The Ontario Professionals Planners Institute (OPPI) is the regulating body for Ontario's planners, much like the OAA or AIA are to architects. In a chance encounter with the organization, I was confronted with their logo, pictured above.
I must have been a pirate in a former life because all I can see is a stylized skull. To confirm my assumptions and make sure that it wasn't just my deviant mind playing tricks on me, I asked a few others to take a look and tell me what they think. From phallic forms to artificial insemination, this logo evokes just about every conceivable bad idea, but that of urban planning. Unless the organization is trying to take over cities Crimson Permanent Assurance style it is a very confusing attempt at visual identity.
Ultimately, branding is reflected in everything an organization does, down to the little details like a logo, that gives people unfamiliar with it, an idea of what that group of people does, if only at the subconscious level. If artificial insemination and piracy are the first things that come to mind for an organization that regulates urban planners, then the logo is an epic fail. If that were a design for a 1960's high-modernist incarnation of the Punisher at sea, then the logo would be perfect.
Let that be a cautionary tale for people who are thinking about a new visual identity. Because you don't see a problem with it, it doesn't mean it won't be perceived differently by people with a different perspective.
It's all about context and there is an easy fix: All they have to do is to change their name to The Ontario Professional Pirates Institute, add a couple of stylized bones, et voila! You're welcome OPPI.
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