Can a logo design save the planet?
It was a cold and miserable day in early November and the rain had finally stopped pouring. Stepping to avoid the puddles, I huddled beneath one of the many gazebos dotted around George Square in the centre of Glasgow where I and thousands of others were waiting to join one of biggest climate marches in history.
6 days earlier I had jumped on a train from my home in Leeds to travel to Scotland, to spend two weeks attending the United Nations Climate Conference 2021, commonly referred to as COP26. As an official observer and delegate on behalf of a wonderful climate charity I volunteer for and co-direct, we spent the two weeks tirelessly campaigning for the bold climate action that’s needed to prevent a climate catastrophe.
I campaign because the science tells us that the action we take over the next few years are absolutely critical if we are to change the direction of travel and keep global heating from breaking through the 1.5C limit - an ecological barrier that, if broken, will mean potentially irreversible damage and devastation for all life on earth.
After a week of campaigning hard, organising press conferences, attending meetings and buying overpriced coffee and sandwiches, I was taking a welcome break from the official activities at the Scottish Events Campus building, the home of COP26. Leaving the conference rooms, exhibitions stalls, and events behind to get outside where the “real action” was.
The atmosphere was electric. There was something in air; a mix of anger, desperation, and hope. As I marched with 100,000 other concerned citizens I reflected on how we communicate the climate emergency in which we find ourselves in, and how we unite behind a movement - or distance ourselves from one, and what drives people to take different actions and play their part in tackling the biggest challenge of our generation.
You can’t attend a march or a protest without noticing the signs, placards, and flags. As a graphic designer at heart, I’m always fascinated to see what’s on display and how creativity can communicate an important message. And nowadays you can’t go to climate march without seeing the Extinction Rebellion flag flying.
Whatever your thoughts on Extinction Rebellions’ tactics, you cannot deny that they have created a cultural shift across the globe and pushed the climate conversation from the fringes. They have boldly grabbed the spotlight and wrenched it onto the climate emergency, making it a mainstream talking point that is now a part of our daily lives. But how did they do this after years of that climate conversation falling on deaf ears?
Their radical protests that have halted traffic, the intentional arrests, and the public disruption have definitely caused a stir, but what was it that compelled supporters to take interest in their cause and sign up to willingly put themselves in potential peril when other climate campaigns have failed to gather such momentum?
As with any movement or successful campaign (political, social justice, or commercial) it is impossible to pin it down to one factor that tipped the scales. There is typically no single thing that makes a campaign stand out and succeed where others have failed, it’s always a blending pot of good ideas and good people, and one good thing can influence all manner of equally positive actions and create influence. But I believe there is one important aspect of Extinction Rebellion that made them unique and appealing to their supporters. Something that you can’t ignore. Something that helped them to rally volunteers and create the powerful, self-organising, movement that it is today.
The logo they’ve adopted, known as the Extinction Symbol - designed by an anonymous East London artist known only as Goldfrog ESP, who gave the climate activist group the right to use it - has become the rallying banner for the movement. The simple symbol has been described as this generations’ peace sign, and it’s easy to understand why.
Its simplicity and elegance has allowed supporters to pour meaning into it. The stark design itself feels powerful, it feels inherently punk and anti-establishment with the stencil-friendly design includes a bold X within a circle creates abstract hourglass symbol that reminds us that time is running out. In my opinion, it is powerful because it contains no green leaves, no hands holding a globes, and no abstract trees. It’s a minimalistic icon, brave and simplistic, and it has become universal a call to action.
“The simple symbol has been described as this generation’s peace sign, and it’s easy to understand why.”
It might feel distasteful to call Extinction Rebellion a “brand”, but the group definitely uses branding techniques and design systems to create a powerful, consistent and memorable visual identity.
Would the Extinction Rebellion group be as successful or have made as great an impact as they did without that unifying symbol? Would activists have gotten so fully onboard without that simple, repeatable icon representing their movement? Without an iconic badge to stitch on their jackets, stencil onto cardboard placards, paint onto flags, and remix and adapt into works of arts, graphic designs, and other acts of visual rebellion - would this movement have been so powerful?
Would a middle of the road logo, something more palatable to the masses have truly represented their ethos and garnered such attention?
Extinction Rebellion has seemingly done the impossible. They have united schoolteachers and anarchists, OAPs and teenagers, politicians and punks. XR have tapped into the rebel within all of us and sparked something that has lit a fire that has fuelled the everyday citizen to become a climate activist and feel part of a bold movement. Certainly the urgency of the situation and the important cause behind it all is a key part of this, but the visual identity of that movement is something of a masterpiece.
A good logo kick starts the conversation, and the other branded vehicles at your disposal; your website, brochures, social media, and staff, are all there to add the context and deeper brand elements that help to create and reinforce that positive perception in your audiences’ minds.
So, can a logo save the planet?
Well, not on its own. But it can help galvanise and inspire a movement with a mission to do just that.
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