Logos

Several people have asked how my logo came to be, so I thought I’d share what it means to me and how the elements came about. First a little word-geekery, What the heck is a logo?

According to the internet (which means it must be true), logo (the word), showed up in 1937, probably as a shortening of logogram which means “a picture in place of a word”. If we go with that, my symbol isn’t really a logo, but my artist signature is!

The top one is the Japanese kanji (logogram) for shiroi which means white and the bottom one is gake for cliff.

My symbol though, the one on the website, is really a monogram with the letters of my name (D for Dover on the outer edges and W for Whitecliff in the middle. Each bit of it has a bit on me in it.

First, it’s black and white and each side is the opposite of the other. My upbringing in Hawaii included beliefs and a lot of different cultures from around the Pacific Rim, (certainly more of that than mainstream mainland culture). One of the concepts I learned early on that is near and dear to my heart is yin and yang. Balance. There is no day without night, no sun without rain and no light without dark. You skin your knee for a reason. It reminds you how good it feels not to have a skinned knee so you don’t get so cocky next time.

Second, the letter style. I love minimalist and art deco (or is it art nouveau. I can never remember the difference – the 1920s style lettering).

Third, the circle. I’m a firm believer that everything comes back around. Good and bad. Do my best to stay on the good, but sometimes I mess up, own it, pay the price, and do better next time.

Last, and you knew it was coming, the hedgehog. When I doodled the monogram originally and looked at my work, I knew it was missing the whimsical side of me, but I had no clue how to fix it. Then my husband walked by, looked over my shoulder and said, “You know, that curvy part of the W is a little wonky and jagged. Kind of looks like a hedgehog.”

Eureka! So I went into MS Paint and redrew whole thing to incorporate my wonky freehand W and turn it into a featured Hedgie W. I love turning mistakes around and making them a part of the whole.

So there you have it. What my monogram means to me. Hope you enjoyed the ride!