With most aspects of Project Seres, I constantly find that the things that I believe will be straightforward and simple tasks turn out to be not so and I am forced to take a step back, reassess the situation and find a new way to approach it. It can be somewhat frustrating and disheartening to find that even your “simple” tasks are not so simple, but this also means that I am also constantly learning and being challenged and I think that secretly this is one of the things that I love most about what I am doing.
This was the case when it came to finding a name for the project – something which turned out to be as difficult (if not more so) then actually coming up with the idea of the project itself! My original idea for the project was to call it “El Colegio Descalzo”, which means Barefoot College in Spanish – being inspired by the original Barefoot Doctors of China. However as was rightly pointed out to me, this name had a few problems since:
1) It has no significance for non-Spanish speakers (who are likely to be the largest donors for the project)
2) The English version has been used for another project (which does amazing work in India, and has become one of the inspirations for Project Seres)
3) The name would be a nightmare for web sites and email addresses, as it could very easily be spelt wrong
So, after being encouraged to listen to numerous podcasts about branding, logos and marketing for the non-profit sector, I forced myself to take a step back and reconsider what the name should be.
As an engineer, I often struggle to come to terms with my creative side and a week of agonizing had me no clearer or closer to my goal of a catchy name that was simple and could be easily remembered, and yet communicated the vision and work of the project. Yeah right…easy. Then one morning, my friend came into the room where I was having yet another white-board brainstorming session, and somewhat flippantly said to me: “Why don’t you come up with a palindrome?” As if finding a name in itself wasn’t difficult enough, but now I needed to find one that read the same forwards and backwards?
Having no better ideas, I started searching for palindromes in both English and Spanish and after about 10 minutes of searching I came across the word Seres from the Spanish word Ser – which is the verb “to be”, relating to the natural or essential quality of a being or organism. Seres hermanos, for example, is Spanish for human beings. It was while looking at this that I noticed that there was also a definition for Seres in English. Not having come across the word before, and thinking that it could be handy for my next game of scrabble, I looked it up.
When the words came up on the page, I can honestly say that I was stunned. People have different ways of describing these situations – luck, coincidence, serendipity, fate, destiny, chance. Personally, I felt as though the Universe had reached out and given me a gentle affirmation that I was doing the right thing, and I couldn’t stop the smile that came to my face as I realized that my project now had a name. The definition that I found that day is below and really, I am not sure that I could describe what I am trying to achieve through my work any better than this…
Sere: (noun) (plural seres) An intermediate stage in an ecosystem prior to advancing to the point of being a climax community1
1. A climax community (or climatic climax community) is a biological community of plants and animals which, through the process of ecological succession — the development of vegetation in an area over time — has reached a steady state. This equilibrium occurs because the climax community is composed of species best adapted to average conditions in that area
And so now that we have a name, the next step in this little task is to find the project a logo. Rather than go through the same slightly torturous process that I went through to come up with Project Seres, I am trying a different tactic with the logo. Through a friend’s suggestion, we have been running a design competition for the logo and have received a number of great designs. I am now asking you, the readers and followers of my blog, to let me know your thoughts and feedback on the logo designs. You can click on the link below to browse through the different submissions (each of which have a unique number so that you may identify it). Please either leave your votes and comments on this blog, or email me directly with any opinions and feedback. We have until the 6th June to make a decision, and I am looking forward to hearing what you have to say.
As always many thanks for your energy,
Corrina
