The abstract imagery of two arms linked in the CharacterEthics icon comes from Remy Charlip's
poem, "Arm in Arm." It goes like this: “Two octopuses got married and walked down the
aisle arm in arm in arm in arm in arm in arm in arm in arm in arm in arm in arm in arm in arm in arm in arm in arm.”
In the years since I first reveled in Charlip's imaginative poetry and drawings, the octopus poem morphed from being about a couple to being about a community. It takes all kinds of us, even those with whom we may not agree, to make things work. It’s about moving forward and doing something wonderfully progressive together.
The logo type was designed in partnership with the creative genius of Kim Gayton and Skip Lineberg
at MapleCreative. It aims to capture the textured relationship between values and performance in the language of character and ethics.
In its simplest form, character is "inside," and ethics is "outside," existing symbiotically in kinetic tension. Values and performance, character and ethics, you and me (and many others), arm-in-arm-in-arm-in-arm-in-arm-in-arm....
