Internet bears an uncanny resemblence to a war zone. You find people intoxicated with notion of '15 minutes of Warholic life' and eternal salvation thereafter. And then every second, an information bomb explodes somewhere, throwing away shrapnel of factoids, making 'i-zombies' (well most of it!) out of populace.
Now if we pause for a moment and pay a closer attention at these shrapnels, we would find most of it are nothing but images, symbols. Cyberspace is replete with these. And, spill over is only natural but it has been so profuse that discerning real from virtual is listlessly daunting.
The enslaving nature of symbol and imagery rankled us profoundly. Therefore, we were concerned about our own symbol. It spawned sessions of stimulating discussions. We pondered over importance and necessity of it. An ethical dilemma of adding our own bit to an already advanced infestation. Then there was very vintage mind-body debate. Who feeds whom. And, how this information age has tilted the balance and how mind is being relegated and body is being abused (of course allusion is for eyes and brain!). And, then there was a long deliberation on iconoclasm, which was later discounted on the ground of extreme nihilist behaviour emanating out of it. It was finally concluded to stick to the basic premise of symbology i.e. a symbol is designed to represent an idea , a process. Its purpose is to communicate meaning. Symbol, after all, is only a cup, what we pour-nectar or vinegar-defines it.
Therefore, with an intent of infusing love for books, tinged with motif of feminism, child and rural development, we came out with this rough sketch
It was felt that idea was not getting concrete shape and the message is getting garbled in details and colours. The whole revamp, with basic skeleton preserved, was performed. After another marathon session and with consummate artistry, we came out with the logo in its final and present form as this
It represent a tree of knowledge with books being its branches and leaves. The books also add to the perception of birds flying in all directions. It manifests Upavan's deep commitments to the idea of knowledge setting individuals free. The penetrating roots delineate Upavan's resolve for rural development. It emphasizes that the tree with its roots deeply entrenched can only touch the heights of glory. And, in centre lies a female child. It illustrates Upavan core faith in children and women in being agents of change. And, there is Upavan's punchline 'Lets Library'. Library being used as a verb emanated from an heuristic notion of words gaining importance in our mundane life. More important a word becomes in our day to day activities, more we tend to use it as a verb. Prime examples being google, xerox. So with a mission of making library an important component in our daily existence, Upavan aptly emblazons and declares - 'Lets Library!'
Team Upavan sincerely acknowledges the effort of Praveen Kumar and Amit Rajak.
