On December 21st 2022 it was announced that the QNFCF would be holding a logo contest in order to help us establish a visual brand for our future communications. The contest closed on February 3rd 2023 with a healthy number of submissions from all areas of our labmember community, including some staff members.
All submissions were stripped of identifying information and QNFCF staff met on February 16th to look over and judge the submissions. After this meeting an electronic vote was held where all 13 staff members ranked their top three submissions, with points being awarded in the following manner:
- 3 points for a 1st place choice
- 2 points for a 2nd place choice
- 1 point for a 3rd place choice
In the interest of fairness all participating staff members were barred from voting for their own submission. Below are the top three submissions:
1st place: Ken Speirs - 21 points
Ken Speirs' winning design depicts the QNC building in the logo to represent the great facilities and group of people the QNFCF has to offer. Since the Silicon wafer is the foundation for many devices fabridated in the QNFCF, the building is overlaid on an outline of a wafer.
2nd place: Nicki Shaw - 15 points
The main elements of Nicki's design were inspired by microchips and transistors, as they are both key components of modern electronic devices and represent how nanofabrication has a huge impact on our lives. The four layers of the design are a nod to the layered design approach that is implemented in nanofabrication processes.
3rd place: Elahe Cheraghi - 11 points
Elahe's 3rd place submission comprises a number of designs inspired by the hexagonal lattice structure on the Waterloo Institute for Nanotechnology portion of the QNC building.
Congratulations to Ken Speirs, Nicki Shaw and Elahe Ceraghi for their winning designs. We hope to work with our winning designers to reach a final logo that will be a part of QNFCF's visual communications for the next decade and beyond. Thank you to everyone who participated in this contest, it was very inspiring to see such a positive response with a diverse array of thoughtful designs.