The APH LogoThe Story Behind Our Column and Vines …In APH, while the fruit of our labors is very diverse—print, audio recordings, multimedia, etc.—all share a reverence for the past and a strong belief in its celebration and preservation. The challenge in designing the APH logo was to find a classic, distinguished emblem that would encapsulate both the spirit and the diversity of APH. Plants correspond with life, growth, newness, and discovery, which are at the heart of personal history. So, why vines? Flowers are too feminine and too ephemeral. While trees are commonly used to represent genealogy, they don’t reflect the sinuous, evolving, and adaptable nature of a personal history work. Vines, on the other hand, cling to the past while they reach to the future. Each leaf, entanglement, and twist is a small "story" contributing to the greater, slowly growing vine. And, why a column? It is classic, sturdy, and lasting. Columns stand up from the ruins of ancient architecture, yet they are still used in contemporary works. Like a Personal History, columns are beautiful and functional vestiges of the past. A column draped in vines has a story to tell. While there are many approaches to the preservation of personal history, in our work we all hope to create columns decorated with vines—heirlooms that are enhanced by the passage of time. On a more technical note, APH needed a "line art" logo that would reproduce well in either all black or all dark green. That is, the logo could not contain shades of gray or green. The logo's conservative look and approach is intentional to ensure its function as a clean, timeless, and lasting emblem for the association. By Rae Jean Sielen |
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