Logo options have been developed and those options are
currently with the board of Badminton NZ .
 Mike
Kernaghan - General Manager - Badminton NZ:
"I think it is a fantastic idea, alot
of good work had been done and gone into it."
"The board are currently considering
it and whether to utilise it and will make a decision in the
coming months."
How It All Started - First
Contact.
Angela Wei was
approached by Cliff Freeman (Development Manager Auckland
Badminton) in mid 2007 to see if there was a design
that could integrate badminton and the silver fern. Thinking
this would take up to 4 months to generate he asked her for
some thoughts and sketches. Within 4 minutes she had
drawn what is now the core of the logo.
Converting An
Idea Into Art (Angela Wei)
 Angela Wei
- Auckland U16 Rep and Logo Artist:
"It was at a
tournament and I asked to do something that incorporated the shuttle and the fern. It was very relaxed and so I
just drew something purely on the spur of the moment.
I think sometimes the best work and ideas can come when you
just do it and don't think too much about it."
"After the original
drawing - pictured in white - I did some development. This is where you look
at the original drawing and see how you can make it better.
This involves both using your imagination and thinking about
how it fits what you are trying to achieve."
"This was my very
first logo design and I was very happy and surprised when
people responded so positively to the drawing I had done.
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"When I draw it is sort of a mix between emotion and science.
I first started drawing at a really young age - before 4
years old and apparently I just used to sit and scribble. Nowadays I don't get much time to do that but I am taking
graphics and am keen to get into either architecture or
teaching."
"I am the Chinese Cultural Committee Media
Leader at school which means I get to design posters using
traditional art - no computer enhancement."
"I was definitely
surprised when I was told what I had drawn could become a
national logo. I think it is great that someone can then
take what I have drawn and enhance it using a computer.
I felt a huge sense of pride and satisfaction that I could
contribute to something that could potentially be used as a national logo and that people liked it.
It feels good
as a New Zealander and Badminton Player to be part of that."
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(Angela's Original Drawing) |
After the drawing a
small group met Cliff Freeman - development manager, Michael
Chi - Graphic designer and top rep coach, Claudia Lo -
graphic designer and instantly agreed on one of Angela's
drawings as the one.
Developing the Art Work to a Commercial Logo (Claudia Lo):
At first glance this may seem like an easy job, it was not.
It involved over 100 hours of work often painstaking
attention to detail.
 Claudia
Lo - Logo Graphic Designer:
"I was really impressed with Angela's drawing from the outset
- to me it linked the fern and shuttle in a unique way which
gave a great base to work from. it was very original
as almost all shuttle logos focus on the shuttle and are not
integrated into the silver fern."
"My job was to make it slightly slicker and more commercial I
guess as a logo. This meant tweaking the lines and
curves and feel of it without altering the base drawing
which was so good."
"I scanned the image onto computer and used Adobe
Illustrator. I used vectors (see fern picture below) to adjust the curves and
lines - normal pictures are in pixels. When using
vectors you use dots situated on a line or curve (blue lines
in the picture below) and then
move these points on the computer to adjust the curvature or
flow of the line. "
"It is an
instinctive process - aiming for a "feel" of the logo.
I think that playing badminton helped."
"I was trying
enhance the feel of strength, speed and lightness of the
shuttle. This may sound hard to put into words but for
instance having the lines too thick generated a logo that
was bold but not sleek. So this enhancement impacted
everything from how thick the stem was, how the feathers
looked and how far apart they were etc."
"It took around 50
hours of actual on computer time to get the logo ready added
to this was another 50 hours of thinking about it,
researching ideas and playing with the image in my head to
see what worked."
"It can become a very personal project
because you literally put your heart and soul into the
process to get the right "look" and "feel".
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Tweaking the
Design - Adding a Koru
 "After the first
adjustment of the original logo we put it to Badminton NZ in
Nov 2007.
In early 2008 the request for the koru was made to reflect the koru on the
current badminton NZ shuttle logo. Although this
sounded simple, adding a koru really made the logo look odd
- longer and out of shape. Eventually we added it in
as part of the curved base coming up rather than out of the
bottom of the logo and this looked better. To
get to that point took hours of on computer work
trying different thicknesses and curvature and
position."
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"When designing the
logo inspiration would often come from pictures - e.g.
looking at other korus or shuttle logos, or from talking to
other people an idea might suddenly spring to mind that
would work well on a certain line or curve. "
"Sometimes it
would get frustrating or there would be no inspiration so I
would take a break or chat to someone about it or surf for
other general images for ideas."
"I've learned
through this process that you have to sometimes let your
work go. I tend to be very self critical of my work so
when someone asks for a change it is easy to take that as a
personal criticism. "
"However by putting that to
one side and realising there may be a better or alternative
point of view you can improve the quality of the logo
further and usually after I get past the initial resistance
to change it leads to better work."
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(Logo with the blue vector dots and lines ) |
"Some of the best features come by accident - e.g. a slip of
the mouse that creates a cool look - the feathers were
impacted this way where a slip moved the feathers slightly
more apart which worked really well."
"The design process is never ending - it's a bit like a
construction site you see little bits that you could improve
in one section of the design and there is always something
that can be better. I found having input from clients
and other designers can be a great balance with the client
usually commenting on image and the other designers on form."
"This was a
challenging and inspiring project to work on - a logo for a
national body - and was both scary and exciting. I
felt very privileged to have the opportunity to be a part of
it.
I've worked on a
few now but am still getting more experience other work has
included
● Logo for BTV a
Chinese TV station
● Logo for a
Property and Art Works Company called E Square."
"It's important to
consider the time period or era as well as the country you
are working for. One country may have a more "playful"
or more "bolder or blocky" style and knowing how to fit into
that style can be important. "
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