How Coldplay & Pilar Zeta Inspired A Logo

Over three years ago, based on my 20+years of both leading and working with teams, helping them to achieve high-performance, I created the Team DyNAmics Model©, a unique model that enables a team to measure HOW effectively they are working together.
The model has been extremely well received by teams who are using it to drive up their engagement and effectiveness as a team and there has been some fascinating insights into trends in in how teams are performing as mentioned in the article Big Data Reveals That Leaders Don’t Have Tools To Measure Team Performance
One thing that had eluded me, was creating a logo that would do justice to the model and provide people with an understanding of it.  That was until this weekend when I was watching for the umpteenth time Coldplay close the 2016 Glastonbury Festival, having recorded it.
A Head Full Of Dreams
I’ve had the privilege of seeing Coldplay live in concert and am always quick to purchase their new material.  One of my favourite albums is A Head Full Of Dreams, released in December 2015.  The main graphic for the album, which was featured as part of their set, just jumped out at me.

It was created by Pilar Zeta, an artist and graphic designer who grew up in Buenos Aires, Argentina.  She worked closely with the group to create the album cover, which features in the centre, a design of circles, called The Flower Of Life.  In Pilar’s words, “The Flower of Life has existed for thousands of years. It’s a pattern that’s in nature. If you grab a leaf and multiply it, then it creates the Flower of Life. It’s on the walls of the Osiris temple in Egypt. And it’s a very beautiful shape because it’s made with circles and it’s a nice representation of connection and the whole. So we had this idea of the Flower of Life with the colours.”
You can read the full interview here: Interview: Pilar Zeta (AHFOD artwork creator).  More of Pilar’s work can be seen via her website.
Team DyNAmics Model©: Flower Of Life
It was then that the idea hit me between the eyes.  My model has 16 Elements, each one important in achieving high-performance within a team. Additionally, the model has four high-level categories, represented by the four primary colours of Red, Yellow, Green and Blue.  So hence, I created a Flower of Life from the 16 circles.  What was important to me was the way in which each circle overlapped others, as the inter-play of the 16 Elements is similar, with each Element impacting either positively or negatively on others.  Also, the flower blooming is representative of a team that is performing well.  You can find out more about the 16 Elements in the article Cracking The Code Of High-Performance Teamwork
A bizarre link with Beijing and the Fu-dog
The strange coincidence was that when I investigated the Flower of Life further, I found out that one of the cultures that used it was the emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties, who lived in the Forbidden City in Beijing China.  The Flower of Life is found in spherical form underneath the paw of the “Fu-dog”, more accurately known as the Guardian Lion. They were considered to be the guardians of knowledge.
Recently, I was a keynote speaker at a leadership conference in Beijing at which, I presented on Leading and Developing High-Performance Teams and as part of my presentation, I shared the Team DyNAmics Model©.   A few days later, one of the cultural visits was to visit the Forbidden City, where I saw the Fu-dog and the spherical Flower of Life under its paw!!
Including The 16 Elements
The next stage was to include the 16 Elements within the design of the logo.
Again, the overlap of the words that represent the Elements was an important concept, strengthening the visual representation that each Element interplays with others.
Its More Than Just A Model
When teams use the model, it does a number of things:

1. It provides them with a measurement of how individuals collectively perceive their team is performing in the 16 Elements.
2. This provides them with an understanding of what is working well, so they can continue to do these things.  It also highlights what is not working so well and causing them issues.
3. This understanding means that the team can have discussions about how to improve their performance by implementing new ideas that have been agreed.
4. By using the Team DyNAmics Model©, the team has a benchmark to monitor the improvements that they have agreed to implement.
5. Finally, the circle is complete and the Team DyNAmics Model© can be re-run at an agreed future date to measure the difference in performance.

 

The Title & Strapline
The final part of the design was to add the Title and strapline.
You may notice that the letters highlighted in Yellow in the title spell out the letters DNA.  This highlights the fact that the 16 Elements in the model, make up the DNA of a team and how effectively it performs.
The strapline is hopefully self-explanatory.
So, I hope that you’ve enjoyed learning about the birth of a logo and that it’s also given you a better understanding of the Team DyNAmics Model©.
Special thanks to Coldplay for inspiring me with their fantastic music and to Pilar Zeta for her wonderfully creative artwork that included the Flower of Life.
I’d love to hear your thoughts on the logo, so please do leave a comment.
Wishing you continued success and happiness in both work and life.
Yours behaviourally, Nick
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Can I Help You?
If you want to discuss how I may be able to help you and your team achieve even greater success by facilitating team building or by speaking at your conference, my email is  nick@ngagementworks.com, my mobile is 00447966306903 or please use the Contact Form