I’ve finally decided to write this article about our logo design so that whenever people ask me I can refer them to this page with a simple hyperlink.
Yes, our About Us Page does already have a brief explanation of what the “eye” logo represents and I have been referring people to this page over the years. However, lately, I’ve felt it necessary to expand on this explanation after recently reading multiple comments posted under my YouTube videos and receiving several emails offering advice on why we should ditch the eye logo and use something else.
So here it goes… Firstly, this is our official and brief explanation directly from our About Us Page:
The “Eye” for our logo with the pupil as the Earth signifies our desire to look and see how nature does things and how we can get the most out of working with nature rather than against it. For example, using indiscriminate pesticides might protect against pests in the interim but it also kills good bugs and bees which over time upsets nature’s balance to combat pests naturally, therefore, requiring more pesticide use and the cycle continues to get worse.
By observing nature and understanding the balance (that is often in our hands) we can create our own backyard micro-ecosystem that benefits all creatures, plants, and humans.
The above summary is pretty straightforward for most people to understand but some of you might like to know more about what our logo means to me and how we eventually decided on this unique design.
Before I do go on I should address the “elephant in the room” and that’s how our eye logo supposedly resembles the symbol of the Illuminati or affiliation with Satan – at least, this is the opinion of a very small minority of weird people who have consumed my content.
I’m well aware of what the Illuminati is about and for the record I think the whole history (past and present) of this so-called secret organisation is a total heap of steaming cow manure. The notion that there is some secret club of elitists that control the world is laughable because for a start I doubt the elites among us would be professional enough to keep it secret and whilst I do think too many rich elitists and corporate organisations have too much power I don’t believe it’s coordinated.
Sure, there’s collusion that benefits big corporations at the expense of the battler but an active network of woke elites totally controlling global politics and markets is fantasy as far as I’m concerned.
Personally, I find it confusing myself as to how some people can associate our logo with the considerably different pyramid-shaped eye symbol of the Illuminati or interpret it as being part of this ridiculous fakery of an organisation. Nevertheless, a small number of people still do make this loose connection and some are so taken by this conspiracy that they need to voice their confected outrage in messages to me and in the comments section of my videos on YouTube for others to undoubtedly roll their eyes at reading them.
Usually, I ignore such comments or correspondence but in the future, if I decide to respond it will be with a simple link to this article.
As ridiculous as all this might seem to a casual reader or normal person viewing my video content there is a serious side to this type of trolling. I have received veiled death threats via email warning that my life is in danger unless I get rid of our logo. This level of craziness is not a once-off, unfortunately, and it does show how unhinged some have become and how the internet gives them a perfect platform to push their mental illness and beliefs onto more people then they would otherwise reach in a pre-internet world.
Anyway, enough about the Illuminati and Satan… I CAST THOU OUT… LOL…
The real reasoning behind the logo is not much of a mystery nor did I want it to be an avenue for deep thinkery. I just wanted to convey what our Website, YouTube channel and ethos was in a simplified logo and slogan.
My idea for an eye as the logo was born out of the slogan “Look, and see the Earth through her eyes.” I made up this slogan as a short metaphor to express how I viewed backyard self-sufficiency which was to study nature (look) and learn (see) how nature combines all her elements to facilitate life and growth. Then, try to work with these proven natural systems (but in a more structured way) to grow food successfully without the use of harsh chemicals such as pesticides.
In the early logo development days (back in 2011) I did keep an open mind and we commissioned a logo design company to have a go at creating what they thought would be a good fit for our business.
These are two of the logo concepts pitched to us by the design company (images above)
After considering several different design options including the two pictured above, I insisted on my “eye” concept and commissioned the same design company to work on an eye logo with the pupil as the Earth.
Self Sufficient Me Eye Logo development (image above)
I must admit when I first saw the single eye logo it seemed abrupt or perhaps confronting/uneasy. Then again, it had the impact I imagined and I realised this is exactly what I wanted which was a logo that described my passion, matched our slogan and stood out in a crowd – or was, dare I say it, eye-catching…
We decided to go with a black eye and writing because it looked better on a white background. The informal writing of “Self Sufficient Me” on top of the eye was for an eyelash effect and instead of having Australia as the centre of the world pupil, I decided to make it Africa because it often is the centre of world maps and people were familiar with this image. Also, I didn’t want people to think that my content was aimed only at Australians as my vision was to one day hopefully reach a world-wide audience.
In 2017, I decided that the old original logo was looking a bit tired and let’s be honest… unprofessional. A year earlier, I uploaded a “breakthrough video” on my YouTube channel called “How to Grow a Ton of Lemons,” which suddenly brought a lot more attention to my content creation, therefore, I thought it was a good time to do a brand logo remake.
We commissioned a professional logo design company and they gave the eye logo a much-needed facelift. I made a tactical decision to centre the revamped world pupil in North America because that’s where the majority of my audience was located and this is still the case now.
So apart from sharpening up the image and changing the centred country on the world map, the new logo design remained the same because at the end of the day that is what I wanted (and it looks awesome on a T-shirt too).
The last thing I want to mention about our logo design is our other slogan “You don’t have to be self-sufficient in everything, just be self-sufficient in something.” More like a statement or sentence, I created this “slogan” as a way to ensure people understood that what I was advocating was inclusive and achievable.
I do see self-sufficiency as a broad church ranging from extreme homestead preppers to inner-city balcony gardeners. It’s important to me that everyone and anyone who consumes my videos, articles, images or podcasts feels as if this is something they can easily do in one way or another depending on their circumstances.
There you have it! That’s the story behind our logo. Nothing remarkable but yet something I’m proud of and I will always remain one-eyed about it 😉
