VANCOUVER—The mission, if Subplot chose to accept it, was to redesign the logo for Vancouver’s Emergency Response Team. Not only did they take on the challenge, says Matthew Clark, co-principal at Subplot, but they did it for no charge. “We offered to do it pro bono after they approached us so they wouldn’t have any costs at all and then would have money left over to execute the campaign,” he says. “We have found that it’s a problem if we give people a discount and then they don’t have money to use on the campaign.”
 
The objective of the redesign was to make its logo accurately represent the group. “The old logo looked strangely like a sports team logo that featured a large machine gun,” says Clark. “It was both inappropriately sports-looking and very violent.”
 
Taking the emphasis away from the weapon, Clark wanted the new logo to represent the men and women on the team. “The officers in the new logo are completely silhouetted in black, which is reflective of their uniforms. We had a great photo shoot to get that shot. A couple of officers came into the office in full uniform pointing their guns at the wall while we took photos of them. That was quite fun and a little scary.” Contact: Subplot.com