Logo should be decided by community
ON READING the back page article of your paper on 19 July about the revealing of the new Island Games 2021 logo, it seems to me that a big opportunity has been missed here. Unless I've missed something, it appears the committee have designed and chosen a new logo themselves without any consultation with the wider community of Guernsey. Surely such an iconic event and new brand should encompass and bring together the local community? Then I read on, and if my sources are correct, the designer of the logo works for Specsavers Optical Group, and with Dame Mary Perkins being the chairperson, one can only presume the design brief was only offered directly to their in-house creative department?
With four years until the event, was there ever the idea/discussion of putting this out as a competition to local schools, colleges, designers or design agencies, with the public to choose their favourite, thus making this a truly 'island-wide' decision, with no cost and engaging everyone who cares for sport, the Island Games and indeed our island? It does seem a real shame.
I know many of my friends would have jumped at the chance to have a go at putting forward some logo ideas, so why have we yet again missed such an opportunity? If the committee would be kind enough to reply to this I would love to hear their views...
BEN CAMPBELL,
Forest.
Editor's footnote:
Response from the committee:
Thank you for giving us the opportunity to respond. We do, of course, see the Island Games as being an extremely important community event and we have lots of activities planned in the future to truly make the Games as engaging and friendly as we can.
We understand your reader's points and, in an ideal world, we would have loved to have been able to open up a competition and given people the opportunity to vote on a logo. In reality, however, things are not always that simple. Guidelines for the design of the Games logo are issued by the International Island Games Association and have to be adhered to. This includes the inclusion of certain elements within the design, restrictions on wording and the use of certain colours. We could, of course, have produced a comprehensive brief to accommodate this, but we were faced with some rather challenging deadlines.
As you may recall, Guernsey were appointed as hosts for the 2021 Games in July of 2016. The Organising Committee then had to be put in place and was not finally confirmed until mid-January of this year. We then had to have a logo ready to present to the IIGA at their executive meeting in March, which meant we had to get everything done in a matter of weeks.
Much as we would have loved to have run an island-wide competition, this was not feasible on this occasion. However, over the next few years, we will have many, many opportunities to include as many islanders as possible. Although the main committee members are now in place, we are still looking to fill a number of roles. Some of these include:
Website development
Social media campaign management
Mobile app development
Volunteer co-ordinator
Attache/team liaison co-ordinator
Sustainability officer
The committee would love to hear from anyone who is keen to get involved, not just for the positions listed, but in any other capacity.
We will be running a managed volunteer programme nearer to 2021, but if anyone is keen to get involved now, please could they email us at info@guernsey2021.gg.
