2009: Swordi Studio

Founded by Oliver Ding in 2004, Swordi Studio aims to provide open branding service to enable social change through the Web. Swordi Studio started to use new logo and identity on October 11, 2009.

Swordi Studio, founded by Oliver Ding in 2004, aims to provide open branding service to enable social change through the Web.

Oliver Ding has made significant contributions to nonprofit activities. In 2004 he established Swordi, his personal studio, which aims to provide professional marketing service to nonprofit projects. He has spent most of his spare time on Swordi Studio, providing logo designs, strategy consulting on brand identity, and event organizing through online collaboration. He was also invited to speak at nonprofit conferences and events.

2008: CNReviews

CNReviews.com, an English language blog site, aims to cover business, life and people in China for foreign people. Oliver designed logo for CNReviews.com in October, 2008.

1. Background

   CNReviews.com, an English language blog site, aims to cover business, life and people in China for foreign people.

   CNReviews.com was founded by Elliott Ng and his friends in 2007. Elliott Ng is a Silicon Valley entrepreneur currently involved in a venture-backed online travel startup. He’s founded and exited 2 prior startups including 1 NASDAQ IPO. Elliott started CNReviews to advance his goal of finding interesting China-oriented business opportunities.

   In May 2008, Elliott Ng wrote a blog post to collect Sichuan Earthquake donation guide. Oliver Ding, the founder of Swordi Studio, created a SlideShare version of the guide after he saw the post.

   In October 2008, Elliott Ng contacted Oliver to request designing a new identity for CNReviews.com, for he wanted to create some business card for attending Chinese Blogger Conference 2008 in Guangzhou.

   1. What Oliver Contributed

   Oliver designed the new brand identity including logo, business card and T-shirt for CNReviews.com.

   The new logo of CNReviews.com uses a simple idea that Oliver called big C.
   1. Letter “C” stands for “China”, “Community” and “Communication”;
   2. C looks like an ear which means listening;
   3. C also is like wave which means spreading;
   4. C seems like splash-ink, a technique of Chinese ink-painting (泼墨 pomo)

   Elliott Ng said, “This really captured the original inspiration for CN Reviews, our focus on China, our interest in being a bridge between China and the West, and our passion for listening and understanding.”
   

2007: Yeeyan

Yeeyan (http://www.yeeyan.com) is the largest open translation community in China. We designed the logo for the beta version of the website. The idea derived from the image of a roadside ad.

1. Background

   Yeeyan (http://www.yeeyan.com) is the largest open translation community in China. By June 30, 2009, it had more than 90,000 registered users, including about 5,000 community translators who have published nearly 30,000 translations on the site.

   The Guardian has collaborated with Yeeyan to publish the Guardian’s Chinese User-Generated Content site (http://guardian.yeeyan.com).

   “Discover, translate and read the Internet beyond your language” is Yeeyan’s slogan. They are doing it via three core processes: recommending, translating, and publishing.

   1. What Oliver Contributed

   Oliver attended the testing of the beta version of the website and provided advice on user interface and information structures.

   Oliver designed the logo for the beta version of the website. The idea derived from the image of a roadside ad. Two letter Ys consisting of small blue dots formed the image of a road sign, implying the website can serve as a guide for its readers. The whole logo consists of blue dots, conveying cooperation and aggregation. The logo symbolizes the culture of the Yeeyan community; that is, translations through cooperative efforts of translators from Yeeyan community provides users with premier Internet content to guide them in the Information Era.

   He also provided advice on user interface design of group features of Yeeyan.com in 2008.
   

2006: Cnbloggercon

Oliver designed logo and visual identity system for Cnbloggercon 06.Oliver also created the Chinese slogans for conferences held in 2005–2007. The Chinese slogan for 2005 was “Ping Deng Xin, Zhong Sheng Zhi,” which means “Everybody is somebody.” The 2006 Chinese slogan was “Zhong Zhi Cheng Cheng,” meaning “United people can change the world.”

1. Background

   The Chinese Blogger Conference (Cnbloggercon) was originated in 2005 by a group of active bloggers, who used various Internet tools to prepare, execute, and broadcast the event. It has been held annually and is also known as the most wired conference in China.

   Focusing on blogs, the topics of the conference cover various aspects of web2.0 and the impacts of blogosphere on society, culture, technology, and business. The participants include prominent bloggers, entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, educators, and digital artists.

   It has been held annually since 2005 with around 400 people physically participating in the event each year and thousands of people participating through various social media, such as Twitter, Friendfeed, Podcasting, Slideshares, etc.

   1. What Oliver Contributed

   Oliver Ding was a member of the organizing team of the conference in 2005 and 2006, designing logos and visual identity systems for both years. The logo of the first conference became the basis of design for creating logos for successive years. This page shows the design of Cnbloggercon 06.

   Oliver also created the Chinese slogans for conferences held in 2005–2007. The Chinese slogan for 2005 was “Ping Deng Xin, Zhong Sheng Zhi,” which means “Everybody is somebody.” The 2006 Chinese slogan was “Zhong Zhi Cheng Cheng,” meaning “United people can change the world.” The 2007 Chinese slogan was “Bai Hua Qi Fang, Bai Jia Zheng Ming” or “Let a hundred flowers blossom and a hundred schools of thought advance.” My slogans convey the notion that an environment of free speech will bring about a diversified culture.

   In addition, Oliver also promotes the Chinese Blogger Conference through various social media sites, such as Slideshare.net and Douban.com.
   

2006: 1KG More

1kg More (short for “1 kilogram more in your travel pack”) is a cause of charity crossing over travel in China. Oliver was invited to design the new visual identity system.

1. Background

   1kg More (short for “1 kilogram more in your travel pack”) is an unofficial cause of charity crossing over travel in China. It advocates an innovation in travel—that every traveler may help the local rural community in such a joyful way. In other words “Travel Makes a Better World.”

   The underlying idea is that travelers bring 1kg of inexpensive educational materials in addition to their baggage to give away to someone who needs it along their journey, e.g., a child who cannot even afford a pencil eraser. The simple process of passing-communicating-sharing will no doubt enrich travelers’ experience and realize the positive cycle of charity work.

   Today, 1kg.org manages a database of over 800 elementary schools that includes information on the following: (a) the number of students in the school, (b) students’ primary needs, (c) school names and contact persons, (d) detailed directions, including method of transportation and how an independent traveler can reach the school.

   1kg More was honored with the 2008 Golden Nica in the Digital Communities category in Prix Ars Electronica.The Prix Ars Electronica is one of the most important yearly prizes in the field of electronic and interactive art, computer animation digital culture and music. It has been awarded since 1987 by Ars Electronica (Linz, Austria), one of the world’s major centers for art and technology.

   1. What Oliver Contributed

   Oliver provided brand management and marketing advice to 1kg More.

   In June 2006 Oliver was invited to design the new visual identity system for 1kg More when it changed its domain name to 1kg.org from 1kg.cn. He provided two sets of new logos for consideration. Both of the design were not adopted by 1kg More. One of the design is shown above.

   In March 2007 the 1kg More team prepared to launch a new project Twinbooks.cn, which aims to publish charity books for children living in the countryside. When they conducted the Chinese brand name and logo design contest, Oliver created and submitted a name and logo for consideration again.

   In May 2007 the 1kg More team redeveloped the vision and mission of the project. Oliver provided his advice on brand architecture. In addition, he pointed out that 1 kg More is a great project name, not an organization name; and it was time to create a new organization name for its sustainable development.

   Note: Design shown below was not adopted by 1kg More.
   

2005: Cnbloggercon

The Chinese Blogger Conference (Cnbloggercon) was originated in 2005 by a group of active bloggers. It has been held annually and is also known as the most wired conference in China. Swordi Studio designed logos and visual identity systems for Cnbloggercon 05.

1. Background

   The Chinese Blogger Conference (Cnbloggercon) was originated in 2005 by a group of active bloggers, who used various Internet tools to prepare, execute, and broadcast the event. It has been held annually and is also known as the most wired conference in China.

   Focusing on blogs, the topics of the conference cover various aspects of web2.0 and the impacts of blogosphere on society, culture, technology, and business. The participants include prominent bloggers, entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, educators, and digital artists.

   It has been held annually since 2005 with around 400 people physically participating in the event each year and thousands of people participating through various social media, such as Twitter, Friendfeed, Podcasting, Slideshares, etc.

   1. What Oliver Contributed

   Oliver was a member of the organizing team of the conference in 2005 and 2006, designing logos and visual identity systems for both years. The logo of the first conference became the basis of design for creating logos for successive years.

   Oliver also created the Chinese slogans for conferences held in 2005–2007. The Chinese slogan for 2005 was “Ping Deng Xin, Zhong Sheng Zhi,” which means “Everybody is somebody.” The 2006 Chinese slogan was “Zhong Zhi Cheng Cheng,” meaning “United people can change the world.” The 2007 Chinese slogan was “Bai Hua Qi Fang, Bai Jia Zheng Ming” or “Let a hundred flowers blossom and a hundred schools of thought advance.” My slogans convey the notion that an environment of free speech will bring about a diversified culture.

   In addition, Oliver promotes the Chinese Blogger Conference through various social media sites, such as Slideshare.net and Douban.com.
   

2005: SocialBrain

The Social Brain Foundation (SocialBrain) was morphed from CNBlog.org, the earliest evangelizing site in China on grassroots publishing. Oliver designed the logo and the visual identity system for SocialBrain in 2005.

1. Background

   The Social Brain Foundation (SocialBrain) was morphed from CNBlog.org, the earliest evangelizing site in China on grassroots publishing.

   Now SocialBrain is a social incubator for free culture and sharism by supporting several projects, including Chinese Blogger Conference (Cnbloggercon), Digital Nomads, Memedia, PledgeBank Chinese, Webridge, Creative Commons China, etc.

   1. What Oliver Contributed

   Oliver designed logos and the visual identity system for SocialBrain (2005), Cnbloggercon (2006, 2005) and worked as editor at Cnbloggercon blog, promoting Cnbloggercon through social media campaigns.

   Oliver led localization at PledgeBank.com Chinese version (2007) and served as co-organizer of Webridge voluntary survey, which aimed to understand and promote the voluntary translations that people are doing in the Chinese blogosphere.
   

2004: OOPS

Opensource Opencourseware Prototype System (OOPS) supports a volunteer effort in widening access to world-class knowledge for the Chinese-speaking population around the globe.Oliver designed its logo in August 2004 and developed the visual identity system for OOPS in February 2006.

1. Background

   Initiated by MIT and its faculty in their efforts to provide free and open educational materials to learners around the world, the Opencourseware (OCW) movement represents the new movement to help advance education at the global level. In the case of MIT, the OCW provides visitors with course syllabi, lecture notes, and course calendars for over 1,000 courses.

   Opensource’s Opencourseware Prototype System (OOPS) project was initially designed to translate open source materials from MIT Opencourseware site into Chinese. It was formed in 2004.

   The unique aspect of OOPS is that it supports a volunteer effort in widening access to world-class knowledge for the Chinese-speaking population around the globe. It has over 2,000 volunteers worldwide. In the conception of the project, the participants’ collective identity as a “grassroots movement” and the technology enabling the formation of an online network amongst diverse groups of “Chinese” speakers played a key role in its success.

   OOPS received the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation grant from 2007 to 2008, and it is also MIT OCW’s official translation affiliate. “The Hewlett Foundation awards grants to support educational and cultural institutions and to advance certain social and environmental issues. It is one of the largest grant-giving institutions in the United States, with assets of over $8 billion.”

   1. What Oliver Contributed

   Oliver Ding, the founder of Swordi Studio, designed the logo for OOPS in August 2004. After changing its name to OOPS, it started the logo voting event on August 1, 2004. Oliver was one of the six logo designers. Ultimately, his design was chosen as its official logo.

   In his design, the logo uses the initials of the project (OOPS) and arranged the four letters into the image of the Great Wall, implying this is a cooperative project. The first two letters are “closed,” representing the traditional “schools” as the source of knowledge. The latter two letters are “open,” representing the new open spirit and the spirit of OOPS. The four letters are arranged to symbolize the trend of education from being closed to open. He chose the colors of blue, black, and white, representing scholarly rigor and enormity of thoughts.

   Oliver also created the slogan in Chinese “Chuangzuo Gongxiang, Tianxia Weigong,” which means “Creative Commons: All Things for All People.” Tianxia Weigong is a phrase from Confucian philosophy. People like this slogan very much. Meng-Fen Grace Lin, Assistant Professor of Educational Technology at the University of Hawaii, wrote, “This was the first time the slogan was presented. Not only does the phrase rhyme in Chinese, but I was also impressed that the new Western terminology (Creative Commons) seemed to go hand in hand with the old Eastern philosophy proposed by Confucius 2,500 years ago.” In October 2004, when Lawrence Lessig, Professor of Law at Stanford Law School, founder of its Center for Internet and Society, and one of the initiators of the Creative Commons project, had an interview with Common Wealth Magazine in Taiwan, he wore the T-shirt with the OOPS logo and slogan Oliver created.

   Oliver also led a voluntary brand team for OOPS in July 2005. In February 2006, he developed the visual identity system for OOPS.

   Oliver’s suggestion that OOPS use the domain name www.myoops.org was adopted.