We had an incredible response to our competition to find a symbol for the Slow Ways. Over 400 different designs were suggested.
Thank you to everyone that entered.
A team of nine judges went through all of the designs to create a long list of nearly 100 different ideas. They then went through and scored each of the designs in order to create a short list of 16 designs.
The judges were looking for designs that were clear, bold, timeless, replicable, distinctive, memorable, that they just liked for some reason and responded to the brief for the design to be a snail or snail inspired.
The scoring was used to inform a deep and long conversation about the different designs. We were especially challenged on decisions on the degree of abstractness and replicability of the artwork. The judges changed their minds many times and found it especially hard to pick between the top five designs.
In our minds at all times was the range of kinds of places that the symbol might be used now and in the future. We reflected on the simplicity, adaptability and clarity of both the National Trail’s acorn and also Scotland’s Great Trail’s thistle. This included the design being able to work as a small and clear symbol or icon on maps.
We are delighted to share that the winning design is this snail by Jessica Grainger.
We love the simplicity, character and motion of Jess’s design. In the future we can imagine following the Slow Ways Snail on our journeys between places. It’s adaptable, purposeful and clearly going places. While we’ll usually use just one of the designs, we’ve got a flexible symbol we can play with.
Jess is from Kingswinford in the West Midlands and works at RAF Cosford as a graphic designer.
“I am so happy to have won this competition, I love being creative and enjoy the journey I go through working on design briefs. For me my design was all about direction as the snail itself represented ‘Slow’ of ‘The Slow ways’ and ‘ways’ translated to direction. My design reflects a characterful snail full of determination and forward movement along his route to his destination.”
One of Jess’s happy places is going for a walk and listening to the birds and trees. Jess wins £250. Congratulations Jess and thank you.
We highly rated this bold and clear design by Carl too. Carl has won £100 for his design.
There were 14 other design’s we shortlisted. In no specific order, here they are.
There were many more designs that we liked or loved, but they did not score enough to make it into the final short list. In no particular order, here are just a few of those designs.
Thank you to each and every one of our entrants. It has been a pleasure looking through all your designs!