What are we looking for: a cute or cool bat for a logo for the new WA Bat Monitoring Program!
– Conservation Council of Western Australia (CCWA)
I’m afraid of bats — thanks to Bram Stoker’s Dracula I read while at school many years ago. It is an irrational fear although I clearly understand the role of bats in our environment. When Conservation Council of Western Australia (CCWA) announced a ‘cute or cool bat logo’ competition for their Bat Monitoring Program, I thought “How hard can it be?”
Well, as you will see soon, it was a lot harder. I submitted two bat logos for the competition.
Bat Logo 1 Based on Echolocation or Bio Sonar
Bats are amazing creatures who can navigate and locate preys/food by emitting sound waves and listening to the echo while flying. So, I started the design by drawing sound pulses and making them look like a bat in flight.
This logo also looks like the music visualization found in music player apps or audio editing consoles or Hi-Fi sound amplifiers. The bars can represent different frequencies or sound pulses emitted at a given time.
Since the logo is for CCWA Bat Monitoring Program, the logo also represents a bar graph showing statistics like bat population or habitat distribution.
This logo is also an abstract representation of the Perth city skyline and its reflection on the waters of the Swan River!
This version is my ‘cool’ bat logo submission to the competition!
Logo 1 Animation Video
The logo animation video is centered around the ideas of echolocation, bar graphs and the city skyline. This video was entirely created in Microsoft PowerPoint.
Bat Logo 2 Showing a Resting Bat
Conservation Council of WA is using a cute Numbat as their mascot. So I also wanted to design a cute bat logo in the same style.
Resting bats appear to be less ‘menacing’ than the flying ones. So, I managed to get the photo of a bat hanging from a tree from the stock image website FreePik. Then I manually traced it using Photoshop to create a vector image. This again underwent a couple of simplifications and small modifications resulting in my second ‘cute’ bat logo submission to the competition.
Logo 2 GIF Animation Showing the Logo Evolution
This GIF animation was also entirely created in Microsoft PowerPoint.
‘The Truth About Bats’
Bats are some of the world’s most misunderstood mammals. Despite the direct benefits bats bring to society (by pollinating plants, dispersing seeds, and controlling pest populations) bats are often villainized in myths. Emily Stanford went on a year-long global expedition to explore how different cultures perceive bats and how these perceptions ultimately impact bats’ survival.
– The Truth About Bats (Full Documentary)
I highly recommend this documentary to know more about these wonderful flying mammals.
As soon as I hear about the CCWA logo competition result, I will update it here. Wish me luck!
UPDATE 08-SEP-2023
Unfortunately my designs were not shortlisted for the final round. CCWA will soon announce the winner from the finalists. Anyway, my experience has been very good.
UPDATE 01-OCT-2023
I’m very happy to announce that my dear friend Alias Ginon Paul has won this CCWA Bat Monitoring Logo Competition!
Free and paid resources used in this design
- Mobile phone with earphones mockup by originalmockup: FreePik
- Fabric clothing patch mock-up on backpack: FreePik
- Young male skateboarder with mock-up t-shirt: FreePik
- Music — ‘Cinematic Pulse’ by www_lokhmatovmusic_com: Pixabay
- Design space on paper board by rawpixel.com: FreePik
- Indonesian shortnosed fruit bat cynopterus titthaecheilus by dwiputras: FreePik
