Background:

The Ohio Dietetic Association (ODA) felt it was time to give their identity a new look. The previous logo had been used for at least 25 years (no current staff could remember anything different) and was sorely dated and communicated very little about the organization. The logo obviously captured that the organization was from Ohio, but communicated absolutely nothing about what they were about.

Before:

Solution:

The previous logo looked too much like a generic state organization, so the goal of the new logo was to communicate more about the dietetic aspect of the organization. This was accomplished through the imagery of the tomato. The tomato also communicates the Ohio aspect, although more subtlely, as the official state vegetable. The use of the slab-serif font adds a little more personality and softness than the sterile, corporate sans serif font used previously.

After:

Alina's Feedback:

The new logo for the Ohio Dietetic Association is such a vast improvement over the old logo in that it immediately grabs your attention, imparts what the organization is about, that the association is vital (and has vitality) and is friendly and approachable. The colors are organic and healthy, and the serif font is also more organic than a sans serif font and presents a friendlier, more conversational feel.

I immediately loved the new logo, but then doubts entered my head as to whether it was a "proper" logo. Having been educated that logos must work in black and white and generally do not contain photographic images, I was concerned whether the logo can be used in a variety of applications and sizes. Since it's four-color, it could force the client to use a more costly printing process, and it would not work in one color for faxing or one-color applications. I do realize that in this day and age of increasing Web presence and usage, that this format is more common and acceptible.