Birth of a New Logo
However, we've had a tougher time sorting out what our representational logo should be. We've had two. One was a lovely banner in shades of green created by our very own Dr. Kouris:
The green background and the leaves certainly spoke to the Forest City theme, and we used this as our logo for the first three yours of Forest City's operations. However, the logo didn't copy well, and some of us (mostly me) got antsy for something different. So, when we did a website re-design in 2008 we shifted to this celtic symbol as our logo:
I personally really like this icon, and felt that the use of a celtic symbol, with it's roots in a culture known (in part) for a relationship with the natural world, would mesh well with the Forest City concept. Apparently I was over thinking things, however, as I was the only person who every seemed to get this connection. Mostly I got questions like "what is that" and "it just looks like a blob". On only one occasion did I have someone ask "is that a celtic symbol?" So.
Time then for something new. We wanted something that would render clearly in copies, be easy for people to recognize, but to still have some significance with respect to Forest City Behavior and what it does. The new icon is a picture of a child's handprint on a wooden chessboard pattern:
There's the potential here for high-falutin' symbolism, and also a fairly simple story of personal significance behind it as well. The fancy, representational story is that we work with children and others with autism and developmental disabilities, developing strategies for assessment and treatment. The presentation on a natural woodgrain pattern speaks to our use of the natural rules and laws of human behavior to address and treat challenging behaviors.
The simpler story is that this is a pattern painstakingly painted upon my home office floor in our 1860's era family farmhouse by my lovely wife, with my daughter's handprint placed in the center tile of the doorway. She had chosen the pattern, however, very much based upon the work we do at Forest City, with the reasons I've described above in mind. I was touched, and presented the idea for this as a logo to the team here, and we decided to go forward with it.
