The logo I created in Illustrator is for an international company whose clientele are in the educational system. The company provides training resources to international schools instructing English as a second language. The resources are for the school’s teachers to find innovative and imaginative ways of educating in their classrooms while valuing the cultural differences of their students.

LIME International was an idea I formed while working in China last year. I noticed many of the teachers hired had little knowledge of the student’s cultural traditions and first language. This unfamiliarity provided obstacles for the teachers in conducting their classroom lessons.

LIME stands for Learn Innovative Methods in Education. The draft as well as the final logo utilize colors and formats to maximize the credibility of the product. Greens and blues symbolize growth and learning in Chinese culture. The lime fruit has no dual meanings and is a popular choice in cooking in China for its ability to provide vitamins and flavor. Numbers have special symbolic meaning in China too. The number 8 is especially favored, and so in my final logo I built the lime graphic with 8 segments. These segments can be used later as a reference tool for the training program, as there will be eight different methods for learning.

The feedback I received on my draft logo was mainly centered around not correlating the individual lime graphics as limes. The misinterpretation was based on the limes looking similar to leaves and possibly a flower. Part of this was intentional as I wanted the concept of growth. However, I still wanted the idea of limes introduced to the audience. I spent approximately 10 hours working through the leaves and limes development until I decided to start fresh. The problem with texturing or changing colors to incorporate more of a lime feeling in the original graphic, was the size the limes  in relation to the text. On smaller logos it just wouldn’t be visible enough to see the format of the graphic as a lime. I believe in international education programs where the logo will be viewed as an impression of the training, no misunderstandings of the message is important.

As I began with a different version, I decided to go with a flat round lime slice. I started with the elliptical tool and created various sized circles. I changed the colors and stroke size until it started to resemble a lime rind. I wanted to keep it flat with the trend in logos, so I didn’t add gradients. When I got to the segments of the lime, I did build a gradient of dark to light greens and used the pen tool to create various lime segment sizes. I prefer the lack of exact sizes as I believe it looks creative and not computerized which is the idea of the training program. Imagination leads to innovation. I then grouped the two layers together. But, it still felt incomplete as to the message of the logo saying what I wanted. International creativity.

I built a simple world map with small countries using the pencil tool. I then clip masked a circle to the map and placed it behind the segments. I then reduced the segment opacity to 70%, so the world was visible, but the segments weren’t drowned out. By layering these circles, the rind was still at 100% opacity.

I decided to change the font of the LIME text to incorporate a nice size dot above the “i”. This allowed the text and dot to remain at a relative size. Which was commented in the draft feedback. I choose Century Schoolbook font, because it is easy to read, had an “i” with a dot, and easy to format overseas. Many fonts available in the US are not available internationally. I stayed with the original dark blue and green with the text. “International” I capitalized in Berlin Sans in response to the feedback about the word not being easily read or prominent. The entire process from start to finish took over twenty hours.  Simplicity in design does not always mean simplicity of production.

In the final product, I kept the logo organized, easily deciphered, and distinct in the color pattern and graphic. A logo should represent the company in a manner which sells the product and is effortlessly remembered. I believe it should also be considerate of cultures and values of the consumers. I hope this logo is a positive representative of the idea it inspired.