Our Logo
The OII affiliate logotype extended with the word Australia.
WE have been asked to explain why our logo looks the way it does and to justify apparently controversial design choices like setting it in lower case instead of upper case.
Some erstwhile critics have demanded to know why we did not opt for some kind of icon that would somehow represent the idea of intersex in all languages and across all cultures.
Normally we would not feel obliged to explain such things, but some OII national affiliates have asked about the possibility of adapting our logo for their own use and so it is appropriate to wrote about our design decisions here.
Why no icon for intersex?
Yet another iteration of the sex binary myth via one of many symbols for transgender. Sorry, not interested.
The answer is simple – there is no such thing as a universal pictorial language. If there was, humanity would have been using it for millennia as the very first language we all learn.
The meanings of abstract images are contextual in terms of language, culture and time period. That is why a swastika stands for good luck or evokes shakti in Buddhist, Jain and Hindu cultures as well as the brutal oppression of Nazism, Fascism and White Supremacism.
Other critics have demanded to know why we have not constructed some kind of graphic representing intersex out of sex binary symbols such as those for male and female. The answer is simple – we have no interest in celebrating and perpetuating the symbolism of our oppressors.
The sex binary, a rationale for intersex persecution
The popular myth of only male and female is often used to justify intersex oppression.
There are several common reasons why intersex people are persecuted and the foremost is homophobia – the scientifically insupportable belief that intersex bodies are somehow intrinsically homosexual.
Eugenics is also a prominent cause of our persecution and so is the common myth of the sex binary – the belief that there can only be males and females and so intersex bodies and lives must be medically re-engineered to be perfectly, 100%, male or female. Again science demonstrates the falsehood of this belief – intersex and hermaphrodite florae and faunae are common.
While the prevalence of intersex is some 4% in human beings, it and hermaphrodite biological variations may number up to 50% of the animal realm in terms of biomass. There are no human hermaphrodites by the way, despite popular myth.
Yet another demand made of intersex people
An icon often used by bisexual people. There are demands that intersex people adopt it too. No thanks.
In recent years demands have been made that intersex people adopt a symbol and flag that fuses the symbols for male and female with the sign for infinity.
We wish to point out this symbol, with and without a circle in the centre of the whole thing, is actually used by those who are sexually and romantically attracted to people on both ends of the sex binary – bisexuals.
Sorry but we don’t think so. Any icon containing the symbols of intersex oppression promotes that oppression by perpetuating one of the prime excuses for it, and we have no desire to steal something that belongs to others.
The same goes for symbols (and flags) that have been constructed by transgender people, some of whom are suggesting that intersex people use them too.
How about something positive instead?
Reaching out to help - the OII Australia logo.
All of this is just one reason why we chose not to take the icon route when designing the OII Australia logotype. Another is that, as with heraldry, a coat of arms is not a resume and neither is a logo.
How many times have we seen members of other local organizations suggest that a new logo design be a mash-up of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, a waratah flower, a kangaroo, the map of New South Wales and some other symbolic object? Such things are never a happy result if they ever make it to completion and approval.
Hypatia, a great typeface and an inspiring example
The best way we have found to design a logo from scratch is make a short list of our organization’s core values then look for a typeface that helps express them and that is also graphically rich.
Our logo has to work in all sizes from tiny to rally banner size, be reproducible in all media and surfaces, and be limited in colour so as to be printed on all kinds of desktop printers. No more than one or two colours on a white background is best, with the prime colour having some intrinsic association or references while looking similar regardless of the quality of its reproduction.
We went looking for a typeface that could withstand all that abuse. We came across one that Adobe had given away free with a new version of some creative software and that had some qualities we liked – Hypatia Sans Pro.
Our values iterated in a typeface
In order to succeed in our quest for equality and human rights for all intersex people we have to be fearless, strong, precise and yet humane. Those values might be expressed in a typeface combining geometry with humanism. Geometric typefaces can be coldly modernist like Paul Renner‘s Futura or more human like those sans serifs that are based on ancient Greek stone inscriptions.
Hypatia Sans Pro looked like just the ticket given that its designer, Thomas Phinney, was trying to express the same values as us. An added benefit is that it has a massive range of glyphs, being a professional Opentype typeface.
Thirdly, Phinney’s design has a great backstory that we can identify with – it is named after the last of the great Neo-Platonist philosopher-mathematicians, Hypatia of Alexandria, who lived in that city in Roman Egypt.
To be continued…
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