logo/art/emblem/nonsense (just anything you wanna call it)

Was it not John Kennedy, a former American President that said "don't ask for what your country would do for you, but what you would do for your country"? Everyday, I think of what I would do for my great school, AAUN. And guess what, I just finished designing something which I don't even know what to call. Maybe I should say AAUN coat of arm. And it is something I started about at the beginning of this summer holiday (May 2006). I can best describe it as a kind of integration of all AAUN emblems. Although am not sure it is good enough for the school to accept it, but I like to see it in my web log as one creative thing I achieved during this summer, besides writing poems.

The Coat of Arm has all the AAUN emblem: Desert Rose, AAUN logo, US flag, Nigeria flag, sub-Sahara African map showing Nigeria and a red spot, University motto, v_shape, hills, V_SAT, and strides showing AAUN colors.
The US flag shows that it is an American styled university (curriculum wise, faculty trained wise, etc. )
The Nigerian flag symbolizes that it is established in Nigeria.

Map of Sub-Sahara Africa shows that it is the first one in the region.
Nigeria is shown in the map to show where in Africa the country is.

The Red spot indicates the sunshine intensity in Yola (some what very high at some times of the year) and depicts the specific location of the university.
Under the map of sub-Sahara Africa is the University motto: "preparing future African leaders for global challenges." [Only a suggestion though]

The v_shape signifies the location of the university: at the valley of river Benue, a very important river in Nigeria.

The hills show Adamawa hills and the grasses signify the rich vegetations in the hills. (Adamawa is the state of Nigeria where the school, AAUN is located and the hills and valleys are typical landmarks of the state.)

Down the v_shape of the logo, there is the university's giant V-SAT which shows the fortress/emphasis the university has on Information Technology.

In between the AAUN logo and both flags, and at the top of the wordings of 'Abti American University of Nigeria' is blue waves. The waves depicts the river benue waves while the color, blue shows the love that exist among all students regardless of whom they are, where they are from or what religion they practice.

The plant, Desert Rose can be the university mascot. (!just a suggestion) (It's been named for the school's newspaper. It is "an amazing plant that is specially adapted to live in this part of Africa. It has a fleshy trunk that stores water for long periods which makes it to thrive in even the most arid conditions. The plant is akin to AAUN which rises out of the sweeping plains of the savanna yet full of life, resilience and enduring beauty.”

The flowers (6) symbolize the students who are beautiful and bright, clearly the best feature and drawn from the six continents of the world.

The branches symbolize the vision of the school - multi-faceted, reaching upward and outward.

The base symbolizes the foundation of the school - deeply rooted, providing strength and support.

The leaves (5) symbolizes the five schools of the university: - School of Arts and Science, School of Information and Communication, School of Business and Entrepreneurship, School of Engineering and the School of law (Note that the latter schools will kick off in two years time)

Under the Desert Rose, there are three tools by means of which AAUN is achieving its mission: Quality, Integrity and Style.
-Quality, i.e. the quality of education the school is offering which is of world class standard.
-Integrity: means honesty and incorruptibility; values which are deeply embroiled in the University philosophy.
-Style: An American style which is a different pedagogical approach as against the British style that operates in Nigeria.

Down the three tools, (quality, integrity and style) are strides which have four colors (the four colors of the university) with white being the predominant. This white color signifies the peaceful nature of the state (Adamawa) in relation to other parts of the country.

This nonsense designed is opened to suggestion or criticism for further modification if need be. I think a general background of black should be preferred or makes it more beautiful, instead of white. However, it can remain white for now and maybe if the gesture to improving it suffices, then I would experiment using various colors.

In general, I think this work is non-sense. But it reflects my true nature of experimenting with different kinds of ideas to bring out a pattern or something sensible. If you chose to say inovation, you correct. If you also say madness, you aren't wrong either. After all, there is joy in madness, known only to those that are mad (ooops).