Logotype for the Queen Mary Mathematical Society

A LOGO FOR THE MATHS SOCIETY
martedì 29 aprile 2014

A CONFESSION
As a graphic designer
with a basic understanding
of geometry and arithmetics,
I’m approaching this work
as a bricklayer who’s asked
to build a Cathedral.

STARTING POINT
Mathematics, for me, is like putting
science, religion, art and chaos
into a blender, then switching
the top speed button.

THE TASK
To create a new logo
that would please the eye
and fascinate the mind.

THE AIM
To inspire students to be
creative and seek the beauty
of numbers, but also to be humble
in front of multiple infinites.

THE EXISTING
Mathematical Societies:
A quick overview.

NUMB AND NUMBER
Solids, spirals, and symbols.
The maths world looks a bit
stiff, at times undistinctive.

THE CHALLENGE
in order to make a difference,
it’s necessary to leave
the comfort zone and walk
on uncharted territories.

PERSONAL RESEARCH

notched bones, 35,000 B.C.

Mayan numbers, 250 AD.

MORE THAN
A THOUSAND WORDS
numbers are the clearest mirror
of a civilization: you look at them
and they speak to you, far beyond
their face value.

Yet, they hide the greatest mystery
because numbers, even if unwritten, exist
before the Universe was created.

PROPOSAL # 1

If you place all numbers, from 0 to 9,
on top of each others, zero will come
out as the most beaten track, as if all
numbers, in their wanderings, had to
pay homage to the master of figures.

Zero has been described as
“the most even number” and
this is a good thing for a start.
0 martedì 29 aprile 2014

Zero has been described as
“the most even number” and
this is a good thing for a start.
0equanimity
equality
justice
neutrality
humbleness
calmness

The idea was to start from zero,
and build up an image to convey
aggregation through a multitude
of participants (The Society) plus
a sense of an endless, flowing
energy (the relentless numbers).

0 0 00
A triple zero, rotated 120°,
is then connected into
three modules to form
an endless string.

60 zeroes are then
multiplied three times,
making up a 3D string
of 180 zeroes.

+
the solid is doubled and
rotated 180° and the two
placed on top of each others,
adding up to 360 zeroes.

Shadows are applied
to obtain more depth
and avoid flickering.

A single color makes the logo
stable and consistent. Let’s
start with a Cosmic Blue.

Monster Green

Mine Yellow

Vedic Red

Asteroid Grey

Two colors may add rhythm
and depth to the pattern.

Chromatic Combinations - Table 1

Chromatic Combinations - Table 2

QUEEN MARY
MATH SOC

QUEEN MARY MATH SOC

PROPOSAL # 2

Graphic Design sticks to classic
bi-dimensional and 3D geometry.
But contemporary maths spans
well beyond the world we learned
to know through the lens of
Pytagora and Newton.
Why not pushing design further?

Natural numbers
give shape to
classic geometry,
which is beautiful
but also dejà vu.

Then we have gestalt studies, the impossible
space, new solids, CG generated harmonic shapes...

fractals

infographics
as a visual
aid to break
down data
complexity.

chaos tfhreaoctray.ls

fractals
Let’s shift the paradigm!

fractals
Let’s shift the paradigm!
from solution to problem

THE CRUMPLED PAPER
A solid object of incredible
complexity, in which intersecting
wrinkles draw irregular polygons,
sharp and obtuse angles, where
twists and turns constantly
design inside and outside spaces.

THE CRUMPLED PAPER
A humble reminder of the frustration
of all mathematicians, their effort and
dedication in the pursuit of a new solution,
a breakthrough formula, or a lifetime chimera.
A dimension for human speculation and
a place for abstraction where both,
victory and failure, are a possibility.

a paper ball has been shot from different points of view.

One was chosen for its beauty, resembling a rose and a spiral.

Its lines were simplified into a pattern of poligons in different
shades of grey to respect the volume and light of the original.

The 35 resulting polygons have been dedicated to the effort
of the 35 most notable mathematicians of all times.

1 The unknown inventor of numbers: notched tally bones. Africa, 35,000 BC.
2 First fully developed base-10 number system. Egyptian, 2700 BC
3 Clay tablets dealing with fractions, algebra and equations. Babylonian, 1800 BC.
4 Decimal system with place value concept. Chinese, 1200 BC.
5 Early Vedic mantras invoke power of ten up to a trillion. 900 BC.
6 Thales: early developments in geometry. Greece, 600 BC.
7 Pythagoras: rigorous approach to theorems and principles. 550 BC.
8 Zeno of Elea: paradoxes concerning infinity and infinitesimals. 450 BC.
9 Plato: Statement of the 3 Classical Problems without solution. 400 BC.
10 Aristotle: Standardization of Logic and deductive reasoning. 300 BC.
11 Eratosthenes: method for identifying prime numbers. 250 BC.
12 Ptolemy: trigonometry tables for astronomic application. 100 AD.
13
Liu Hui: correct evaluation of π to five decimal places. China, 250 AD.
14
Aryabjata: trigonometric functions. Π as irrational number. India, 500 AD.
15 Brahmagupta: dealing with zero, negative roots of equations. India, 630 AD.
16 Ibn al-Haytham: first link between algebra and geometry. Persia, 1000 AD.
17 Fibonacci: his sequence. Advocacy of Hindu-Arabic numbers. Italy, 1200 AD.
18
Nicolò Tartaglia: formula for all types of cubic equations. Italy, 1530 AD.
19 Gerolamo Cardano: quartic equations and imaginary numbers. Italy, 1550 AD.
20
René Descartes: Cartesian coordinates, analytic geometry. France, 1620 AD.
21 Pierre de Fermat: the last theorem and probability theory. France, 1650 AD.
22 Isaac Newton: infinitesimal calculus, infinite power series. Britain, 1690 AD.
23 P. Simon Laplace: celestial mechanics translated gemotery. France, 1780 AD.
24 C. Friederich Gauss: Gaussian function and error curve. Germany, 1800 AD.
25 Charles Babbage: forerunner of programmable computer. Britain, 1840 AD.
26 George Boole: starting point of modern mathematical logic. Britain, 1850 AD.
27
Georg Cantor: Cantor’s theorem on infinity of infinities. Germany, 1890 AD.
28
Henri Poincaré: foundations of modern chaos theory. France, 1900 AD.
29 Bertrand Russell: the paradox and Principia Mathematica. Great Britain, 1910 AD.
30 S. Ramanujan: proved over 3,000 theorem and equations. India, 1920 AD.
31 Kurt Godel: his numbering, logic and set theory. Austria, 1940 AD
32 Alan Turing: breaking of Enigma code. Turing machine. Great Britain, 1950 AD.
33
Julia Robinson: work on decision and Hilbert’s tenth problem. USA, 1960 AD.
34
Andrew Wiles: finally proved Fermata’s Last Theorem. Great Britain, 1970 AD.
35
Grigori Perelman: fianlly proved Poincarè Conjecture. Russia, 1980 AD.
This is the list.
Many more
mathematicians
would deserve
a space, but
the paper ball
would have
been too big.

Thank you for your kind attention!

Logotype for the Queen Mary Mathematical Society

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Logotype for the Queen Mary Mathematical Society