Co-Creation Hub: Logo and Branding Co-Creation Day

Back on the 15th January of this year, I took part in a Co-Creation day at the Co-Creation Hub, London. We couldn't post about the day until after the Co-Creation Hub had gone live - now it has and I've got some time to post about it.

A group of abut 15(ish?) of us got together, via Headbox, and spent a day thinking about what the Hub stood for, it's values (we picked them apart pretty good and proper, it had lots of marketing speak which gets on my nerves a bit and other people all felt the same too - values in plain english please), it's brand, it's name, and it's logo. Everything really, it was an intense day but really fun.

We were shown logos that had been sent in by Jo Public as part of a crowdsourcing competition - as their blog says, some were good, some were... not.

But some bits were quite good so we took a bit of inspiration here and there, and also sat down with our amazing marketing minds and come up with some more, in groups. There were 3 groups I think:
To kick us off, each group was given a few different words to inform the logo and drive us forward - words like Diversity, Communication, etc etc. Top left 1 and 2 were mine :) Hurrah. I think that was based on conversation/exchange, I can't quite remember - I just drew a circular object with a back-and-forth line to represent a back and forth conversation and we all kind of went 'yeah... quite like that!' As so happened with lots of other ideas that came out of our group. We had some good thoughts I think. The fish came out of our group too. Oh Em Gee that fish caused some controversy. Let me state right here that I wasn't keen on it from the outset - but as should be done in group brainstorms, no-ones ideas should be shunted. I'm sure some of my ideas weren't liked by everyone either. Anyway everyone else in the group loved it so I'm not one to dampen people's ideas... I just way wasn't keen on the cartoon fish. I liked the thinking behind it though, it was all about Evolution, you know evolution of ideas through co-creation etc, and a sea-creature coming onto land and evolving.. etc. It's just I hate cartoon-y logos, especially ones with animals. And I think the meaning would be so lost. Normal people would be all 'What's co-creation, and what's a fish got to do with it?' But I think this point was lost on people.

Anyway it got to presentation time and it was definitely a Marmite moment - some people liked it some really hated it. Being part of the group that presented it made me feel like I had to like it but I really didn't. Maybe this is a lesson in telling people if you think the idea is bad. And just sucking it up. But I kind of believe co-creation is all about letting everyone put their ideas on the table without scorn or ridicule or whatever. Hmmm.

Our group also took the typographic approach and started from one of the competition logos, where they had made the word 'HUB' and joined the letters together - we liked that, but simplified it without the speech bubble etc. This was my favourite I think, and I'm glad they took the initial idea and used that as the final chosen logo after we were done:


I think they also took ideas from other groups where they made another version of the logo using loads of different coloured handprints:

Which I really like. It upholds the spirit of Co-creation too :) Here is the blog post they wrote about the whole process.

I really enjoyed the whole day, I love brainstorming and collaborative thinking, especially when it comes to branding and marketing projects. I miss it actually, did it a lot at my placement at Open and don't get to do it so much anymore. Hopefully in the future.

The Hub are now implementing an initiative called Co-Create London where they ask a very simple question: ‘What Would You Do To Make London a Better Place?’ By gathering ideas, solutions and fresh thinking about the city the site hopes to address issues that are important to people of London and give citizens the platform to make positive changes. It's a nice idea and it's gaining momentum - follow them on twitter for up to date examples of what people are saying.

A bit about the background of the Co-Creation Hub London:

"The Co-creation Hub is a collective of organisations, academics and individuals who believe in doing things ‘with’ people rather than ‘at’ people.

We currently work in the branding and communications industry, but we think our approach can be applied to any number of industries and organisations in order to solve almost any problem.

We believe great ideas can come from anywhere and anyone. And that means there is a huge untapped resource of creativity out there that co-creation can allow to flourish."

You can get involved with the Hub here.

Formula 1 and Design

Most of my friends know I have a bit of an obsession with Formula 1. This is at odds to my environmental beliefs, I know, but I just love it. (It's not exactly the most sustainable form of entertainment after all...) It's the only sport I'm really into. I just love all the technical side to it, the strategies, the competitiveness, the speeeed, of course. So, I watched today's Barcelona race, of course, and it reminded me how much I love the F1 logo:

Which I've taken down because apparently you can't use it without a license!

It's ridiculously simple, but I think it's one of, if not my absolute favourite logo around at the moment. It's so clever. Using the F and the red section (which is vaguely in the shape of a 1) to silhouette the shape of the 1... nicely hidden but it does jump out at you. Ah it's just so perfect. I really hope whoever designed it (f you know, please say, I can't find it anywhere) just stumbled upon this solution, after a bit of doodling. And the red spikes, well, you can't really say 'this is a fast and sometimes dangerous but pretty jolly exciting sport' any other way. I do prefer it without the 'Formula 1' type at the bottom though, when it's on your telly it doesn't have that and it looks slicker. It's just a good, clean design, which isn't too fancy for itself, hasn't got shiny vector glossy bits, and almost understates the multi-million dollar industry that F1 is. It says 'Hello, yes, you know what F1 is, we don't have to sell it much to you, we're good and that's that. Vrooooooom...'

There's all kinds of logos out there, good, bad and the boring, and I'm sure people can think of better ones than this. But for me, it's genius.

So while on the subject of F1, I also want to talk about Brawn GP. For those who don't know, they're a bit of a Phoenix-from-the-ashes; evolving from Arrows to Honda, almost dying over the winter then being reborn through Ross Brawn, of former Ferrari fame. And just look at them. They're proving to be the best in the field (although Red Bull aren't far behind), Ferrari and McLaren are mid-runners these days. It's mental, I love it. Who'd have thought?

But it's the look of the car that I love. Because of the speed at which they put the team together, they didn't have time to get any sponsors, aside from Virgin. This means the car is... well, virginal:

And look at the shape of that nose cone... it just feels magically retro and futuristic at the same time. Mmmm. Can I be a track girl?

It's so lovely. And refreshing. All other F1 cars look like adverts have thrown up on them. This one is sexual and clean and new. And the colour scheme... what genius. Black, white, and NEON yellow? Yes please. It's like some nu-rave indie kid has shown up at a high-class dinner party, eaten all the raspberry meringue, stuck his tongue out then sped off in a stream of neon and giggles. And the rest of the dinner party/teams are going '....Oh. I say. He's rather good, isn't he. Who invited him?'

So well done to Button and Barrichello today, getting 1st and 2nd. Legends. And Button so deserves it, he's been stuck in rubbish cars for so long, always too good for them. I'm a Hamilton fan all the way but Brawn have got my heart right now.

Here's an interesting proposition for the Brawn GP team, by Daniel Eatock. I highly recommend you read it, he's got some good points. And it would be an excellent use of the white space on the car... a white space that will no doubt be swallowed up by the beginning of the next season as sponsors clamour to throw up on it.

Which will be a shame, because it's so god damn pretty like it is.

Any thoughts? What's your favourite logo ever? Do you think Brawn should go with Eatock's idea?