How the Logo Came To Be

In the summer of 2014, we started to look for a way to distinguish ourselves, to let people know that we had a new outlook and a new energy, and that we were using these things to build on the successes of the past.

For perspective, HMSDesign of Fairfield showed us the logos of about two dozen other conservation organizations. 

Senior staff at The Connecticut Audubon Society discussed whether we should chose a specific bird to be identified with. The State Bird of Connecticut – the American Robin? Nice but too common. The Connecticut Warbler? Good name but that bird never actually visits Connecticut.

HMS came back with about a dozen possibilities, working drafts: One featured an Osprey, another an owl, and both incorporated features of the natural world such as cattails and silhouetted hills.

One possibility in particular caught our eye. It was a circular depiction of the head of a bird in the form of an abstract C – a stylized bird rather than a particular species. It was a lively, upbeat, approachable image, not fierce or dramatic, rendered in blue and yellow, the colors of the logo we had been using for about a decade.

The staff reviewed it and suggested revisions; so did the Board of Directors. HMS presented versions with the words in different places and with different emphases, some stressing the word “Connecticut,” others stressing “Audubon,” some with the words encircling the bird, others with the words below the bird. The word “The” was added, to emphasize that we are The Connecticut Audubon Society – a local organization that concentrates all its work and resources on Connecticut issues.

The result is a new logo that signals that we are a distinctive, re-energized organization; that we are connected to, and proud and respectful of, our long history and our many accomplishments; and that we are the original and still independent Audubon Society of Connecticut.