AELOM (2000)

Possibly the first logo I made for a real organization. This was created with Démis Lobo Almeida and Jamie Delgado (Djimms), in 2000, for AELOM, the students' union we were forming on Liceu Olavo Moniz, in Sal island, Cape Verde, together with a bunch of other guys. Unfortunately that year I went on to study in another island, so I didn't get to be a member of the union after it was officially launched. Since then I lost the original image. The version you will see if you click on the thumbnail was recovered from a MS Word document, and thus has a much lower quality than the original image. The background is a pattern that reproduces the school's uniform. The green circle represents hope and union. The lighthouse represents the role of the association in helping students reach their objectives. The pen and pencil represent the weapons of the union's "fight" for better education, and the book represents the study. Finally, the handshake is rather self-explanatory: it represents collaboration and a helping hand to fulfill the student's needs.

CCS-SIDA (2001)

This one was made for a public contest to choose the logo for an AIDS prevention organization in Cape Verde, CCS-SIDA. I did it in MS Paint as at the time I had no other tools available. Anyway, if I recall correctly, I ended up forgetting to send the proposal and the deadline passed. I actually only noticed it when they announced the winner.

Canetaluna & Lapistudante (2002)

This one is probably my only true pixel art drawing, with heavy use of the pencil tool at high zoom instead of the standard tools available on MS Paint. I created these as mascots for the student's union AEJAP, from the high school I went to in São Vicente island, in 2001. They were used mainly in the student's newspaper I worked on as a project in the association's activities.

Coat of Arms of Sal (2003)

This was the first logo I designed for an official entity, the municipality of Sal. There was a public contest and my proposal won the first place. Sal is a very sandy island, with several beaches which bring many tourists to the island. Several water sports are played, and even international competitions are hosted there. Hence the waves, sand and the windsurf sail in the symbol. The plane represents the Amílcar Cabral airport, which for many years has been the only international airport in Cape Verde and still drives much of the economic dynamics of the islands. Finally, the white triangles represent the salt extraction that gave the island its name. The outer elements are required by law for every municipality coat of arms.

Coat of Arms of Paul (Feb. 2004)

Most Cape Verdean municipalities didn't have a symbol after the country's independence in 1975. After a law as passed that defined the standard format of the Coat of Arms, the municipalities started launching public contests to choose their official symbol. Sal (above) was the first one, and soon others followed, and I participated in a few of them with one or more proposals. I won the Paul municipality contest too. My proposal included prominent mountains and a valley in the middle, representing the actual orography of the municipality. The bananas and sugarcane are two of the most emblematic agricultural productions of the region, and from the latter the famous grogue rum is produced using the traditional trapiche, which is shown on the right side. The stream and the sea are also part of the environment, representing the abundant rain and high agricultural production (comparatively to the other islands) and the fishing activity which also contributes significantly to the economy of the region. Finally, the dove represents the seat of the municipality, Vila das Pombas (literally Dove Town) and was also a prominent element in the municipality's historical coat of arms from when Cape Verde was still a Portuguese colony.

Coat of Arms of Boa Vista (Aug. 2004)

Another participation in a public contest for a municipal coat of arms, this one remained just a proposal, since it didn't win the contest. The elements represented include a Rabil, an endemic bird, and a palm tree, also very common in the island; the sandy dunes, very typical of the island's landscape, and the sea, obviously present since it is an island. The waves and the dunes are placed to resemble a guitar, an instrument extensively used in the music of the island, which actually is considered the birthplace of the most famous Cape Verdean musical genre, the morna. There's also a chimney representing the ruins of a factory that has played a major historical role in the economic development of the island; the chimney is positioned to balance the composition against the palm tree. Finally, the goat in the center represents the local economy which traditionally has been heavily based in the commerce of goat-based cheese, leather and meat.

Coat of Arms of Maio (Sep. 2004)

This one was made in the context of a direct request from the city hall of the Maio municipality. However, due to some organizational problems, the process had to be put aside. The proposal I made includes a very flat scenery, which represents the geography of the island, with a cloudless sky giving clues about the type of hot, dry climate that is featured in the region. The ground is yellow representing the sand that is abundant and the shoreline with the sea refers to the long beaches that can be seen across the island's coast. Salt extraction ponds are prominently featured as one of the islands most emblematic economic activities, and the local typical boat, called a falucho, is featured near the horizon, showcasing the unique culture of the island.

AECVC (Apr. 2005)

I was involved in the creation of a student's union for the Cape Verdeans in Viana do Castelo, where I moved in 2004 to start my undergraduate education. The black and yellow outline are the colors of the city, and the other colors come from the flag of Cape Verde. The two Vs represent Viana (do Castelo) and (Cabo) Verde, respectively, with the C in the middle joining them together. They are also based on the flag of Cape Verde, which has one red and two white strips across its length. The stars, also present in the Cape Verdean symbols, represent the ten islands of Cape Verde.

Coat of Arms of Mindelo (Aug. 2005)

Yet another proposal to a Cape Verdean municipality Coat of Arms. This one also didn't win the contest. The city mas many landmarks for which it is recognized, so the challenge was not so much what symbols to use but how to integrate them. There's the famous bay with its harbor, once the center of the island's flourishing economy, and the Monte Cara (Face Mount), possibly the most readily recognizable image from the city. The cultural activity and nightlife of the city are also well-known, thus the moon-shaped feather (representing both the night and writing), the theater masks, and the dock painted as a piano. This was the winning Coat of Arms.

NAJoQ (Sep. 2005)

NAJoQ stands for "Núcleo dos Académicos e Jovens Quadros Salanses", an organization that was founded in 2004 to gather local students and those studying abroad to create a forum of discussion and improvement of the community and society of Sal island. The logo is simply the silhouette of the island integrated with the letters of the acronym, and a book as support, which represents the studies of the forum members.

Coat of Arms of Ribeira Brava (Feb. 2006)

Another proposal for a municipal coat of arms, this time for the Ribeira Brava municipality, in the São Nicolau island. The contest was actually cancelled for lack of participation (I suspect I was the only contestant) and was never relaunched again if I recall correctly. The composition incorporates elements strongly related to the island's culture. One example is the Dragon Tree, native to Cape Verde and a few other places in the world, and much more frequent in São Nicolau island than in the others. The elevation refers to the mountainous orography of the island and specifically to the Monte Gordo, one of the highest points in Cape Verde and a natural reserve due to the high variety of flora that it holds. The triangular shape with a cross on top is from an emblematic church from the municipal seat, representing the important role religion has in the island's culture. The pen combines with the waves in the shoreline to represent the strong intellectual background that the island keeps in its history, having produced many of the early Cape Verdean writers and poets. And finally, the ever-present sea represents the fishing culture, one of the main sources of prosperity to the island's economy.

Comid@net.come (Out. 2006)

This was just a quick mock-up I put together in PowerPoint(!) for a friend of mine who was working on a university project regarding a fictional restaurant specialized in take-away, online reservation and home delivery. I just put some clipart together and edited it to make them blend: the plate from the fork/knife/spoon set was removed, and so was the center of the green shape (I believe it was a light bulb, but I'm not sure now). In the empty circle that there remained, I added a WordArt object with a single character, @, in a font that made it round. Then I merged that with a white circle in the background so the @-plate wouldn't be transparent. And that was it :)

AKIS (Nov. 2007)

AKIS stands for "Associação de Karaté da Ilha do Sal" (Sal Island Karate Association). As a long-time practicioner (not so much lately, though) and having worked with logos previously, my sensei and my father (who were both involved in the creation of this organization) asked me to draw the organization's logo. After a few experiments and feedback, this version that combines the island's shape in white with a black belt proved to be the one with most support. It's fairly simple but still has powerful simbology for the island, karate, and union (the belt's knot strenghtening its enlacing of the island). This was the first logo I drew in SVG. From then on, I never got back to proprietary vector formats (or worse, raster images).

Almeida Quatro (Mar. 2008)

Evidently, my work in logos quickly starts being noticeable among friends and family, and this is how I got a proposition from Démis (the same guy who worked with me in the very first logo of this list) to work on a logo for his father's company, Almeida Quatro, which is a real estate, commerce and transtportation company. I made the A from "quatro" in the shape of a house, and then integrated the 4 into it. A road was added as a support for the structure and to represent the transportation branch as well as the exchange of goods that makes up commerce. The colors were chosen by them. This was also made in SVG, using Inkscape.

CvTux (Apr. 2008)

My friend Herman started a blog with some colleagues, called "Comunidade Cabo Verde Linux", to serve as a community for the Cape Verdean linuxers. He asked me to come up with a logo for the blog. Coincidentally, just a few days before I had stumbled across the Tux Factory, a website where people make customized linux penguins, so after a quick experiment with the original penguin, I decided to use the TuxFactory model. Thus the CvTux was born!

ACBA (Mar. 2009)

After my work for Almeida Quatro, Démis's father, who is a firefighter, asked me to draw the logo for the "Associação Cabo-Verdiana de Bombeiros Aeronáuticos" (Cape Verdean ARFF Firefighters' Association). Discarding the Maio municipal Coat of Arms, this was the first logo I made commercially (by request and paid for). I did quite a bit of research for this one, getting to know the history of the florian cross and its relationship with the firefighters' emblems, and many other fun stuff. Of course I documented all that I learned in Wikipedia, so that others could benefit from that knowledge too :)
The final emblem had to be changed to include a crash tender, which wasn't present in the first version. Also done in SVG, the delivery version was bundled with raster versions in png, a document with technical specifications and a description of the simbilogy, and also some photo-manipulations depicting the symbol in use on several media.