Who doesn't like to be carelessly unraveled by the touch of the sun's warm gaze, to be coaxed into a state of kindred bliss? It is without a doubt, irresistibly alluring. Its caress? Intoxicating. We all know UV light to be essential for natural production of Vitamin D, however, what you might not know but definitely feel, is  it also elevates our spirits by inducing the natural production of "happy" compounds, serotonin, endorphins and nitric oxide, oh my!  It is why it can be so difficult to pull away from its open embrace, like a bug drawn to light, we will eventually, and knowingly, get burned. 

 

While a concerted effort has been placed on educating the public (to no avail) on the most notable and apparent effects of sun over-indulgence,  skin cancer, sun hedonists are largely left in the dark when it comes to its effects on our eyes.  Look around you, ask others about their eyes, and you'll be overcome by the abundance of degenerative eye conditions that people cope with. This, where as a society, we have become more sight-centric/light-dependent in how we make a living and interact (internet/computers) on a daily basis.  Yet we have done little to nothing in guarding against overexposure, whether that be Sun-UV, artificial U-V or other forms of short wave radiation (blue light). This isn't to say that our vision issues radiate solely from excessive exposure to light. However, it can be said that our eyes were not naturally intended to be incessantly bathed in it either. If we insist on being light gluttons, we need to be mindful of light and things we can do to protect ourselves against excess. 

 

In an effort to alert onlookers to the dark side of ultra-violet light and raise money to protect the most at risk, McCook Optometrists and the Republican River Runners have organized a 34 mile relay run, currently called Run for You (V) Relay. While UV protection is inexpensive for most, children that come from low-income families that use corrective lenses, need prescription UV glasses that are far more expensive than their counterparts. In these cases, the cost to protect against an invisible foe is far to great to overcome and the health of the child's long-term vision is sacrificed for short-term survival.

For this subset of the population, they are attacked by a double edge sword. As described, on one side is monetary dependency and inaccessibility to adequate protection.  On the other side is the environmental vulnerability that come from being in a state of development as a child. The younger one is the more time one spends in sunlight (in addition to blue/indigo/violet light from CFL's, fluorescent lighting, LED's and LCD's that are typical of modern living and school environments). To compound issues, developing children are biologically immature and far more susceptible to damage from short wave-length radiation (blue, indigo, violet, UVA, UVB) than adults. For more reasons than we have time, children are also less likely to wear eye protection than adults. Taking this into consideration, it should be no surprise that 70% of the damage to our eyes occur in the first 20 years of our life.

 

In order to increase visibility and transmitivity, the McCook Optometrists needed a logo to symbolize a variety of things. Some of which are:

 

 

With that in mind, lets take a closer look at what I created. This is the most stripped down and essential component of the logo above; that could hopefully stand alone, when or if, the above symbol gains popularity. 

As we can begin to see the "U wave" has enough inherent characteristics that are relevant to the target cause to be quite effective in relaying the message. The U wave quite literally advances through motion, from left to right, small to big which is quintessential to the intersection of the proposed event and cause. Changing the U to violet we quite literally get U-Violet (UV). Utilizing black to illustrate the concept of shading, we begin to layer complexity to produce a competent symbol for the intended message.

However, some visual crutches are necessary to work up to the use of the "U wave" on its own. So we might literally spell out UV.

We can further reinforce the relationship of running and UV by literally spelling out run with the "UV."  So I added a leg-like r before the U and a left thigh to the right leg V to produce the word and partial illustration of run. It probably isn't initially apparent that the r/N/V are in fact legs, but once you see them as legs, it sticks.

Adding a soft gray to complete the figures further reinforces the aspect of running, but not enough to distract from the word run or UV. Here the running ligatures that spell run are revealed as legs of a child and an adult and can be utilized occasionally to strengthen the meaning of previous iterations.

Furthermore, this is where we get our foundation relationship between children and adults, along with being tied together by the "U wave," it emphasizes You and UV simultaneously. The head of the child is disproportionately large to the rest of their body to illustrate that it is in fact a child and not another runner in the distance.   The U wave really becomes quite dynamic at this point and is the linchpin to the entire logo, which allows it to stand on its own in time. It is the shoulders of the adult and the child, a link between the two, it reaches out, it advances, It grows, It is U-Violet, it emphasizes the importance of You, it smiles, its fun, it can be shaded, and last but not least it is a joint finish line (ribbon), the mission of the cause.