Emblem

As a graphic design major, I am taking emblem to mean personal logo. It just so happens that I have one of those, and that it means many things to me.

I have previously mentioned that I love fantasy literature. I would not be a legitimate fantasy nerd if I did not extend this love to Lord of the Rings. I am not quite the LOTR geek that many of my friends are, but I have an elvish name and I have made my own Tolkien-esque symbol, which has become my personal logo to which I am very attached.

First, the Tolkien logo:
Tolkien's emblem is representative of his name and very indicative of his creative elvish legacy. Everything means something in this logo, although I'm not quite sure about all of them. But you can find the J and the two R's and the T in there. Not quite sure what the dots are, but I'm sure they serve a purpose. I would also like to point out that the two R's in his name form my very favorite Cyrillic letter., the "ph" sound.



My emblem, created in a lovely dorky night of friends creating elvish names and logos. My Elvish name is Tathariel, meaning literally "Daughter of the Willow". I love it, it's wonderful. My second Elvish name is Lomelinde, meaning "singer at dusk" or, nightingale. This is probably the dorkiest paragraph I have ever written. But I say this because if I were to ever create my own design business, I would use one or both of these names, and probably this logo.

What logo, you ask? THIS ONE!

This means a variety of things to me. First, the "L" scrunched in the middle. It stands for Laura, my name, and if you turn it upside down it is also an "L", for Lomelinde. The "T" holding everything together is for Tathariel. It also could be construed as a cross, signifying the Christian household in which I grew up and the value system embedded in me since childhood. In fact, the cross in the other emblem could symbolize Tolkien's deep Christian identity and its effect on his work. Upon further investigation into the mechanics of the logo, I realize that my emblem spells my entire name, which just blew my mind a little bit. It's slightly difficult to describe, but trust me, you can find an "L", "A", "U", "R", and "A" in there. Several times over, in fact. There is a "W" for Windham upside down on top of the "T". I also use this visual element as a tent, signifying my love for camping. I originally put in the dot as a purely visual interest, which honestly ties back in to my previous post on aestheticism. But I could stretch and make the dot me, situated between my literal identity, Laura, and my literal (book) identity, Tathariel.

So this ties in to all popcycle aspects of my life. Career: I made a logo for myself, it can't get more graphic design-y than that. Also, the incorporation of the elvish words into a future business name. Entertainment: Lord of the Rings literary tie in. Family: My name, the cross, the fact that my dad was the first to introduce me to LOTR. Community: I created this with a group of friends.


NOTE: While doing this post, I had an epiphany while on an elvish language website, which has to do with the anti-definition of my name. Please visit my earlier post for details.