What truly is the purpose of logos in a society? Besides communicating a company or invidual's intentions, and subcommunicating a broader history, how else does a logo contribute to social compleixities and the art world as a whole? Within this project, I have been trying to dive deeper into the impacts of Graphic Design. This website is the culmination of my artistic/historical research, as well as the showcase of my learning experiences over this past year. Within my artistic research, I've become more aquainted with Quebec history and culture. Discovering the strong influences of Quebec's people, culture, and history within their visual culture was truly fascinating to learn about. I've tried to analyze how these aspects influence their contemporary art, specifically logos and graphic designs. As a Graphic Design student myself, I have become captivated by the social power of logos. The word 'logos' first appeared in theological terms, meaning a principle of divine reason and creative order, and it's greek definition means word or reason. Why did we, as a society, reuse this word to describe symbols that are the unifying visual identity of organizations and individuals? Perhaps there is a connection between modern day logos and the "creative order and word of reason" that was described in the Bible. (This project isn't religious oriented in any way, but the reason why this biblical concept could have an impact on my research is because of my focus on using linguistics and historical contexts to formulate my findings.) Logos, in a way, have the power to generate creative hiearchies. After creation, a logo becomes a symbol for large sections of history, or entire organizations, or linguistic communities. The meanings they generate determine importances in a society. The Montreal Canadiennes logo, as an example, has come to represent the French people and the history of hockey in Montreal. The logo of Montreal is mostly used on government documents and property. Government symbols are usually well known and associated with importance and power. This further emphasizes that logos play a part in social and creative hierarchies. Logos also cultivate and promulgate identities. The logo for the Indigenous people of Canada, for example, make the visual culture of the First Nations, Metis, and Inuit people known. By utilizing design elements from the Indigenous people, the logo becomes personalized to them. Having a logo to represent a group of people, spreads culture, history, and identity faster.
With this in mind, I have always had an interest in history and anthropology growing up, but after choosing art as my field, I have been trying to integrate these different studies. After receiving this research grant, I felt I had an opportunity to explore more deeply how logos impact communities, along with analyzing the complex historical context of digital symbols. Choosing to base my research in Quebec (a French speaking province) was to bring another dimension to my work. My work revolves around analyzing a visual culture. My choice to explore the visual culture of a community with a different language and location than my own, pushed me to analyze from a more outside and raw perspective. I was learning history through other designers eyes. Being able to learn from this viewpoint, helped me rethink my position as a Graphic Designer. I used to think our job was to market, and to simplify, in order to make things more visually appealing and easy to read. However, my time researching the historical context of logos in Quebec has completely rewired my frame of mind as a graphic designer. I started to see the designers intentions and choices after analyzing the context of each of the logos. These choices communicate the position the Graphic Designer was in. Many times, I began to understand that a certain logo was the bridge of communication between a community to the rest of society. The logo being the dissemination of the community's culture and social objectives. Because this one symbol can carry many meanings and interpretations, I think it's simple form is convenient for easy transfer of information. This prompted me to understand that it is the Graphic Designer's job to interpret and problem solve for the community they are designing for.
Overall, this was an incredible learning experience for me, because over the past year, I have been learning how to teach French language students through visual tools such as infographics and web design. With my mentor, Dr. Kathryn Murphy-Judy, I help her bring aesthetics into language curation. My experience with Dr. Kathryn Murphy Judy inspired me to make my project into a teaching tool. Over the summer, I took a web design class, and that completely changed my mind about the direction of my project. I wanted to utilize what I learned, and create a website where anyone can easily access my research. This website will be a longterm project where I will continue to foster it's content, add information, and improve my coding.