NHS Newcastle Medical Photography Logo

I was tasked with creating a logo for the Newcastle Medical Photography Department for the NHS. The department covers 3 groups in Newcastle and is used by 35 services throughout the area. They wanted the  logo to be graphical, have department identity and stayed clear of obvious cliches. There wasn't any type or colour restriction either.


It was a difficult task to come up with ideas which avoided the obvious cliches and which linked both medicine and photography. So I focussed on writing down truths associated with Photography, medicine and Newcastle.


The shape of the aperture on a camera struck me as being something which I could work with. Theres alot of lines and shapes that I could use to create quite a contemporary abstract ideogram with.


I first of all tried to fit the aperture shape into the red cross but I felt that was to complex, so I then tried to just work with the aperture shape itself. After removing some lines, I noticed that I had created a shape which looked alot like the Newcastle Millennium bridge, so I decided to stick with that on the basis that I felt it would be good to have as many themes represent in the ideogram.

Another thing to consider, was because the title was so long, I'd have to really think about how I could best compose that so that it fitted alongside the symbol. I decided upon staggering the words underneath each other, and adding a key line to separate the symbol and type, really helped the flow of the logo. I also decided to leave 'Department' out of the title, as three is always better than four, but my main reasoning was that 'Newcastle Medical photography' felt a more current, appropriate and aesthetically pleasing title for the company.


I because the colour red is synonymous with health care and hospitals, It seemed appropriate to use that colour. Grey is a more contemporary colour currently than Black, so I used a dark grey for the type to keep it stylish and on trend, but I don't think there is anything to faddish about the logo for it not to have longevity.  


I'm happy with my design. I feel its refined and formal enough to represent the NHS, but I think its also graphic and creative enough to stand out and be distinctive.