What’s in a Logo? Our Users Speak

Several months ago, we introduced a new BHL logo, and to publicize the event, we published a blog post that detailed the various images that BHL Staff Members saw within the abstract lines of our new logo. At the end of the post, we asked our users to share their interpretations of the logo with us as well. Many of you did, and, as promised, we’re sharing those today. We send a special thanks to all of you who shared your thoughts with us, and if our logo inspires other ideas, don’t hesitate to share them by commenting on this blog, sending us a tweet (@BioDivLibrary), or posting on our Facebook wall.

View Full Size Image1) Water: Two users, Aloysius Horn and an anonymous user, left comments on our previous blog post indicating the logo looked like water/waves to them.

View Full Size Image2) Mountains: Via a comment left on a our blog, John told us that our new logo reminded him of mountains.

 

View Full Size Image3) Butterfly Wings: Sanlin replied, via Twitter, that our logo looked like the flapping wings of a butterfly.

 

 

View Full Size Image4) Humpback Whale Tail: Peter Desmet commented via our previous blog post that our logo is “obviously the tail of a humpback whale disappearing behind the waves.”

 

 

View Full Size Image5) Flower: An anonymous user on our blog suggested that the logo looks like the petals of a flower.

 

 

View Full Size Image6) Our final suggestion involved our former logo, which contained a double-helix and a butterfly. Matt Person (a BHL staff member at MBL-WHOI) told us via Twitter that, in the new logo, he envisioned “a great double helix about to emerge from the center of the logo with a butterfly darting about the top of it.”

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Grace Costantino served as the Outreach and Communication Manager for the Biodiversity Heritage Library from 2014 to 2021. In this capacity, she developed and managed BHL's communication strategy, oversaw social media initiatives, and engaged with the public to excite audiences about the wealth of biodiversity heritage available in BHL. Prior to her role as Outreach and Communication Manager, Grace served as the Digital Collections Librarian for Smithsonian Libraries and as the Program Manager for BHL.