Visualizing Worldbridges

One of the first podcasts that I ever listened to was EdTechTalk, a show covering topics in education and technology. It was encouraging to find other educators who were grappling with the same technology integration and professional development issues that I was facing. Soon I realized that I could not only download the recorded podcasts but also listen live to the webcasts as they were being produced. Listening live is more common nowadays, but it was quite innovative circa 2005 before the popularization of VOIP and services like Ustream. EdTechTalk was my introduction to real-time communication and collaboration on the Web and soon I was creating my own programs using techniques I learned from them.

EdTechTalk is just one of a community of programs available on the Worldbridges network. It also includes programs like Teachers Teaching Teachers, 21st Century Learning, Women of Web 2.0 and the Earthcast, among others. Worldbridges is described as “a community of communities that use ‘homegrown webcasting’ and other new media technologies to help people connect, learn, and collaborate.” The network got its start in the 1990s (ancient in Internet time) when Jeff Lebow began tinkering around with webcasting as a way of creating a global radio show on the Internet. His efforts soon attracted other talents who shared his vision of using collaborative technology to build bridges between cultures, countries and communities in an informal and welcoming environment.

One of the challenges of such a diverse and voluntary effort is maintaining an overall sense of identity for all the programs. While there tends to be a core group of regular collaborators across all the shows, each one has its own team of content producers. Over the years there have been regular requests for some kind of logo or badge to connect them all together. For the past few months I’ve been trying to meet that challenge by making a design that is flexible enough to be unique for each show but recognizable enough to join everyone together. The solution I came up with is pictured below. It may not be the best one, but it has some elements that I really like.

In the beginning I sketched out several literal designs which incorporated abstract and representational bridges. Like most of my recent works, the final design came early one morning in a dreamy bit of inspiration when I realized that Worldbridges has less to do with actual bridges and more to do with conversations.

The most obvious element of the logo is the yin-yang motif. While this is a cliché, it is meant to be an oblique reference to the Asian origins of Worldbridges. Jeff Lebow started his first webcasts from South Korea. It is also a more obvious reference to the diversity of voices, sometimes contrarian, that appear on the Worldbridges programs.

The white and black elements also represent stylized speech balloons (what speech balloons aren’t stylized?). This is also something of a cliché, but in this case there is an optical illusion between the top balloon and the bottom balloon that I think makes the design work. Since these elements share the center S-shaped border, there is a 3D effect which gives a back and forth interplay between them, much like in a real conversation.

The nice thing about this approach is the flexibility it allows. The speech balloons can change color (C) and position and still hold some of the identity of the originating mark. They can exist in a compact form (A) or in an expanded form (B). In the compact form I have added a circle in the background, giving the logo a third element. It was a feature suggested by Jeff and I think it gives the design more depth and flexibility, even though it also sometimes makes it look like a hamburger. It is also suggestive of a globe.

As an example of how this general design for the network can be adapted for a specific program, I created a black and orange colored version for EdTechTalk (E, F). In this example, the expanded form can also be adapted for shows that might have more verbose titles (G). In some ways, it is reminiscent of the Geek Squad logo. But the colors also remind me of the standard RSS icon.

The weakest element of this design for me are the letter forms. I did not have the resources or expertise to really give the design a typographic treatment. I knew I wanted the letters to appear large and casual and fill as much of the speech balloons as possible. So I settled for a font called BorisBlackBoxx. I think the type works better in the extended version of the logo than in the compact form.

As with many Worldbridges projects, there are no rules for how these marks are to be used. I am releasing the design to Worldbridges LLC. In turn, Jeff and company are free to release them under a Creative Commons license or do with them what they will. I expect that community members will be free to adapt them in whatever way seems suitable or to not use them at all. If they are released, and you are a host of a Worldbridges network show and would like me to adapt the design for your particular program, please let me know.

Finally, working with and listening to the communities at Worldbridges has given me a sense of what education will look like in the future. I think it will be messier and require more from the teachers and especially the students. But it has also given me hope that it will be more imaginative and collaborative and brighter than the classrooms of yesterday. My thanks go out to all the Worldbridges teachers, students, learners and contrarians that have inspired me.

I am a recreational graphic designer and amateur photographer. Wrack Lines is a recurring series featuring my Illustrator and Photoshop designs. In real life, a wrack line is the strand of seaweed and debris washed up to the high tide mark. Here it also refers to the vector-based lines that I am racking my brains against. Please leave constructive criticism and questions in the comment section below.

Tagged as: design, EdTechTalk, education, Illustrator, Jeff Lebow, logo, technology, webcast, Worldbridges