The Inspiration behind our Futures, Foresight & Horizon Scanning Conference logo

Dr Sarah Khan, Research Associate at the Innovation Observatory took on the mammoth task of designing a logo for our first ever Futures, Foresight & Horizon Scanning Conference. Sarah was given a brief to come up with a design that encapsulated the essence of horizon scanning but also was in keeping with our existing brand, colours and font…no easy task! Talking about her inspiration for the logo design, we spoke to Sarah about her artistic journey and what led her to create the final version…

What images come to mind when you hear the words future, foresight, or horizon scanning. What image could be a meaningful representation of these ideas and also be recognisable as a logo? A crystal ball? Telescope? Satellite? Sunset? Speech bubble?  

Out of the three terms in the conference title, horizon scanning was at the root of everything as it laid the foundation for foresight and understanding of what the future holds. So, I decided to focus on how to present horizon scanning. 

Horizon scanning is a systematic process of identifying signals and a radar is used to do the same. That is the image in the logo with the three concentric circles which also demonstrate the three horizons we use to describe health technologies in the pipeline; the imminent, transitional, and emergent horizons.  

The small shapes drawn on or around the concentric circles represent health technologies in development that are being identified by the radar. The initial design included a blip to make it look more like a radar but needed to be removed in the final logo to simplify the design and make it cleaner.  

The colours used are inspired by the NIHR colour scheme. Blue, yellow and orange are complementary colours on the colour wheel and create a strong contrast when placed next to each other. Using different values helps create a striking figure so pale yellow and orange was used against a dark blue.  

Jen Taylor, Marketing & Communications Manager at the IO said “We were delighted with Sarah’s logo design. It featured on all promotional material for the conference, taking pride of place on the large screen at The Catalyst and our printed tote bags. It’s great to see a member of the team come forward and design something that has both meaning behind it and a powerful and recognisable aesthetic. A huge thank you to Sarah and members of the logo design team, Negar Yousefzadeh and Alex Inskip for making this happen !”

To read the full news story detailing the conference please click here.