ANZAHPE's 50th Year Anniversary

ANZAHPE's 50th Anniversary logo has been designed by ANZAHPE member and FoHPE Associate Editor, Professor Andy Wearn.

I am fortunate to have been involved in a number of significant moments in ANZAHPE’s history over the last 22 years. Of these, several have included some aspect of new visuals or branding. As such, I have enjoyed drawing upon my creative side to assist the Association.

One of those creative moments was the revised logo, when we transitioned from ANZAME to ANZAHPE. I also acknowledge the input of Pippa, the rest of the CoM at the time and then a very positive collaboration with the then graphic artist. The logo was intended to position us in the global health professional education field, to stress our networks and connectedness, to use existing brand colours, and to value First Nation symbols. Weaving is part of Māori, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island culture and has conceptual and cultural meaning: thus, the woven, connected lines.

As we approached our anniversary year, I was invited to consider a logo design to mark this waypoint. The design was developed with the input and oversight of the Anniversary planning group.

We already had a ‘50th’ graphic for the 2022 Festival - this seemed like a natural starting point, tying into what was already there. I then had to think about how we encompass past, present and future and link to our existing logo. There was also consideration to our special place in Australasia.

So, I started to scribble and draft. I prefer to work with pencil, pen and paper initially.

Extending the top of the number ‘5’ into an arrow was an obvious early idea. Dropping the ANZAHPE logo into the ‘0’ was another early element. I then wanted to represent key ANZAHPE activities over time, and a line of flowing dots quickly became my preferred motif. I always like joining design elements, so running one of the strands from the ANZAHPE logo onto the new logo was a feature I played with.

Colour palette was the next consideration. We already had red, white, and grey. Adding black was an obvious choice in maintaining a relatively monotone look.

I was also thinking about our place, our cultures, our advocacy of First Nation educational opportunity and health. In art, one must walk a fine line between inspiration from and appropriation of cultural iconography and technique. In a simple way I have tried to use forms and colours that reference some of these.

My concept was taken by the graphic artist that the association uses. The group was presented with digitised options, based on the concept, and the final design chosen.

The finished design keeps some elements of the ‘hand-drawn’ feel, combines the two existing logos, and represents a flow of activity over time and into the future. Art is subjective and will always divide people. My hope is that the Anniversary logo feels connected to who we are, who we want to be, where we are, and has a slightly unfinished feel – there is more work to do.