Rice planthopper project logo-draft
Rice planthopper project logo-draft
Rice planthopper project logo-final
The project logo
Dr. K.L. Heong, principal investigator of this ADB project, explains the meaning of the logo:
Yin and Yang means achieving balance. I used it to mean balance ecologically and balance structurally. At the moment there too much yin (negative) overpowering yang. The latter might be too difficult to explain. The ecological balance as a means to achieve sustainable management of the planthoppers is perhaps the best meaning for the yin and yang.
What is yin-yang?
The symbol (Yin-Yang) represents the ancient Chinese understanding of how things work. The outer circle represents “everything”, while the black and white shapes within the circle represent the interaction of two energies, called “yin” (black) and “yang” (white), which cause everything to happen. They are not completely black or white, just as things in life are not completely black or white, and they cannot exist without each other.
In Chinese philosophy, the concept of yin yang is used to describe how seemingly opposing forces are bound together, intertwined, and interdependent in the natural world, giving rise to each other in turn. Yin and yang represent all the opposite principles found in the universe, says Richard Hooker. Under yang are the principles of maleness, the sun, creation, heat, light, Heaven, dominance, and so on, and under yin are the principles of femaleness, the moon, completion, cold, darkness, material forms, submission, and so on.
The research project
In a previous post, I wrote about the ADB project inception and planning workshop we conducted in Ho Chi Minh City on Nov. 3-6. 2008. The Asian Development Bank (ADB), in response to the rice crisis, invited IRRI in April 2008 to submit a proposal that will help reduce losses, both pre and post harvests under the 13th RETA program (Regional Technical Assistance). The proposal, approved in October 2008, is entitled “Bringing about a Sustainable Agronomic Revolution in Rice Production in Asia by Reducing Preventable Pre- and Postharvest Losses”.
The project will focus on the following outputs:
A.1 New field resistance screening method and germplasm with durable field resistance to planthoppers and virus diseases identified for incorporation into new elite breeding lines and mega‐varieties.
A.2. Strategies to manage virus spread in rice fields developed and implemented in pilot sites.
A.3. Ecologically based management of outbreak pests, such as planthoppers,developed and key sustainability indicators of pest breakouts monitored.
A.4. Management practices integrating durable resistance and ecological methods evaluated by farmers, communicated through policy dialogues, and upscaled using communication media in pilot sites.
A.5. NARES partners’ research and extension capacities in plant resistance, ecological management of outbreak pests, insecticide resistance research and communication enhanced.
Your feedback
We would like Devcompage readers to give their feedback on the logos above. Which logo do you think best communicates the goal of the reserach project — Bringing about a sustainable agronomic revolution in rice production in Asia by reducing preventable pre-harvest losses? The topmost black and white or the green one at the bottom? Please post your comments.
8 comments
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November 13, 2008 at 9:01 am
Le Anh Tuan
Dear Professor Escalada,
I read this posting with much interest. There is so much creativity in this logo which demonstrates the concept of ecological balance. Both logos are of high quality in design and I prefer the color one to the BW one. There are three components in the logo – the yin, the yang and the BPH. Would it be possible if you try blue, red and green, respectively for these three components in the logo. These three colors are additive primary colors of lights in optical physics. When combined in different ways, they produce different colors and the light that we have from the sun is from a natural well balanced combination of this three basic colors in the color spectrum. So the colors would add a representation of balance to the logo. It is just a thought.
With my best regards,
Tuan
School of Earth and Environmental Sciences
James Cook University
Australia
November 14, 2008 at 9:18 am
jude nonie sales
Black and white, when printed in greyscale and reduced in size for stationery, workshop programs, reports or letterhead, will look heavy, unlike the green and yellow green version which comes out grey when printed in greyscale. The yin-yang logo in plain green and yellow version looks much better.
The outline of the planthopper needs to be strengthened so that the insect won’t get lost in the color scheme.
The yin and yang symbol need not be very explicit as the essence of yin and yang is just being borrowed to reflect Asia and ecological and structural balance. So the eyes need not be reflected in the logo.
Jude Nonie Sales
Visual artist and logo designer
Department of Development Communication
Visayas State University
Philippines
November 18, 2008 at 7:15 pm
Jed Asaph Cortes
One little test I do myself when I evaluate logos is to reduce it to a very small size and see how it looks. Good logos still look crisp and cool even when small. (This is the reason why most municipal, barangay and city seals generally don’t have good taste.)
As Mr. Sales have said, the hopper’s outline needs to be strengthened. The hopper’s shape can be simplified, doing away with quite unnecessary details, but still retaining its essence.
The logos look embossed. In my opinion, the logos need not to carry such an effect as it makes them ‘visually heavy’.
Lastly, I suggest blending the outline of the hopper with the yin-yang instead of superimposing it to the latter, combining it into the shape with a white outline (similar to the WordPress logo). The superimposition gives the notion that the hopper is not necessarily part of the logo (it can hop away anytime, hehe).
By simplifying and combining, the logo will be better to look at, even when reduced to a centimeter in diameter.
November 19, 2008 at 12:07 pm
Edik
I don’t have any problem with the yinyang thing but the logo seems to be like, for the lack of better word, government. Everything is spoonfed without giving viewers room to think.
Why don’t you make two plant hoppers of two different colors or better yet a brush rendition of two hoppers to form the yinyang (Asian ang dating di ba)? I think this is an eloquent representation of the project. Hoppers, I believe, are significant movers in the balance of nature and the productivity of farmers.
November 19, 2008 at 1:24 pm
Monina Escalada
Edik, many thanks. I will forward your suggestions to the graphics artist who did it.
November 19, 2008 at 1:34 pm
RobKSA
They are both the same logo so both logos have the same impact to communicate your goal. However, I like the black and white as this logo will be used and printed extensively and the B&W will print better than the color one. Likewise, the goal is to achieve the balance between yin and yang which is still a goal but not achieved yet. Once it’s achieved, you can introduce the color logo to denote that the balance is now achieved. JMHO
Hi from a fellow MM fan
November 19, 2008 at 4:31 pm
Monina Escalada
Thanks RobKSA, my fellow MM fan. In our team, some wanted the black and white logo as it reflects the true colors of yin and yang. However, others went for the colored logo to denote rice and environment.
November 20, 2008 at 7:40 am
Jed Asaph Cortes
1. If green and yellow yinyang is improvisation, black-and-white yinyang would be copycat. Moreover, as Mr. Sales have stated, the latter is ‘visually heavier’, espacially if it would appear in grayscale.
2. For Edik, nice idea. However, when visual artists are consulted as to how to improve a logo, they don’t dismantle it and build it up again according to their own taste. That would be impolite. The familiarity is still considered despite aesthetic shortcomings. Moreover, brush renditions of plant hoppers are difficult to execute, and distribute as a logo. However, it’s still a nice idea.
3. I disagree with RobKSA as to how he/she interprets/associates color change with the achievement of balance. A graphic artist once said that it’s very unsafe to pick out meanings out of thin air. There are Professional Color Psychology Matrixes that are tested and proven in the visual market. Here, colors are associated with temperaments, meanings, moods, principles and even academic fields, depending on the situation, be it cultural, academic, etc.