It was 5th January 2023, and I was still in that strange post-Christmas and New Year headspace, I had just sat down for my evening meal and my phone lit up with an email notification. Glancing at the message preview, it started with "Congratulations are in order!", naturally I assumed this was one of those spam emails, so I put my phone down and carried on eating.

A few moments passed and curiosity got the better of me, I wanted to know what imaginary competition I had won. I picked my phone back up and opened the email... I recognised the sender's name... read the first line of the email, then the second, then the third and quickly realised it was real, I was the 1st place winner for my logo design at the Logo Wave 16 Awards!

I had completely forgotten that I even entered the awards all those months ago. Obviously, you enter a competition in the hope of winning but you never expect it to actually happen, and when you forget about it all together, it's an even bigger surprise. This was my first notable win with respect to my design work and I know winning awards isn't everything, but it's bloody nice!

My winning logo design was for a health and wellbeing brand called 'LEVEL'. The contemporary design presents a strong visual balance with the L’s and V being exactly the same shapes. These three shapes double as arrows that can be used as graphic devices elsewhere in the branding. Lifting the V upwards amplifies the overall symmetry of the design and creates a unique element nested within the logotype. The V also points to the centre of the logo itself, visually representing finding balance within yourself.