For Your Eyes Only

New MUFON logo design.

Every since I was a little kid I've been fascinated by mysterious things. I remember watching "In Search Of" hosted by Leonard Nymoy and "The Night Stalker" a precursor and inspiration for Chris Carters "X Files" and the newest paranormal offering I like to TiVo is one called "Fringe."

I think most people will appreciate the design in this post regardless of the context. And some won't be able to separate the two and will just file it away under "N" for nutter. That said I think every client I work with deserves good design no matter if I fully buy into what service or product they are offering.


Horizontal logo formats.

Personally I've never seen a UFO, but a close friend of our family growing up had an experience with one that I can only describe as strange. She had sent my mom a letter when I was ten years old and my mom read me part of the letter that described the encounter.

A glowing object followed our friend and her daughter one night while driving in their car for about 45 minutes. It hovered off to the right of them all the way to their farm in North Dakota. They ran into their kitchen and the object described by them as a "glowing ball" floated above their barn than streaked off after a few minutes of watching it.

I have to admit I use to just smirk at this kind of stuff. But over the years I've read books by military pilots from WWII describing "Foo Fighters", airline pilots describing encounters with UFO's, police officers and air traffic control people in and around O'Hare airport in Chicago just a few years ago describing what took place there makes it pretty clear that something is happening. The phenomenon is real and one could argue mainstream now.


Old MUFON logo.

MUFON is an organization that has chapters nationally and they investigate hundreds of sightings every year to keep track of the phenomenon and to respond to it with a practical scientific mind set.

I decided to subscribe to their newsletter this year and when the first issue showed up I spotted a UBO, "Unidentified Branding Object" more commonly referred to as an ugly logo. So I reported my sighting to their head office and approached them about re-designing their identity. They agreed.

Over all I wanted the new identity to be clean, elegant and sophisticated. A large majority of the public already thinks this subject is a joke so I didn't want the mark to facilitate that in any way. MUFON takes what they do seriously and they deserve a mark that carries that across visually as well.

Design Area 51

Like any non-profit the implementation of this new design will only be as effective as the organization carries it out. At this point it still hasn't hit their web site yet and due to the recent economic situation our country finds itself in they are a bit nervous about a wholesale change with other components in their identity.

Rumors has it that this design was taken to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base and secured within hanger "18" until an official disclosure date can be determined.


Logo Mark.

My Design Rationale

This mark plays of the publics perception of UFO’s in general and metaphorically conveys an eye, since this is the foundational point of contact for all UFO phenomenon.

This mark also serves as the letter "O" in your horizontal format.

This mark can also be used as a bug to end an article, or on screen for video productions. (Think TV network on-screen water marks)

It’s clean, classic and timeless.


Custom Typography.

MUFON is progressive, adaptive to new technology and scientific methods in it’s efforts to investigate and document the UFO phenomenon.

Because of this I didn’t want to use an existing typeface, so I custom designed the logo type from scratch. They are unique to MUFON.

The letter forms reflect a high-tech and precise easy to read clarity.


Color Branding.

Blue isn't just the color of the sky, the canvas on which the UFO phenomenon appears, but it is also a color commonly associated to the sciences as well. It is also the worlds most popular color for obvious reasons and that seemed appropriate since this phenomenon is not isolated to any one country.

UFO + Design = Fun!