As a new employee at GTRI, I felt compelled to take part in extracurricular activities in the office. My goal was to get to know everyone and become a part of the GTRI team. I participated in all of the social events and gatherings we had, and learned a lot about my new co-workers. This was a great start to my goal, but I wanted to make a more lasting impact on the company (other than being a rock star Inside Account Manager). When the email went out about GTRI starting a wellness program and needing help with a logo and tagline, I knew this was my calling.
The design of the logo had to go along with the wellness program mission statement: “At GTRI, we globally thrive to help our employees realistically improve and maintain their health and wellness.” Due to my marketing experience, I knew that the design I came up with had to be concise and appealing to the eye. I used a variety of inspirations, which included pop culture, philosophy and trending health topics. I decided that my logo would be based on the phrase, “Think globally, act locally,” which oddly enough is similar to our wellness mission statement. The idea behind this statement is to consider the health of the entire world, while taking action in your own community.
Now that I had a solid foundation to work from, it was time to translate the idea into reality. Considering all the above, the base of the design consisted of a sun, with the Earth layered on top of it.
Since the sun is arguably the most prominent symbol in the history of mankind, and of course the source of all life, there was no way I was leaving it out. The blue sphere that represents the Earth could be symbolic for many different things, but I saw it as representing globalization, and how GTRI can benefit from learning about other cultures and their health practices. The final layer of the logo represents the “Think globally, act locally” phrase directly, and ties everything together. The two leaves, which form a yin yang shape, were meant to reflect a balance between global philosophy and the wellness initiatives we want to accomplish at GTRI. I believe this portion of the logo empowers GTRI to take global wellness practices and make them our own.
Once the graphic was finished, I had to come up with a tagline that was powerful enough to make a statement, but didn’t take away from the logo. Following the guidelines and keeping everything simple, I decided to let my inner nerd out, and play off of Spock’s famous catchphrase, “Live long and prosper.” After going through a few different iterations of the phrase, I came up with, “Live. Be Well. Thrive.” This tagline allowed me to encompass everything the GTRI wellness program stood for, while also paying tribute to the late Leonard Nimoy.
In closing, it was surprising to see how much I had learned during the process of this contest. I was thankful to have my entry chosen as the winner, and attribute that to getting to know my co-workers well. I consider my initial goal accomplished, which was to leave a lasting mark on GTRI right out of the gate. The creation of this program shows GTRI’s relentless commitment to its employees, and it will become a vital part of our culture. I am honored to be a part of this initiative, and consider it a differentiator that will improve GTRI’s culture going forward.
