Niall Donoghue asked me to come up with a logo for his multimedia consulting company that could also be used for a suite of e-learning guides. The company specialises in eLearning, website design and podcast production.

I wanted to create a strong, bold logo that would suggest human/computer interaction.

• Red represents life and passion / Grey represents cold and analytical systems
• Circle represents a human user / Square represents computer or screen. It’s not too much a stretch of the imagination to imagine the O as head and the Cs as arms on a keyboard or microphone in front of a screen (the square)
• Pattern in circle represents a brain / Pattern in square represents a maze – this addresses the e-learning aspect of the company as the human gradually understands the maze.

The circle component is similar to the RSS icon and the colour and shape of a record button, while the square is the colour and shape of typical stop buttons (in audio gear).

Additionally the company letters are spelled out in the circle and square. They drill out of the “brain” part of the logo as in OCC goes from inside to outside, and again out of the “computer” part as UMO, which represents harnessing the power of the mind and the power of the machine. Even without knowing this, the O is obvious and the other shapes invite further exploration.

The distance between the lines are the same as the thickness of the lines. This is to give visual impact in the repetition of the corners of the square and in the target shape of the circles. This impact is lost at other variations of thickness between negative and positive space.

Finally, I chose a font (Avant Garde) with strong geometrical construction, mimiking the O and C of the logo.

Obviously most people won’t see a lot of these subtleties but the client knows! These details also give some meaning and magic to the logo. When people see it they feel like the company has shared a secret with them – for example, have you seen the arrow in the FedEx logo?

This is a very solid logo, based on basic shapes and does not rely on fashions or gimicks for its strength, guaranteeing longevity and versatility well into the future.

When presented to Niall, he said “I love it. Good work on this Alan, thanks for knocking it out of the park!”